sale just fell through this afternoon- unbelievable EA

MissMoneypenny

I read some forums where sellers are and all are saying that they would "snatch the hand off" of previous offers that they had, which they declined at the time. Well, those that have had offers. The main cry now seems to be "where are the viewers" or for the lucky few that have buyers "I'm expecting the buyer to reduce the offer just before exchange".

I am sure your sellers will be reading the news and know how lucky they were to get a buyer to enable them to get their dream house, which they then lost and all for £250, to pay for repairs for the poor state of their electrics. Let them fry! ('scuse the pun)

borntobefree

Count your lucky stars - you probably shouldn't be buying now. The market is gonna drop massively. Confidence has been lost in the property market - the bottom has fallen out of it.....run for the hills:rolleyes:

Errata

It seems the sellers are being foolish, £700 +vat is the price of a couple of weeks holiday in Butlins !
But buyers can be foolish also, turning down their dream home because the sofa or american fridge won't fit !

amcluesent

>OK, so building control might not care<

Can you prove that the work was undertaken after 1 Jan 2005 when Part-P regulation started? Since I bought my house in 1987, I've done loads of DIY lecky, but of course all that stopped on 31/12/2004 ;-)

borntobefree

If the sellers are pulling out for £350 - maybe they have cold feet? After all any house they are going to buy will be cheaper later too

PasturesNew

Between accepting an offer and exchanging, I knew I was lucky to have a buyer and was mega-stressed it wouldn't complete. And that was a year ago.

Right up to the last minute if they had asked me for anything up to an ADDITIONAL £12k reduction (over the first £13k they'd got in total) I'd have done it, even if they'd cited "we don't like the front door so it will need a lick of paint" I'd have panted "yes, yes.... £12k... sounds reasonable for a coat of paint on a door" to be honest.

poppysarah

amcluesent wrote: »

>OK, so building control might not care<

Can you prove that the work was undertaken after 1 Jan 2005 when Part-P regulation started? Since I bought my house in 1987, I've done loads of DIY lecky, but of course all that stopped on 31/12/2004 ;-)

Didn't the OP had a written quote for the work - the seller would need to show it'd been done by a part p.

iyiarz

Sorry first time buyer... If you were my buyer, i'd do the same!
To expect perfection in any house is being picky. Take on board the recomendations from the report. Get some advice on how serious they are and decide if they are of significant risk. Some regs are just over the top.

If the house needed complete re-wiring, it would be different. If its simple 'that shower switch doesn't meet current standards' , I really wouldn't let a sale fall through over something thats never caused a problem before.

Incisor

first_time_buyer_X wrote: »

hi just needed to rant a bit. in final stages of buying first house but sticking point has been an electrical inspection report that surfaced on monday (even tho inspection was done on 25th april). anyway installation classed as "unsatisfactory" and "poor" with a list of 10 jobs that need doing (2 urgently) with quote of £700 + VAT. I rang the estate agents and asked for the asking price to be knocked down by that amount if the sale was to proceed. they cam back next day with £200 off or sale is off threat.

Should have started by saying estimate is £700, what are the vendors going to do about this? ball in their court. Then decide what the min is which is acceptable

don't respond well to threats so i said fine the sale is off. next morning sellers come back with offer of £350

You were somewhat lucky, better to leave the vendors to refuse your offer. Understand that buying and selling a house is not competitive, to see who can beat the other side most up or down - if it goes like that it is doomed. It should be co-operative to see if there is a deal which can be struck. On either side, buy or sell, if I feel the other party is looking at it competitively, I will walk away.

and the suggestion that the 2 jobs had been done by the husband of the couple

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. i pointed out that to comply with building regs the jobs in the kitchen and bathroom needed to be done by an electrician or inspected and signed off as being ok by one. this was brushed aside because the jobs were "small"..

If these were the urgent jobs, then I would not have preached Part P, just said that they needed attending to, to your satisfaction

anyway i said i appreciated they had upped their offer but said that £600 would be fair. big silence from EA before hanging up.

You were supposed to say something to fill the void. Actually he was probably hoping you would say something pertinent to the deal, you did OK not saying anything, but better just to say 'I'll leave that with you'

5 minutes later he phoned me back with a no from the sellers and in remarked we were at stalemate to which he replied no stalemate implied a progression may occurr at some stage and they needed a yes to the £350 or no. he then proceeded to tell me that he thought the sellers were being very reasonable and meeting me halfway.

He was not doing too well, in that he should be trying to keep people at ease, but if he fails, you are not doing too well yourself by exposing the position as stalemate [this is a sign that you view the negotiation competitively]. Nothing wrong with doing it, but you are forcing the EA into representing his client more strongly, rather than operating as a mediator.

i replied that as THEIR estate agent oyu couldn't really say his opinion was impartial and he then said that altho i kept saying that they had a vested interest in the property being sold that wasn't really true and he would think they were being reasonable whether or not and i had already got a good price reduction (90000 to 87500).

Well, the EA was not doing too well there if he let you go off on that one. EA's are EA's and therefore not impartial. There is no point in poking that one at them, you might as well complain that night follows day. All this time you are backing the EA into a corner, and unless you really do have a strategy of controlling the situation to your advantage by showing to the EA that you are a sticky customer, the less he is going to feel that you are a good prospect for completing the deal.

then he told me that if i was selling their house i wouldn't have this attitude and one day i would be selling and i would be on the other side and would realise what they were going through.

True enough as an analysis, but a good EA wouldn't go there. But, then you were already injecting eqaully irrelevant truth into the discussion

i was flabbergasted at the emotional blackmail aspect of his argument (probably naivity on my part as an FTB). i told him i couldn't believe he was saying this to me and that as an EA he must realise that sometimes its a sellers market and sometimes a buyers and at the moment the ball is in the buyers favour so they need to negotiate.

the naivity on your part is letting it get there with either an inexperienced EA, or a mediocre old hand who couldn't care less about bullying you. Poking it to him about it being a 'buyer's market' does your cause no good. They know full well, and even admit it subtly, if you don't put them under pressure, but for the sake of the market, they will discipline you by holding firm and forcing you to walk away if you make too much song and dance, so that you are less certain of it being a Buyer's market.

they would still be getting more than the paid for it which won't be the case in 3-6 months time if the market carries on the way it has been and it was incredible that he was trying to make me feel like a bad person for trying to re negotiate a price on a very valid point. i said i needed to think about the offer. was that unreasonable..sometimes you get so sucked in to the situation that you can't see how you are behaving but i don't think i have done anything that terrible really. to be honest this EA has been aggressive/patronising/rude since day one and part of my bullish attitude about all of this is to do with him which probably isn't wise bringing feeling into the equation

yadayada. Your point is valid, but your approach does no good. You have no choice in the EA, unless it's with more than 1 EA. The EA is chosen by the vendor. Make the best of it.

5 minutes later he rang up and said that as of 9am tomorrow the sellers had instructed him to put the house back on the market. again i don't respond well to threats so i said fine the sales off thank you for letting me know and hung up. i can't believe he is advising them to put the house back on when they are so close to a sale..they are all packed up and ready to leave for their "dream home". they won't get what i am prepared to pay them..the house had been on the market for 6 months when i first went to see it. it seems a bit crazy to me.

In the whole situation, you are too quick. Take your time, give the other side time. Again, the idea is to cooperate to find the place at which a deal can be struck. Get your reasonable expectations for the outcome of any part of the negotiation sorted in your head before making any move other than to listen

anyway not sure there was a question in there. oh yes..will i still have to pay the full solicitors fees even is the sale didn't complete i suspect yes since she did all the contracts and searches. am i right??

Yes, you are right. These costs are some of the costs you have to bear in mind when attempting to renegotiate and should be factored in to deciding your reasonable expectations.

silvercar

Whether you now accept you may have to pay some money to update some electrics or you walk away having lost some legal fees/ mortgage application fees, todays gameplay has cost you money.

So the bottom line is do you want the house or not.