Reasonable vendors starting to lose patience...

lesalanos

lobsterpot11 said:

lesalanos said:

How desperate are you to sell to these? 

What else might they come up with?

I mean we'd probably lose our onward purchase which would be a big shame. (Survey there is booked but not done yet) But I think we have to be prepared to say we're willing to walk away and find another buyer because they're being !!!!!! (without using the word !!!!!!, obviously).

Have had it confirmed that their buyer is chipping away at their price, so they're obviously trying to pass it on. A £5k hit would be annoying but not devastating for us. £10-20k would make things very awkward.

Decide on hard boundaries now.
Do not let them force you into accepting less than you are comfortable with. 

pbhb

A few dodgy things popped up in a survey I had on a house over summer. I adored the house and wanted to put my mind at rest so asked the vendors if I could send a builder round so I could get a quote on fixing a wall in the attic between the house and the neighbour (surveyor flagged it as a fire risk, it was a thatch property).
almost immediately the sellers got defensive and said they didn’t want a builder coming round. Their attitude spooked me, I wasn’t asking for money off I just wanted a quote as we were nearing exchange and I wanted fo get my ducks in a line. Because of their defensive attitude I started digging deeper on the sellers and why they were moving from their (dream home), I found a whole lot of issues after this that I would never have discovered had I not seen their behaviour as a red flag. I ended up pulling out of the sale right before exchange because I found the sellers so shady for not letting me send round that builder, and they were also very against me sending an electrician round too.
They put the house back on the market for £25k less than my offer and has remained there for the two months since 

onyx911

We had something similar when we sold. The surveyor came round and pretty much told us he had been asked to look at 3 areas of “concern”. He gave all 3 a clean bill of health, one of them being the roof. Then the buyers asked to bring their kids round for a viewing to show them the house. We left the agent to it and the agent later told us a roofer had come along at the same time to check the roof out. We weren’t told before hand which I thought was poor form but I let it go. The fact that the agent had been there and was privy to the roofer telling them it was all fine really helped us. 

As if that wasn’t enough, the next day the same roofer showed up at the door unannounced and asked to look at the rear roof again because he had been asked to do a formal report.

They weren’t first time buyers and we were convinced they were angling for a discount but they didn’t ask. Can’t see how they could have to be honest. 

The agent said sometimes we just have to let the buyers make their enquiries and because we know there is nothing to be concerned about, there is no point refusing and risking them getting (even more) concerned. 

Hope it’s the same in your case. 

lookstraightahead

To be fair the next time I buy (shortly) I will be very very careful that I'm buying what I think I'm buying. There are so many 'professionals' who smooth over the cracks, desperate vendors who think their properties are worth more than they are (not saying you are) and sales negotiation techniques that are questionable, and the current state of the market, that it makes a buyer very nervous. If it's getting too much, pull out and wait for everything to settle, or name your price and stick to it depending on how much you want to sell. 

warby68

You've played it very straight with your buyers so far, them possibly less so.
I agree its time to draw your line in the sand. Personally, I'd probably be remarketing to either enourage buyers to stop messing about or to find new interest. However if you have good reason to try and push this deal through, then your £5k 'goodwill' offer purely to oil the wheels of their tightening budget sounds sensible as you know via the back door that they are struggling. And yes make it conditional upon no more negotiation and swift contract exchange (not enforceable but your line is clear nonetheless). I would also ask for their speedy agreement to this otherwise back on the market. If they're going to pull out because they can't afford it, you want that sooner rather than later now.

Scotbot

If you can afford 5k off then you could  offer it to try and save the sale but you can't enforce a quick exchange as it depends on the rest of the chain. There is a strong likelihood these buyers will come back the day before exchange and ask for a further reduction so be prepared for this.

lookstraightahead

I have to say generally, as a buyer 'ready to go' and with no chain, I'm very nervous about buying in the current climate. It won't stop me, but I'm being very careful and considering my options. Buying at the moment is quite a chore, and I think sellers need to do everything they can to put a buyers mind at rest. I no longer have that "gung-ho approach" I used to have (maybe it's my age) and the current pandemic has stopped me seeing bricks and mortar as high on the list of necessities. People are window shopping more, worried about their jobs, whether banks will expect higher deposits and so on. I know there's lots of stats about the buoyant housing market, but I think vendors maybe need to see things through buyers' eyes and try to smooth things out, rather than the usual expectations.

Scotbot

lookstraightahead said:

I have to say generally, as a buyer 'ready to go' and with no chain, I'm very nervous about buying in the current climate. It won't stop me, but I'm being very careful and considering my options. Buying at the moment is quite a chore, and I think sellers need to do everything they can to put a buyers mind at rest. I no longer have that "gung-ho approach" I used to have (maybe it's my age) and the current pandemic has stopped me seeing bricks and mortar as high on the list of necessities. People are window shopping more, worried about their jobs, whether banks will expect higher deposits and so on. I know there's lots of stats about the buoyant housing market, but I think vendors maybe need to see things through buyers' eyes and try to smooth things out, rather than the usual expectations.

The majority of sellers including the OP are buyers too so can see both points of view

lobsterpot11

lookstraightahead said:

I have to say generally, as a buyer 'ready to go' and with no chain, I'm very nervous about buying in the current climate. It won't stop me, but I'm being very careful and considering my options. Buying at the moment is quite a chore, and I think sellers need to do everything they can to put a buyers mind at rest. I no longer have that "gung-ho approach" I used to have (maybe it's my age) and the current pandemic has stopped me seeing bricks and mortar as high on the list of necessities. People are window shopping more, worried about their jobs, whether banks will expect higher deposits and so on. I know there's lots of stats about the buoyant housing market, but I think vendors maybe need to see things through buyers' eyes and try to smooth things out, rather than the usual expectations.

I do understand that they need to do due diligence on spending a lot of money at the moment - at any time, really - but I'm just starting to feel like we're bring strung along. 

random321

Last year we went through something very similar. Our prospective FTB's had a survey that came back with a few minor points. Frustratingly we had only purchased a few years before and none of these issues were mentioned in the survey we had carried out, and we had improved the property whilst living there.
Anyway, they came back trying to get a 15k discount from us as a result of the survey. We offered to get professionals around (or for them to arrange for professionals to inspect themselves) confident there were no major issues with the property. It turned out only a couple loose roof tiles and some mortar pointing needed doing which in total amounted to a cost of £500 to resolve.
We  offered to cover these costs which the buyers agreed to, and a few weeks down the line they pulled out anyway without giving a reason. Our thoughts were that they couldn't afford the price they agreed with us initially, and were trying it on to get a reduction.
Within days we sold the property again for asking price and were able to proceed with the property we were purchasing! As mentioned above, it's better to find out early whether they will pull out if you cannot meet their price reduction demands and potentially give you a chance to sell to another buyer without losing the ongoing purchase.