Revised Offer - What do I have to declare?

anotheruser

I seem to have offended some people here...

eddddy wrote: »

"You and I agreed a price of £140k. I now want to back away from our agreement and only pay you £137k instead, and I'm not going to tell you why."

I am more than happy to tell them why we've come to that conclusion, but I do I really have to list out every little cost?

It's strange as I read stories of people nearly always offering lower than the asking price (yes, sometimes higher too), so I almost thought this was commonplace. Just like a car - would you pay the list price without bargaining? Hmm.

We offered 2.4% less than the asking price - it's not £10k or anything...

Plus - it's highly unlikely our mortgage will be rejected.
The home owner has packed up and is ready to move into a new house too so would cause a lot of hassle for everyone. Looking at the housing market at the moment, maybe the home owner wouldn't get another buyer - since the EU Referendum, not many new houses have appeared in the area we're looking at.

It's not an unreasonable amount - surely?

kingstreet wrote: »

I'd ask to see a copy of the valuation report and establish the current value and the value after any essential repairs.

These figures would determine how I would react to a request for a price reduction.

No copy of valuation, no renegotiation.

The roof will cost just under £1000 to fix - quote from a local builder. There are other things that need doing too, like electrical safety certificate, gas safety certificate, the home owner's pets have caused a fair bit of damage. There is water marks on an internal wall. The home owner says this was from before they had a new roof but there's no guarantee that's the whole truth. Plus, that section of the house looks like a half-finished decoration.

The homebuyers report came back with some things that need doing, some mortar missing on the roof, that could cause water to get inside the walls, some issues with the side of the house potentially having rising damp in the near future - if those things had been known before the survey, we would have put in a slightly less offer. The Estate Agent encouraged us to put in an asking price offer, but after seeing the report - it's a bit of a different story.

kez84

We are in a similar situation to yourselves. I'd definitely say that there's no harm in asking however you should be prepared to justify your reasons.
Our home buyers survey threw up a couple of problems; mainly high levels of damp in the conservatory, leaking conservatory roof, a wall that has been badly weathered and needs investigation, along with a list of approximately 20 other minor things that need sorting. We are not worried about the majority, mainly the cost of putting the conservatory right. I emailed the estate agent and copied and pasted the relevant parts from the report (i.e. the bits I wanted them to see!) and the vendor has arrange to have a timber and damp survey carried out. Admittedly, the outcome of this report may be biased however it's a step in the right direction to establishing any major problems and significant costs. We got the house at £2k under asking price which was based on the issues we could see (i.e. minor repairs) If you don't ask, you don't get!

TBagpuss

What oes your survey say about value?

The things such as the damage by the owners pets, and the visible water damage and the decor would all have been apparent when you viewed, so I would not expect a seller to agree to adjust the price because of them.

Gaas and electrical certificates aren't compulsory - if you have has a gas or electrical survey and they've identified major issues then that's different.

If your survey identified that work is needed on the roof then you have a better chanece to using that as a possible negotiating point but you only mention that as costing £1000, not £3,000. As a seller I would be asking to see the valutaion report, or at the very least, the sections of it which give the value of the house, and which identify the issues which would not have been obvious on viewing the property. And I'd be very unlikely to agree a £3K reduction for £1K worth of potential roof repairs.

It doesn't hurt to ask, but it sounds as though most of what you are talking about would have been obvious when you viewed the property.

AdrianC

iantojones40 wrote: »

Unfortunately you'll get a lot of bad advice on here
...these are just people who have their own agendas and are quite obviously very worried about any perceived or real change in sentiment regarding the housing market, anything other than a sellers market with hpi forever is obviously something that causes them a great deal of concern.

That's rather rich coming from you, of all posters - Mr HousePriceCrash doom'n'gloom gloater.

david1951

iantojones40 wrote: »

these are just people who have their own agendas and are quite obviously very worried about any perceived or real change in sentiment regarding the housing market

Do you actually think this?

The advice is quite simple - if you were negotiating with me I would remarket and find a different buyer. If the price has dropped then fine, but I would rather find a buyer at the lower price who is more likely to honour the deal. It's not about sentiment or whatever it is you are obsessed about.

hazyjo

Not sure you can really be saying 'may present a future problem' though and expect money off. Surveyors always say that about things like the roof. If it's not created a problem already, it's really just 'ongoing maintenance'. I wouldn't expect the existing vendor to pay.


If you got a £1k quote for these works, maybe, just maybe, I'd expect to split the difference with them. I have also reduced my offer after a roof inspection, although it did need several thousand spent to replace. If the valuation has come back at what you've agreed, then they are clarifying they believe it to be worth that amount and you've not got much of a leg to stand on. If they undervalued, yes, go for it.


Your para stating pet damage, water marks, decor - that was all evident when you made your first offer. No reason to drop again. The electrical safety cert and gas one - you mean after they had works done or something, or were you under the impression they were a standard legal requirement?


If my buyer dropped their offer and wouldn't give a reason, I would expect them to do the same just before exchange. Depends if they want to take that risk.


Obviously it's up to you at the end of the day. Good luck. Keep us informed.


(Can assure you I don't have 'my own agenda' lol. If anything, a drop in prices will go in my favour as I hope to move early next year )


Jx

iantojones40

AdrianC wrote: »

That's rather rich coming from you, of all posters - Mr HousePriceCrash doom'n'gloom gloater.

Says yet another home owner who can't even comprehend the possibility of even a minor fall in prices without it resulting in a sleepless night.

It's so blatant it's laughable, the attitude of homeowners on here, insisting that there is never a bad time to buy a house, you can never pay too much for a house, it's all about supply and demand, hpi forever and ever, anyone not prepared to pay full asking price for a house is a chancer and timewaster with the morals of a rattle snake, debt is an asset etc etc etc

I can just about understand this attitude from people who've just recently bought into the property bubble and are facing a lifetime of joint income mortgage payments, being worried about any potential N.E. but there are plenty of other people who are mortgage free and have 100% equity in their properties who are equally as vociferous at ramping the market and desperately trying to urge people to buy, buy, buy at any cost.

Just for the record I own my home, mortgage free and it's worth over 3 times what I paid for it, but as an owner occupier I realise that this insane level of hpi is of no benefit at all, either to me personally or wider society.

david1951

iantojones40 wrote: »

Says yet another home owner who can't even comprehend the possibility of even a minor fall in prices without it resulting in a sleepless night.

It's so blatant it's laughable, the attitude of homeowners on here, insisting that there is never a bad time to buy a house, you can never pay too much for a house, it's all about supply and demand, hpi forever and ever, anyone not prepared to pay full asking price for a house is a chancer and timewaster with the morals of a rattle snake, debt is an asset etc etc etc

I can just about understand this attitude from people who've just recently bought into the property bubble and are facing a lifetime of joint income mortgage payments, being worried about any potential N.E. but there are plenty of other people who are mortgage free and have 100% equity in their properties who are equally as vociferous at ramping the market and desperately trying to urge people to buy, buy, buy at any cost.

Just for the record I own my home, mortgage free and it's worth over 3 times what I paid for it, but as an owner occupier I realise that this insane level of hpi is of no benefit at all, either to me personally or wider society.

You sound like a raging lunatic.

jimpix12

If the seller throws a hissy fit like some on here are saying then just walk away. It's a business transaction not a personal favour.

Also be aware that many posters on this particular sub forum are vested interests such as buy to let greed merchants.

AdrianC

iantojones40 wrote: »

Says yet another home owner who can't even comprehend the possibility of even a minor fall in prices without it resulting in a sleepless night.

It's so blatant it's laughable, the attitude of homeowners on here, insisting that there is never a bad time to buy a house, you can never pay too much for a house, it's all about supply and demand, hpi forever and ever, anyone not prepared to pay full asking price for a house is a chancer and timewaster with the morals of a rattle snake, debt is an asset etc etc etc

I can just about understand this attitude from people who've just recently bought into the property bubble and are facing a lifetime of joint income mortgage payments, being worried about any potential N.E. but there are plenty of other people who are mortgage free and have 100% equity in their properties who are equally as vociferous at ramping the market and desperately trying to urge people to buy, buy, buy at any cost.

Just for the record I own my home, mortgage free and it's worth over 3 times what I paid for it, but as an owner occupier I realise that this insane level of hpi is of no benefit at all, either to me personally or wider society.

...and I'm the one with the "agenda" here?