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

roversbabe

I wouldn't - once we'd agreed a price, I believe that the price should stay at the agreement.

I'd haggle beforehand though.

AngryTank

What's wrong with asking for a discount if the value has dropped?

Why would anyone in thier right mind pay 10% more than the value. The agreed price 6 months ago may have been fair but there's no way i'd pay 10% over the odds if values were falling.

It's not nice for the vendor but why should the buyer have to overspend when property is falling in value? Anyway if you haven't exchanged contracts then nothing is guarenteed (not for the seller or the buyer) so i suggest you find a solicitor who's a bit quicker off the mark.

My answer - Nothing morally wrong with expecting to pay the market value, if the value has dropped so has my offer.

stupendous_J

s a potential first time buyer, I must admit, it is tempting to drop my offer at the last moment if I could save 10%.
But as so many people have said before, this way of thinking should only be mildily concidered if the buying process has dragged on for 6 months +.& if so why sooooooooo long?

You should also concider who's to blame for the length of time elapsed since the original offer was put it? If you're the one to blame, then morally you shouldn't even entertain the idea of under-cutting / gazundering. If on the other hand, then seller is the one to blame....then perhaps if might be worth concidering? Or at lease maybe the threat of a price cut might be a very good incentive to kick the seller's !!! into faster action?

Personally I'd rather wait a year or more & then get back into the market. Being a first time buyer,the extra time would give me more chance to save for a bigger deposit. Plus first time buyers do have a certain atraction for the vendors, as we are in no chain,plus the bigger your deposit, the easier it should be to secure a mortage on said property (always worth getting a mortage decision in principle as extra prove for the vendor).

Again I'm sure some people will argue the whole 'renting is dead money' subject.....but is it??? If prices continue to drop by an average of 10% per year over the next couple of years....then think of this:-

Your rent is 500 a month, the price of your dream house is currently 120K........wait a year & that house ( or an equivalent one) would of dropped by 10% (12K).

Therefore 500 (rent) x 12 months = 6000
10% house drop = 12000

Sorry dont mean to pratle on, just wanted a say.

All the best & good luck with the market guys & girls,

J

irishwench69

I would certainly be happy to do this - the buyer doesn't have to accept my new offer after all. If they didn't want to drop the price, I'd weigh up how much I wanted the property, and if it would still be worth getting without a price drop.

However distasteful many of you might find it, gazumping and gazundering are part of the process........as people have said, this is BEFORE the contracts are actually signed - it's not like someone has a gun up against the buyers forcing them to accept a lower offer!

IW x

Gangstabird

Sorry, but with a young family and things the way they are, I would ask for a 15% reduction (just to be cheeky of course:beer: ), unless contracts are exchanged, nobody is under any legal obligation, so the choice is there. I would expect this if I sold my house 6 months ago, so would be asking the people from whom I was buying for the same thing to keep the chain going. You should never ever feel pressured into making a decision as big as this through sentimentality. It could cost you £1000's of pounds and if you have dependents, it's simply not fair to them.

Peter43

Absolutly not! The contract was agreed at the time of the `offer` and `acceptance`. This practice goes on regardless of market conditions and is immoral.

Anyone doing it is untrustwhorthy and has given in to their greed.

Paul_Herring

The contract was agreed at the time of the `offer` and `acceptance`.

Incorrect. The contract is agreed when it is signed.

Which is why gazumping and gazundering are perceived as problems.

djdaface

Id like to say I would come clean and offer to meet in the middle.... 5% reduction...

I doubt it still buy if it had already gone down 10% when i could pull out, with prices what they are you talking about £20,000 lost before you have been inside.

harryhound

As "the buyer jumps first" leaving it to the very last minute is a nasty trick to pull on a chain, if you are near the top of it.

The first time buyer at the bottom of the chain is absolutely right to reduce his offer in the present market. He is paying real money, not just cashing in on speculative gains over the last few years. But you will not get any brownie points for leaving it to the last minute and messing everyone about.

However that said, if I make an offer I would not expect to be "held" to it for 6 months, while a chain flaffs about. Three months is about my limit.
A buyer can always take out a bridging loan (if they are very brave).
Or a contract can be negotiated to exchange but have a delayed completion: Put up only (say) 5% at time of exchange and agree that is the buyers total liability to the seller. BEWARE the usual contract says that if the buyer fails to complete at the end of the month, then interest accrues at x% over base and the buyer is liable for all the sellers losses if the property is later sold at a lower price to someone else!!

I've never been silly enough to buy in a falling market, but there was one time when I realised that the seller was in financial trouble - still wonder to this day if I should have asked for a 7% discount at the last minute. I think I would have got it, but my local reputation might have suffered.

On the other side of the coin, I conducted my own best and final offer, with a dozen potential buyers. Chose the best offer from a nice sensible family. Wrote to the other 11 to say "bad luck" and promptly got a letter back from number 4 offering a extra 4K gazump price. I turned it down and a month later wished I had not, as the chain collapsed (Illness near the bottom of the chain).
I gave it 3 months and started putting out feelers again.
Ended up with a contract race BUT I am pleased to say the original couple bought it when I offered them the 5% deal with a 3 month completion. In the event they managed to complete in two months.

If you have not got a decent deposit and a bit of flexibility, you should not be buying and selling houses in the current market.

KPD1

If a price is agreed then you should stick to it, okay, prices may have dropped, but they'll come up again.

We had a buyer many years ago who a day before exchange reduced the offer by £750 (on a house valued at £70,000). We decided not to take the risk of them pulling out, but instead between exchange and completion we removed everything we legally could, and we changed a very expensive Kitchen Sink for a £10 one bought at the scrapyard. We changed over all the expensive door furniture and much more for cheap stuff, and at the end of it all they probably lost a couple of thousand quid of good quality stuff. My only regret was they were too stupid to realise what we had done, and consequently we never heard anything from them. So my advice is remember that between exchange and completion your new property will be occupied by the people your buying it off, and if you upset them they have a number of weeks to make you regret it. Now I know that if you realise what they've done you can take action against them, but unless you can prove it your on a loser. Even if you realise they have changed the sink, they will always be able to argue that the old one started leaking and they did you a favour by changing it over. If you agree a price stick to it, or accept the consequences.