What to offer on a new build

[lingmerth]

Dd and dsil are moving 150 miles away. They've found a house in the process of being built that they really like. It's one of 2 identical houses being built. The price is £350000 but after meeting with the builder he says he sort of plucked the figure out of the air as he wasn't sure what to price them at, and expects a negotiation. It's a 3 bed detached, bedrooms on the ground floor and living space etc on first floor due to view and light. Large plot of land with the most space at the front of properties with a joint driveway and spaces for visitors too. He's happy to go with whatever configuration they want in living space and said yes to creating an en-suite using part of the garage space.

How do they work out what is a realistic price to offer? A similar house on a new housing estate in nearby Kendal is priced at £280,000.

The land was bought by the builder's father many years ago if that's important.

Hi @lingmerth
I would speak to a few local estate agents. Hope they get the house at a good price x

Use PropertyLog to see what similar houses are priced at, the builder sounds like they don`t have much clue TBH.

Can’t believe the builder admitted to plucking the figure out of thin air - how stupid is he? Your daughter needs to research the local market thoroughly to understand what comparable houses go for. She can look at sold prices on Righmove though they are always a few months out of date. She can look at other houses for sale in the area and see what they are listed at & how long they take to sell. If a house sells quickly it’s a clue that it probably achieved close to the asking price.

Joint driveway doesn’t sound promising.

Actually it's a huge driveway. Imagine a little road with 2 houses at the end of it.
Room for visitors to park at either side of the drive at the top then residents drive down to their house plus gardens at the front too.

Depends what’s included in the build.

White goods
Wifi
Charging point
Carpets
Flooring
Landscaped or turfed gardens

Calculate what it would cost to buy these at the quality you want and if he isn’t providing any of them, take that off the £350,000.

The chance of neighbours from hell would scare me.

Fully landscaped front and rear
allowance for flooring, bathroom and kitchen
Balcony railings choice
Style and colour of window choice
Will configure internally to suit buyer
Good shout about Wi-Fi
All seems very generous.

@XVGN actually we considered buying other house but it has woodland ( not much) attached to it which I didn't fancy.

Exactly. The neighbours could have 2 parking spots, but 3 cars. Or own a big van, etc.
The builder would have done better to install two cheaper drives or one wide one with a fence down the middle.
I discount anything shared with neighbours.

He knows EAs have been doing this for years (and sellers) he maybe just didnt get the memo that the market changed?