Should I ask for a house price discount

alstorey

Hi all,
I put in an offer of 330K on a house back in June.
Myself and my partner are currently renting so are at the bottom of the chain. We were told in early September probate was completed on the house the seller is buying and exchange will likely be mid October.
Then I found out last week that the seller pulled out of the house they had planned to buy due to problems with the probate, there was an error in the paperwork and had to be started again.  They quickly agreed to buy another house. I was told that the new house seller to my seller was buying a new build and would be ready at latest mid December (already way longer than I expected originally). Now I have been informed it will be sometime in January.

my mortgage offer expires Dec 31st. I am waiting to hear if I can get an extension. 

Is this grounds for asking for a discount on the house because if my mortgage offer is not extended, I will most likely get a higher rate than my current offer. 

Also, our seller’s partner is also selling a house which will contribute to them buying their house. The buyer of the partners house has said they will pull out if they cant buy the partners house by mid December. So, I am their last hope of keeping the chain alive. If I pulled out their two house sales fall through.

We really want to continue and buy the house, but I feel that the major inconvenience and potential higher interest rate from a new mortgage offer should result in a discount of the sale price.. they did kind of mentioned working something out and maybe them moving out before they buy their house but I know he would not like doing that as they have young kids and Xmas is only around the corner. I don’t want to put a family in a hotel over Xmas.

would appreciate people opinions on whether it would be okay to request a discount or if this is just the way these things go.

thanks

alan

billy2shots

Will it definitely be a higher mortgage rate?

If it is a lower mortgage rate, will you revise your offer upwards?

Sound like you see an opportunity. Other sale fallen through they are relying on you. They could move into rented but you know they wouldn't like that over Christmas with young kids. 

Now it's completely up to you how you play this. I'm a big believer in karma,  so make peace with your decision but don't start a thread on MSN if you are on the receiving end in the future. 

NornIronRose

Your circumstances would not be a reason to lower your offer after it had been accepted IMHO. My buyer tried to drop theirs after the survey had come back, but they felt that they may have had legitimate reasons to do so. I dispelled each of those reasons with honesty and they stuck with their offer. 
If a change in interest rates is going to affect you that much going forward then perhaps you might need to rethink the property you are buying and ask yourself if you can genuinely afford it if the rates go up again. 
Look at your own finances before expecting anyone else in the chain to subsidise them. 

Just my tuppenceworth as someone buying and selling right now so I get the stress and wish you all the best with your purchase. 

housebuyer143

You are in a very large and messy chain, be prepared for that new build to be pushed out again and again. 
You can pressure your seller to move into rented, or for them to get their seller to go into rented, otherwise I fear your chain is going to fall to pieces. 

I'm not sure what rate your secured but rates are likely lower now than 6 months ago so is your rate going up? 

Ksw3

I think it depends on what the rate change is. We considered this but out mortgage payments were set to increase by 50% as this was peak Luz Truss time. We weren't in a chain and the delays were with the seller.

Everyone I know in a chain has taken around 14 months to complete with 3 or 4 buyers/sellers dropping out in the process. 

I think I would start again looking at non chain properties.

alstorey

NornIronRose said:

Your circumstances would not be a reason to lower your offer after it had been accepted IMHO. My buyer tried to drop theirs after the survey had come back, but they felt that they may have had legitimate reasons to do so. I dispelled each of those reasons with honesty and they stuck with their offer. 
If a change in interest rates is going to affect you that much going forward then perhaps you might need to rethink the property you are buying and ask yourself if you can genuinely afford it if the rates go up again. 
Look at your own finances before expecting anyone else in the chain to subsidise them. 

Just my tuppenceworth as someone buying and selling right now so I get the stress and wish you all the best with your purchase. 

This isnt about affording the property.. it is about not over paying for it. My original offer was based on what the house is worth and the rate i got made sense.. now because of all the messing around, the market has changed and the rates are higher.. I am not going to pay £100 more a month than the original calculation..

An yeah you can say what if rates are higher in 5 years when my fixed term is up, well i would of had 5 pay rises by then with minimum 2.5% increases, so thats not the same as it going up before it even started..

His delay has put me out of pocket..

.. if he loses my sale he will struggle to get what i offered as prices have dropped about 5% since my offer.

housebuyer143

alstorey said:

NornIronRose said:

Your circumstances would not be a reason to lower your offer after it had been accepted IMHO. My buyer tried to drop theirs after the survey had come back, but they felt that they may have had legitimate reasons to do so. I dispelled each of those reasons with honesty and they stuck with their offer. 
If a change in interest rates is going to affect you that much going forward then perhaps you might need to rethink the property you are buying and ask yourself if you can genuinely afford it if the rates go up again. 
Look at your own finances before expecting anyone else in the chain to subsidise them. 

Just my tuppenceworth as someone buying and selling right now so I get the stress and wish you all the best with your purchase. 

This isnt about affording the property.. it is about not over paying for it. My original offer was based on what the house is worth and the rate i got made sense.. now because of all the messing around, the market has changed and the rates are higher.. I am not going to pay £100 more a month than the original calculation..

An yeah you can say what if rates are higher in 5 years when my fixed term is up, well i would of had 5 pay rises by then with minimum 2.5% increases, so thats not the same as it going up before it even started..

His delay has put me out of pocket..

.. if he loses my sale he will struggle to get what i offered as prices have dropped about 5% since my offer.

You can of course do what you want, but you are already in a super precarious chain and your reduction might be what breaks it.
I personally would focus on getting him or his seller to move because the new build could drag on and on for months (my sister's was 10 months delayed) because money off a purchase which doesn't happen isn't worth anything to you. 

EssexHebridean

there are two months until your mortgage offer expires, and even once that time draws closer, an extension may be possible. I'd ask your solicitor (who is also acting for your lender I assume) to make a tentative enquiry to the lender as to whether a request for an extension down the line might be received favourably. They might also at the same time ask what reception news of you dropping your offer would get - as that in itself could see you needing to go through all or at least some of the mortgage process again.

I'd also ask yourself how much you actually want the place you're looking at buying....enough that it is still worth the value you felt it was to you in the first place? how did the mortgage valuation compare with your original offer? 

Remember that your sellers are almost certainly relying on what you are paying for their property to inform what they can then afford to purchase. You dropping your offer now may well simply mean they cannot afford to proceed with you - and in any event they may well lose trust in you and decline to proceed with you as buyer anyway - particularly as by the sound of it, the delay is out of their control. 

Gavin83

alstorey said:

NornIronRose said:

Your circumstances would not be a reason to lower your offer after it had been accepted IMHO. My buyer tried to drop theirs after the survey had come back, but they felt that they may have had legitimate reasons to do so. I dispelled each of those reasons with honesty and they stuck with their offer. 
If a change in interest rates is going to affect you that much going forward then perhaps you might need to rethink the property you are buying and ask yourself if you can genuinely afford it if the rates go up again. 
Look at your own finances before expecting anyone else in the chain to subsidise them. 

Just my tuppenceworth as someone buying and selling right now so I get the stress and wish you all the best with your purchase. 

This isnt about affording the property.. it is about not over paying for it. My original offer was based on what the house is worth and the rate i got made sense.. now because of all the messing around, the market has changed and the rates are higher.. I am not going to pay £100 more a month than the original calculation..

An yeah you can say what if rates are higher in 5 years when my fixed term is up, well i would of had 5 pay rises by then with minimum 2.5% increases, so thats not the same as it going up before it even started..

His delay has put me out of pocket..

.. if he loses my sale he will struggle to get what i offered as prices have dropped about 5% since my offer.

I wouldn't guarantee anything. Personally I'd expect a new rate in December to be no worse than your current rate. All news seems to be suggesting we've hit the top of the interest rate increases and banks are currently reducing their rates to attract business as mortgage applications have dropped off. I wouldn't even be surprised if a new rate in December is lower than you've already got.

Even the house value isn't guaranteed. This morning it was announced house prices have increased on average by 0.9% in the last month. This will be largely area dependent but I certainly wouldn't guess what'll happen in the next few months.

propertyrental

I agreed a price on my purchase in May 2022. The sellers were clear that finding the right bungalow to buy might take them time and I was OK with that.

Then the market changed. Liz Truss broke the market and prices dropped. I could have used that as a reason to drop my price, and my sellers might or might not have agreed, but I'd agreed a price so I stuck to it. 

I now have the home I wanted and will enjoy living here. Did I over-pay? Maybe, but by the time I sell, or die, it will be water under the bridge and prices will be totally different.

MultiFuelBurner

In answer to your question...Should I ask for a house price discount?

In summary it appears you have been patient, you do have an expiry of mortgage offer that may not be extendable, you have had to I assume pay rent where you are for longer than anticipated and the market may have dropped a little.

I would certainly put some enquiries into your solicitor as others have said. The delay of the vendors could perhaps lead to a reduction in the offer price. However if you do go down this route be prepared to walk away should they not agree and only do this if this isn't your top property you want.