Potential gazunder

HelpWhereIcan

How effective gazundering will be as a tactic will depend on the property and the area.

My experience of it in the current market in my area is that it is counter productive unless the vendors have found a place that they have set their hearts on. even then it can be dangerous if you gazundering means that they have to approach their vendor for a reduction.

However, you mention that this is an estate sale. To me that can mean one of two things:

1. Family who are keen to get rid - especially if the house needs some modernisation (the typical Granny's 1950s kitchen etc)

2. Family who will disagree about what to do in response to your offer. I had a sale go on for 18 months at the height of the market because one of three siblings kept inisiting that they ask for more as the value of the house rose. The market has reversed but you may find that there is a brother who thinks they should keep it until the market improves and a gazunder will tip the whole thing over the edge.

If your aim is to speed things along, you are best calling your solicitor and insisting that they contact the vendors' solicitors and set a deadline by which they will complete or you pull out (as has been suggested).

If it is to get some off the price, then you are entitled to offer whatever you like - just be prepared in case the reaction is less than favourable and have a plan B.

You could get a combination of both by giving them a week to exchange or your offer reduces by say 5%.

Just remember that you do have the upper hand really. If they pull out they have to find a new buyer, wait for their survey, wait for their mortgage approval, wait for their searches etc etc. How much is avoiding the financial/emotional pain that could cause worth to your vendors do you thin,k?

Good Luck, not an easy choice to make in any market.

RabbitMad

I'd just phone the EA and tell them you are pulling out as its taking too long (and not tell my OH). I bet you get the EA begging you to continue at which point you give a timescale for exchange plus a reduction in price and play hard ball.

When I first bought I had no idea of the timescales was in no particular rush to get the deposit sorted etc. I was eventually given the demand of exchange the next day or lose the property.

I was on the phone that afternoon to arrange an extension to my already considerable overdraft facility and had the deposit to the sols the next day

mrs_deadline

Agree apart from the bit about going behind the OH's back - a practice even more dodgy than gazundering!

HouseBuyersOH

Just before we disappear too far into the realms of assumption and prejudice, I'm the OP's OH and it may be worth just filling out the picture a bit.

First off, I'm not a financial imbecile. This is coming off the back of a marital breakup, and I've already been through one property crash, bought low (against prevailing opinion), and just paid off the mortgage from cash in full as part of the settlement. I have about £130K cash which is going to be either used as deposit or as an offset. If you add in my OH's savings, we aren't going to end up with a massive effective mortgage and we're perfectly well able to manage our finances at every level.

The offer price took a 15-20% correction in prices into account. In fact we put in loads of low offers on loads of places before we had this one accepted. My judgement up until this week was that we could accept some downside risk at the offer price. Since the vendor has failed to get their act together, time has passed, and it appears that the risk has increased. So we certainly will look at renegotiating the price.

kunekune

"joint income 79.8k"

OH and myself have a joint income of just over 80K and our take-home pay is about 5000, and that's after pensions are taken off. The only way I could see your figure coming out is if one of you is earning a lot more than the other, so that a larger portion of this is at the top tax rate.

HouseBuyersOH

A lot of my income is indeed taken off at higher rate. Some of it also goes to my ex-wife.

Can someone please explain how this is relevant to the question, except that there seem to be a great many smug idiots without the slightest actual knowledge of our financial situation who want to sit in judgement?

ess0two

HouseBuyersOH wrote: »

A lot of my income is indeed taken off at higher rate. Some of it also goes to my ex-wife.

Can someone please explain how this is relevant to the question, except that there seem to be a great many smug idiots without the slightest actual knowledge of our financial situation who want to sit in judgement?

Welcome to MSE..............stay any further and no doubt you'll be talked out of buying.
This place is full of bitter wannabe homeowners and second guessers.

GDB2222

HouseBuyersOH wrote: »

Can someone please explain how this is relevant to the question, except that there seem to be a great many smug idiots without the slightest actual knowledge of our financial situation who want to sit in judgement?

To be fair, the original posting asked 'I loathe the idea of gazundering but what else can I do now?' This is a moral and a practical question.

Morally, you know the position. Things have changed since you agreed the price, the delay is the fault of the vendors, and what they have to sell is worth less than when you agreed. So, I think the morals are pretty obvious. Nevertheless, 'sitting in judgement' is reasonable on a moral issue, no?

Practically, if you gazunder, the vendors may pull out of the sale. They may be wrong to do so, but you need to be prepared and have a Plan B, ie another property. In that connection, the question of where house prices are going and the general wisdom of proceeding are relevant IMHO.

This is all obvious, but I guess there's no harm in your asking.

HouseBuyersOH

No problem with judgements on the question itself, but how on earth does the precise amount of take home salary or the question of whether we have cash for decorating become relevant? Really, I'd love to know.

There seems to be a preconception here that anyone conceiving the idea of a house purchase is a !!!!less financial dunderhead who has spent their deposit money on wall to wall plasma TVs.

macaque_2

HouseBuyersOH wrote: »

Just before we disappear too far into the realms of assumption and prejudice, I'm the OP's OH and it may be worth just filling out the picture a bit.

First off, I'm not a financial imbecile. This is coming off the back of a marital breakup, and I've already been through one property crash, bought low (against prevailing opinion), and just paid off the mortgage from cash in full as part of the settlement. I have about £130K cash which is going to be either used as deposit or as an offset. If you add in my OH's savings, we aren't going to end up with a massive effective mortgage and we're perfectly well able to manage our finances at every level.

The offer price took a 15-20% correction in prices into account. In fact we put in loads of low offers on loads of places before we had this one accepted. My judgement up until this week was that we could accept some downside risk at the offer price. Since the vendor has failed to get their act together, time has passed, and it appears that the risk has increased. So we certainly will look at renegotiating the price.

I think you are doing the right thing (assuming you can afford it). Many people have become obsessed with making money from property. They seem to have forgotton that there are still people out there whose primary motive for buying a house is to have a home to live in. Good luck.