Last minute price rise

kingstreet

Would the lender's surveyor's comparables (the recent - last four months sold prices of similar property in the vicinity - less than 0.5 miles) support a request for an increased valuation?

If not, there's no point you even trying...

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices.html

TBH the vendor's agent should be covering stuff like this with them!

maninthestreet

£10k price rise in 6 weeks? That's about £86K in a year, or 36% rise!

Realopinion

Homehunter123 wrote: »

Is it worth going back to the bank to ask them to revalue? We certainly dont have an extra £10K sitting in our pockets and I don't want to a) pay over the market rate and b) give this person a reward for greed.

Should we just walk away?

Remain calm; this is all part of the conveyancing game and sadly these tactics will help the seller and the Estate Agent so you should ignore their reasons for the increase - just in case you're wondering, the property hasn't gone up by that value in that time.

You are in a good position here; you are the buyer and it sounds like you are close to completion.

Sellers seem to be doing this a lot recently because they feel the property market is so booming that they can get a higher price from someone else - maybe so in some parts of London, but not everywhere.

Here is some advice:

1. How much do you want it - Be honest, ignore the fact you are close to completion, do you really want the property? If the answer is yes then carry on, if it is no then walk away - this hurdle did you a favour because you actually never really wanted this property.
2. If you really want it, play it cool - Don't let the Estate Agent or the Seller know that you really want the house and it is the home of your dreams. Be emotionless and stay matter of factly; it is easy to do this over the phone so try not to meet the Estate Agent face to face.
3. Use the Mortgage Valuation - If your mortgage valuation has come back saying the price you are paying, then your simple response to the Estate Agent is, "this is what the Lender feels it is worth and they are a higher power in all this. I think we both have to agree that a RICS Surveyor has a better ability to value properties than you or I"
4. Be prepared to walk away - Humans want something more when it becomes less available. You should remember this. As much as you are feeling you don't want to lose this property, the seller is also thinking they don't want to lose their buyer. The Estate Agent is somewhere impartially pulling the strings on this.

If I were you I'd send an email to the Estate Agent:

Dear X

Thank you for letting me know the seller has requested an additional £10,000; I'm not sure how this has been calculated with an average increase of 5.5% in the Uk, at £10 per 6 weeks the property would be worth £86,666 (52 weeks @ £1,666 per week) extra by the end of the year which would be great at 36%, but incredibly unlikely.

Sadly this takes the property value in excess of what the RICS Surveyor employed by the Mortgage Lender deems it is worth.

I am sure you'll agree that neither, you, I or the seller are as adept at valuing a property as a the mortgage lender's RICS surveyor; especially with the potential recourse in being sued by the mortgage lender for getting the value wrong.

I can confirm I am still happy to buy the property at £240,000 (original value) and am told by my solicitor that the mortgage offer is ready and the legal work complete so we can exchange very shortly. In the meantime I have asked my solicitor to hold fire until I hear back from you and I will be viewing properties again, so please can you send me through any details of properties that match this criteria.

I'll retract my offer this Friday if I do not hear back from you.

Thanks,

-- Only use this email if you are comfortable with it, but it does wrestle back control so you don't feel the seller holds all the cards.

Good luck and let me know if it helped.

Homehunter123

Thanks, very useful.

I'll certainly use as this is not the 'house of our dreams', if we lose it, we lose it, a bit of money down the drain and a whole load of new experience.

Thanks.

Realopinion

That sucks, but don't give up. You may still get the property. Seller's will hate the prospect of another 10 viewers to get an offer and the uncertainty. It is easy for the Estate Agent to pull the strings because they are detached from the emotion, the seller isn't though.

Remember be nice and remain calm. This is just part of the game and I'd be surprised if they hadn't pulled this trick.

I hope you haven't lost too much money; should only be the mortgage valuation and property searches. I hope your solicitor is working on a no move no fee - it is standard to protect you against stuff like this.

Give me a shout if you need any more help - Power to the honest buyer!

AndyGuil

I would explain that no where in the country has gone up by that percentage in just 6 weeks.

hazyjo

Every property sale takes an average of 12 weeks. If they are stupid enough not to realise that their property may go up in that time and they may have got more at a later date, the letter should actually go more like this.

Dear [Seller]

I understand you are now looking for a £10k increase on the price we agreed for your property due to a rising market.

I am not willing to meet this figure.

Might I suggest that if you are looking for a sale within a week of an offer being made (in order to avoid any future rises), auction may be the best route for you (seeing as the average property sale takes 12 weeks).

I look forward to hearing from you within the next couple of days as to whether you wish to continue with this transaction at the agreed price or whether you are going to go through all this with another buyer (presuming you find another quickly who might take longer to complete).

Yours sincerely,

[BUYER].


My letter, however, might go something like:

Dear Seller

Go whistle.

Yours...

vectistim

There are two further options that haven't been mentioned (perhaps because they would perhaps be of more effect in a chain):
1) Lower your offer by £10,000
2) Verbally agree, then when on the day when you're ready to exchange instruct your solicitor to say you're ready to exchange at £10,000 less than the originally agreed price.
(Given the situation, with both of these you need to be prepared to lose the place, but it might make you feel better, although the second option would not make you popular with the agent for any future property)

gemaface

Hi

We had exactly the same thing happen to us at the end of January. We had spent four months in the process of buying a flat in Anerley, chain-free for £200k. The property only just made its valuation (the survey knocked off £800 as one room showed signs of condensation). The seller dragged her feet through the entire process as one of her friends was letting the place till Christmas - and then just before we got to exchange, she demanded £30k extra as prices in the area have gone through the roof (this is London, just down the road from Crystal Palace). We said that we wouldn't pay the extra £30k, referencing the survey, but she didn't care.

Even though we loved the flat and we could have used the rest of our savings/borrowed money from family to find the extra 30k, we had to turn away from the sale. I am not going to lie, it was totally depressing at the time and has pretty much destroyed my faith in human beings, but we did not want to be emotionally blackmailed into buying a flat. The most annoying thing is that now so much time has passed we cannot afford anything in the area anymore.

Homehunter123 - Did you just get a mortgage valuation or a home buyers survey? We found that by going over the points and issues raised in the survey, it was much easier for us to stand back objectively and say that the flat was not worth the £30k extra. Also, our bank would not revalue the property. Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

Road_Hog

soak wrote: »

If it's empty it's costing them money. I wouldn't say they were in a strong position.

I wouldn't say that. I had an empty property, the first buyer tried a cheeky last minute gazunder, the second buyer took his time and I agreed with the EA to remarket from £210K to £230K.


The buyer shat himself and wanted (and did) to exchange the following day and complete one week later.


Mine was an empty property as well, sure, I was paying council tax, utility bills and unoccupied insurance, but you don't usually end up owning properties (not your own home) if you're poor.


If it hadn't been for the wife, I'd have held out for more. Buyers like to gazunder in a falling market, they need to understand that, if they offer under the asking price and then get a useless surveyor and solicitor that take an eternity and drag their heels, then they are at risk of losing the purchase.


My advice is, if you're a buyer and you really want the house, offer the full amount with an agreement to have it taken off of the market and get a good local surveyor and solicitor, plus have your finance in place and push them all the time.


A surveyor should be able to get you a report within a week and the solicitor can do most of the searches online. Two weeks should be enough for exchange. Then the vendor doesn't have enough time to start thinking about pulling out of the sale or raising the price.