buying houses 'off plan' - too risky?

goldilocks

goldilocks

goldilocks

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so, we will be looking to buy a house in the next year or so
there are a few local 'new build' developments that look cracking
we see the benefits for us as being:
-if we buy off plan, we may have some say in the initial design / decoration /fixtures / fittings
-guarantee of works for x years after buying - a benefit if we spend all of our money on the purchase!

so with the 'credit crunch' what sort of guarantee would we have if the company went bust?
would we get our money back if the house doesn't get built / finished?

has anyone put a deposit down on an off plan house recently? are the list prices fixed - or is there some room for negotiation?

first time buyer noob - unless it wasn't obvious!!
 
the property developers are struggling to sell properties and are leaving some unfinished to avoid paying the council taxes on them while they stay unsold, this is the case in my area. you could go in with an offer and a custom design and there's a good chance they'll consider it

MW
 
I sell houses, including new builds for a living (if you can call it that at the moment!) and were still selling off plan. Developers who are building developments at the moment probably bought them a while ago in better times and are seeing their potential GDV (value) fall drastically. The trend seems set to continue for a while yet so you may find them VERY flexable on price.
 
The development industry is on a knife edge at the moment with developers going into administration right left and centre.

By all means register an interest, but there's no way I'd be putting any significant amount of money into a property that wasn't finished. Whilst you may have some legal recourse, getting your money back if the need arises will be a major hassle.
 
Aren't there quite a few places offering to pay your deposit for you? That might take the risk element away. Like Blueboy says, with the building industry in such turmoil, I don't think I'd want to be putting money into something that wasn't finished yet.

That aside, I've not been impressed with the overall quality of newbuilds I've seen recently. They seem to have lots of rooms, but they're all very small and I've never seen one with a reasonably-sized kitchen. The annoying regulations they have to conform to like self-closing fire doors and constant extraction fans annoys me too. I'd much rather something older which needed some work here and there. I appreciate it's all down to taste though. They're good if you want a completely blank canvas. Our 120 yr old house needs a fair bit of work and some people just aren't up for that.
 
Lostkat said:
That aside, I've not been impressed with the overall quality of newbuilds I've seen recently. They seem to have lots of rooms, but they're all very small and I've never seen one with a reasonably-sized kitchen. The annoying regulations they have to conform to like self-closing fire doors and constant extraction fans annoys me too. I'd much rather something older which needed some work here and there. I appreciate it's all down to taste though. They're good if you want a completely blank canvas. Our 120 yr old house needs a fair bit of work and some people just aren't up for that.
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Maybe houses being built in England are different, but I went around a lot of show homes last year when my parents moved, and didn't come across any of those problems. Their house certainly has off switches for fans and normal doors, it also has a 17' long kitchen, which wasn't significantly bigger than others we saw.

The biggest problem with new builds seemed to be that there was either a lot of space downstairs or decent sized bedrooms, even the most expensive houses didn't really have a balance.
 
i'm really keen on buying ANYWHERE to be honest - i just want somewhere to call our own!

i love older style houses - i'd much prefer to buy an edwardian / georgian home, large rooms, high ceilings, big garden - but i am looking to be realistic.
i am under no impression that this will be our only home - it will be a starter home, but we are fussy about the area we want to live in!!
i just wondered if new build offered better value for money in the short term?
 
Are new builds really going to be that much more flexible at the moment?

There a couple of new areas round here I was looking at buying , downside seems to be as the missus put it, they look like ikea houses lol
 
stay away from barratts they are the cheapest, pikeyest builders ive ever seen. In the flat i rented the work surfaces didn't fit properly, half the fittings either didnt have screws in or were odd, most of the door handles started failing, they hadn't wired up the tv aerial, the lights in the car port were broke, we were locked out of the main door and flat door at some point coz the locks broke and the list goes on lol

MW
 
i'm looking at linden homes and morris dibben (via land and new homes countrywide)

~Divine~Wind~ said:
Are new builds really going to be that much more flexible at the moment?
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i would imagine that a seller trying to get rid of 10 homes would be a lot more open to negotiation that a seller who only had to sell 1...
it's at least part of the reason i'm considering it!!
 
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I would avoid buying a brand new build apartment \ house like the plague at the moment.

They cant sell most new builds in my area (Hertfordshire) so they are selling them to the HA \ Council.

Be very wary when buying, or you could spend 175K on a new apartment, and a year down the line you might have scum living round you living off your taxes.
 
Mr-White said:
the property developers are struggling to sell properties and are leaving some unfinished to avoid paying the council taxes on them while they stay unsold, this is the case in my area. you could go in with an offer and a custom design and there's a good chance they'll consider it

MW
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This is untrue new properties are tax emempt until the tenant moves in.
 
We bought off plan 7 years ago only had to put a £1000 deposit and sold our old house to the developer. but that was a different climate.

the input we where allowed was miminal and any extras they offered where expensive. we where not allowed to bring in our own trades before the build was complete, which would have been to late.
they even Lied about planning permission when we asked for a price on extending our garage. it was funny when I handed my phone over to them to speak to the Bloke from the planning office and he said he'd seen my plans and permission could be granted the same day (Nice having a mate work there )

We got our own back as they ended up paying our morgage for 3 months just to get us to move in on the day they wanted us too :)
 
Amps said:
This is untrue new properties are tax emempt until the tenant moves in.
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Only for a limited amount of time.

If might be worth doing some digging and finding out if it's possible to insure against the chance of the developer going bankrupt. You could also ask for it to be included in the agreement that you have the right to back out with you deposit refunded in the event of nearby properties being sold to a housing association.
 
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The thing that would worry me would be how long the place would still be in development after you have moved in.
There is a new build estate next to where im staying in Slough, half built with people in most of those houses, but because people arent buying the other houses that are to be built, they arent being completed.

You could be living in a building site for many years!
 
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