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?

Aha, I think the OP has the true measure of her husband

Personally, I would not waste my time talking to Raj anymore. He is a bullshitter.

Just seen your update re dh throwing toys out of the cot.....what a baby. Ignore and press ahead, don't tolerate the pouty face.

The £400k is throwing people I think here, because that’s a house in itself for most people.

More like 3 houses.

If you did that to us we would pull out of the sale. 4K is a lot to drop on the offer particularly so close to the exchange day.
I also wouldn't use any estate agent who says it's common practice

We had this happen to us. Last minute price reduction after months of messing about.
Unfortunately for the buyers who did this to us we had someone else who immediately stepped in and completed within the week.

Apparently the wife was devastated because when they rang back to put the squeeze on us to sell at the lower price the agent had to tell them it was already sold.

I have met my fare share of Rajs. They put on a suit and call themselves an estate agent and think that gives them some sort of insider knowledge and expertise of property.

YANBU

Just a thought. What if you called Raj and your dhs bluff and said if we don't get this house I am not moving

There are two issues.

1. Your husband

He is an arsehole. Do you actually want to be married to him, let alone buy another house with him? You don't leave it to one person, then patronisingly jump in and over rule them.

1. The Deal

I'm with your arsehole husband! (except I would have been involved upfront). Frankly, if my partner wanted to piss away £400K due to "karma" I'd be dumping them! Bloody hell. I might respectfully disagree with a partner referring to their personal moral code - but bad karma? I'd laugh at them. The market is changing. We've just had an interest rate rise, so there's a pretty big event. There's a lot of money sloshing around your coffers - do you think his contribution to that is down to him making crap deals?!

Deliberately waiting until the last minute to reduce below market value, because your vendor is effectively blackmailed by chains and the delay of finding new buyers - totally immoral.

Reducing your offer because the market has moved significantly and th house is now worth less - sensible.

As to whether YABU? Entirely depends on where you are between those two statements.

The main reason that I will not do this is that I made it a condition of our offer that the house would be taken off the market and Rightmove when they accepted the price. So the house had been off the market since May, preventing other potential offers.

When I say "bad karma", I don't mean to sound all new-age. Just that we are trying to sell our house and I would be livid if someone did that to us.

What is the 400k as a % of the house price?

I don't think it's unreasonable to renegotiate after 6 months based on current market trends but it depends on the starting point.

A condition of the offer to remove the house from the market is really standard. So they haven't really given you much by doing that.

What price is Raj suggesting you list your current property at? How does that compare with what other agents say it is worth?
This will tell you either
A. He is planning another gazunder stunt or
B. He’s talking bullshit about the housing market forecast to collapse

You say the vendor has faffed and caused the delay - this is what happens, then.

If you had put special conditions asking them to complete on a particular long future date, then yes - I'd say you morally should suck up the market changes.

5 months isn't that long really. Most simple cases I know have taken 3-4. But still - if the vendor didn't want to risk the market changing, they should have been on the ball.

Also renegotiating is one thing generally but it would now be two days before exchange, which is horrendous behaviour.

If the market is so terrible why does Raj think it makes sense to put your house up for sale now?

I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.

It's about 8% needto. I don't see any sign of any houses in the area being reduced though - yet! I think people are holding out to the New Year /Spring.

I think one of the vendors has some mental health issues which may be why they are selling up. All is not quite right there, that's for sure. I said to DH, they will probably lose the plot totally if I messed them about at the last minute. He said it's not really his problem.

Back to Raj, he came in all super-positive, saying we should definitely put our house on for £100K more than other agents has said. Now he's saying "relax and don't panic until after Xmas" - in other words, "the market is flat at this time of year so don't expect much from me".

My whole house is worth less than 400K! gulp. London really is another planet!! If I was the vendor I would tell anyone who tried to guzzump to eff off and call up the next person who made an offer. Cough up for less stress and honest approach IMO. Or be prepared to lose the house.

So, the house is worth around £5m
and Raj has offered to "help" in exchange for 1%
£50,000.00 for stirring a bit.

Tell him to sling his hook

I said to DH, they will probably lose the plot totally if I messed them about at the last minute. He said it's not really his problem

But it is his problem if you lose the house.

I am still for calling their bluff. If Raj loses the commission on your house and he doesn't get to potentially sell you another house he doesn't get the commission on that one I wonder how long he will be your dhs friend.

Personally I can only go by what is happening in my area, North London area. The market is pretty static but those places that have been sold have all been around a certain price. The only ones that have no sold this year are those asking £300k above that price.

The market might have moved slightly up from the beginning of the year but only about £50k . If the houses that haven't sold reduced their price it wouldn't mean the market had fallen it would just mean the market was steady.

How does Raj know your DH?

Clearly somehow they've bypassed you.

However, since your husband appears to be a wheeler-dealer, you might approach him by saying what is Raj getting out of this?

• 1% on your property which he has priced over other EAs and which are standard rates anyway.
• 1-2% on the property you want to buy which presumably isn't with him at the moment and the same on others he is suggesting might suit you better.

Clearly if he knows the older owners of the property are very keen to sell (especially if one needs MH care) he would suggest leverage, and high end properties have been hit by the stamp duty/Brexit/uncertainty. If your husband does agree to pushing this angle be prepared for Raj to do this to you.

However if the couple selling the house you really want have a decent solicitor, s/he will tell you to bugger off since you are so close to sale it is gazundering.

Raj is probably arguing correctly that if they take a 5% dip on their sale and you take the same - you would benefit as you are climbing up the ladder.

On the other hand, if his shenanigans lose you the house you want, the only ones that benefit are Raj and your husband, who clearly isn't that interested apart from a deal.

but it is your husband's problem if you end up with nowhere to live.

so - there's no hard evidence that the house you're buying is overpriced, in spite of all the doom & gloom about London house prices. If there is, you could raise this, but have examples to back this up and suggest a reasonable figure.

You can afford to rent out your current home, & presumably could continue to do that if prices do drop before you sell it, so if there is a future drop you're still OK.

Why are you moving? If it's because you have to move area, then you need a solution, but you could rent & then rent out your old place, and wait to see what happens in the spring. If you're just moving because you want a bigger/better place, then I would seriously consider just telling DH that you will wait 6 months and then start again.

I would very clearly tell DH that if he or Raj carry out any negotiations that you haven't agreed to, you will refuse to sign any and all legal documents and ensure that the sale/purchase never happens. You either work together as a team, or not. Also point out to DH that Raj has already suggested unethical ideas, and changed his mind about selling your place, so isn't perhaps the best business person to work with, and that he could end up costing you far more than 400k if he messes about like this. Perhaps your DH should see this as a logical business move, and not try making friends with Raj?

How DH knows Raj (I believe) is through an activity and he's a friend of a friend, something like that. So he felt obliged to let him have a go at marketing our house. I had already had several agents found, one of whom, I know from experience, is good. But DH gave Raj sole rights to market the property for 1%. I would have preferred to get another agency onto it at least. Today, on the phone, Raj has held nothing back in disparaging the other agents in the area - inc. who is having an affair with who! If it's true, I'm surprised there is not a reality series about estate agents. So now we have a shark selling our house. To make things even more ridiculous and I am embarrassed to say this, DH and this Raj have apparently "joked" that, instead of the fees, DH will give him a bloody something-or-other track car if he can sell our house for the asking price.