Down valuation on Taylor Wimpey property

[oldfashioned]

Hello,

I thought I'd share my Taylor Wimpey house purchase experiences, and see if anyone have similar experiences/advice to give? My wife and I recently made a offer on a property that's part of the Barns development in Andover. This was accepted and we reserved the property, paying the usual £1,000 fee. We have just exchanged contracts on our existing property, but we're still in the fixed term period with our existing mortgage company. We therefore wanted to port our existing mortgage to the new property. We were told my the mortgage company this wouldn't be a problem. Sadly, when it came time to perform the valuation, the report came back £35,000 less than the purchase price. We were told by Taylor Wimpey that the price was correct and it was the mortgage company that was wrong. They refused to drop the asking price by more than £2K, and advised us to find a new mortgage using their IFA. We decided we wanted the property, and would therefore be willing to lose the redemption charge on our existing mortgage. Sadly this hasn't worked out, once again the valuation has come back with exactly the same valuation as our original valuation. I have now spoken to Taylor Wimpey, it does't look as though they're going to change the asking price. Does anyone have any experiences of thoughts on this kind of issues?

[Richard Webster]

Most new houses are overpriced compared with similar second-hand houses in the same area.

Unfortunately not enough people realise this, so builders are generally able to find people who will pay more than they are really worth, so they don't easily reduce their prices. Moral is not to buy from a builder.

[IFA]

This is called a New Build Premium. A fancy way of saying "If you want the convenience and ease of a brand new house then you're going to have to pay for the privilege."

It's not peculiar to the building industry though. Most things cost more brand new than they do when re-sold second hand. The trouble is that mortgage lenders are less willing to take a risk on agreeing with an inflated new build valuation these days because if you didn't pay the mortgage and they had to repossess they would then have to sell the property at its second hand value and that could prove difficult, especially if there are still brand new properties on the site yet to be sold.

Originally Posted by oldfashioned

We were told by Taylor Wimpey that the price was correct and it was the mortgage company that was wrong.

This is just their opinion of the value, not a statement of fact. The same is true of the mortgage surveyor's valuation figure but he is likely to be on the conservative side to protect the interests of the bank. If two mortgage valuers agree, even the one that the builders' own IFA appointed, then you have to start to believe that this is the true value.

Originally Posted by oldfashioned

We decided we wanted the property, and would therefore be willing to lose the redemption charge on our existing mortgage.

Not only to lose the redemption fee, but also pay £35,000 more than market value for the property? You must REALLY want this house!!

Originally Posted by oldfashioned

Sadly this hasn't worked out, once again the valuation has come back with exactly the same valuation as our original valuation.

Personally I would say "Fortunately this hasn't worked out" rather than "Sadly" as this seeems to have prevented you from paying £35,000 too much for the property.

Originally Posted by oldfashioned

This was accepted and we reserved the property, paying the usual £1,000 fee.

Non-refundable I assume? Maybe this is why they aren't willing to budge on the price, they'll either get your £1,000, and if that happens with several buyers before one comes along who can raise the finances then they're on to a good thing, or you'll find a way to finance the purchase so as not to lose the deposit money. Either way, they win, so from their point of view why should they help you by dropping the price?


Personally I would ditch the whole idea and look for a good second-hand property of equivalent size in the local area. If the mortgage surveyors are to be believed then you might get one £35,000 cheaper than you were willing to pay, and although you won't have everything brand new £35,000 will go a long way towards putting that right if you wish.