Seller has come back with a 'can't go lower than' offer?

MaxTheCat

I've just been through this myself this week where my offer was rejected and told what the vendors would accept. Now this was well within my ability to pay for but I didn't want to so I just asked the EA if the vendors really wanted to sell it so they could move on as the house had been on the market for a while then put the phone down. Well a few days and calls later with the EA trying to get me to up my offer the vendor decided to accept my offer. My advice simply is not to sound too keen and point out that there are other houses. My favourite line with them is to say well it ain't buckingham palace there are and will be others.

mattk1234

We had this recently. how was on at 200K.. owners paid 200K 5 years ago for it.. been on for ages. So we offered 180.. eventually amde it up to 191 which was a good offer as houses in area not really going for that but it was really nice.. they turned down - was told they'd accept 195 = walked away found something else.. fingers crossed it goes through!

Point is pay what you think its worth and if not walk away! Sounds like they are in negative equity.. like the house we were looking at was.. Ask yourself why would you want to take their debt on?

moneyistooshorttomention

Regarding negative equity being "taking their debt on" - I would suggest that anyone in a negative equity situation wouldn't be thinking "How can I find someone to take my debt on?". Their thinking would much more likely be "I'm not in debt and I don't intend to be forced into going into debt. I'll just wait to sell until such time as I know a buyer couldn't put me into debt to move on...." and that's the house probably taken off the market and unavailable to buyers for a while.

I suspect there are a lot of houses currently waiting to even get put up for sale at all at the moment because the owners don't intend to be put in a situation of going from debt-free to being in debt and will therefore wait for house prices to rise before marketing theirs. I have been very surprised at how few houses there are for sale in my area, compared to the number I would have expected...and I expect that's much of the reason why.

zzzLazyDaisy

This happened to me when I bought the house I am in now. I agreed to pay an extra £5k but told them that was my furnishings money, so it was on condition they left all the kitchen cupboards, table, cooker, fridge and freezer, washer and tumble dryer. This was a major concern because most of the kitchen cupboards were free standing antique pine, so I was going to be left with an empty kitchen! As it happened they were moving to somewhere that had a fully fitted kitchen and were wanting me to buy these bits and pieces from them on top of the house price, so they threw them in to clinch the deal.

So it might be worth going back for another look and seeing if there are wardrobes, curtains or other things that would make your life easier when you move. Most people leave carpets these days, but fancy light fittings and curtain rails can be replaced with bog standard ones, and you may not discover this till you get the F&F lists, so make sure you nail down (metaphorically speaking) what is staying at an early stage.

Serafinaaa

I offered 5k less on the house that I am buying. The vendors came back with a counter offer of 2k more but to include fridge, freezer, washing machine, tumble dryer, blinds for all rooms, light fittings for all rooms and a few other things. I thought that this was fair enough in my situation as I am moving from a furnished flat and don't have those things.

princeofpounds

One way of sense-checking claims like this is to look on the land registry and see when the property was last bought and for what price.

If it was in the 2008 peak and the price was a bit higher than the current price, good chance it's true.

If in 2003 and a far lower price, they have either MEWed in a spectacular fashion (which you may be able to have an intuition on) or are pulling your leg.

poppysarah

Calleja wrote: »

Hi all,

I've put two offers on a house which have both been rejected. On the second rejection, the EA has advised me that the vendor is keen to sell but they can't let the property go for less than £xxxk (based on what they owe the bank). The price they have come back with is a few grand less than what the asking price was.

You are not responsible for repaying their debt to their bank.

Move on and find another.

mummyroysof3

We have had an offer on a £140000 house of £13000 rejected. Estate agent has suggested offering to meet at £135 but I was only going to offer £132 as that's what I asked natwest for. Will need to Suss out first if I can go any higher or not first I think on Monday

Wi88le

mummyroysof3 wrote: »

We have had an offer on a £140000 house of £13000 rejected. Estate agent has suggested offering to meet at £135 but I was only going to offer £132 as that's what I asked natwest for. Will need to Suss out first if I can go any higher or not first I think on Monday

Have you allowed for stamp duty in the offer or increased possible offer?

mummyroysof3

We do know we have to pay 1% yes. It's only a hundred pounds different if paying asking price