FTB will I be in the wrong?

DuvetHound

Hello, I've been lurking for a few weeks and was hoping you could help put my mind at ease.

I'm 24 and have been saving for a deposit for a one bedroon flat in the South East. I have £14000 saved. I started looking at properties in May and as my saving increased I have looked a more expensive ones. Earlier in the year I had an offer accepted on a flat but had to withdraw it as dogs were not allowed in the building - a massive reason as to why I am buying is to provide a secure future for my jack russell. I ended up saving again and viewed more flats. Last week I viewed a nice flat slightly over what I can afford at the moment but was in a perfect location and seemed nice. Went back for second viewing and noticed a feww issues (old boiler, rotton window frames, suspicious damp). The flat is in a beautiful building at could be lovely with some work. I put in quite a low offer with the advice of my mortgage advisor. This was regected (as I expected it would be) but the vendor had said that they wouldn't accept anything in the 70ks. I offered 80k stating that this was the absolute maximum and I would not go higher. Vendor refused offer and I booked more viewings.
Yesterday I saw a refurbished flat a few streets away at a slightly higher price but immaculate and vendor open to offers. I decided that if i'm going to pay top whack I don't want to fork out for improvements right away and would actually like to start living. So didn't feel to sad about refused offer. Low and behold the EA phoned in the afternoon and said vendor has reconsidered on the offer he refused... Suprise suprise!

Now, I have more or less decided that I don't want to buy the flat as I would have to do lots of work and it's at the top of my budget and there are now other options. Is walking away bad etiquette? Will people be irritated and think i'm being flakey?
The last thing I want to so if let the EA's think i'm fickle and untrustworthy- that goes for my mortgage advisor too.

sorry for the post length!
Thanks

marathonic

DuvetHound wrote: »

Is walking away bad etiquette? Will people be irritated and think i'm being flakey?

No issues with walking away.

Personally, if I liked the place and the only thing putting me off was the work, I'd tell the estate agent the truth (and add in a white lie - maybe tell him you have had an offer of the same amount on a place not requiring work accepted but would possibly consider it if the price were dropped to £75k)

jackomdj

This is the biggest purchase in your life (so far), if you are not 100% sure then walk away. State that after viewing other properties you think your previous offer was too high, if you are happy at a lower offer go back with that but otherwise walk away.

FATBALLZ

Buying a property is a business decision rather than one where observing etiquette is important. Don't buy a place you don't want for over the odds just to save minor upset to some stranger who messed you about in the first place!

The only poor etiquette in house buying (aside from obvious things like not leaving a curry influenced dump in the loo when you're on a viewing) is gazundering/gazumping.

phill99

It's not bad etiquette. They had the choice at the time to accept your offer, so they are the ones with the problem, not you.

You are spending a lot of money and therefore have to make the decision that is right for you, even if some people get rubbed up the wrong way by it.

go_cat

Better to say no now then later in the process !

Small doubts now = even bigger ones later

PasturesNew

No worries re walking away. They gave you more time to think by rejecting your first offer..... and now you've thought you realise it wasn't the right one.... nobody will think you're flakey.

DuvetHound

Thank you folks. That's put my mind at ease... I'll be brave when I call the EA tomorrow morning!

bitsandpieces

PasturesNew wrote: »

No worries re walking away. They gave you more time to think by rejecting your first offer..... and now you've thought you realise it wasn't the right one.... nobody will think you're flakey.

Vendor refused the offer - so you've no reason to keep it on the table. Quite reasonable to say you've had more time to think and no longer want to offer - or you could be honest and say you've seen better since (if you'd still be interested in this flat at the right place you could put the ball back in the vendor's court by asking what the lowest price they'd accept is, given that you've since seen a nearby place that needs less work, but depends whether you would want it...)

If you'd made an offer, had it accepted promptly and then tried to back out - that might be poor etiquette (though, given the size of the purchase, a less bad option than buying the wrong property). If the vendor refuses an offer, though, no reason at all why you should stand by it unless you want to.

Notmyrealname

DuvetHound wrote: »

Now, I have more or less decided that I don't want to buy the flat as I would have to do lots of work and it's at the top of my budget and there are now other options. Is walking away bad etiquette? Will people be irritated and think i'm being flakey?
The last thing I want to so if let the EA's think i'm fickle and untrustworthy- that goes for my mortgage advisor too.

sorry for the post length!
Thanks

Buying a home is the biggest purchase you will ever make in your life.

The first vendor messed you about so don't feel bad about it. The EAs won't care if you're fickle - they just want the sale so they can get their commission, likewise the mortgage provider.

Mrs_Imp

You've moved on mentally from that flat. It happens. We had the same thing when we offered on a house. It was refused, so we carried on looking. They came back to us and said that they would be interested in our offer, but by then we'd already discounted it mentally and were looking at other places, so we said 'Sorry, but we've moved on now'