Sale fell through, reasonable to ask to lower accepted offer?

Martico

You've met both, which is good. Trust your instinct as to which is most likely to progress the purchase. 

MobileSaver

goater78 said:

I would accept the first offer from the cash buyer. They offered first and an offer of £100 over asking price is a bit embarrassing. They don’t strike me as being serious buyers. 

I agree, that's the sort of cunning plan some of the HPC posters here would try - seems logical enough when written down on paper but is actually a bit ridiculous when applied in the real world.

I'd let the first buyers know that you've had a slightly higher offer but are accepting their lower offer because they are a cash buyer; it won't hurt for them to know someone else is also seriously interested in buying at the asking price.

Emily_Joy

... and then cash buyers decide they also want a bank to be interested, so they apply for a mortgage which they know they can pay off in full in a few months. The bank comes with a lower valuation and you have to amend the price.

mi-key

Emily_Joy said:

... and then cash buyers decide they also want a bank to be interested, so they apply for a mortgage which they know they can pay off in full in a few months. The bank comes with a lower valuation and you have to amend the price.

No you don't. If the lender downvalues the house, then it is up to the buyer to find the money for the difference, you don't lower your price based on what they can afford. If they can no longer afford the house, they have to pull out.

Lenders valuations are meaningless unless someone is stretching themselves to the limit to buy it. If you have a decent LTV then their valuation doesn't make any difference. 

And why would someone with cash to buy get a mortgage for a few months and then pay it off? 

jimbog

Emily_Joy said:

... The bank comes with a lower valuation and you have to amend the price.

‘have to’? Not the case

RelievedSheff

Emily_Joy said:

... and then cash buyers decide they also want a bank to be interested, so they apply for a mortgage which they know they can pay off in full in a few months. The bank comes with a lower valuation and you have to amend the price.

You don't have to amend anything. It is up to the buyer to make sure they can afford the property.

tsears

I have formally accepted the asking price offer from the cash buyer, as like some of you said you run the risk of the lender down-valuing the property, and although I could say it's up to them to find the cash, if they don't have it available then I'm in the same situation, so figured the safest bet would be with the cash buyer

Sarah1Mitty2

mi-key said:

Emily_Joy said:

... and then cash buyers decide they also want a bank to be interested, so they apply for a mortgage which they know they can pay off in full in a few months. The bank comes with a lower valuation and you have to amend the price.

No you don't. If the lender downvalues the house, then it is up to the buyer to find the money for the difference, you don't lower your price based on what they can afford. If they can no longer afford the house, they have to pull out.

Lenders valuations are meaningless unless someone is stretching themselves to the limit to buy it. If you have a decent LTV then their valuation doesn't make any difference. 

And why would someone with cash to buy get a mortgage for a few months and then pay it off? 

It`s when the buyer doesn`t want, or can`t, find the difference that you have a problem as a seller, a buyer can go elsewhere, the seller usually has only one property to sell, a smart cash buyer is going to reduce their offer if a valuation is way less than they offered.

Sarah1Mitty2

tsears said:

I have formally accepted the asking price offer from the cash buyer, as like some of you said you run the risk of the lender down-valuing the property, and although I could say it's up to them to find the cash, if they don't have it available then I'm in the same situation, so figured the safest bet would be with the cash buyer

The cash buyer will also be having a valuation done though?

mi-key

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

tsears said:

I have formally accepted the asking price offer from the cash buyer, as like some of you said you run the risk of the lender down-valuing the property, and although I could say it's up to them to find the cash, if they don't have it available then I'm in the same situation, so figured the safest bet would be with the cash buyer

The cash buyer will also be having a valuation done though?

A lot of cash buyers don't get a survey done. And even if they do  it is far less likely the surveyor will downvalue the house as it isn't being used as security for a mortgage. The surveyor will ask how much they are paying, and unless the value is massively off will say its ok.

They buyer can also ignore the valuation as they have already decided the house is worth what they have offered subject to no problems on the survey.