Accepting lower offer from buyer

bobster2

ss2020jd said:

Thanks for the replies and I appreciate the great points made. Some things I hadn’t considered there.

The £12,000 represents 96% and if the agent can get them to go up to 316,000 for example that would be 97%.

Very common to sell for about 5% under asking price. When selling I've always set the asking price expecting to only achieve 95% of this.

ss2020jd

Thanks for the further replies. More good points. 

I was thinking of saying something along those lines about further reductions after the offer is accepted but I realise they could still try that. 

youth_leader

As there isn't a chain, have the buyers had a survey yet?  That's when they will start to negotiate, so I'd hold out for now.

ss2020jd

youth_leader said:

As there isn't a chain, have the buyers had a survey yet?  That's when they will start to negotiate, so I'd hold out for now.

Yes that’s what I’m hoping to avoid. When the offer is accepted I would hope they would get the survey arranged once the solicitors have been instructed etc. 

youth_leader

My buyer offered £50K less on my house valued at £400K - and after the survey he offered £305K, knocking yet another £50K off.  Do steel yourself for these young people to be innocent as to what does and does not require urgent attention and spending. 

LittleMax

ss2020jd said:

Thanks for the further replies. More good points. 

I was thinking of saying something along those lines about further reductions after the offer is accepted but I realise they could still try that. 

If you accept their offer I would be VERY clear with the EA that you are accepting on the basis that it will be a quick sale and absolutely no further reduction will be negotiated at survey stage.  If they do try it - you stand firm and instruct the EA, as soon as that happens, to put it back on the market. 

Bigphil1474

OP, I wouldn't bother telling the EA about not willing to go any lower. You may or may not need to, but it's a futile exercise anyway. If the survey comes back saying the roof is rotten and needs replacing what are you going to do? Pay for it yourself? If that survey is right, you'd either have to replace the roof yourself or drop the price anyway. Best thing is to wait and see what happens, IMO. If they try it on unreasonably, then that would be a good time to stand your ground. Bear in mind they'll be reliant on getting the right valuation for their mortgage anyway.

FTB's can be a pain. We're on our second FTB as the first one pulled out after having their survey done. I think they were originally shown round by the EA rather than us, as I always told everyone about all the good and bad things about our house. They got spooked on a couple of big things that weren't big things. Unfortunately, they didn't do any checks with our solicitor who has a mountain of paperwork to cover almost all the issues that were raised on the survey. Hopefully this time they have some forewarning and know not to panic, but I'm not totally optimistic. 

FlyMeSomewhere79

Can I suggest not mentioning surveys at all, my FTB'S didn't bother to have survey done, the suggestion to lay down the law about surveys and if things are wrong with the house seems very bad advice because it would give the FTB's the impression there is something your hiding about the house. 

ss2020jd

Thanks for the new replies.

I accepted the offer this morning and for what good it will do said that it was on the condition of a quick sale with no subsequent further negotiations down the line without explicitly mentioning the survey (but acknowledging that some FTB can pick up minor issues as major problems as per @Bigphil1474 ‘s experience!) 

The estate agent said of course all offers are subject to survey but as long as there’s nothing blatantly obvious that shouldn’t be a problem. 

I’m not aware of any major issues but I dream that they will be like @FlyMeSomewhere79 ’s buyers. We shall see! 

FlyMeSomewhere79

I'm keeping everything crossed for you that they don't bother with a survey and everything goes through nice and quick. It took us by surprise that surveys are completely optional now.

First time buyers often don't have a lot of square cash and so I reckon are less likely to want surveys anyway just in case the mortgage company get pedantic about little issues and retain some of the money.