Probate sale - negotiation after offer

seedoffaith

Probate sale of house 
On the market at 350
Offered and accepted at 315. Agent admitted it was over priced in the first place and was due a price reduction.
Building survey done. New roof needed (I've seen it myself) retaining stone wall needs "stiching" and other repairs needed along it. Also the gable end is pebbledashed and that has now failed and needs replacement
Surveyor has valued it at 290 with consideration given to the 3 big issues above. Also has woodworm and have got separate quotes. He thinks £20/25 k for the major works need. The rest is as we expect for a probate sale. (Still waiting for the grant)
I guess what I am asking is before I go back to the sellers agent Is a seller who is executor more likely to agree to a price reduction then someone who has an onward sale

I realise it seems a big dip of 25k but I don't think I should now offer then what the Surveyor has valued it at

Thoughts please. And how do I approach this renogiation

DE_612183

Depends on circumstances and how many people are involved in the probate - if it's just one person or all the proceeds go to charity you may be ok, if there are say 12 recipients who all need to agree on the same price you only need one to dig their heels in.

Don't forget, if the property is empty the sellers may not be in a rush, and if they don't accept your lower offer they may be happy to wait until someone comes along who does.

Always worthwhile putting in your counter offer and explaining your logic and see where it goes.

Do you need a mortgage? If so if they won't budge, then better to move on.

seedoffaith

No it's a cash sale
I need to word it right in the sense another buyer would most likely encounter the same issues but on the other hand I don't want them to reject my new offer and put the house back on the market. So any help with some generic wording would be great

eddddy

seedoffaith said:

I need to word it right in the sense another buyer would most likely encounter the same issues but on the other hand I don't want them to reject my new offer and put the house back on the market. So any help with some generic wording would be great

You'll be putting your offer to the estate agent. 

• The estate agent will understand the potential implications for future buyers - you don't need to worry about 'wording it right'

• The estate agent should be an experienced negotiator, and they should know their client - so it's their job to "word it right" to their client, to keep the sale on track

• The estate agent won't want to put the house back on the market - because, at best, that delays them getting their commission. At worst, the seller decides to change estate agents to remarket, and the estate agent gets nothing. 

But in simple terms, the estate agent might react like this...

• The estate agent tells you you're being unreasonable trying to reduce your offer to £290k, and you should increase it

• The estate agent tells the seller that because of the survey, it's very reasonable that the buyer is reducing their offer to £290k - and the seller should accept it

• And the estate agent hopes that one party will give in - and/or both parties will compromise. But the estate agent won't really care who gives in / compromises etc - as long as the sale proceeds.

seedoffaith

Thanks 
I will put some bits of the survey together later this week and see what they Say

seedoffaith

DE_612183 said:

Depends on circumstances and how many people are involved in the probate - if it's just one person or all the proceeds go to charity you may be ok, if there are say 12 recipients who all need to agree on the same price you only need one to dig their heels in.

Don't forget, if the property is empty the sellers may not be in a rush, and if they don't accept your lower offer they may be happy to wait until someone comes along who does.

Always worthwhile putting in your counter offer and explaining your logic and see where it goes.

Do you need a mortgage? If so if they won't budge, then better to move on.

Ò
 do you think it Will make any difference if the executor handling the will is a solicitor or such like?

user1977

seedoffaith said:

DE_612183 said:

Depends on circumstances and how many people are involved in the probate - if it's just one person or all the proceeds go to charity you may be ok, if there are say 12 recipients who all need to agree on the same price you only need one to dig their heels in.

Don't forget, if the property is empty the sellers may not be in a rush, and if they don't accept your lower offer they may be happy to wait until someone comes along who does.

Always worthwhile putting in your counter offer and explaining your logic and see where it goes.

Do you need a mortgage? If so if they won't budge, then better to move on.

do you think it Will make any difference if the executor handling the will is a solicitor or such like?

Not particularly, other than probably slowing things down.

Have you no idea what the circumstances are? If it's executor-and-sole-beneficiary then it's going to be the same as buying from any other "normal" vendor.

seedoffaith

user1977 said:

seedoffaith said:

DE_612183 said:

Depends on circumstances and how many people are involved in the probate - if it's just one person or all the proceeds go to charity you may be ok, if there are say 12 recipients who all need to agree on the same price you only need one to dig their heels in.

Don't forget, if the property is empty the sellers may not be in a rush, and if they don't accept your lower offer they may be happy to wait until someone comes along who does.

Always worthwhile putting in your counter offer and explaining your logic and see where it goes.

Do you need a mortgage? If so if they won't budge, then better to move on.

do you think it Will make any difference if the executor handling the will is a solicitor or such like?

Not particularly, other than probably slowing things down.

Have you no idea what the circumstances are? If it's executor-and-sole-beneficiary then it's going to be the same as buying from any other "normal" vendor.

No idea other then being dealt with through Co op legal services 

propertyrental

DE_612183 said:

Depends on circumstances and how many people are involved in the probate - if it's just one person or all the proceeds go to charity you may be ok,

Actually charities can be even more hard-nosed. They have a legal duty to maximise the sale price to benefit the charity.

An Executor who is keen to wrap up the Estate, reduce ongoing costs (empty property insurance, council tax etc) and distribute the proceeds to the Beneficiaries might be more flexible.

Or, as suggested, might be happy to wait. Who knows?

Bigphil1474

I was executor to my dads old house, and after spending months sorting probate, sorting his estate, sorting the house, clearing out etc. we just wanted an end to the process. His house wasn't worth a fortune, but we got an early offer 5% below marketed price which was accepted straight away, but unfortunately fell through. We ended up getting slightly more than marketed price second time around when we got 2 offers straight away. This was earlier this year. If your sellers are anything like me, they'll be keen to sell as quick as possible especially in the relatively current slow market. 

If it was me, I'd go in with the £290k offer with an explanation why and see what they say. That's your starting point, but obviously be aware that you might end up losing the property and any costs you've already incurred.

user1977

propertyrental said:

DE_612183 said:

Depends on circumstances and how many people are involved in the probate - if it's just one person or all the proceeds go to charity you may be ok,

An Executor who is keen to wrap up the Estate, reduce ongoing costs (empty property insurance, council tax etc) and distribute the proceeds to the Beneficiaries might be more flexible.

Any executor ought to be taking those costs into consideration though - if anything, professional ones might take a more sensible approach than lay beneficiaries who think a much bigger offer is just around the corner.