Advice needed on a FTB purchase on the verge of falling through.

MajimaGoro

DairyQueen said:

As a veteran property owner (40+ years and dozen+ house moves)  I can comfortably state that seller is taking the mickey big time.

I suggest that you emotionally let go of a property that you should have given up as soon as the solicitor screwed-up. The direction of travel on interest has been clear since last autumn and your priority should have been to complete a purchase asap to secure a decent mortgage rate.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

The seller deserves a sharp shock. Time for a counter-offer to their obscene £475k suggestion....something like this:

Given that you are facing a much higher mortgage rate, have missed the stamp duty window, have been deliberately misled over the property boundary, have been mucked about for over a year, and that the market has now moved against vendors....you are prepared to proceed on the basis of £400k, and only if vendor will reinstate the property boundary and exchange within 'x' weeks.

Any vendor this greedy and exploitative is likely to say 'no' but it may startle them into a reality check. At the least they may choke on their morning cuppa. Regardless, you will have the satisfaction of taking control and exiting the transaction on your terms.

You have been very unlucky so wishing you well in finding your first home.

I did also strongly feel like doing what you have just suggested, in terms of lowering our original offer. I feel like I would totally have to write the chances of the purchase off if I go down this route. I am sure it would be a rude awakening. The other part of me thinks of getting a price we agree on and then just stringing him along for another month or two and then pulling out on exchange day, very petty, but I guess it would be on his level.

NameUnavailable

MajimaGoro said:

DairyQueen said:

As a veteran property owner (40+ years and dozen+ house moves)  I can comfortably state that seller is taking the mickey big time.

I suggest that you emotionally let go of a property that you should have given up as soon as the solicitor screwed-up. The direction of travel on interest has been clear since last autumn and your priority should have been to complete a purchase asap to secure a decent mortgage rate.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

The seller deserves a sharp shock. Time for a counter-offer to their obscene £475k suggestion....something like this:

Given that you are facing a much higher mortgage rate, have missed the stamp duty window, have been deliberately misled over the property boundary, have been mucked about for over a year, and that the market has now moved against vendors....you are prepared to proceed on the basis of £400k, and only if vendor will reinstate the property boundary and exchange within 'x' weeks.

Any vendor this greedy and exploitative is likely to say 'no' but it may startle them into a reality check. At the least they may choke on their morning cuppa. Regardless, you will have the satisfaction of taking control and exiting the transaction on your terms.

You have been very unlucky so wishing you well in finding your first home.

I did also strongly feel like doing what you have just suggested, in terms of lowering our original offer. I feel like I would totally have to write the chances of the purchase off if I go down this route. I am sure it would be a rude awakening. The other part of me thinks of getting a price we agree on and then just stringing him along for another month or two and then pulling out on exchange day, very petty, but I guess it would be on his level.

I expect if you did buy it you'd have to pay for the work to bring the garden back within you actual bounds.

You could agree to proceed but tell your solicitors to hold any action and string them along while you start looking for another property, just in case you don't find one that you like as much?

koalakoala

I agree with the others, don’t offer a penny more, offer less .
There will always be another house.
They have messed you around big time.
I would have walked long ago.
But do string them along if you feel inclined…….

sidneyvic

Accept their new price and then !!!!!! them about for as long as possible while you look for another house.....

Soot2006

You have been properly messed about, and the vendor should be thanking their lucky stars you have stuck around to purchase only 2/3rds of the garden you originally thought you were getting. Instead, they want more money, while you get less garden and higher costs. Nope.

We had a vendor who knew we were very keen. We loved that house and imagined ourselves living in it and were so so looking forward to owning it. But the vendors were not nice people. Thankfully much earlier in the conveyancing process, they suddenly increased the price by £50k, knowing how much we loved the house and presumably also knowing we'd viewed more expensive properties via their EA. Long story short, we walked. I was so upset about it but the next day I woke up and felt so GOOD about it. We found a house we loved and it was cheaper than the original price we'd agreed on the other.

Schwarzwald

Hold the 425k line, start looking for other properties (should have done that months ago).

if he drops the process, he might come back in few weeks or 2-3 months.

if he continues at 425k, dont feel any moral obligation to actually follow through with the purchase until day of exchange comes.

increase your options, dont let them fool you around any longer.

good luck

UnderOffer

Where are the vendors going? How long is the chain? I’m wondering if they just don’t want to move and hoping you pull out, if they have to start again then they might lose their onward purchase. Have they really been delaying their onward purchase for 18 months? 

I’d really start looking at other properties, this feels it isn’t meant to be. 

MajimaGoro

UnderOffer said:

Where are the vendors going? How long is the chain? I’m wondering if they just don’t want to move and hoping you pull out, if they have to start again then they might lose their onward purchase. Have they really been delaying their onward purchase for 18 months? 

I’d really start looking at other properties, this feels it isn’t meant to be. 

There is no chain as far as we were aware, the seller had said that he just plans on moving out and probably renting somewhere for a while. 

MajimaGoro

Soot2006 said:

You have been properly messed about, and the vendor should be thanking their lucky stars you have stuck around to purchase only 2/3rds of the garden you originally thought you were getting. Instead, they want more money, while you get less garden and higher costs. Nope.

We had a vendor who knew we were very keen. We loved that house and imagined ourselves living in it and were so so looking forward to owning it. But the vendors were not nice people. Thankfully much earlier in the conveyancing process, they suddenly increased the price by £50k, knowing how much we loved the house and presumably also knowing we'd viewed more expensive properties via their EA. Long story short, we walked. I was so upset about it but the next day I woke up and felt so GOOD about it. We found a house we loved and it was cheaper than the original price we'd agreed on the other.

Yeah, this is how we feel. We had all but moved in, imagined living there and what we would do to the house etc. Still baffles me that people choose to live with no moral compass in life, and that peoples word really means nothing. We were initially thinking of going to £440k, but after all the responses from you guys and further discussion. I think we will be either lowering the offer or sticking to £425k and just trying to prepare ourselves mentally to walk away as much as it hurts with the time, energy and money wasted, and being in a worse off situation now looking for other properties with higher mortgage costs etc.

Soot2006

MajimaGoro said:

Soot2006 said:

You have been properly messed about, and the vendor should be thanking their lucky stars you have stuck around to purchase only 2/3rds of the garden you originally thought you were getting. Instead, they want more money, while you get less garden and higher costs. Nope.

We had a vendor who knew we were very keen. We loved that house and imagined ourselves living in it and were so so looking forward to owning it. But the vendors were not nice people. Thankfully much earlier in the conveyancing process, they suddenly increased the price by £50k, knowing how much we loved the house and presumably also knowing we'd viewed more expensive properties via their EA. Long story short, we walked. I was so upset about it but the next day I woke up and felt so GOOD about it. We found a house we loved and it was cheaper than the original price we'd agreed on the other.

Yeah, this is how we feel. We had all but moved in, imagined living there and what we would do to the house etc. Still baffles me that people choose to live with no moral compass in life, and that peoples word really means nothing. We were initially thinking of going to £440k, but after all the responses from you guys and further discussion. I think we will be either lowering the offer or sticking to £425k and just trying to prepare ourselves mentally to walk away as much as it hurts with the time, energy and money wasted, and being in a worse off situation now looking for other properties with higher mortgage costs etc.

You have my sympathies. It's not easy!

But I guess the question is will you love the house as much if you feel mugged in the end and are also covering that higher mortgage every month? No house is perfect and you always find more to spend your money on after moving in.