Should we give our buyers a deadline

Sarah1Mitty2

Sammy_21 said:

We are a retired couple so borrowing 10k is a no. Our house was built in the 1960's so always upkeep. In the last two years we have had all windows and doors replaced, £8k, new gas boiler installed a year ago 2k and roof repair £2k this year so feel we have spent a lot and the house is pretty much up together. I just feel that after 18 weeks since they put the offer in its a bit mean to be asking for a reduction this late in the day. We have offered an indemnity for the electrics via our solicitor, just waiting to hear what our buyers want to do. Looks like another sleepless night. Hopefully will hear tomorrow.🙄

A lot can change in 18 weeks in this market, the hard truth is that upgrades don`t add much to the value, people are looking at size, location and price, and in this market how much they can borrow and how much they could possibly lose, I would keep the buyer and ask your seller to drop their price, quoting "market conditions" and telling them that your buyer is no longer willing to pay so much due to those conditions.

Sammy_21

Our buyers won't speak to the EA anyway and will only go through the solicitors which again holds things up🙄

lika_86

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

lika_86 said:

Sammy_21 said:

We are a retired couple so borrowing 10k is a no. Our house was built in the 1960's so always upkeep. In the last two years we have had all windows and doors replaced, £8k, new gas boiler installed a year ago 2k and roof repair £2k this year so feel we have spent a lot and the house is pretty much up together. I just feel that after 18 weeks since they put the offer in its a bit mean to be asking for a reduction this late in the day. We have offered an indemnity for the electrics via our solicitor, just waiting to hear what our buyers want to do. Looks like another sleepless night. Hopefully will hear tomorrow.🙄

If you have an estate agent I'd get them involved, they can normally give people a bit of a talking to and get them to pull themselves together.

Estate agents are out for themselves and out to make money, any "talking to" (which won`t happen because the EA still wants the buyer to maybe buy one of their other properties) that an estate agent dished out would likely just annoy  the buyer further as they see their reasoning as legitimate and could see them walking away, putting the whole sale in jeopardy.

I disagree.

Estate agents want to do the least amount of work possible for their commission. They want a chain that is complete to stay together. They don't want to have to market the property again, deal with viewings and then get a new buyer through the process.

An estate agent can either calm the buyer down about actual risk if that's their concern or bang their heads together and tell them to stop playing around unless they want the sale to fall apart. 

This is exactly the sort of situation where estate agents can be worth their money. 

Given the buyer's behaviour so far I wouldn't be pussyfooting around them or worrying about annoying them. Them asking for £10k off for nonsense things after already fannying about over asbestos is far more annoying and if it was me I'd have actually gone back to market based on a point of principle.

thegreenone

@Sammy_21 Say No.   A flat No.    And see what happens. 

Herzlos

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

lika_86 said:

Sammy_21 said:

Update on our house sale, the asbestos survey came back all clear but our buyers now want to offer £10,000 less as we don't have a certificate for when we had the house rewired 12 years ago and maybe some potential roof work. We had the flashing and leading replaced on the chimney in January due to a leak and spent £2,000 on that. We can't afford the house we want to buy with £10,000 less. We have let are solicitors know and are waiting to hear. Our buyers are sofa surfing as they have given up there rented flat.

It's clear they're now trying anything to offer lower. I'd call their bluff at this stage and give them a deadline. Particularly if they are now out of their place. 

No certificate for a 12 year old wiring job is not a reason to go £10k lower. They don't need to 'remediate' anything with that money and the same for the roof. You fixed the issue. They're chancers. You indulged the asbestos survey.

Tell them that unless they confirm by Friday that they are content to proceed with the original offer then you'll go back on the market the following week. Then push for exchange dates.

Going back to the market will likely result in offers of more than 10k lower IMO, really really not worth the drama and stress, just give them their money off and move on is my advice.

You seem really, really, obsessed about trying to drive down house prices, I suspect because you can't afford to buy, and it's causing you to give people terrible advice.

OP - the buyers seem like chancers, so I'd be talking to the EA about how they'd feel about re-listing it. It may scare  the buyers into getting their finger out. Definitely don't go borrowing more money to placate them. I'd be almost willing to bet that if you agreed to drop the price by £10k for a missing 12 year old certificate, they'll ask for another £5k off because the slabs in the garden aren't quite level or something.

Of course, if you give them any ground they'll take advantage, and I suspect that once they've moved in they'll start asking for refunds for anything they find too, so be prepared to tell them to sod off a few times.

EssexHebridean

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  <div><a rel="nofollow" href="https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/profile/Sarah1Mitty2">Sarah1Mitty2</a> said:</div>

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  <div><a rel="nofollow" href="https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/profile/lika_86">lika_86</a> said:</div>

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  <div><a rel="nofollow" href="https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/profile/Sammy_21">Sammy_21</a> said:</div>

  <div>We are a retired couple so borrowing 10k is a no. Our house was built in the 1960's so always upkeep. In the last two years we have had all windows and doors replaced, £8k, new gas boiler installed a year ago 2k and roof repair £2k this year so feel we have spent a lot and the house is pretty much up together. I just feel that after 18 weeks since they put the offer in its a bit mean to be asking for a reduction this late in the day. We have offered an indemnity for the electrics via our solicitor, just waiting to hear what our buyers want to do. Looks like another sleepless night. Hopefully will hear tomorrow.🙄</div>

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If you have an estate agent I'd get them involved, they can normally give people a bit of a talking to and get them to pull themselves together.</div>

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<b>Estate agents are out for themselves and out to make money, any "talking to" (which won`t happen</b> because the EA still wants the buyer to maybe buy one of their other properties) that an estate agent dished out would likely just annoy&nbsp; the buyer further as they see their reasoning as legitimate and could see them walking away, putting the whole sale in jeopardy.</div>

</blockquote>

The selling agent acts for the seller, NOT the buyer. It is entirely reasonable to ask the agent to have a chat with a buyer and set them straight if they are being unreasonable. 

Herzlos said:

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

lika_86 said:

Sammy_21 said:

Update on our house sale, the asbestos survey came back all clear but our buyers now want to offer £10,000 less as we don't have a certificate for when we had the house rewired 12 years ago and maybe some potential roof work. We had the flashing and leading replaced on the chimney in January due to a leak and spent £2,000 on that. We can't afford the house we want to buy with £10,000 less. We have let are solicitors know and are waiting to hear. Our buyers are sofa surfing as they have given up there rented flat.

It's clear they're now trying anything to offer lower. I'd call their bluff at this stage and give them a deadline. Particularly if they are now out of their place. 

No certificate for a 12 year old wiring job is not a reason to go £10k lower. They don't need to 'remediate' anything with that money and the same for the roof. You fixed the issue. They're chancers. You indulged the asbestos survey.

Tell them that unless they confirm by Friday that they are content to proceed with the original offer then you'll go back on the market the following week. Then push for exchange dates.

Going back to the market will likely result in offers of more than 10k lower IMO, really really not worth the drama and stress, just give them their money off and move on is my advice.

You seem really, really, obsessed about trying to drive down house prices, I suspect because you can't afford to buy, and it's causing you to give people terrible advice.

You haven't met Crashy before, have you...?! ;-) 

Sammy_21

Final update. We asked to see a copy of the buyer's survey as proof of what work was required. At first the buyers refused we offered to drop the price by £3k as we couldn't afford any more. Both EA and solicitors thought they were trying it on. They then said they would accept a reduction of £8k or they would pull out. Then suddenly we got the survey, we couldn't find anything urgent to be done and especially not for £10k We told them we had no more funds so take it or leave it. Then hey presto they wanted only £5k off, so us and the vendor of the house we are buying have split it between us. This all happened really quickly at the end of yesterday after a day of backwards and forwards with the solicitors. We exchange contracts in the morning and will be moving next Friday.
Thanks for all the comments. Guzundering is a horrible thing to go through 🧡

MultiFuelBurner

Sammy_21 said:

Final update. We asked to see a copy of the buyer's survey as proof of what work was required. At first the buyers refused we offered to drop the price by £3k as we couldn't afford any more. Both EA and solicitors thought they were trying it on. They then said they would accept a reduction of £8k or they would pull out. Then suddenly we got the survey, we couldn't find anything urgent to be done and especially not for £10k We told them we had no more funds so take it or leave it. Then hey presto they wanted only £5k off, so us and the vendor of the house we are buying have split it between us. This all happened really quickly at the end of yesterday after a day of backwards and forwards with the solicitors. We exchange contracts in the morning and will be moving next Friday.
Thanks for all the comments. Guzundering is a horrible thing to go through 🧡

Even with a sale of ours in 2019 a survey was used as pressure to try and get £10k from the FTB at the bottom of the chain. We were fourth in the chain and decided to take the hit for the chain and not pass it up any further (we got a good deal).


It happens

jimbog

Sammy_21 said:

Final update. We asked to see a copy of the buyer's survey as proof of what work was required. At first the buyers refused we offered to drop the price by £3k as we couldn't afford any more. Both EA and solicitors thought they were trying it on. They then said they would accept a reduction of £8k or they would pull out. Then suddenly we got the survey, we couldn't find anything urgent to be done and especially not for £10k We told them we had no more funds so take it or leave it. Then hey presto they wanted only £5k off, so us and the vendor of the house we are buying have split it between us. This all happened really quickly at the end of yesterday after a day of backwards and forwards with the solicitors. We exchange contracts in the morning and will be moving next Friday.
Thanks for all the comments. Guzundering is a horrible thing to go through 🧡

Well done! Bet you're glad you didn't need to resort to getting 10K from a family loan or by working overtime. Kick back and relax!