Vendor refuses to renegotiate

BikingBud

michael1234 said:

Will be selling soon and have spent quite a while thinking about how to prevent this scenario and I don't think its easy. I have thought about ensuring that when the buyer puts in an offer it is understood the amount will not change. i.e. The buyer can pull out but he can't ask for a few k off the purchase price regardless of what is found in any survey (which incidentally IMO is a waste of money if done by a general purpose RICS bod).

Of course the risk here is you put the buyer off on day 1 but is it a risk worth taking?

Will you provide a list of the problems that you know about and discuss these fully with any potential buyers to ensure that you both share the same perspective about the condition of the property before you draw that line?

If not then you should not be surprised if the prospective buyer pays a professional to ascertain the condition, who provides a report on the observed issues, advises further specialist reports or reparative actions and costs only then do they come to a judgment on the value of the house.

I do not understand why vendors on here seem to think that renegotiation is unacceptable, it's not Noel Edmonds Deal or No Deal where you have to guess!

PadreM

The argument that 'the sale price was already discounted' isn't, of course, an argument.  If vendor reduced price it was because, for whatever reason, the original was excessive and either there was insufficient interest because of that or there were viewings but no offers (which is always ultimately about the price).  The base price is the current price - not a previous, higher, price - and that's the price you negotiate from.  It's totally irrelevant that the (newer) base price is lower than the preceding.

Crashy_Time

 A 72k climbdown is great news for buyers, hopefully more sellers will take the same approach to selling their house.

saajan_12

PadreM said:

The argument that 'the sale price was already discounted' isn't, of course, an argument.  If vendor reduced price it was because, for whatever reason, the original was excessive and either there was insufficient interest because of that or there were viewings but no offers (which is always ultimately about the price).  The base price is the current price - not a previous, higher, price - and that's the price you negotiate from.  It's totally irrelevant that the (newer) base price is lower than the preceding.

Not necessarily, depends on why the price was previously discounted..
* if no bites at the original price, then yes the initial reduction is just to align with the market rather than the seller's pipe dreams
* if offers accepted and people found out from further checks / surveys etc, then the seller could have reduced to account for those issues later. 

MrsBrush

A property is ultimately only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it. Market forces dictate this, as do attitudes to risk and the ability to see past the obvious. I would personally be far more suspicious of that 'perfect' house because you never know what lies beneath the prettiness!

steampowered

michael1234 said:

Will be selling soon and have spent quite a while thinking about how to prevent this scenario and I don't think its easy. I have thought about ensuring that when the buyer puts in an offer it is understood the amount will not change. i.e. The buyer can pull out but he can't ask for a few k off the purchase price regardless of what is found in any survey (which incidentally IMO is a waste of money if done by a general purpose RICS bod).

Of course the risk here is you put the buyer off on day 1 but is it a risk worth taking?

As a buyer, my immediate reaction is "What are you hiding?".

Obviously, if people find something significantly wrong with the property which you didn't tell them about then they are going to need to ask for money off. 

You are assuming that people are just using surveys to try and get money off. This is not fair. I have just negotiated money off a house I am buying following a survey, but that is because the survey revealed urgent work needs doing. The money is not going into my pocket, I have to pay for the work !!!

Splatfoot

aoleks said:

No rewiring and window replacement costs £17k…

half is more realistic and that takes into account location (london) and a quick quote from a national chain.

I'm sure that's not quite true. I know ours will cost more than that.

saajan_12

michael1234 said:

Will be selling soon and have spent quite a while thinking about how to prevent this scenario and I don't think its easy. I have thought about ensuring that when the buyer puts in an offer it is understood the amount will not change. i.e. The buyer can pull out but he can't ask for a few k off the purchase price regardless of what is found in any survey (which incidentally IMO is a waste of money if done by a general purpose RICS bod). 

Of course the risk here is you put the buyer off on day 1 but is it a risk worth taking?

Only works if you're planning to declare all issues so buyers can price them into the offer, and then there's no changes later to both (issues and price). However a buyer won't know that, and could assume you're trying to hide issues, putting buyers off. 
If a buyer agreed to your condition and then found further issues in the property, there's nothing stopping them from asking for money off, worst case you refuse. 

So basically, either it looks like you're trying to sidestep issues with the house or they agree and could reduce anyway. What's the benefit of your way?

aoleks

Splatfoot said:

aoleks said:

No rewiring and window replacement costs £17k…

half is more realistic and that takes into account location (london) and a quick quote from a national chain.

I'm sure that's not quite true. I know ours will cost more than that.

I know for a fact, I've seen the invoice for the windows.Crashy_Time said:

 A 72k climbdown is great news for buyers, hopefully more sellers will take the same approach to selling their house.

It's not a £72k dropdown, the initial asking price is simply made up. If I list my house for £700k tomorrow, but then "reduce" the asking price to something more realistic, let's say £450k, is that evidence that my price crashed? Asking prices are irrelevant...

lookstraightahead

EAs pick a figure out of the air, so buyers are also going to do that, I guess.

There is no logic or faith in the 'value' of a property at the moment.