Buying Redrow/Newbuild - Any Tips On The Process?
Discussion
Chaps,
Redrow have started building a new development round the corner from us. We need another room sharpish with wee-un no2 on the way. Nowt else is really doing it for us in the area for the same money. CBA with another project. We did loads of work on this one but between running a business, having a one year old and a hormonal pregnant lady to look after It's not even on the radar!
This seems like the way forward.
The site is just a site at the moment and they have just realised six early bird plots. Price seems very tempting. Been to the show home, Liked it. None of the pokeyness and low ceilings I expected.
Mrs scho is smitten and totally taken in by the atmosphere of urgency the redrow people seem so skilled at creating. They mentioned yesterday that prices tend to creep up as the site progresses: BS?!
I think it's right for us and I'm looking for advice on the buying process really. Negotiation, What tricks to watch out for, What sort of free bee's can be wangled etc etc.
Anyone that's been there I'd be interested to hear what you blagged.
Cheers!
Redrow have started building a new development round the corner from us. We need another room sharpish with wee-un no2 on the way. Nowt else is really doing it for us in the area for the same money. CBA with another project. We did loads of work on this one but between running a business, having a one year old and a hormonal pregnant lady to look after It's not even on the radar!
This seems like the way forward.
The site is just a site at the moment and they have just realised six early bird plots. Price seems very tempting. Been to the show home, Liked it. None of the pokeyness and low ceilings I expected.
Mrs scho is smitten and totally taken in by the atmosphere of urgency the redrow people seem so skilled at creating. They mentioned yesterday that prices tend to creep up as the site progresses: BS?!
I think it's right for us and I'm looking for advice on the buying process really. Negotiation, What tricks to watch out for, What sort of free bee's can be wangled etc etc.
Anyone that's been there I'd be interested to hear what you blagged.
Cheers!
My best mate bought a brand spanking new house from the same people 2 years ago. Nice house on the seems of it, but after around 8 weeks of living in it they had a list of over 150 problems that needed fixing and had big problems trying to resolve the issues with the developer, they sorted it in the end but he ended up doing some of it himself........Like a Brand new kitchen after a year because the quality of the installed one was so poor.
On large sites (over 100 homes) particularly in lesser areas it's true that homes sold at the start can frequently be sold at the end for a profit as the site raises quality of the area.
Sales generally have a 5% budget - this can be spent on Ads or incentives/discounts depending upon the Sales Director.
New homes vary as much between companies as sites - depending on the trades / site manager as much as spec (within reason / budget)
Better discounts are given on crappier plots but remember you are going to live there so buy the best plot !
Sales generally have a 5% budget - this can be spent on Ads or incentives/discounts depending upon the Sales Director.
New homes vary as much between companies as sites - depending on the trades / site manager as much as spec (within reason / budget)
Better discounts are given on crappier plots but remember you are going to live there so buy the best plot !
Ive just bought a redrow home off plan at the Meadowfort Grange site in Winchcombe, Cheltenham.
All properties seem to sell as soon as they are released so the sales team are not offering any discounts, other than a free dishwasher.
The carpets and flooring are quite expensive throughout the entire property so we are considering buying the same items and having them laid independently after completion.
It works out to be approx 120gbp per m2 from redrow and the same flooring from a specialist is 35gbp (excluding underlay and fitting) - So im trying to work out what is most cost effective.
Ideally I dont want to spend used 987 Boxster money on flooring
All properties seem to sell as soon as they are released so the sales team are not offering any discounts, other than a free dishwasher.
The carpets and flooring are quite expensive throughout the entire property so we are considering buying the same items and having them laid independently after completion.
It works out to be approx 120gbp per m2 from redrow and the same flooring from a specialist is 35gbp (excluding underlay and fitting) - So im trying to work out what is most cost effective.
Ideally I dont want to spend used 987 Boxster money on flooring
Yes prices tend to go up as the site develops and as you live near you can keep an eye on the progress of the build.I am not sure what sort of discounts would be available but you can always ask for so much and you will sign today.
Do they offer part exchange and if so get a couple of Estate Agents to do a value of your house now,when I bought a new Persimmon house in 2000 I did this and they offered me about £2,000 less but later matched the price.
A few weeks before you move in and paid the balance do a detailed snagging list and the builders will sort those out no problem.
Its also useful to be one of the first to move in and get very friendly with the foreman so if you want some small jobs doing he will probably help.I wanted an outside tap at the rear of the house and a couple of extra patio slabs and he sorted it out free of charge.If I thought of it before I would have got them to do it as part of the deal.
People will knock new housed but they are pretty well made,energy efficient,need no decoration and if you buy off plan you can chose the tiles you want,flooring,paint colours,work surfaces etc.
So go for it ,your wife will be happy and you know what that means.
Do they offer part exchange and if so get a couple of Estate Agents to do a value of your house now,when I bought a new Persimmon house in 2000 I did this and they offered me about £2,000 less but later matched the price.
A few weeks before you move in and paid the balance do a detailed snagging list and the builders will sort those out no problem.
Its also useful to be one of the first to move in and get very friendly with the foreman so if you want some small jobs doing he will probably help.I wanted an outside tap at the rear of the house and a couple of extra patio slabs and he sorted it out free of charge.If I thought of it before I would have got them to do it as part of the deal.
People will knock new housed but they are pretty well made,energy efficient,need no decoration and if you buy off plan you can chose the tiles you want,flooring,paint colours,work surfaces etc.
So go for it ,your wife will be happy and you know what that means.
Edited by btcc123 on Tuesday 4th August 13:53
Merp said:
Ive just bought a redrow home off plan at the Meadowfort Grange site in Winchcombe, Cheltenham.
All properties seem to sell as soon as they are released so the sales team are not offering any discounts, other than a free dishwasher.
The carpets and flooring are quite expensive throughout the entire property so we are considering buying the same items and having them laid independently after completion.
It works out to be approx 120gbp per m2 from redrow and the same flooring from a specialist is 35gbp (excluding underlay and fitting) - So im trying to work out what is most cost effective.
Ideally I dont want to spend used 987 Boxster money on flooring
Just down the road from me, nice site, Redrow outbid me on the land All properties seem to sell as soon as they are released so the sales team are not offering any discounts, other than a free dishwasher.
The carpets and flooring are quite expensive throughout the entire property so we are considering buying the same items and having them laid independently after completion.
It works out to be approx 120gbp per m2 from redrow and the same flooring from a specialist is 35gbp (excluding underlay and fitting) - So im trying to work out what is most cost effective.
Ideally I dont want to spend used 987 Boxster money on flooring
. We looked at these for my parents. Generally Redrow are one of the better new builds, but extras are expensive.
Do you get up to Prescott? The Revival on Sunday 9th is a good day. Google it
Renovation said:
Better discounts are given on crappier plots but remember you are going to live there so buy the best plot !
I can't comment on Redrow but we're in the process of buying a new build with Charles Church. We chose the best plot. End of cul-de-sac, larger as it was originally going to be for a 5 bed but changed to a 4 bed, south facing garden, etc. The same house at the top of the street sold to a lad my other half works with. It's on a smaller plot, on the main road and in a block of 4 detatched houses rather than stand alone. We know what he paid for the house and we were told ours would be about 10k more due to the plot. We've negotiated a fair bit of extras and the house ended up costing us £10k less than he paid (in April). We move in October/November time. I think your comment is probably accurate but it goes to show you can strike it lucky. Maybe something to do with hitting end of financial year targets or just pot luck.
For the op. They tend to offer standard things to entice you (upgrade kitchen pack, upgrade tiles, etc.) Look at the things you actually want and push for that. We preferred the standard tile range to the so called upgraded ones.
We asked for loads and didn't get it all but ended up with more than others we know on the site such as an extended drive. Every time I visited the sales woman I kept mentioning other new build sites that were closer to where I wanted to be. The last time I did this she called the next day to say we could have the house alarm for free (£550 normally).
We looked at houses with them locally and got the impression the best you could hope for was free turf for the garden and maybe the carpets too, but that was a big maybe.
We decided not reserve a property with them as they insisted we would have to use their financial advisors to qualify us for the early bird scheme.
We decided not reserve a property with them as they insisted we would have to use their financial advisors to qualify us for the early bird scheme.
ch427 said:
We looked at houses with them locally and got the impression the best you could hope for was free turf for the garden and maybe the carpets too, but that was a big maybe.
We decided not reserve a property with them as they insisted we would have to use their financial advisors to qualify us for the early bird scheme.
When we paid for the early bird scheme and had to go through their financial advisors. They eventually qualified us but made a lot of mistakes along the way. We told them that we wouldn't be using them and got our own (much more professional) advisors.We decided not reserve a property with them as they insisted we would have to use their financial advisors to qualify us for the early bird scheme.
Our recent XP of trying (and failing) to get a deal out of Redrow. On the quality side, I thought the general brick work and exterior fit and finish was of a very nice standard. The interior was let down by poor wood work all round IMHO. Very sloppy. Floors upstairs were full of gaps and loose boards etc. Lots of filler.
The bathrooms were ok but not what I would call perfect, kitchen same - the worktop for example had lots of scratches on it - would defo have to be replaced - quite a big job. We were looking to buy off plan but there was a property empty which they were pushing us to buy and we viewed it twice.
Optional extras were off the charts in terms of price, almost insultingly so TBH. 100% mark up easily.
Discounts wise the price of the property was not negotiable. However we were offered SD paid and then later on flooring and carpets. That was probably a total of 5% of the listed price.
We just thought the prices were too high in the end. The estate was a continuation of an old Redrow estate from 15-20 years before. The same style of house from 15-20 years ago was over £100k cheaper. That's a lot. Yes its not been lived in etc but there is a premium and then a premium! The older properties also had gardens which were 2 or 3 times the size. The plot sizes were really quite small for the size of the houses. I think it will be a long time before the new builds are worth their current RRP. I might be wrong though!
HTH.
The bathrooms were ok but not what I would call perfect, kitchen same - the worktop for example had lots of scratches on it - would defo have to be replaced - quite a big job. We were looking to buy off plan but there was a property empty which they were pushing us to buy and we viewed it twice.
Optional extras were off the charts in terms of price, almost insultingly so TBH. 100% mark up easily.
Discounts wise the price of the property was not negotiable. However we were offered SD paid and then later on flooring and carpets. That was probably a total of 5% of the listed price.
We just thought the prices were too high in the end. The estate was a continuation of an old Redrow estate from 15-20 years before. The same style of house from 15-20 years ago was over £100k cheaper. That's a lot. Yes its not been lived in etc but there is a premium and then a premium! The older properties also had gardens which were 2 or 3 times the size. The plot sizes were really quite small for the size of the houses. I think it will be a long time before the new builds are worth their current RRP. I might be wrong though!
HTH.
Forgot to say, out of the builders we looked at the Redrow houses had by far the best layout internally. We were looking at a "Richmond". I think its a floor plan they first built in the early 90s and still build it today with almost no difference in layout other than some minor changes.
toon10 said:
When we paid for the early bird scheme and had to go through their financial advisors. They eventually qualified us but made a lot of mistakes along the way. We told them that we wouldn't be using them and got our own (much more professional) advisors.
They told us that even if we used our own that we would still need to involve theirs to ok it which is a load of BS in my book.red_slr said:
Forgot to say, out of the builders we looked at the Redrow houses had by far the best layout internally. We were looking at a "Richmond". I think its a floor plan they first builtnicktowe@btinternet.com in the early 90s and still build it today with almost no difference in layout other than some minor changes.
Richmond is land efficient but I hate the iteg garage. 
ks. MajorProblem said:
Today's new build estates are tomorrow's slums.
Avoid.
Don't they have to put a certain percent over to social housing from the start? So your neighbours could be unsavoury characters from the start. Avoid.
My sister has one of these new 3 bed "townhouses" that's not in a town. Very close together perfectly square small garden I'm not a fan. Give me a house built 30 or 40 years earlier with a bigger plot room on your drive for 3 cars with another in the garage any day.
Redrow wouldn't offer us anything off the price other than maybe £5k - seemed very proud that they hadn't "discounted" a single property on the estate. The one we went for was just about finished but the original buyers had pulled out.
To be fair, in the end we paid the asking price too so I'd imagine they told the next people to turn up they hadn't discounted it - but they paid for all the extras the original buyers had chosen (and they'd ticked just about everything other than downlights in the kitchen to my wife's continued annoyance) and all the stamp duty.
Interestingly our kitchen worktops were scratched as above - the replacements arrived scratched and they volunteered that they weren't good enough so we're still waiting on the next lot.
To be fair, in the end we paid the asking price too so I'd imagine they told the next people to turn up they hadn't discounted it - but they paid for all the extras the original buyers had chosen (and they'd ticked just about everything other than downlights in the kitchen to my wife's continued annoyance) and all the stamp duty.
Interestingly our kitchen worktops were scratched as above - the replacements arrived scratched and they volunteered that they weren't good enough so we're still waiting on the next lot.
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