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

EssexHebridean

The sellers may well prefer to share the drop in price rather than lose their buyer altogether, at this stage? At the very least, they should be given the chance to know the full circumstances and then make a choice about whether to accept an owner price, or pull out, IMO. Suggesting that this circumstance is on a level with “gazundering” feels unnecessarily harsh and unfair, to me. 

diystarter7

tsears said:

In this situation would be acceptable to ask the people I'm buying from to reduce the price? 
The house I'm looking to buy is in a desirable area where not many at this price point come up for sale, but I've noticed that other properties in the local area are being reduced on Rightmove. What's the normal thing to do in this situation? 

Thanks in advance! 

Hi OP
You sound like a very decent person and caring just like me and many others I guess. The more caring people like us are the more worried we worry as possibly, well mine is, our word is our bond Sadly it does not work like that with property and I am sure you are aware of buyers will try to drop the price at the last minute etc

However, do not forget that the people you are buying from may back out at any time before the exchange without peneiates

So if I was you, I'd ask but if they say no and you love the place, then personally I'd still be on tracks for it

Good luck/

PS: Apolos for asuuming as above and I hope you are not offended

mi-key

Well making an offer that is accepted, then wanting to offer less than that for whatever reason is what gazundering is...

Of course it's up to the OP if they want to lower their offer, and up to the seller if they accept or decline, but if they decline then the OP has wasted the money they have spent so far.

diystarter7

mi-key said:

No, it's not an acceptable reason. If you are getting less for your house now then it is up to you to find the difference somewhere else or pull out of the sale. 

Look up what gazundering is. It is quite possible the seller may pull out and decide to sell to someone else and you will lose the money you have spent so far.

If your original buyer who had agreed to pay £10K over for yours turned round a day before completion and said they wanted it for £30K less because other houses had dropped in value, would you be happy with that? 

Hi

It is acceptable and it does happen and clearly its not a "day before" exchange of contracts! In an ideal world, you like a property, you pay a deposit and you agree a moving date within a few weeks, but we dont live in an ideal world
One of the several reasons we only bought chain free for the last 20 odd years and sold to those ready to go as close as you can get to that.

Thanks

mi-key

diystarter7 said:

mi-key said:

No, it's not an acceptable reason. If you are getting less for your house now then it is up to you to find the difference somewhere else or pull out of the sale. 

Look up what gazundering is. It is quite possible the seller may pull out and decide to sell to someone else and you will lose the money you have spent so far.

If your original buyer who had agreed to pay £10K over for yours turned round a day before completion and said they wanted it for £30K less because other houses had dropped in value, would you be happy with that? 

Hi

It is acceptable and it does happen and clearly its not a "day before" exchange of contracts! In an ideal world, you like a property, you pay a deposit and you agree a moving date within a few weeks, but we dont live in an ideal world
One of the several reasons we only bought chain free for the last 20 odd years and sold to those ready to go as close as you can get to that.

Thanks

If you were selling, and had agreed all of that, and then the buyer came back a month later and said 'give me £30K off or I will pull out because the market has changed and I may be able to get somewhere cheaper' would you be happy in that situation? Particularly if say the person you were buying from refused to drop their price ? 

What I mean buy unacceptable is that if you make an offer and it is accepted, unless there is a real reason like the survey showing major problems, then you should stick to it.  You can't buy houses based on what they may be worth in 5 years or what they were worth 5 years ago, only on what the price was on the day you agreed to pay it. 

mi-key

p.s. I also think gazumping is just as bad ! If you agree on a price then stick to it rather than faffing around trying to chisel money off people and messing people around

diystarter7

mi-key said:

p.s. I also think gazumping is just as bad ! If you agree on a price then stick to it rather than faffing around trying to chisel money off people and messing people around

the day/3week before the exchange of contracts or one the day, I agree However, as per my previous post, OP is nOT doing that
Thanks

diystarter7

mi-key said:

diystarter7 said:

mi-key said:

No, it's not an acceptable reason. If you are getting less for your house now then it is up to you to find the difference somewhere else or pull out of the sale. 

Look up what gazundering is. It is quite possible the seller may pull out and decide to sell to someone else and you will lose the money you have spent so far.

If your original buyer who had agreed to pay £10K over for yours turned round a day before completion and said they wanted it for £30K less because other houses had dropped in value, would you be happy with that? 

Hi

It is acceptable and it does happen and clearly its not a "day before" exchange of contracts! In an ideal world, you like a property, you pay a deposit and you agree a moving date within a few weeks, but we dont live in an ideal world
One of the several reasons we only bought chain free for the last 20 odd years and sold to those ready to go as close as you can get to that.

Thanks

If you were selling, and had agreed all of that, and then the buyer came back a month later and said 'give me £30K off or I will pull out because the market has changed and I may be able to get somewhere cheaper' would you be happy in that situation? Particularly if say the person you were buying from refused to drop their price ? 

What I mean buy unacceptable is that if you make an offer and it is accepted, unless there is a real reason like the survey showing major problems, then you should stick to it.  You can't buy houses based on what they may be worth in 5 years or what they were worth 5 years ago, only on what the price was on the day you agreed to pay it. 

Hi again

1st paragraph. It's not a case of me being "happy" or otherwise it talking about real life facts. It happens, accept that as it happens and no one can do anything other than accept or say no.

2nd paragraph -  in an ideal world as per my previous post, agreed. However, as per my previous post, sadly e do not live in an ideal world

Thanks

Edit:  post perfected

lookstraightahead

mi-key said:

diystarter7 said:

mi-key said:

No, it's not an acceptable reason. If you are getting less for your house now then it is up to you to find the difference somewhere else or pull out of the sale. 

Look up what gazundering is. It is quite possible the seller may pull out and decide to sell to someone else and you will lose the money you have spent so far.

If your original buyer who had agreed to pay £10K over for yours turned round a day before completion and said they wanted it for £30K less because other houses had dropped in value, would you be happy with that? 

Hi

It is acceptable and it does happen and clearly its not a "day before" exchange of contracts! In an ideal world, you like a property, you pay a deposit and you agree a moving date within a few weeks, but we dont live in an ideal world
One of the several reasons we only bought chain free for the last 20 odd years and sold to those ready to go as close as you can get to that.

Thanks

If you were selling, and had agreed all of that, and then the buyer came back a month later and said 'give me £30K off or I will pull out because the market has changed and I may be able to get somewhere cheaper' would you be happy in that situation? Particularly if say the person you were buying from refused to drop their price ? 

What I mean buy unacceptable is that if you make an offer and it is accepted, unless there is a real reason like the survey showing major problems, then you should stick to it.  You can't buy houses based on what they may be worth in 5 years or what they were worth 5 years ago, only on what the price was on the day you agreed to pay it. 

I think the problem here is that the buyer was happy to pay all the way back then. It's the seller who has put the buyer in this predicament. 

mi-key

diystarter7 said:

mi-key said:

p.s. I also think gazumping is just as bad ! If you agree on a price then stick to it rather than faffing around trying to chisel money off people and messing people around

the day/3week before the exchange of contracts or one the day, I agree
Thanks

I think at any point really. Maybe I am old fashioned but I think if you make an agreement with someone, you stick to it. You see a lot of posts on here, often from FTBs who have had an offer accepted, and their next question is 'right, how much can I now knock that down to try and get it cheaper'

Make the offer you can afford at the time, don't offer more then assume at a later date you can hold the seller to ransom by reducing it for no other reason than you want the house cheaper than you agreed.