Would you feel guilty pulling out of a sale

jaype

Remember that there are lies, damned lies and statistics... the house price data on the Land Registry's figures tend to lag so it's only just catching the first part of the credit crunch at present. Also, Rightmove is only about asking prices - I could be really optimistic and ask for 1mill on my house but that's no guarantee I'll get it! People tend to have faith in prices going up and up still even when all evidence says they're not. So, with two small children I'd be very careful. If things pan out like last time it may take 8-10 years before your house is worth what you paid for it again. Could you bear to be there for that long? What are secondary schools like (very important - that's why we're not buying as we have a 4 year old and while local primaries are great we'll have to move unless we want him to be stabbed he minute he hits his teens!). If you have doubts, I'd say don't do it. Prices seem to be flat at best so you probably won't lose out - even if interest rates go down, unless you have a large deposit there isn't much money going round to borrow now, hence they shouldn't be able to take off again or a while.

pinkshoes

Den wrote: »

We are in the same situation. I'm FTB and really nervous about the market, plus the property is not dream house, it never will be with first home, but there is a chance that I can get better for my money in two years.

If it's not a dream house, don't buy it!!

This is a mistake many people make, feeling they HAVE to get on the property ladder, and seeing it as an investment rather than a home.

Obviously my apartment isn't my future dream house, because I couldn't have a 5 bed detached house in the middle of nowhere with a big garden in the middle of a city (!), but it's pretty near perfect for the next 5 to 10 years!

duchy

Having had a seller who messed us about and the pulled out from greed (prices rose over those months) I'm probably looking at it from another perspective.
We survived the disappointment and the additional costs-the hassle of starting over and we also kept our self respect by not doing the same to OUR buyer-who was terrified that we would pull out and start again.
As I told him Ijust because it had been done to us didn't mean we would stoop to the same level. Yes we may have lost out a bit financially but I could still look myself in the mirror.
Just because it's legal to pull out doesn't mean it's morally right-but karma dictates that what you do to others will probably get done to you further down the line.

ruggedtoast

I had a buyer pulled out, they faffed around for absolutely ages after making an offer, bringing round builders, showing family members, poking things, then inevitably changed their mind. Could cheerfully have throttled them to be honest. I got over it though.

MadMonkey

The market falling argument sounds sensible BUT you should have researched all this before you offered and then got this far down the process.

I am currently in a chain where the first buyer is messing about and if he pulls out we have all lost large amounts of money (surveys, mortgage app fees, solicitors et.c).

If you are not serious about the house buying process then in y opinion you should not be viewing houses let alone making offers on them.

There may only be one person in the chain other than you but you are still about to inflict some serious stress onto them for no better reason than you are flaky when it comes to house buying.

If people did more research before trotting off and viewing houses and offering and then pulling out last minute the whole experience would be much easier for the rest of us.

I relly believe that when you make an offer you are entering into a verbal contract and just wish the government would make it a legal obligation to complete after offering.

If you do pull out the I personally hope you get it done to you in the future - Karma ?

jaype

To be fair to the Op though, since early Jan things have changed a bit - what looked like a blip has gone on and one. Could easily have been like 2005 when there was a cooling of prices, interest rates dropped a bit and the whole thing took off again.

Nenen

Leeds_Fella wrote: »

Gents, Ladies,

Also, saving perhaps a further 30K in 6 months time on a 500K house - if experts are proven right on house prices, would go a long way to our girls education.....

...I would feel guilty, I'd like to think I am a man of my word, but I'd feel a lot more guilty to my daughters, if I could have put aside a large chunk in the bank for the girls, and rented for a while longer and didn't.

Whilst I agree with Merlin that £30,000 is a vast amount of money in many circumstances, in relation to private school fees it is a drop in the ocean! If that is the only reason you are thinking of breaking your word then maybe you should think again! £30,000 would only pay for about two years schooling for your two daughters (good private schools are at least £2,500 per term each, not including the uniform, trips, extras etc). Even if you invested the £30,000 it wouldn't even pay one term's fees for one daughter each year. As a very rough figure (not taking compound interest, inflation and rising fees into account) you'd need to invest at least a quarter of a million pounds to get enough interest to pay fees for two children.

I don't mean to sound harsh but perhaps you should think of the example you are setting your daughters about what giving one's word actually means. How would you feel if, in the future, someone did this to one of them? If you agreed this price in January it was already obvious the market looked very dodgy and likely to go down so why did you offer this then? I could understand it better if you were a first time buyer stretching him/herself to the financial limit and increasingly terrified of going into negative equity but to be honest it sounds as if you are relatively wealthy and this whole thing is not very well thought through.

dwsjarcmcd

Haven't seen this on any post, but I assume that you haven't exchanged yet?

David

Leeds_Fella

Many thanks for the replies - all very valid and I really appreciate all the advice and opinions

No we have not exchanged, due to in ~ 3 weeks time, we have the mortgage in place.

I agree the English house buying process should be changed as it can be very expensive if either party pulls out

In my defence, the market outlook has changed dramatically since 2nd Jan, the banks are now offering much lower LTV mortgages than they did then which will have a knock on effect on FTBs and hence all properties eventually and IMO, there will now be a major correction over the next 2 years.

This was not evident very early Jan when we placed the offer

We are both (vendors and us) victims of what has materialised and not the blip I, and many others, expected. Please be aware, I have spent just under 1K on fees and surveys. The vendor to date has only lost 2 months of marketing time for his property.

Yes, I am normally a man of my word, but I also feel I would be moronic to buy in the current climate

AMILLIONDOLLARS

Leeds_Fella wrote: »

since 2nd Jan, the banks are now offering much lower LTV mortgages than they did then which will have a knock on effect on FTBs and hence all properties eventually and IMO, there will now be a major correction over the next 2 years.

But won't you also be affected by much lower LTV mortgage offer when you present offer expires?, you'll need to think about this also in your deliberations.


AMD