Halifax August - 1.8% yoy -10.9%

neverdespairgirl

Treadmill wrote: »

Finding a lump in your testicles or waking up to find a man ... is scary.

Particularly if you are a woman!

GDB2222

Chris2685 wrote: »

So you're saying you would get to the contract exchange and then turn around to the person selling and say you won't continue unless they drop the price x%? That is pretty despicable. I was saying that I could hypothetically do that, but I would not do that because it goes against all my morals. I would be equally upset if they turned around in a rising market and said that they were pulling out unless I stumped up x%!

I certainly would not get to contract exchange stage and then drop a bombshell on the vendor. That would be dreadful. However, if you made your offer some time ago, house prices have dropped say 5% in the meantime and you weren't anticipating this, I think it is moral to seek to renegotiate.

Any initial negotiations are 'subject to contract', and conditions have changed prior to the contract. If the house burnt down prior to exchange of contracts, you wouldn't expect to buy it at the original price. If problems arose on the survey, likewise. This drop in house prices is similar. Of course, you must have anticipated some fluctuation in prices during a period of a couple of months, but the drop we have seen this summer is simply unprecedented and nobody could expect you to have foreseen it.

Others have suggested that you owe no duty to your vendor, and I don't agree with that approach any more than you do. There is a middle course that is reasonable. I hope that it works out for you, whatever you decide, but I think you are probably over-doing the morality bit here.

mystic_trev

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

Particularly if you are a woman!

Reminds me of an old joke.

Q. What's the difference between an Essex girl and an Essex boy?

Ans. An Essex girl has a higher sperm count!:eek:

:rotfl:

neverdespairgirl

Or -

Q. Why wasn't Jesus born in Essex?

A. God couldn't find 3 wise men and a virgin....

mustrum_ridcully

Dan: wrote: »

Oh no. You can now expect BoE to cut rates later today. Halifax have released these figures today so the morning news coverage would be 'double-digit house price falls - biggest since 1983 - and threfore pressuring BoE to cut rates.

Halifax done this when we got the last cut back in April ish.

Well we all know the answer now admittedly, but how likely was a rate cut after Chairman Brown had announced his glorious and majestic plan to save his backside to save the housing market? I suspect that this would have effectively made sure that the state of the housing market wasn't too big a consideration this month.

Chris2685

GDB2222 wrote: »

I certainly would not get to contract exchange stage and then drop a bombshell on the vendor. That would be dreadful. However, if you made your offer some time ago, house prices have dropped say 5% in the meantime and you weren't anticipating this, I think it is moral to seek to renegotiate.

Any initial negotiations are 'subject to contract', and conditions have changed prior to the contract. If the house burnt down prior to exchange of contracts, you wouldn't expect to buy it at the original price. If problems arose on the survey, likewise. This drop in house prices is similar. Of course, you must have anticipated some fluctuation in prices during a period of a couple of months, but the drop we have seen this summer is simply unprecedented and nobody could expect you to have foreseen it.

Others have suggested that you owe no duty to your vendor, and I don't agree with that approach any more than you do. There is a middle course that is reasonable. I hope that it works out for you, whatever you decide, but I think you are probably over-doing the morality bit here.

Thanks for a reasonable response
I do agree that there will have been a drop since the end of July when we made our original offer, and maybe a renegotiation after 3 months would be not quite so bad as waiting until the deadline to drop the price. I never really meant to go off on one about my morality or whatever, it was really dopester that was baiting me with that.

That aside, however, to renegotiate now would cause yet another set of delays in purchasing the house, especially as we have just had the house approved to be purchased through the MyChoice Homebuy scheme, and they have stated that we must exchange contracts by near the end of October. I still think that my making them take it off the market for all this time, and the fact it is me (circumstances beyond my control, but still me) that has made the process take so long, it would be pretty unfair to come back with a lower offer now...

Dan:_4

Chris2685 wrote: »

Thanks for a reasonable response
I do agree that there will have been a drop since the end of July when we made our original offer, and maybe a renegotiation after 3 months would be not quite so bad as waiting until the deadline to drop the price. I never really meant to go off on one about my morality or whatever, it was really dopester that was baiting me with that.

That aside, however, to renegotiate now would cause yet another set of delays in purchasing the house, especially as we have just had the house approved to be purchased through the MyChoice Homebuy scheme, and they have stated that we must exchange contracts by near the end of October. I still think that my making them take it off the market for all this time, and the fact it is me (circumstances beyond my control, but still me) that has made the process take so long, it would be pretty unfair to come back with a lower offer now...

I understand your dilemma. When I sold my house in 2004 it took a further 5-6 months of delays to exchange. In that time I esitmate the house increased a good 3-5% in value and my neighbours sold during this period for a good 8K more. I could quite of easily dropped out and put the house back on the market or at least attempt to renegotiate - but that would have been greedy. I hate it when people go back on a deal.

WTF?_2

Dan: wrote: »

I understand your dilemma. When I sold my house in 2004 it took a further 5-6 months of delays to exchange. In that time I esitmate the house increased a good 3-5% in value and my neighbours sold during this period for a good 8K more. I could quite of easily dropped out and put the house back on the market or at least attempt to renegotiate - but that would have been greedy. I hate it when people go back on a deal.

If the delay was on the part of your buyer I would have had no hesitation in asking for more due to the rising market.

If it was your own delay, no.

Dan:_4

!!!!!!? wrote: »

If the delay was on the part of your buyer I would have had no hesitation in asking for more due to the rising market.

If it was your own delay, no.

Thats a fair point.

In my case it was actually trying to get both our solictors to communicate with each other.

dopester

GDB2222 wrote: »

I certainly would not get to contract exchange stage and then drop a bombshell on the vendor. That would be dreadful.

Of course such a planned course of action would be reprehensible. That isn't what I was suggesting.

The problem I've got with Chris2685 is he's been here for weeks, and repeatedly told us about how unsure he is between renting and buying.

Now, yesterday or earlier today, he makes a post saying that the way the market has panned out recently, he could justifiably seek to knock thousands of his original offer.

That is like an admission he his current offer is too high for the current market, despite all the information he's read at MSE for weeks.

What am I expected to say, given its a money saving website? How incredibly intelligent he is by overpaying? How nice a guy he is for sticking to his principles, when all the extra money he has to borrow needs to be repaid with interest over the years?

What happens in 6 months time when the market has fallen much further? He might not like my blunt medicine now, but whatever, I'm tired of being a saint and getting turned on for it, by people who do not deserve my wisdom.

Go overpay Chris. Enjoy your new home. Don't worry when prices keep falling month after month in to the future. You will have the warm glow of being a home owner and surely that is worth any price.