Very low offer by landlord buying my property is his final offer - is this normal?

katepower

I'm currently selling my house. Its a 3 bed terrace, quite big inside, but in a less than desirable area (old prison officers accomodation - so right next to a prison, the road is unadopted, and there is no driveway).

The house has been on the market for 5 weeks, and someone has put an offer on the house. Everyone else who has looked has outright said that parking is a problem, therefore they are not interested.

This man is a landlord who wishes to rent out the property. He has put in an offer 10k below the asking price. I refused and said it would need to be higher. He has said that this offer is his final offer and he is looking at properties elsewhere that have accepted his offer (the same amount that he has proposed for mine), and if I am not willing to accept it then he will simply go with one of those properties.

My initial instinct is that he is playing the game and knows what he is doing. The offer is lower than I am happy with, however he is the only person to have shown an interest in 5 weeks. The house really is in a undesirable area, and I believe the people who sold it to me struggled to sell it (which makes you question why I bought it in the first place - I was a 23 y/o on a budget many years ago).

I am wondering now whether to say "no thankyou, that offer is not enough" or just accept what I can get for a decent-ish house, in a crappy area. I was wondering if more experienced individuals had any words of wisdom - my partner thinks he is playing the game, but I'm scared if I refuse the offer then there won't be future interest.

anselld

It isn't playing a game if that is his final offer. Either you accept it or not.
Impossible to know the outcome if not; Someone could offer asking price tomorrow or your could wait another 5 weeks or more with nothing.

Crashy_Time

Take the offer, you won`t budge a seasoned landlord who has his eye on other properties. So what if he is "playing the game", do you expect him to pay you a premium for a only half decent house in a crap area?

note3

To be honest it could be either way - you have no way of really knowing if he's playing the game or being serious. I would be concerned by his comment that others had accepted his offer so he'd go with them instead - I'd be worrying whether he would do the same to me and dump me for another property down the line!

If his price is doable for you (albeit less than you'd hoped for) and you really need to move then it could be worthwhile. If you're in no urgent hurry to sell and need more from the sale then arguable you could be wise to sit tight and await another version of 23yr old you who also is willing to pay the right price.

note3

More experienced peeps will be able to comment more certainly however perhaps you should draw attention to his comment and say you will only take house off market once exchanged as you are concerned?

Miss_Samantha

10k below asking price means nothing without knowing the asking price.

In any case, one thing you have learned so far is that it will be difficult just to get people make an offer. Therefore, I think you can already conclude that you will not achieve your current asking price.

katepower

It would be nice to get more from the sale, however the house has now gone out of the 2 yr mortgage fix I had (hence the time I've chosen to move). I'm not currently living in the property as it had tenants in it (who are now vacating) (I moved to another city for work, therefore let out the property), so I was also hoping to avoid it sitting empty/me financing it endlessly whilst I waited for another buyer.

I dont mind selling it - that - much at that price at the end of the day, I wanted to make sure more than anything that it wasnt blindly obvious that he was using tactics that I wasnt aware of!

Thrugelmir

katepower wrote: »

I was also hoping to avoid it sitting empty/me financing it endlessly whilst I waited for another buyer.

Then a quick sale is surely what you want. The longer the property remains empty the more it will be drain on your finances.

walwyn1978

We've had three offers from landlords on two different properties and my grandmas house we sold after her death, which they wanted for a HMO. Each of these offers were exactly what you described - they were lower than asking and offered on the basis of it being their one and only offer, no negotiation. We turned down two of the three and accepted one of them - on our first flat - because similarly to you, we'd been on the market for a while and not had an offer (in our case we'd also seen something we really liked and wanted to move on that, accepting on ours sped the process up and made us a better prospect in our eyes)

Only you can decide, but the 'tactics' they are using are very standard. Remember, they don't want to live in it, they just want it for their portfolio, so they'll go for 'cheaper' options to minimise their risk.

Crashy_Time

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/commercial/house-prices-fall-almost-everywhere-as-property-market-takes-on/


With headlines like this can you take the chance of the buyer going elsewhere?

DRP

Be wary that the price may drop again close to exchange of contracts.