Should I reduce my offer?

morg_monster

I agree with some of the principles of gazundering when you realise the house is genuinely worth less than you thought for some reason (like, its been months since you made the offer and the vendors are really holding you up, or you realise the house needs unexpected work etc), but

"Now after hearing what he said about quick sale and difficulty in selling the property I want to reduce my offer."

doesn't make the house worth any less. I think this particular kind of tactic is what makes people see gazunderers in a bad light. You thought it was worth £215k last week, prices have not changed 4% in a week, so where is the justification in now offering only £207k? I guess you are just seeing if you can get away with it, which is fair enough, but I personally think it isn't a very nice thing to do, it is like you are holding them to ransom a bit, exploiting their fears.

For some context, we'll hopefully be FTBs soon enough while the market is still falling and we'll be making sure we don't pay over the odds. We would reduce offers by an amount needed to complete unexpected work highlighted by the survey, but when we make our original offer we'll already have considered how far we believe the value of the house might still fall, and how long it will (likely) take to complete the sale, and make our offer based on all of that.

And yes I know when the market was rising SOME people gazumped, but not everyone, and you can't assume that every person who is opposed to gazundering, is in favour of gazumping!

Anyway good luck with it all Steve.

pawpurrs

Im sorry you think I am rude, first time I have been called that, but take a step back and see what you are proposing and think how you would feel if it was you selling the house, and what you would think if your buyer was acting the way you are.
I dont believe in gazundering or gazumping, if the survey came back with major works, fine reduce your offer, but then to reduce it again because they missed your deadline,(by a day) sorry I think thats just wrong, its not like its been monthes.
You should be happy that they have agreed to drop so much, not just seeing if you can screw them somemore.
If you had come on here as a seller wanting to gazump at the last minute, when a buyer had acted in good faith, paying out on survey fees, etc, I would think you were just as out of order.
Step back, put yourself in their shoes and then tell me what you are doing is anyway reasonable.

m1ntie

I agree with pawpurrs - if I was the seller I would tell you to get lost. I hope they do that!

hethmar

Remember that this is an empty house though and probably the proceeds will be shared between several people - they may just want it over and done with OR one of them may stand their ground for a higher price.

The other estate agent with a house on the same street 4 or 5 months - how much is that house - if its the same - priced at.

Whilst I appreciate some of the comments re gazumping/gazundering - this market is making everyone nervous about ending up in negative equity. If you put in an offer and then after 2 months see similar properties plummeting in price around you, then it would be silly to throw away hard earned thousands wouldnt it. Though to be fair steve (just reread the post) they have already agreed to a large drop havent they. You could push them a bit too far, particularly if they think a new agent may sell quickly.

neverdespairgirl

pawpurrs wrote: »

Im sorry but its people like you that make buying and selling houses such a nightmare, stop messing around, they have agreed your reduced offer and now you want to mess them around again, personally I think your bang out of order, and hope that when you come to sell the same happens to you, and you can see what its like to deal with idiots!

He made an offer for a certain period of time (1 week) and they didn't accept it within that time.

wolfman

I strongly disagree with pawpurs, who comes across as the idiot, not steve78.

A few points

- Just because they've reduced it a lot doesn't mean anything. If I value a house at £500,000 and reduce it to £250,000 that doesn't make me a saint. It's what the house is worth that counts, not the reductions.

- The seller has the right to say no. And they're more than welcome to. It's their risk in a falling market. They may end up getting less than £207k, and they also delay moving house themselves.

- Steve78 is a FTB. FTB's have been screwed for years, and struggled to get onto the market. All credit for reducing a house to a more reasonable level. Expensive house prices don't benefit anyone.

- You fairly made them an offer, and let it stand for a week. They missed the deadline and have obviously come back out of (possible) desperation. That's typical business, the ball is in your court. I would reduce your offer to £210k. Especially given how much the average house is losing each month.

As people have mentioned, property markets are all about selling chains. Now that BTL's are out of the picture, FTB's need to fill the void to complete the chain. And they can't do that while houses are overpriced.

And finally, seller's did more than enough screwing buyers over. Pulling out of deals, taking another offer. Now the tables have turned. Just accept it. It's how the business world works. It's a buyers market now.

pawpurrs

If believing that you should treat others as you wish to be treated makes me an Idiot, then Im happy to accept that.
The seller has allready agreed to a substantial reduction on a property that needs renovation, so would have been priced with that in mind. They have proberbly taken their house off the market in good faith, that the buyer was serious. Now because the agent says its a quiet time, the buyer think that is justification to reduce their offer further as the deadline expired by a day!
Where does it end, how would the seller be confident that you wouldnt reduce again, because you didnt realise the windows were painted blue?
Come on guys!

greggymagic

Steve78

Treat others how you would like to be treated yourself. Don't try to claim that if it was okay for people to Gazump whilst prices were rising then that justifies you in some way. If you do that then you are just as bad as the people that you seem happy to criticise.

If you were happy to offer 215K last week and it was accepted, then what's changed (besides the fact that you have learnt that the sellers could be desperate)?

Okay you're after the best deal possible but does knowing that the sellers are desperate make the house worth any less or are you just using a bit of emotional manipulation to save a couple of grand?

Make your final offer and stick to it. If its 207K then fine if it's less/more then fine but stop mucking about with the old "They were one day outside my deadline!" as if you are some jonny big potatoes.

Hope this helps

adr0ck

personally i would tell you to get knotted

you sound like a complete time waster

Steve78

pawpurrs wrote: »

If believing that you should treat others as you wish to be treated makes me an Idiot, then Im happy to accept that.
The seller has allready agreed to a substantial reduction on a property that needs renovation, so would have been priced with that in mind. They have proberbly taken their house off the market in good faith, that the buyer was serious. Now because the agent says its a quiet time, the buyer think that is justification to reduce their offer further as the deadline expired by a day!
Where does it end, how would the seller be confident that you wouldnt reduce again, because you didnt realise the windows were painted blue?
Come on guys!

The house is still on the market and has been on the market for a month. After the survey report when I reduced my offer( and that was a genuine reduction) they put the property on the market without telling me. I am a serious buyer, have spent on my mortgage fee, survey fee and solicitor for searches so if this deal does not happen I will lose money. I want to go through with the deal as well.