Negotiating Impasse

redbooks

Hello I'd really appreciate some advice as this house buying malarkey is making me lose perspective.

We've reached a stalemate with the seller and we're only 4k apart. He refuses to budge anymore and has given us a tight time deadline and my other half now wants us to walk away.

We're not in love with the house and it needs some work but it is the best we can afford from a very limited stock in the school catchment area and neighbourhood we want to live in. The last house we offered on - which we did love - came back with a horror story survey including subsidence, dry rot and damp. This place has problems with the roof and penetrating damp and the hidden problems will take around £10-14k to fix, including a new roof. We asked for a reduction in price and after a week of haggling, damp and roof reports we've gotten a 4k reduction from the seller. My other half (who may be influenced by the fact the seller and estate agent are quite irritating) wants us to walk away. I'm too sick of the process to care hugely about the house but there are no decent alternatives on the market and we have a buyer for our place lined up. Oh and I'm pregnant and so maybe not as rational as I might be.

Opinions really welcome!

Mallotum_X

What area are you in and how long was the house up for sale for.

What % of the house cost is the 4k?

If I wasnt that bothered by the house and i felt like i was being messed about I would consider walking away, but it depends on how quickly you want to move etc.

redbooks

It's in London and was up for a few weeks, I've no doubt it'll sell if it goes back to the market. 4k is laughably 0.5% of the asking price. The underlying problem I think is that the seller is awkward (has been v rude to our surveyors and roofer), my other half isnt fussed about the house and thinks we're being pushed around by the seller and the agent (and wants the seller to come closer to meeting us in the damp and roof issues) and I'm just sick of looking at crappy unsuitable overpriced houses, nothing new has come on the market in weeks, am pregnant and have a ready first-time buyer lined up for our place.

Fire_Fox

Welcome! Move into rental accommodation in the catchment area, wait for the right house to come up - you will then be in a strong chain free position. Don't spend tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds on a house that needs loads of work and don't love, and don't underestimate the upheaval of replacing the roof.

paddyrg

If the seller is being a !!!!!! about it, this won't be the last thing they're a !!!!!! about, the whole sale will be a right old pain in the whoopsie.

How about you go back to the seller with your own *tighter* timescale to accept or decline your offer for good - a few days maybe. At least it'll reverse the pressure, and you can move on with getting into a rental property where you need to be and with time to find the *right* house :-) Remember the market is static-to-falling in many areas

WestonDave

Bottom line is its either worth the extra £4k he wants for it (in which case if you walk away he'll have another buyer pretty quickly) or its not and he'll be stuck with it and end up dropping the price. However as it was only on the market a couple of weeks he holds more cards than you - you've already spent out on survey fees etc which you will lose if you walk away whereas he got an offer for the original price fairly quickly so would expect at this stage to get another offer if he holds out.

You can't push him down as you have no negotiating strength so either decide to pay the extra £4k (and go with the hassle of the roof etc work being done) or walk away and put your time and effort into something you really want.

Stanley_St

I was in this sort of situation once and I walked away. After a week or two the seller came back accepting the offer he had previously rejected.

By then I had already made an offer on another house. After a day or two of uncertainty, I decided to stick with my commitment to the new sellers.

Looking back I am happy with how things turned out and have grown to love the house I did buy. I wasn't sure about it at the time though.

cootuk

If you move into a house you dont bother about with a new baby, then you may grow to hate it. Babies can stretch relationships, and then there will be the house problems on top. Babies will always come first.
Roof work and damp with a baby..I guess you might even move out whilst that is being done?

Mobeer

Honestly, if you don't love the house then walk away. Don't even make an offer in the first place unless it is somewhere you love.

ruggedtoast

Maybe its time for.... a rightmove link!

Ivana_Tinkle

Normally I'd agree with the advice to walk away, and perhaps to rent for a bit, but I'd be a bit worried that, if this is the only thing you can afford now, if house prices go up even by a small percentage (which doesn't seem unlikely, given that you're in London), you're going to be completely priced out of this area.

Just looking on the bright side, buying "the worst house on a good street", which this sounds like it might be, is usually a very good investment. (Even if the seller is a !!!!!!.)