Selling parents' house - how much to expect?'

pinkteapot

suze200 is right. You can say that to him but it's in no way binding.

If the buyer's thinking he'll use any little thing in the survey to get more money off, it could be a good thing to do in that he'll probably pull out now and you won't waste your time with him.

Aside from that, it's hardly a tactic worth bothering with. If the survey throws up minor stuff (as all surveys do), you can refuse to budge on price on the basis that he could see the cosmetic state of the house when he viewed. If the survey were to find a major problem that you were unaware of, then you might have to reassess the value and be prepared to negotiate.

Post-survey is always just a matter of negotiation. You're under absolutely no obligation to accept a revised price but equally the buyer is under no obligation to proceed.

somethingcorporate

It really does depend on what the survey throws up, it is a tactic to try but do not expect it to be binding on them.

If it comes back with a new roof or subsidence (that can cost upwards of £5k to fix) then I very much doubt they will want to maintain their offer.

Good luck!

phoebe1989seb

Just to let you guys know that having gone back to the EA saying to accept the offer but with the condition the buyer wouldn't try to beat the price down further after the survey, he withdrew his offer and has apparently had an offer accepted on something else. There are only two other vaguely similar houses on the market within 1/4 mile radius - both are sold.

One (actually in the same road - I wasn't aware it was still on the market as has been on & off for years) has had lots of work done in the last five years including extending to the rear. It was on for £340k, was dropped to £320k in May and appears to have gone under offer on 13th August.

As the potential buyer's upper limit was apparently £230k to allow for some work and he only informed our EA that he had decided against my parents' house this week it doesn't look as though he is the buyer for that one.

The other similar style of house is within a five minute walk and is slightly more *neutral* decor-wise than my parents' house, but doesn't have the good sized garden - only a paved courtyard - that theirs' has. It did go under offer at the weekend though - so that could be the one he bought.......price £200-250k guide.

Anyhoo, too late to get upset now - most likely we should have just accepted the £230k when he first offered.....as indeed many here advised - sorry guys We have decided to reduce the price to £250k and there are two more viewings lined up for Saturday, so hopefully something will come of one of those

Will keep you posted how it goes.......

DiscoCat54

Sorry to hear that your buyer pulled out but much better that he did it now rather than further down the road. Good luck with your viewings at the weekend!

phoebe1989seb

DiscoCat54 wrote: »

Sorry to hear that your buyer pulled out but much better that he did it now rather than further down the road. Good luck with your viewings at the weekend!

Thanks DiscoCat - how's it going with your parents' house?

We had a call from the EA at lunchtime - they had actually arranged four viewings back-to-back and one couple did make an offer of £235k but have yet to accept an offer on their own house. They realised that their offer wouldn't be taken too seriously as a result, but I think as they saw the other viewers lined up they wanted to get their interest noted by the EA so they have asked for the offer to be left on the table in the hope they get an offer themselves soon.

In the meantime the guy doing the viewings was still at my parents' house showing the last of them over - and another is booked for Monday - so hopefully more offers might be forthcoming next week. Dropping to £250k certainly seems to be doing the trick so far

phoebe1989seb

Well, Saturday's block-viewings definitely seemed to do the trick as we are now in receipt of three offers on my parents' house

The couple that offered on Saturday have today accepted an offer from cash buyers on theirs, so their offer of £235k is still on the table.

A second couple from Saturday have offered £250k but are tied into a rental contract for 6 months so whilst they are good to go insofar as they have nothing to sell, they can't afford rent plus mortgage at the same time and are therefore looking for a long completion of 6 months.

Today there was another viewing from a very keen buyer who immediately afterwards started talking offers and the EA told them they would have to match the £250k that has already been received - but they will need to bring their parents for a second viewing (Thursday) as they will have to borrow a little from them to make the £250k do-able.......

Tbh, buyer 2 seems ideal - but (typically) the EA has advised we wait till the second viewing on Thursday before we agree to accept their offer

namecheck

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

Well, Saturday's block-viewings definitely seemed to do the trick as we are now in receipt of three offers on my parents' house

.....

That sounds promising. Good luck.

Colin297

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

Well, Saturday's block-viewings definitely seemed to do the trick as we are now in receipt of three offers on my parents' house

The couple that offered on Saturday have today accepted an offer from cash buyers on theirs, so their offer of £235k is still on the table.

A second couple from Saturday have offered £250k but are tied into a rental contract for 6 months so whilst they are good to go insofar as they have nothing to sell, they can't afford rent plus mortgage at the same time and are therefore looking for a long completion of 6 months.

Today there was another viewing from a very keen buyer who immediately afterwards started talking offers and the EA told them they would have to match the £250k that has already been received - but they will need to bring their parents for a second viewing (Thursday) as they will have to borrow a little from them to make the £250k do-able.......

Tbh, buyer 2 seems ideal - but (typically) the EA has advised we wait till the second viewing on Thursday before we agree to accept their offer

Sweet.

Either of the final two parties look promising.

In terms of number 2, how about tell them you'd take 245k now. Surely that 5k would cover their rent. Seems like the perfect solution, surely?

phoebe1989seb

Colin297 wrote: »

Sweet.

Either of the final two parties look promising.

In terms of number 2, how about tell them you'd take 245k now. Surely that 5k would cover their rent. Seems like the perfect solution, surely?

Yes, we thought the same and did suggest that to the EA - but he seemed to think it was worth waiting till after Thursday when the other party has their second viewing......maybe we should have argued with him, but DH (who spoke to him on that occasion) said he was pretty persuasive