When the buyer's lender values the house £15k less than the agreed offer...

Angela_D_3

Just knock the difference off what you off the next house you're buying it's all made up numbers anyway it seems 

eidand

Angela_D_3 said:

Just knock the difference off what you off the next house you're buying it's all made up numbers anyway it seems 

you can't just knock off something of the price by snapping your fingers. You have no idea if the house they're buying has the same issue. The seller might rightly tell them to fork off, if the house is actually priced correctly. It's not their fault that their buyer went with an optimistic price for their own property. Yes, it's worth having a conversation, but there is no guaranteed result here.

mattyprice4004

Angela_D_3 said:

Just knock the difference off what you off the next house you're buying it's all made up numbers anyway it seems 

If someone told me they were 'knocking the difference off' I'd tell them to F R O and buy somewhere else.
You don't knock it off, you negotiate - and if the house is well priced already they can do one. 

Angela_D_3

eidand said:

Angela_D_3 said:

Just knock the difference off what you off the next house you're buying it's all made up numbers anyway it seems 

you can't just knock off something of the price by snapping your fingers. You have no idea if the house they're buying has the same issue. The seller might rightly tell them to fork off, if the house is actually priced correctly. It's not their fault that their buyer went with an optimistic price for their own property. Yes, it's worth having a conversation, but there is no guaranteed result here.

Well apparently according to some we have an impending apocalypse so they'll be snapping their hands off !   Equally people can only pay with the money they have so any reductions get pushed up the chain.

MaryNB

martin2345uk said:

So we have agreed an offer on our house with a buyer, for £290k (asking price was £300k, but Corona and all that, plus I do think 300k was probably a bit optimistic to start with).
We are at the signing contracts stage, but the agent just phoned to say the buyer's lender has downvalued the house, apparently citing the pandemic. They have said it's worth £275k; and the buyers have said with savings they could stretch to £280k...

I'm just not sure what to do! Honestly this whole house business is so stressful. I don't understand why it has taken so long, their valuer person came round on June 29th, 22 days it's taken them to tell us this...

I guess it's either accept this new offer or start all over again..! :-(

Down valuations by lenders are more likely if there is economic uncertainty. It won't be just the one lender. Several banks have already been increasing minimum deposits as a result of concerns over the economy. Therefore, if you pull out, start the process again, another lender could end up at a similar valuation.

Given a stamp duty holiday has been introduced since this valuation occurred, will you be able to take advantage of it? If so, you make up some, if not all, of the loss. 

eidand

Angela_D_3 said:

eidand said:

Angela_D_3 said:

Just knock the difference off what you off the next house you're buying it's all made up numbers anyway it seems 

you can't just knock off something of the price by snapping your fingers. You have no idea if the house they're buying has the same issue. The seller might rightly tell them to fork off, if the house is actually priced correctly. It's not their fault that their buyer went with an optimistic price for their own property. Yes, it's worth having a conversation, but there is no guaranteed result here.

Well apparently according to some we have an impending apocalypse so they'll be snapping their hands off !   Equally people can only pay with the money they have so any reductions get pushed up the chain.

You need to stop listening to these people. We're talking reality here, not imaginary things. What the doom brigade says is irrelevant, they're not part of the process and have no idea what needs done. My experience is recent, I am literally selling and buying right now. The time to negotiate has long passed.

Yes, ask, but be prepared to lose the property if the seller will not reduce.

Every seller is different, you can't just take the same approach with everyone. If someone would do this to me, my property would be back on the market immediately.

Lokolo

mattyprice4004 said:

Angela_D_3 said:

Just knock the difference off what you off the next house you're buying it's all made up numbers anyway it seems 

If someone told me they were 'knocking the difference off' I'd tell them to F R O and buy somewhere else.
You don't knock it off, you negotiate - and if the house is well priced already they can do one. 

Doesn't always quite work like that though does it. If you have found the perfect property and the person you are selling to has had their property down valued by £10k, and they can only afford £5k, would you not then happy to drop yours £5k in order to get the sale down and dusted, or would just collapse the chain and start over, with the possibility of losing your onward property?

boxer234

This happened to me pre covid we took the reduced price as it could happen with the next buyer.  It’s very demoralising but I do think the EA over valued the house. 

SameOldRoundabout

They may not have proof. Nationwide for one don’t send any proof of their valuation out. We had this battle with our last house, we had to get our broker to send the EA an email from Natiowide confirming they won’t send proof before the vendor would negotiate. I doubt many would just make that up though, unless they’re very ballsy, in which case they’d had made a lower offer earlier in my opinion. 

iampetesmith

When we bought ours, we offered 5k over the asking price as we really wanted the house. The lender came and valued it at 5k less and we had to renegotiate back down to the asking price. In this case, the agent's valuation was spot on and we offered too much. Here it seems the house was over valued by the agent and the banks are being extra careful over what they'll lend, so it's a bit of a pain but it looks like it's either renegotiate or start again where the same thing could happen with a new buyer.