Is it acceptable to drop the offer if our price has dropped too?

[alliwant]

We have had an offer on our house for the last 2 months and need to move soon as we are relocating and have a baby due in 2 weeks. After much fannying about at the bottom of the chain (our buyers buyers) refusing to exchange until this and that ra ra ra, we have got fed up and put it back on the market. SO have our buyers, but we both agree that if the bottom of the chain sorts itself out we will go ahead. We have also lined up a house in our new area and the offer on ours and our offer agreed for the new place tally up perfectly (within 1K) so no need for a new mortgage. They are also desperate to move, both been made redundant.

SO, now we have a new person interested, in rented, can move within 4 weeks, made a silly offer, but in the process of being talked up to a reasonable price. Here is the dilema:

If we get an offer thats say 6K lower than our original offer, we will then either need to get an additional mortgage or lower our offer to the new house. The new house is in a bit of a state and we feel its a really good offer and tbh they probably won't get our offer again in a hurry. Given the market and the fact that we are about as stretched as we can be (relocation means I will be giving up my job), what would you do??

1. suck it up and increase the mortgage and hope I get another job in time and interest rates don't rise too much.
   
2. Revise the offer for the purchase house.
   
3. Give up and just go into rented (nothing is moving much in this area and chances are we will find something else within 6 months and keep the mortgage deal we are on) There is also a chance the house we like may be repossessed if they turn us down at a lower offer. Not nice.
   
4. Wait it out for an equivalent offer, risking me being 80 miles away from husband in our current house with new baby and 2 preschoolers (gulp)
   

Its awful that our vendors in the new area are in such a bind, but really can we put ourselves further into mortgage just to be nice? Thanks for any advice x

[yousankmybattleship]

I think you can ask the people you are buying from if they would split the difference, so lower your offer to them by £3,000 for the sake of getting the chain moving again. I don't think it would be fair for them to take the entire loss though. You have already told them what you think their house is worth and that hasn't changed. I hope you can work it out though it sounds like a very stressful situation.

[RunnerHasbeen]

You are not increasing your mortgage just to be nice, you have agreed to buy something in a separate transaction to the one you are making less money on. I don't think it is acceptable to pass on your loss to the people you are buying from just because you feel you can exploit their desperation. You re-listed your house at a lower price, I can't see why they should suffer.

Saying that, I'm in Scotland where you wouldn't be able to do this, so it seems quite out of the ordinary. I wouldn't consider option 4, the cost of running two households will soon take you up to the 6k or so you are trying to save and life would be awful.

[alliwant]

Thanks for your advice, I had thought of that too. lets just hope the bottom of the chain can sort out their visa problems.....long story...

[alliwant]

runnerhasbeen Thanks for your input. We haven't lowered our price, its just that the market seems to be slowing and I am pre-empting a situation that may well happen (a lower offer) I agree, the rules need to change, we have been sat thinking the house was 'sold' for 2 whole months and its been off the market, only now 2 weeks to my due date to be told they have a visa problem at the bottom of the chain and can not exchange after all. Its just not fair

I feel upping our mortgage is unwise when I am about to be jobless so maybe we should just back out and take our chances in rented. Its such a shame.

[SybilBeddows]

I wouldn't do 1 because the only way interest rates are going from here is up.
I wouldn't do 4 because of the state of the market: if you haven't got an offer at a certain level by now the odds of it happening are only going to get smaller.

On the plus side, if the market does continue to fall then going into rented is not a bad strategic decision, though obviously it is hassly and a pain in the neck.

It's funny though, it's as if it's somehow more honourable to pull out rather than gazunder, but in fact if you explained the situation to the vendors and left the ball in their court as to whether they would be prepared to lose the sale or accept a lower offer, surely that would be more helpful than just pulling out as it at least gives them the option?

[alliwant]

Thanks sybilBeddows Yes it seems more honourable to appologise and explain our situation is also not ideal, but this is our only option

Just posted a new thread to try and assess the market, my gut feeling is its going down pretty quickly....If its going down for us then surely it has to for them too...??

[hksi]

We have been in a similar position. Our original chain fell apart and we found a new buyer. This also fell apart and by coincidence our original buyer resold the same time and came back. They had to take an 8k hit on theirs so we agreed in the chain that we would share it out with each of us taking a share. We are all keen to move and love the houses we're moving too so this amount of money is small compared with any of the alternatives. We said to the agent that accepting the new offer was dependent on us all sharing and all agreed. I think it's worth asking then you know if it's a possibility or not.

[alliwant]

had an offer 25k below the asking price today if thats the level we are faced with its definately rented!