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In This Guide

Before you start

Choosing an area

Homes needing work

My dream home

New homes

   1. New homes

   2. Is it a good idea?

   3. Developers

   4. The building

   5. Incentives

   6. So what's on offer?

   7. Part exchange

   8. Off plan problems

   9. Buying off-plan

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Types of purchase

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Developers

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Buying a new home means you are probably going to have to deal with the developers or builders of the property instead of an estate agent. This is not really any different to buying a home any other way, but for two differences. Firstly, you will often do this though a temporary sales office on location at the development and secondly, the developer is able to offer you all sorts of incentives to encourage you to buy the property.

Let's not kid ourselves, there are sharks in this world. Everyone in business is out to make money and some people can be pretty ruthless. This is not a universal accusation, but there are people out there who fit this bill in all walks of life and property developers are no exception. The fact that they are selling you what seems to you to be your dream home does not make them a saint. Before you go to seriously negotiate the purchase of a property, go and see what sort of state a previous development by the builder is in. If it looks like the building is not in the best condition, it may be worth reconsidering making that offer.

Another thing to watch out for are the incentives. Sometimes these seem to good to be true and sadly this is sometimes the reality. Then again, most of them are genuine and can be of real benefit to certain buyers. Find out more by reading our section on incentives.

When negotiating on price (which you should almost always do) try strengthening your own hand. If you arrange your mortgage first, for instance, you may be able to get more incentives thrown in or even a better price, especially if the developers know the sale will go through relatively quickly.

The next thing which catches some people out is in the show flat. These can often be slightly larger than the one you are committing to buy. Make sure you check the specifications in the brochure. Bear in mind that the plans and diagrams that are shown to buyers often use 'maximum' measurements which can make it difficult to gauge the real amount of available space.

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