Sale agreed on my house 7 months ago, but could get more now. What should I do?

AliceBanned

Just wanted to add that it might be worth approaching your buyer to meet in the middle? Eg does she have an extra ?£k? I think it's reasonable to ask, if you really feel you can't buy what you could have bought many months ago - also worth compromising on what you are buying if that is an option? Just as your buyer seems to have a good deal, there is still a chance for you to get an offer accepted. I told my vendor's EA that I had taken a hit on my flat, therefore could only pay £x amount. We all tried to be reasonable but there were definitely moments of slight hostility in the chain. We all wanted to get it through enough I guess. 

youth_leader

My friend has been waiting four months for her chain to complete, and her seller hinted heavily that she could no longer afford the area she wanted because all the prices had gone up and was now looking in different areas.  My friend did offer her another £5K towards the seller going into a rental, she couldn't offer more.  The seller refused it.   Unfortunately because of this long wait my friend has lost her buyer, and is now on the market again, hoping she will again get a quick sale. 

steampowered

Very easy to fool yourself into thinking that your house is worth more than it is actually is.

When you are looking into something that benefits you, your brain will focus on the positives while ignoring the negatives.

An objective opinion from an independent third party could be a good idea.

hazyjo

At least pull out and wait 6 months and remarket! Your EA may well charge you if they're found a proceedable buyer and you pull out wanting more money.

It's very easy for people to find old listings. If your next/new buyer finds out they're paying £25k more than it was up for recently, they may well think you're taking them for a mug and drop out or drop their offer.

Agree with others suggesting it may also be down-valued.

BV88

As someone who has been waiting over four months for our seller to find somewhere, what you are suggesting is a pretty lowlife move.

Yes make all the excuses you want about how you need to get the most value blah blah blah… remember the buyer has potentially missed out on those capital gains while they patiently waited for you to find somewhere. You have no idea if the next buyer will be as accommodating while you search for your next home. 

If our vendors tried that with us I would play them at their own game. I would agree to the price increase, let them find their next house, then the day before exchange I would reduce my offer to £5k below the previously agreed offer just for all the hassle they had caused. Then they would have to decide between accepting less £ or probably losing the house they wanted to buy. 

If you go down this route I sincerely hope this happens to you. Integrity is an increasingly rare trait it seems. 

GDB2222

BV88 said:

As someone who has been waiting over four months for our seller to find somewhere, what you are suggesting is a pretty lowlife move.

Yes make all the excuses you want about how you need to get the most value blah blah blah… remember the buyer has potentially missed out on those capital gains while they patiently waited for you to find somewhere. You have no idea if the next buyer will be as accommodating while you search for your next home. 

If our vendors tried that with us I would play them at their own game. I would agree to the price increase, let them find their next house, then the day before exchange I would reduce my offer to £5k below the previously agreed offer just for all the hassle they had caused. Then they would have to decide between accepting less £ or probably losing the house they wanted to buy. 

If you go down this route I sincerely hope this happens to you. Integrity is an increasingly rare trait it seems. 

“ Integrity is an increasingly rare trait it seems. “ 

I guess you can’t see the irony?

Whether you can, or not, what you wrote is emotional, rather than logical. When an offer is accepted, it may appear simple, but there are a load of unwritten conditions in both parties' minds. For example:

If it burns down, will you still buy it?
The day after your offer is accepted, the HS2 route is altered, and there will be trains roaring past the back garden. Are you still going to buy?

Of course, you won’t. One of the unwritten conditions is that the house value remains around the same whilst you wait to exchange contracts.

BV88

GDB2222 said:

BV88 said:

As someone who has been waiting over four months for our seller to find somewhere, what you are suggesting is a pretty lowlife move.

Yes make all the excuses you want about how you need to get the most value blah blah blah… remember the buyer has potentially missed out on those capital gains while they patiently waited for you to find somewhere. You have no idea if the next buyer will be as accommodating while you search for your next home. 

If our vendors tried that with us I would play them at their own game. I would agree to the price increase, let them find their next house, then the day before exchange I would reduce my offer to £5k below the previously agreed offer just for all the hassle they had caused. Then they would have to decide between accepting less £ or probably losing the house they wanted to buy. 

If you go down this route I sincerely hope this happens to you. Integrity is an increasingly rare trait it seems. 

“ Integrity is an increasingly rare trait it seems. “ 

I guess you can’t see the irony?

Whether you can, or not, what you wrote is emotional, rather than logical. When an offer is accepted, it may appear simple, but there are a load of unwritten conditions in both parties' minds. For example:

If it burns down, will you still buy it?
The day after your offer is accepted, the HS2 route is altered, and there will be trains roaring past the back garden. Are you still going to buy?

Of course, you won’t. One of the unwritten conditions is that the house value remains around the same whilst you wait to exchange contracts.

Of course I can see irony, but once one party breaks the trust in a deal all bets are off. Indeed it is emotional, home buying is a very emotional process. But it is also a logical response, rather than pulling out completely (0% chance of getting the home) I would maintain a % probability of still getting the house.

It would remove the difficult decision from me (pay more after the other side made you wait 8 months) and put it onto the vendor (accept less or start again from
scratch and probably miss out on their new house). 

I do deals for a living and even in a business to business context the process is inherently emotional, once you understand that you are in a much more informed position. People really hate feeling ‘shafted’ and this vendor is about to sour this house for their buyer. If it had been the buyer holding up the deal it would be a different story. 

Your HS2 analogy would be considered a material change to the deal. I.e. it is with 100% certainty that the value of the asset being exchanged has materially changed for the worse. In this situation the vendor is speculating that the value is £20k more, the only thing that has changed is their opinion, it reeks of greed.

Anyway, by raising the prospect of the buyer reducing their offer the day prior to exchange the OP will at least be nervous until the deal is done if their buyer does accept the increase. There is no legal obligation to the buyer but any decent person would honour a deal with someone who waited for 8 months to give them the time to find their next home…

You think you are ever so smart by being totally logical, but actually you are not because you are not understanding you can also leverage the sellers emotion to your advantage, in the same way they are doing to you. 

HNHN

BV88 said:

As someone who has been waiting over four months for our seller to find somewhere, what you are suggesting is a pretty lowlife move.

Yes make all the excuses you want about how you need to get the most value blah blah blah… remember the buyer has potentially missed out on those capital gains while they patiently waited for you to find somewhere. You have no idea if the next buyer will be as accommodating while you search for your next home. 

If our vendors tried that with us I would play them at their own game. I would agree to the price increase, let them find their next house, then the day before exchange I would reduce my offer to £5k below the previously agreed offer just for all the hassle they had caused. Then they would have to decide between accepting less £ or probably losing the house they wanted to buy. 

If you go down this route I sincerely hope this happens to you. Integrity is an increasingly rare trait it seems. 

I smile when I read this - so smart, I could never think of doing something like this! 

Rosesgirl

It's your house ultimately your choice at the end of the day you have to do what's right for you .

GDB2222

BV88 said:

GDB2222 said:

BV88 said:

As someone who has been waiting over four months for our seller to find somewhere, what you are suggesting is a pretty lowlife move.

Yes make all the excuses you want about how you need to get the most value blah blah blah… remember the buyer has potentially missed out on those capital gains while they patiently waited for you to find somewhere. You have no idea if the next buyer will be as accommodating while you search for your next home. 

If our vendors tried that with us I would play them at their own game. I would agree to the price increase, let them find their next house, then the day before exchange I would reduce my offer to £5k below the previously agreed offer just for all the hassle they had caused. Then they would have to decide between accepting less £ or probably losing the house they wanted to buy. 

If you go down this route I sincerely hope this happens to you. Integrity is an increasingly rare trait it seems. 

“ Integrity is an increasingly rare trait it seems. “ 

I guess you can’t see the irony?

Whether you can, or not, what you wrote is emotional, rather than logical. When an offer is accepted, it may appear simple, but there are a load of unwritten conditions in both parties' minds. For example:

If it burns down, will you still buy it?
The day after your offer is accepted, the HS2 route is altered, and there will be trains roaring past the back garden. Are you still going to buy?

Of course, you won’t. One of the unwritten conditions is that the house value remains around the same whilst you wait to exchange contracts.

Of course I can see irony, but once one party breaks the trust in a deal all bets are off. 

I'm not sure that we have the same ideas about integrity, but I'm obviously old-fashioned.