House buyer reduced offer

lika_86

macman said:

What their first offer was is not relevant. 'Insulting' or not, they then upped it to £115K and you thought that was good. 

Ordinarily I would agree with this but in this case I disagree. Offering over a third under asking on a house of that value is a first red flag unless the house was seriously overpriced. Then reducing their offer pre-survey, second red flag. It all adds up to buyers who are going to continue to try and chip away at the price for the sake of it, not necessarily because of any real issues to justify negotiating a reduction.

macman

I agree, but that is a normal process of negotiation. Though, on this occasion, the buyer seems to be pushing their luck.
The point I was making is not to take it as a personal slight if they offer less than the marketed price.

newsgroupmonkey_

macman said:

What their first offer was is not relevant. 'Insulting' or not, they then upped it to £115K and you thought that was good. 
You really need to keep likes and dislikes out of it: you are selling them a house, not looking for a new best friend.
The odds are you will never meet your buyers again.

I think everyone agrees though that going in with lowball offers, then dropping the price based on a whim is going to only end one way and that's not a sale that everyone is happy with.

If the OP is flexible enough and at the beginning of the journey, I think putting it back on the market is a very sensible idea.

mattyprice4004

Get rid of them, they sound like more hassle than they're worth. 

comeandgo

I’d have done the same as you.  Nobody gets away with insulting my house by coming in with stupid prices, I do not negotiate.

MrCarrot

He had a quick peek up the loft and they "think" there is a problem with the roof, even though they are unqualified (vague answer when you asked if he was in the builing trade), and it's going to cost £10k to rectify.

Assuming the roof isn't in obvious dire need of replacement, I would sack them off.

If I were looking to make an offer on a house, I would ask to look in the loft before making my offer, not afterwards (if I felt the roof was a concern).  I think the only time I would reduce my offer is if a qualified surveyor found something serious.  Anything else is just messing you around imo.

I can also see small gaps of light in my loft around the eaves in places.  It has never been an issue in all the years I have lived here, and as far as I know my buyer's surveyor never flagged it up.

If you dig your heels in and they raise their offer again, what's the betting they will find some excuse to reduce it again at some point in the future.

angelasocks

Thank you all - yes I know taking insulting offers personally isn't that great but she said at first my house was a total mess (which is getting a bit too personal) house was tidy and clean btw.  Anyway estate agent understood my mistrust of the sale.  I never took the house off the market as I only accepted the offer on Saturday so see we'll see.  Great forum btw 

Slinky

They are looking for a desparate seller, I bet they offer on a lot of properties in the hope they will find one eventually.  I'd tell them to sling their hook.

jimbog

They're think they're being cute - first giving you a ridiculous offer to plant the seed that you have over-valued it. Then they point out the inadequacies of the property to further make you feel that'll you never sell it and then lower their offer by over estimating the cost of fixing a roof that doesn't need fixing.

Without a shadow of doubt they will knock the price down later when they feel they have you over a barrel. Tell them that, on reflection, that you feel that they would be happier purchasing another property

Sarah1Mitty2

Drop them, go with one of your other offers.