Vendor not being reasonable and won’t reduce price

quocvo

Hi everyone.  I’m hoping someone can help us think through a situation we are in because I worry my emotions and annoyance with the vendor is causing me to behave rationally.  

We had an offer accepted on a house back in August.  It was listed as offers over £500k.  The EA said they appraised it at £525k and that was what the vendor wanted.  They listed it as offers from £500k to get more viewings.  

We made an offer of £509,250 and after a couple of days it was accepted.  The only visible or known problems with the property at the time was to potentially update the double glazing windows.  

We got a level 3 building survey done which threw up all sorts of potential and confirmed issues including possible anthrax.  Eventually we managed to get specialists in the check the issues after the vendor sent samples off to confirm no anthrax.  

The issues are:
1 - roof needs urgent repair.  Vendor got a quote for £12k.  

2 - timber needs treatment to protect against woodworm.  

3 - structural repairs to kitchen wall - £6k for this and the timber treatment combined.

4 - misaligned and cracked drainage and sewage pipes which require excavation - £7k.    

Assuming the quote obtained by the vendor is accurate, we are looking at £25k of repairs which was not anticipated when we made the offer.  

We have now offered £499k which doesn’t even cover half the quoted works but the vendor is not backing down and will only accept £505k.  He says he believes he can get a higher price given the market in the local area is booming.  We’ve given our contact details to the vendor via the agent hoping to talk this through but vendor has not got in touch yet.  

This doesn’t sit right with us.  On the flip side, it is like saying if the market were to drop, we would no longer honour our price and lower it - something we wouldn’t do on grounds of principle.  We made the offer on the house knowing the potential for market volatility so accepted such risk.  

We love the house.  But the vendor lives a stone’s throw away from it (he inherited it).  I know it would annoy me every time I drive past his house if we were to accept his price.  It feels like a very dishonourable move.  

Am I being too principled here?  It’s a home we intend to stay in for a long time.  With all the extra surveys and investigations we have instructed coupled with usual buying costs, we would lose about £4k if we abandon this purchase.  We can afford his £505k ask but it doesn’t sit right with us.  

Perhaps my annoyance will die down as time goes on, but I worry it might not and my experience of living in that house would be tainted.  

The EA is on our side. He said the vendor is attached to that property because it was his mother’s property.  He said we have been very reasonable with our offer and he would do the exact same thing admitting that he was potentially talking himself our of a commission.  If we pull out, we are told the vendor will do all the work that is needed and then remarket higher.  Although if he is behaving like this, maybe he will go with another agent who is unaware of the problems and hope a unsuspecting buyer offers on it without doing full due diligence.  

I know we only have two options:

1 - swallow our pride and principle by accepting the vendor’s price of £505k. 

2 - walk away, lose the money and time we have sunk into it.  Maybe we will find a better house in the future.  Maybe we won’t. 

I recognise the vendor is under no legal obligation to be reasonable or honourable.  I also understand why he is tempted to take advantage of the upswing in the market - however long that lasts.  I feel it’s just poor business practice to not consider these unexpected costs due to his opinion that he can get more money for the property since he accepted our offer.  

What would you do in such a situation?  

[Deleted User]

I'd decide what I was willing to pay and act accordingly. There's really no point seething about whether you think he should drop the price or not.

6k certainly isn't deserving of your indignation though.

kazwookie

Walk away find something else

Emmia

The vendor accepted your offer, and is willing to go down slightly to £505k - presumably there are other buyers (or they believe there are other buyers) who will pay this amount of money (or more) for the property.

The seller doesn't have to reduce the price again.

I think you either pay the £505k or you walk away.

onyx911

Honestly I would walk away. I know you have fallen in love with the place but that’s a lot of work to take on. Presumably you made your offer on the basis there being no major issues. 

The seller is not wrong to refuse a price reduction but equally you are not wrong to walk away. 

In 2009 we got survey results back and had to renegotiate. We had offered £415k and later re-offered at £400k. We agreed on £404,500 and completed on that price. It was credit crunch in 2009 though, banks weren’t lending and people weren’t buying. It’s a little different right now.

Sistergold

Many times vendors are not prepared to reduce their price because they believe that their house in its current condition is worth what they have been told its worth. The only way for them to realise it’s not worth that is when people walk away from the house. The likely reality is that the works you are talking about will cost more than this £25k. So put aside the principle you are working on and just look at what the house is worth for you? How likely and how easy it will be to get similar or even better house at a price you can afford. When I got my house it was in a bad state. When I started the renovations I found it was in even worse state than I thought. When I viewed it the house was exactly what I wanted and I was tired of looking and I did not want to lose it. I asked the lady what offer would make her happy and she said her figure. I agreed and we shook hands. The house was already at a high asking price, what she wanted was even higher. Sometimes one should not really worry about paying a little bit more or lose a bit for the right house. For a house you will live in for a long time then will you walk away for  £6k? in this case you have already paid lots for surveys etc. I think if you like the house you should not walk away because of the 6k. What could potentially make you walk away could be the problems with the house as they could likely be more costly. If you can afford the costs of renovation if they should cost upwards of 35k then just swallow your pride and buy. If you are buying mainly for how much the house will cost and whether you will recover all your money and make a profit then you might want to wait for a different house. For the right house in which you intend to live for a long time then the feeling of being in the right house is priceless and a bit of loss financially is acceptable. 

quocvo

Thanks for the quick reply everyone.  

A bit more info.  The vendor came back with £505k prior to completion of the timber and structural survey.  With that now complete and the quote they provided, I offered £499k.  

In essence, the discount the vendor has agreed to is about 60% of the drainage works. This means the rest of the costs will be down to us, plus any unexpected costs such repairs entail.

our £499k of an extra £6k off which is erring halfway on the roofing repairs.  We will absorb the structural repairs and timber treatment.  

All these issues were unknown to the vendor and us.  He had rented it out since he inherited it many years ago.  

My mind continue to shift between the two options.  Couldn’t sleep last night.  EA said he will call me first thing tomorrow morning for our final decision.  I have drafted our confirming of withdrawal email.

Thanks again for all your input.  

unforeseen

Anthrax? How did your surveyor dream that one up? 

Splatfoot

I would go for it at 505k. Sometimes what surveyors quote as costs for work, are way way over the top. We had a survey done on the house we are selling and the surveyor noted it needed repointing. At a cost of around 4k. Our buyers pulled out as we wouldn't reduce any further. We then had the repointing done during the time it was remarketed (5 days!) at a cost of under £500. The local tradesman said there is no way the whole house needed doing. We are under offer again (at more than our first buyers offered) and hopefully due to exchange in a week or so. Woodwork treatment is not hugely expensive either, I've had that done in the past. 

dramaticat

You have no control over whether a vendor will accept your offer or their thought processes around this, so you need to put your feelings about it to one side.

You have three options:

1. Agree to pay £505k.

2. Leave your offer of £499k on the table but start looking for other properties.

3. Walk away from this house and look for something else.

You need to make the decision based on whether this property represents good value compared to other things on the market, even with the amount of work required, and/or whether you are likely to find something else that will suit you in terms of location and the accommodation space offered. It may be worth it to you to persevere with this house if you will struggle to find something else that will suit you as well.

Only you can answer these questions, but you need to approach them rationally without emotions getting in the way.

And if the house really does have suspected anthrax, I’d be counting my lucky stars I was still alive to be able to post about it on here. I imagine you mean asbestos in artex? 😀

SpiderLegs

You are considering all the wrong questions.
The house is going to cost you ballpark £530k.

4K on due diligence costs is 0.75% of that.
6k price variance is 1.13%.

These are not the factors I would be fretting about. I would be considering -

Is the house worth 530k.
is 25k repair estimate reasonable.
what is my contingency if that increases after purchase.
how much effort and hassle Is involved.