MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Should you demand a last-minute property discount?

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Here's this week's hypothetical situation for you to cogitate on:
Six months ago, your offer on a new pad was accepted. Now, everything’s in place and it’s just days until you pick up the keys. Yet since you agreed to buy, the local market's dropped by 10%. You know that if you demand a discount, the seller is likely to give it, as she’s desperate to get the deal done and dusted. Yet if you pulled out the chain would collapse and there’d be serious consequences for the five families involved. Should you haggle for some money off the purchase price?
Should you demand a last-minute property discount?
Six months ago, your offer on a new pad was accepted. Now, everything’s in place and it’s just days until you pick up the keys. Yet since you agreed to buy, the local market's dropped by 10%. You know that if you demand a discount, the seller is likely to give it, as she’s desperate to get the deal done and dusted. Yet if you pulled out the chain would collapse and there’d be serious consequences for the five families involved. Should you haggle for some money off the purchase price?
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Previous MMDs:
Should you give your best mate a £1 pressie?
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Martin Lewis, Money Saving Expert.
Please note, answers don't constitute financial advice, it is based on generalised journalistic research. Always ensure any decision is made with regards to your own individual circumstance.
Please note, answers don't constitute financial advice, it is based on generalised journalistic research. Always ensure any decision is made with regards to your own individual circumstance.
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The seller won't like it but will probably take it. If she doesn't, I'd admit defeat and pay up in full.
anyway, wouldn't your mortgage have to be redone, for a new figure? delays to the chain may incur charges to other buyers, and get you in trouble.
Sometimes seen lurking on the compers forum :-)
I was always taught that what goes around comes around so do to others as you wish to be done to yourself.
Just because you can screw someone does not mean you should. Do as you would be done by is not an outmoded concept.
Some of the responses already given do not seem to have caught on that Martin is asking what you think is the moral/ethical things to do. This is not meant to be a discussion about whether you could get away with it; it is a question about whether you should try.