Young Auckland couple loses home after developer asks them to fork out extra $150k for first home

A young couple who lost out on buying their first home after the developer increased the price by $150,000 says they are heartbroken.

Some first-home buyers are finding out that even with a signed contract in hand, sellers can demand thousands more or they kill the deal.

The Rosier Park housing development by F&P Dream Homes in the Auckland suburb of Glen Eden turned into a nightmare due to covid, says the developer Josh Fan.

He says Auckland suddenly went into alert level 4 and they had to rebook inspections with the council and subcontractor.

“The delays caused much more construction cost and financial cost,” he told The Project.

Fan says all those extra costs forced him to raise the price of several homes after the deposit was already paid.

Price tags jumped anywhere from tens of thousands of dollars to $150,000 – which is what happened to Fraser Galbraith and Marina Person.

“They gave us 10 days, and then five more days to haggle,” Galbraith says.

“We offered them $700,000, which was $75,000 more than the original deal, at which case they kicked us out of the deal.”

He adds that they only realised what was happening to them once they “got that ruthless email asking for the big bucks”.

“We’re really heartbroken, disappointed,” Person says.