The buyer of my property may be offering too much - advice needed

AlexandraW84

Hi all,

Please could I get some advice on selling my flat - I'm having an attack of conscience.

I'm selling a ground floor flat in a popular town, in an enviable location, with 2 garages. Since having a baby we are keen to move on and buy a house.

After a very sluggish post-pandemic market for flat sellers, the flats around here have started to sell again and we jumped at the opportunity.

My flat had an asking price of £285k, and three asking price offers were made. The estate agents played a bit of a blinder, and returned to all the interested parties and asked them for "best and final offers". Two of them stuck with their original offer, but the third put in a higher offer of £300k. Understandably I accepted this offer.

Thing is, I'm feeling guilty that the "best and final" approach might have made this buyer bid higher than necessary. I met him and his daughter during viewing, and they seem like genuinely lovely people.

To add some context: A neighbouring ground floor flat, with 1 garage recently sold for £270k. It perhaps needs a bit more modernising than mine, but I can't help but worry that in the future when the 'sold house prices' get published, my buyer might feel a bit cheated having paid £30k more for one extra garage.  I'm not sure what the exact value of the second garage is...not sure it equates to £30k though.

Then the other half of me thinks: you'll have to pay an inflated price for someone else's house, so why not take the money?

Not sure what the right thing to do is.  Any advice or thoughts?

deannagone

I think I'd wait until the buyer receives their bank valuation.  Then if the price needs to be reduced if the valuation comes back as less than the £300k offeer, you can discuss.

Skiddaw1

...And remember, a property is worth what someone is prepared to pay for it....

Schwarzwald

If it is worth 300k in their eyes and as long as they can afford it and no risk of down valuation st this price: nothing for you to worry about.

you dont know their background and financials, so dont even start considering what and ifs.

newsgroupmonkey_

It's a business transaction. Treat it as such.

Sarah1Mitty2

Take it, don`t feel guilty, let other people make their own financial decisions.

Megaross

When dealing with vast sums of money you must operate objectively.

If they're prepared to pay £300k to bag it and they can afford it and the mortgage valuation considers that valuation acceptable. Then why wouldn't you accept it?

If it helps you sleep better at night buy them a nice welcome basket and give it an in depth deep clean.

Sarah1Mitty2

Megaross said:

When dealing with vast sums of money you must operate objectively.

If they're prepared to pay £300k to bag it and they can afford it and the mortgage valuation considers that valuation acceptable. Then why wouldn't you accept it?

If it helps you sleep better at night buy them a nice welcome basket and give it an in depth deep clean.

I don`t think you should feel obliged to even do that.

Grumpy_chap

AlexandraW84 said:

Hi all,

Please could I get some advice on selling my flat - I'm having an attack of conscience.

I'm selling a ground floor flat in a popular town, in an enviable location, with 2 garages. Since having a baby we are keen to move on and buy a house.

After a very sluggish post-pandemic market for flat sellers, the flats around here have started to sell again and we jumped at the opportunity.

My flat had an asking price of £285k, and three asking price offers were made. The estate agents played a bit of a blinder, and returned to all the interested parties and asked them for "best and final offers". Two of them stuck with their original offer, but the third put in a higher offer of £300k. Understandably I accepted this offer.

Thing is, I'm feeling guilty that the "best and final" approach might have made this buyer bid higher than necessary. I met him and his daughter during viewing, and they seem like genuinely lovely people.

To add some context: A neighbouring ground floor flat, with 1 garage recently sold for £270k. It perhaps needs a bit more modernising than mine, but I can't help but worry that in the future when the 'sold house prices' get published, my buyer might feel a bit cheated having paid £30k more for one extra garage.  I'm not sure what the exact value of the second garage is...not sure it equates to £30k though.

Then the other half of me thinks: you'll have to pay an inflated price for someone else's house, so why not take the money?

Not sure what the right thing to do is.  Any advice or thoughts?

You are worrying too much - just accept the money.

I'd pay £30k for a garage if I could find one in the area where we are.  All depends on what part of the country you are.

donutandbeer

I would only worry that if they need a mortgage then their lender might not agree with the price and they might not have enough cash to cover the loss. They might have their own personal reasons that they are willing to “overpay” for the flat. As long as you are not actively hiding something bad about the flat then I don’t think you should worry about morals in this case.
 
Remember they might come back asking for a reduction on price after their lender’s valuation and/or whatever surveys, and there’s no guarantee (sadly) that they are definitely buying the flat for that price, so don’t worry about morals just yet. 

deannagone

Also remember that while an extra garage is kindof so much bricks and mortar.., if they have been looking for somewhere with two garages rather than the normal one, it could well be worth the extra money to them.  Two garages are rare, particularly for a flat. It'll save them an awful lot of problems parking.