To refuse DH's instructions and the property agent as well?

[3catsontheironingboard]

Excuse me, I would like to ask what people genuinely think about this situation. Basically, we had an offer accepted on a house on May and are due to exchange on Friday this week. We could have exchanged months ago, but the vendors seem slightly peculiar and have faffed about quite a lot.

DH said he was fine to move if that was what I wanted, but he didn't have time to deal with the solicitors or any of it because he's too busy at work. I said that was fine. The plan was that we would rent our current house out, but now DH has suddenly instructed a property agent acquaintance of his (lets call him Raj for anonymity) to put our house in the on the market. This was the other day. Now they have decided between them that, on the grounds of various doom and gloom forecasts about the London property market, that I should ring the vendors agent and say we are taking £400,000 off our offer! This Raj has been in the phone today telling me I would be crazy not to do this, as "everyone does it". I told him, I don't feel comfortable holding a gun to someone's head at the last minute, so he said he will re-negotiate for me! DH is supporting this from overseas. Is this actually how agents work these days?

I feel annoyed that a) DH is suddenly chipping in at the last minute and b) I feel the agent has a vested interest in scuppering this sale so he can sell me a different property. This could be his agenda.

The last text I had from DH was this, "The market is what it is. This is a transaction darling, you're not out to make new friends." I am going to reply that I don't deal like that and what goes around comes around. AIBU or are they?

can you look up the values on zoopla and see what recent sold prices have been?

Behave with integrity, always.

Someone attempted this with my brother at the last minute, he told them to fuck off, and kept the house, still managed to buy new house, rented old house out. Raj is a badun, your DH wanted to keep out of it. How dare he undermine you in this way and come wading in to interfere at the last minute.

I have just sat here reading an industry report (savills) predicting London: 0.5% drop next year, 0% growth 2019 and back up after that.

I wouldn't worry too much about tor house dropping by 0.5% of it's value 🤣

Someone did this to a friend of mine. He refused, put the house back on the market for a slightly higher price, original buyer came back with his tail between his legs and paid the higher price!

How can you live with a man like this.
He's more important than you and so is his job.
Tell him to fuck off, he hasn't got time, he's too busy at work.

Tell him the business is down to you, darling

Btw I think it's common to try this but it never works. Why would they reduce it for you rather than just sell it to someone else? Your DH sounds a bit thick

BarbarianMum - "Selling a house for £400,000 more than its actually worth is not acting in good faith though is it?"

The price is irrelevant. If you agree to buy it at that price that's what it's worth to you. Houses don't have 'list' price! A deal's a deal. You shouldn't make agree to buy at a price then knock it down later unless something that materially affects the original value. Offer what you're prepared to pay for it up front and stick to it. Otherwise you're just messing everyone around and wasting a lot of money to boot.

Well, if we are sharing anacdotes, then friends of mine dropped their offer for a house in 2008 because the market was stalling. Not by anything like 400k but maybe 5% of the asking price. Buyers told them to do one. They ended up buying the same house 9 months later for 20% less than the originally agreed price. Still living in it today and its still worth what they eventually paid - the market here has never really recovered.

I wouldn't recommend slinging in a ridiculously low offer based on the word of a chancer called Raj, but neither would I feel obliged to stick to a price in a falling market, esp if I was planning on selling again in a couple of years.

I am not recommending gazundering per se - but the higher end of the London market is slow at the moment. Brexit and Sterling uncertainties are pushing people to extend rather than move. Those that do move are not achieving the sales prices they were 6-12 months ago.

You need to look at what similar houses in a 1 mile radius have sold for in the last 12 months - look on Zoopla. What is currently on the market is not relevant (although the fact that a similar house at the same price is not under offer does ring alarm bells).

Raj or no Raj - you do need to look after your own interests here. If your research indicates that prices are moving downwards, then consider what sort of reduction would be reasonable and ask for that. You have admitted that this process has been overly long - that alone should indicate a review to make sure the offered price is still reasonable is due?

He trusted your judgement originally to leave you alone to do all the work- but suddenly overnight your judgement can't be trusted and you need to be man-splained to?What a patronising tosser!

^ This!

I'm amused by these anecdotes. I've (well, wider team) just had hundreds of people fighting over high end flats we haven't even finished building yet. This is always the way it goes- the exception obviously being 2008- no issues and no major ones forecast either (and we do extensive research and stress testing)

Dave the price a house is worth to someone is not entirely independent of its market value though is it?

I believe in karma.. it’s an awful stressful horrible thing to do.

I’ve just sold and I’m grateful I have two buyers who were decent. It’s all stressful enough packing up without someone going back in their word.

Disgusting behaviour I think

I think that as the vendor have delayed the sale by faffing around for a few months then it would be okay to reassess whether the house is worth the money. However, you should have done this a few weeks ago and not the week before contracts were exchanged. Considering that the vendors have not hurried to sell their house is it likely that they will accept a lower offer anyway? They don't sound desperate. Raj sounds like a chancer who probably wants the sale to fall through so don't trust him.

I've texted DH and told him I can't in all conscience do what he is telling me to do because it's bad karma. I also said that Raj is talking absolute b . For instance, he told me that I have overpaid on this house (well, I don't know, but I got 10% off the asking price and I felt ok about it because I think it's the right home for our family into the future). Then he tried to persuade me to view a house he has which is £1 million more than I paid He said, "Don't worry, the vendor will accept about 800K off the listed price and this is a bigger house than the one you're getting". So, after that, how can I trust that there is any integrity in the property market, or that he won't be saying a similar thing to potential buyers for our house? Do agents think people are that stupid?

When I put the offer in, I obviously ran it by DH. In fact, I really wanted his input, but at the time, he was stressed about some other deal connected to his work and I felt he was disengaged. He is not dishonest, but he just sees things in very black and white, financial terms. I see things in terms of the stress levels involved and what I think is acceptable behaviour.

See if you can look up online the prices for comparable houses in the area where the one you are buying is. That will give you an idea of whether the price is sustainable.

Two things:

Whilst Raj and your DH are probably over egging it, the London market is very soft at the moment. If you look at Rightmove, many houses have been on for months and you can see a pattern of one or more price reductions which still don't result in the house selling.

If your offer was made in May it would not be ridiculous to ask for some sort of discount because the market has changed while they were faffing about. Totally your choice though, if this is a unique house which you really want then go for it. If it is a relatively normal London townhouse then no real point in paying over the odds.

Second, because of the situation I have outlined above don't assume that you can resell either your current house or this house quickly. In the case of your purchase 12% stamp duty will probably mean little gain on resale even if you found a buyer - that is one key reason why the London house market has stalled.

Well I may be being unreasonable myself but if six months after offering and within days of completion you tried to knock £40 off agreed price I'd shred contract and tell you to jog on, so can only imagine if you tried £400K!

Tell your husband to sack Raj and then just press ahead. It all sounds very strange to me. Yes the London market has dropped a bit but not that much. It means it is easier to buy properties in London because there are fewer people paying asking prices. My daughter got something like 3% off the asking price this summer, having been told by friends to try to get loads off so she did a bit of negotiation (but not from £400k off!!) and still ended up agreeing a price not that much below the asking price for a really lovely flat but once that price was agreed no reductions otherwise you just never buy anywhere in life. Best to agree, progress the transaction and move in. I don't think London prices are going to go up for about 5 years but it doesn't matrer at all because most of us are just buying a home, not a cash cow. If you get the house you want it doesn't matter if you paid a bit more than you might for it.

The thread however is more about how do husband and wife negotiate and agree things between themselves. This man chose to leave things to his wife so in my view he's missed his chance and will have to send Raj off into the sunset.

Vv horrible. In theunlikely event this deal went ahead with 400 k less there be massive sourness so expect no light bulbs, prawn hidden behind the radiators etc. (Half joking). Whats raj getting out of this and does your dh normally act like this as id be rethinking why i was married to him.

It's a fairly unusual house in that it has quite a lot of lateral space, rather than being an up and down townhouse. There is another of exactly the same type of house on the road still advertised for the price ours was. Its been on since about May, I think. It's probably in slightly better condition, but the layout wouldn't have worked so well for us because one part is annexed off and we don't need that. I don't know if it's had any offers.

Hmm I don’t condone gazumping either. But given the time frame and the fact it’s not been you dragging things out, you’d be a fool IMO not to research prices now and offer a lower amount if appropriate.

The £400k is throwing people I think here, because that’s a house in itself for most people. It doesn’t matter what the figure is, it’s the proportionate cost vs the total that is relevant I think.

Also, to be quite frank, I think DH is secretly grumpy about paying the stamp and that this is affecting his car- buying potential, among other things. That is the truth of the matter and this is his way of throwing his toys out the cot and making me feel under pressure.

Stick to your guns. Tell raj and your husband to get lost. How dare he try to undermine you. I'd be furious at my dh if he tried to do this. Raj sounds like a chancer, and your gut tells you what goes around comes around. Get the house you want at the price you were happy to pay.