Vendor won't negotiate following survey problems

Lemoncurd

We had an offer accepted on a house 8 wks ago. We knew the house needed quite a bit of work and budgeted £15000 for that. Now we've had the survey and various reports back we are looking at an additional £7500 worth of work.
We've been to the vendor asking for a £3500 discount which she has completely refused to discuss saying she has already dropped her price a lot (we agreed 3% less than her asking price which I don't think is a lot) and "can't afford" to reduce it by any more.

I'm finding it hard to rationalise my thoughts and feelings on this, wavering between I can't be bothered and we're happy to rent for another year or two and well we've got this far, spent a lot of time on this purchase and will lose nearly £2000 if we drop out.

Having gone back to our surveyor with the results of the reports he has said that he still thinks we're getting quite a good deal (actually he didn't believe the reports even though we got a second opinion both from properly qualified and registered professionals), this means that the house is unlikely to be downvalued for mortgage purposes.

An almost identical but better condition house next door is on the market for £28k more than we agreed on this one so if we only spent £22k on the work perhaps the price she is demanding is reasonable. However the house 2 doors down - also apparently in very good condition, but end terrace rather than mid with extra windows and slightly bigger garden sold in Jan this year for only 2.5k more than we've agreed.
I think she thinks we're just trying it on as she believes that her son already did the work (sounds like he actually caused the problems) but the work that needs doing is quite serious, we would not be able to move in until it is done.

From what I've said here do you think I'm being unreasonable to expect some discount? We have been told that she is desperate to sell - house is empty, she needs some money from the sale to help her family out, presumably is paying a mortgage, but it looks like she is prepared to take the risk of us dropping out. She is (was) an estate agent so I think she has the upper hand when it comes to these kinds of negotiations but I would also expect her to have a realistic view of what can or can't be achieved. Perhaps we are being unrealistic?

deemy2004

from the post it appears your being unreasonable if you want it buy it at the agread price... else walk away...

Maybe the act of walking away - MAY get a price reduction ?

telly-addict

If you priced your offer taking into account you would need to spend £15k and you will only have to pay half that, I am just wondering why you want more discount? Say you wanted to pay £300K total, so offered £285k knowing you would have to spend £15K on top. Now you are going to pay £285K plus £7.5K, makes £292.5K, still £7.5 K than you expected, but you want to pay even less? Not sure how you planned your offer, but your vendor may be thinking along these lines too? Sorry if I have missed something here....


Not thinking of money at all, I would only buy a house with my heart and head, sounds like you could just walk away from this one, so perhaps you should pull out anyway?

DesG

A quick fax to the estate agent detailing the extra costs revealed by the surveys/reports stating that you were being more than reasonable asking for only a 50% reduction in these unforseen costs should help clarify your position (ie you're not just trying it on)

If it was me, I would give them an ultimatum, reduce it by the 50% or you have no choice but to look for a different property They may well cut off their nose , but in 80% of cases you should get the required result.

Of course being an estate agent the vendor may well call your bluff just to see if you mean it

Cheers, Des.

(House buying is an emotive subject and some of it isn't financially based, how much do _you_ want the house, will you be happy spending a bit more etc etc.)

John_M_Business

The most important advice I was given:
"Never pursue any contract / agreement without being sure that you are prepared to walk away."

It seems to me that unless the vendor is prepared to go that extra distance, you should move on.

Lemoncurd

Looks like my original post must have been confusing - here are the figures to try and make it a bit clearer:

Asking price £290,000
We estimated house needed at least £15,000 work so offered £272,000, agreed £282,000.
Reports say that a FURTHER £7500 of work is needed so we are now looking at at least £22,500 of work. We then asked for £3500 off which is less than half of the expected cost of the additional work unforeseen by us when we made our offer.

Thanks for the input!

meanmachine_2

Well maybe their asking price reflects the condition of the house?

Even then, 3% off asking price is peanuts. In today's market I wouldn't be prepared to offer more than 90%. However, before making an offer I would need to know more about the position of the vendor.

It's difficult to know how to respond. The vendor has already dropped the price, so sees this as a cheeky ask. They claim they can't afford it. Maybe they could push the savings up the chain? Although I suspect they're just holding out for as much as they can - not surprisingly.

If you can bear to lose the property than you can afford to play hard ball. The EA will know that 97% of asking price is very high, so might well suggest to the vendor that they should be flexible, or risk losing the sale.

Lemoncurd

DesG wrote:

A quick fax to the estate agent detailing the extra costs revealed by the surveys/reports stating that you were being more than reasonable asking for only a 50% reduction in these unforseen costs should help clarify your position (ie you're not just trying it on)

If it was me, I would give them an ultimatum, reduce it by the 50% or you have no choice but to look for a different property They may well cut off their nose , but in 80% of cases you should get the required result.

Of course being an estate agent the vendor may well call your bluff just to see if you mean it

Cheers, Des.

(House buying is an emotive subject and some of it isn't financially based, how much do _you_ want the house, will you be happy spending a bit more etc etc.)

I faxed a letter clearly stating why we felt the price drop was justified and provided copies of the reports when we first approached them with this. The agent says that the vendor refuses to look at them because she will not drop her price. I've told the agent that we would be happy to proceed at £280,000 and then casually enquired as to whether there has been much interest in the property next door (there hasn't despite it being on the market for 6 months + now) just to get them thinking.

Now we've started tryign to renegotiate I'm just feeling a bit proud and stubborn and also a bit concerned that we'd end up spending a lot more to put this house right.

elona

If it was me then I would ask to view the house next door - state you are not in a chain etc etc. - then offer the price you can afford for the house next door and see what they say!

telly-addict

Lemoncurd wrote:

Now we've started tryign to renegotiate I'm just feeling a bit proud and stubborn and also a bit concerned that we'd end up spending a lot more to put this house right.

Yep - how often is a building quote an over-estimate of what it will cost?

Poppy9

The house next door is on for £310k (£282k+28k). Stuck on market for 6 months should get it for £300k - have to say I would start in the low £290's. You can move in straight away thus saving rent if you would be delayed in moving into the property that needs serious work.

If you buy the current house at £282k and spend £22.5k then the house is costing you £304.5k. Plus you have the hassle of getting builders in and the risk that more problems are found.

What I don't understand is this bit

Having gone back to our surveyor with the results of the reports he has said that he still thinks we're getting quite a good deal (actually he didn't believe the reports even though we got a second opinion both from properly qualified and registered professionals)

If he is the surveyor who's reports are we talking about. Who did what survey?

Is this your first house? Tell us what work needs doing and people may be able to judge whether the next door house will also be affected if as implied it's in a terrace. From the sort of money you are talking about it sounds like subsidence, roof, lintels, damp, wall ties, rendering etc. There was another thread on damp problems recently. Do a search to try to find it. In a nutshell I think it was said no such thing as rising damp only penetrating damp. Damp meters are useless and always find damp. Penetrating damp is easier to solve as you should be able to identify the physical source.

If you decide to try to buy next door you could use as ammunition for a lower price the fact that next door needs £22k of work spent on it with scaffolding etc. Sure to put prospective buyers off buying the house next door as they will wonder what the problem is.