New House Purchase - Is It Possible No Haggle On Price?

sare^baw's · 25 Jul 2019 at 11:28

Hey guys has anyone bought a new house recently and had any luck with negotiating with the price? I intent to buy a detached help to buy house for £200,000. Anwyl Homes is the developer. https://www.anwylhomes.co.uk/our-developments/croes-atti-phase-3-oakenholt/ .

The sales lady has mentioned it should be no problem to get carpets + flooring throughout, turfing to the back garden, higher fencing in back garden too. It has an integrated fridge freezer and double oven with a gas hob.

The house is just over the border in North Wales in Flintshire and not far from where i work. What can i try and get included in the sale or is there any chance of getting money off. Prices have dipped in the area just slightly over the last 12 months like most areas of the uk. There is 4 of these houses available to choose from.

Goksly · 25 Jul 2019 at 12:12

Very difficult! So I was basically told no to any price reductions; as they all go onto the government website they don't want to show they can be haggled with. So the main angle is looking for what you can get for free... which youve pretty much boxed off. Maybe try legal fees?

It also depends on how popular the development is... When i was trying to haggle three couples came to view the home, so the power is very much with the developer in most cases.

sare^baw's · 25 Jul 2019 at 12:32

Goksly said:
Very difficult! So I was basically told no to any price reductions; as they all go onto the government website they don't want to show they can be haggled with. So the main angle is looking for what you can get for free... which youve pretty much boxed off. Maybe try legal fees?

It also depends on how popular the development is... When i was trying to haggle three couples came to view the home, so the power is very much with the developer in most cases.

Thanks for your reply. I was think that too about why they might now discount the price. I could always ask if they would cover legal fees and perhaps my stamp duty. In Wales the threshold is higher at £180k, do you still pay stamp duty on the full value of the house at 200K ie not the 80% you purchase price. I can always push for an integrated dishwasher and washing machine.

Semple · 25 Jul 2019 at 12:38

sare^baw's said:
Thanks for your reply. I was think that too about why they might now discount the price. I could always ask if they would cover legal fees and perhaps my stamp duty. In Wales the threshold is higher at £180k, do you still pay stamp duty on the full value of the house at 200K ie not the 80% you purchase price. I can always push for an integrated dishwasher and washing machine.

Are you a FTB?

For stamp duty you pay the taxable amount over the threshold, so for England i think it's 125k, is 2% and then upto the next threshold. Very similar to the way PAYE tax is calculated.

You're going to struggle to get an overall reduction in price, as that puts in jeopardy the rest of the sales - everyone else will want the discount. The only way you're likely to get a discount is if a mortgage lenders valuation put's it significantly lower - at this point they'd usually commission another valuation from a different company to check the market value. If that too comes under, then means they'll need to revise their prices as other buyers will fall into the same pit.

Your bargaining power is really determined by the market, how long have those houses been on the market? If they're struggling to sell them, then that gives you more bargaining power. If they're not, then you might struggle to get much apart from some free flooring/turf.

sare^baw's · 25 Jul 2019 at 14:51

Semple said:
Are you a FTB?

For stamp duty you pay the taxable amount over the threshold, so for England i think it's 125k, is 2% and then upto the next threshold. Very similar to the way PAYE tax is calculated.

You're going to struggle to get an overall reduction in price, as that puts in jeopardy the rest of the sales - everyone else will want the discount. The only way you're likely to get a discount is if a mortgage lenders valuation put's it significantly lower - at this point they'd usually commission another valuation from a different company to check the market value. If that too comes under, then means they'll need to revise their prices as other buyers will fall into the same pit.

Your bargaining power is really determined by the market, how long have those houses been on the market? If they're struggling to sell them, then that gives you more bargaining power. If they're not, then you might struggle to get much apart from some free flooring/turf.

Thanks for your reply. I am not a first time buyer. When stamp duty is calculated for help to buy, is is on the full value of the house ie 200k or is it just calculated on my share £160k?

As you say a valuation might mean they cant sell it for the advertised price, we all know new houses are overpriced and that help to buy has made them more overpriced, i wonder if it really is worth that amount or not.

This particular phase is not that big, they have released 28 homes on the price list i have and 11 of them have been sold so far, as far as i can see nobody has moved in yet, they are still building away but most of the brickwork is up. The saleswoman mentioned flooring throughout and turf and fencing so i think thats a sure thing as an incentive. I might struggle to get further integrated appliances included they offer the same fittings to all there homes.

Semple · 25 Jul 2019 at 16:23

sare^baw's said:
Thanks for your reply. I am not a first time buyer. When stamp duty is calculated for help to buy, is is on the full value of the house ie 200k or is it just calculated on my share £160k?

As you say a valuation might mean they cant sell it for the advertised price, we all know new houses are overpriced and that help to buy has made them more overpriced, i wonder if it really is worth that amount or not.

This particular phase is not that big, they have released 28 homes on the price list i have and 11 of them have been sold so far, as far as i can see nobody has moved in yet, they are still building away but most of the brickwork is up. The saleswoman mentioned flooring throughout and turf and fencing so i think thats a sure thing as an incentive. I might struggle to get further integrated appliances included they offer the same fittings to all there homes.

No the stamp duty is calculated on the full price of the property, not whatever your share would be. You also don't pay any duty upto the exemption value. So for yours you'd only pay tax on 20k. The stamp duty calculator shows the value as £700.

sare^baw's · 25 Jul 2019 at 17:03

Semple said:
No the stamp duty is calculated on the full price of the property, not whatever your share would be. You also don't pay any duty upto the exemption value. So for yours you'd only pay tax on 20k. The stamp duty calculator shows the value as £700.

Ok thanks for confirming this. The site had previous approval for 132 homes but its been reduced to 78. This is a bit i found online about the developers plans, printed online in January this year.

Around 80 new homes look set to be built as part of major housing development in a village in Flintshire.

Anwyl Homes applied to create 78 houses as part of the latest phase of the Croes Atti development in Oakenholt, near Flint, back in October.

The proposed site already has reserved matters approval for 132 houses, but the Ewloe-based firm said a change in market conditions mean that number had been reduced.
Around 80 new homes look set to be built as part of major housing development in a village in Flintshire.

Anwyl Homes applied to create 78 houses as part of the latest phase of the Croes Atti development in Oakenholt, near Flint, back in October.

The proposed site already has reserved matters approval for 132 houses, but the Ewloe-based firm said a change in market conditions mean that number had been reduced.

krooton · 25 Jul 2019 at 23:00

We managed to get 25k off as we needed it to be within the HTB threshold, but we were very friendly with the sales lady.

MG42Maniac · 26 Jul 2019 at 14:38

We bought our first house last summer; Bloor homes, 4 bed detached. It was up for £440,000 and we paid £440,000. There was no room for any reductions on price. We got them to pay the stamp duty, sensations carpet, karndean flooring, outside garden tap, extra ethernet ports, fridgefreezer/dishwasher and turf. Out of the 300 odd homes they are building, I truly believe we have the single best plot so I was happy to get the above for free!

RoyMi6 · 26 Jul 2019 at 16:25

krooton said:
but we were very friendly with the sales lady.

I feel there's an interesting story here that should be shared in the next anonymous confessions thread...

PiKe · 26 Jul 2019 at 16:29

I feel like 200k is already a pretty good price.

tres · 26 Jul 2019 at 16:35

I thought it was 300k threshold for stamp duty for FTB?

Dave · 27 Jul 2019 at 09:54

Tried on some of the new builds up here in Aberdeenshire in 2017 but was rejected at every step on the haggling - I was amazed/ignorant that flooring didn't come with the house anyway, so I didn't consider it to be an "upgrade" or concession on the negotiation.

House prices were all cut to levels below my original asking price, two years later many are still unsold ...

Jokester · 27 Jul 2019 at 10:03

Developers are loathed to reduce the price of their houses as it then drags down the local house price average making it even harder to justify the prices they are charging.

What you want to ask about is “cash back” or indeed any extras that are actually worth something to you to be included. Anything that doesn’t impact the “sell price”.

At the end of the day it depends if it’s a buyer or sellers market.

FluffySheep · 27 Jul 2019 at 10:45

Op-that development is about a mile away from my home and is prone to flooding. Make sure you think about your house and surface water flow in peak rain and if it will collect in/at your house. Serious!

Other issue is it will turn into a massive rat run. Avoid being on the stretch from the roundabout to either POW Ave or coed onn road

FluffySheep

Semple · 28 Jul 2019 at 09:02

tres said:
I thought it was 300k threshold for stamp duty for FTB?

Yep that's correct, we're just buying our first house and as the price is a bit over 300 we've still gotta pay a bit of stamp duty.

TripleT · 28 Jul 2019 at 12:50

We got £10k in "extras". Stamp duty paid, legal fees Paul's, our selling fees paid plus £4k in cash!

Ev0 · 28 Jul 2019 at 18:54

We got about 4% off our new build 6 or so years ago, as well as some things thrown in.

Others who bought the same house type as us but a month or two later paid 12% more than we did!

covenantuk · 29 Jul 2019 at 04:58

Ev0 said:
We got about 4% off our new build 6 or so years ago, as well as some things thrown in.

Others who bought the same house type as us but a month or two later paid 12% more than we did!

House prices go up over time shocker

utajoker · 29 Jul 2019 at 10:34

i doubt you would get anything off any new build price as others can see what they have sold for and will want the same.

We got cash back on fees but got a few of the bits you haggle in as standard anyway: turf, chrome fittings,outside tap.

i imagine it would be even more difficult if your in the first phase of houses also.