We've been Gazundered!

tawse57

From today's Telegraph:

Home owners must reduce prices by 10 percent to sell properties

Home owners must accept offers of 10 per cent below the asking price to sell their properties, warn estate agents who are the gloomiest they have been about the housing market for 18 months.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/8000177/Home-owners-must-reduce-prices-by-10pc-to-sell-properties.html

Surely if someone is about to exchange and someone gazunders them for a few K then in a falling market the sensible thing would be to just sell?

ILW

Why do people have a problem getting into their heads that an offer is no more than an unofficial expression of interest until contracts have been exchanged. Work on that basis and you will not be disappointed.

tawse57

And from today's Guardian:

'The end of the housing ladder

"The last helicopter is leaving Saigon, and lots of people who thought there was such a thing as a housing "ladder" – a ladder that always goes up, rather than toppling down a ravine while their legs pump uselessly, Wile E Coyote-style – are starting to think there won't be room inside for everyone."'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/14/end-of-the-housing-ladder

Chasing the market down might not be a wise move bearing in mind all the negative articles about property in most of the papers today. The Guardian article is very interesting re sentiment out there.

Arthritic_Toe

ILW wrote: »

Why do people have a problem getting into their heads that an offer is no more than an unofficial expression of interest until contracts have been exchanged. Work on that basis and you will not be disappointed.

Its not that at all. Its an offer to buy a property at an agreed price, subject to survey. Phoning the agent to have a look round is an unofficial expression of interest. My word is my bond and all that.

I realise some people don't behave this way, but I believe the majority do. I'll not have anything to do with people who renege on their word, in business or in life generally.

ILW

Arthritic_Toe wrote: »

Its not that at all. Its an offer to buy a property at an agreed price, subject to survey. Phoning the agent to have a look round is an unofficial expression of interest. My word is my bond and all that.

Not until it's in writing it isn't. (legally speaking).

tawse57

Originally Posted by Arthritic Toe
Phoning the agent to have a look round is an unofficial expression of interest. My word is my bond and all that.

That is clutching at straws. Plenty of nosey people who have no intention of buying go viewing houses almost as a hobby.

The tabloids are now running with the stories about falling house prices and loss of confidence amongst surveyors - looks like a lot of sellers are going to be chasing the market down over the coming 12 months?

Arthritic_Toe

ILW wrote: »

Not until it's in writing it isn't. (legally speaking).

If I borrow 50 quid off a mate and then I deny it and refuse to pay him back, that isn't legally enforcible either. I'd lose a mate and no one would trust me again. I'd be 50 pounds richer though.

wodgerdodger

Perhaps one of our legal subscribers can quote us the Law of Contract.
I would accept a conditional offer to purchase i.e subject to survey/mortgage is a valid reason to renegotiate. An unconditional offer to purchase is however I believe a "contract" and in commerce legally binding even though verbal; but perhaps my values in this modern day aren't the same as others.

ninky_2

shaven-monkey wrote: »

This is a negotiation tactic. Until the contract is exchanged nothing is settled.

How exactly would you make it illegal?

.

the scottish system?

ILW

Arthritic_Toe wrote: »

If I borrow 50 quid off a mate and then I deny it and refuse to pay him back, that isn't legally enforcible either. I'd lose a mate and no one would trust me again. I'd be 50 pounds richer though.

True.
But in the case of Gazundering, you could be £30k better off and the only person you have offended is a stranger who you are never likely to meet again. Bit different.