To pull out of house purchase so close to exchange or gazunder?

[TitaniumBev]

Totally miserable - any advice/views/abuse welcome!

We're FTB's, both 30, scrimped for years to get deposit together. We both grew up dirt poor & wanted to have a bit of security before children so are keen to get going now and sick of private renting.

Offer accepted on house end of Jan, the asking price was kite flying given location (Croydon). They wanted 460k we settled on 440k, only now due to exchange next week after delays (both sides, minor errors).

Since then though all the news around the economy & housing especially around London has been terrible. Monthly drops of around 1 - 3.6%. Terrible rics reports & rightmove data etc. Similar properties in the area are coming on for less but there is not a lot coming on so hard to judge. Properties hanging around for a long time.

I now feel the agreed price is too high, a lot has changed in 4 months and I think it's best to walk away. I know this will screw over the vendors & the chain but don't like DH's suggestion of asking for a reduction so close to exchange. He thinks we should at least give them the chance. (How lucky!!!) Prices seem to be down around 6% he reckons split and ask for 3% off. (£13,000 ish)

Its such a big transaction, the market looks soooo bad and its not dream house or anything. Should I walk or offer lower? I'm not going to over pay for a house just to be nice/honorable unfortunately.

URGH!

Talk about Clowns to the left of me and Jokers to the right, the poor Sellers, what a day from hell....

Seriously though, you both might want to take a step back and ask if you are ready for the commitment of owning property. Nothing will ever be perfect, prices will go up and down.

Op - I think you’ve done the right thing.

I said upthread our buyer had pulled out recently for the same reason. We’re about to accept a new offer £30k (!) less than the one we’d accepted in February.

The money isn’t really the issue for us in our circumstances- we’ve built up equity over years of owning in London and will get a reduction off the place we’re trading up to.

As a FTB though, don’t be the one to take that hit in a downward market. Can’t speak for Croydon but it is in my part of London.

The stress is horrible though, but that’s house buying for you.

I'd be wanting to take out a fucking contract on you to put it bluntly

Whaaaaat! I delayed 7 months on a sale
As
A tenant decided she wanted to be evicted so she could be homeless and housed. I then even forwarded the birches mail !

This stuff happens but the idea OP should make a financial loss so as to not inconvenience someone is baffling

It’s awful marriages break up over this shit but that’s the shitty markets fault

@RubyTrees I disagree re unearned income. We earnt our deposit for our first home, which we bought for roughly half the price of the offer OP made for this one (we couldn’t afford London prices). We still offered £10K above asking price to secure it as we loved it so much and in the grand scheme of things the extra was neither here nor there. It was absolutely worth it as it’s now worth a lot more and was valued as such when we remortgaged (to get a better deal).

Prices do fluctuate but this doesn’t mean that every property will now be worth X amount less right away. On the flip side, I expect that in four years the property OP had offered on will be worth considerably more.

I know this is academic as OP’s purchase no longer moving forwards though.

Very off topic but have to ask.
Lots of references here to a Westfield.
Do you all just mean a Westfield shopping mall?
If so, why are there apparently only two of them in London? Are they new in England? Why are they seen as such a drawcard here? Just a shopping mall? What's the alternative you're all used to?

Big shopping Centres are new to central London primarily I would think due to the lack of land!!!

I think that for the OP at least everything worked out for the best. Personally I would be nervous re buying in London/SE at the moment as a FTB. I think the fact 100% mortgages are returning (albeit with leverage against families property) is not a sign of confidence. Op, ideally make sure whatever you buy is future proof as I think prices will stagnate.

Re Westfield, yes the big shopping mall. Well they provide lots of jobs but I’m not really sure it’s an incentive to move to an area. I thought traditional bricks & mortar shops are struggling as the younger generations don’t tend to spend their weekends trawling the shops & are looking for “experiences”.

Pasta are you Australian too? I’m utterly confused by the awe of Westfield. It’s just a mall.

ICJump a lot of people in and around London use public transport and getting around can take a long time depending on where you want to go. To have a large shopping center near by is a positive in that area.

Following this post has been depressing. Had no idea there were so many trolls around. Would people using vitriolic language say the same things to the OPs face? Not sure what that says even if the answer is yes.

Croydon already had a mall. It’s the over the top excitement of it being a Westfield. That and cueing to by a pair of ugg boots.

You are a nightmare buyer. I feel sorry for your sellers.

AmandaGWilliamson
people can have an opinion, even a strong one, without being troll
Such a lazy attack when you disagree with someone.

Thanks OP. Now I'll remember to ask my EA about a buyer's history before accepting an offfer. Had not even thought about it before.

I think its not “just a shopping mall” it’s to do with the size of it.

Croydoncurrentlyhas 2 malls - Whitgift and the half empty Centrale.

@ICJump yes, and where I live (Melb suburbs) there are so many much bigger malls and centres, in the city and in outer suburbs and outlying towns - what would happen in Croydon if they got a Chadstone!!

Just curious - did EA say that you couldn't have bought the house even if you'd wanted to, as the owners couldn't buy the house they wanted? Or would they have sold to you if you'd wanted to proceed?

Oliversmumsarmy

"I am quite happy to sell to FTBs but usually after several months they always disappear"

Probably they make their excuses and run away because you are clearly the seller from hell, and incredibly greedy and rude.

Bloody hell, I wouldn't buy off you.

It is not just a mall though. It's the 7000 jobs it brings with it. And the further investment in transport and such that is also happening in Croydon.

100% agree about the trolls on here.

In what world do people think that a FTB - the one party in the chain who hasn't been able to build up unearned equity due to house price rises - is the person who has a moral duty to take the financial hit when prices fall?

That is just insane. If there is pain as prices fall, clearly the FTB is the party least able to afford to overpay. And with least moral responsibility to do so. Those higher up the chain should suck it up.

Lots in the news every day about house prices falling in London and the South East at the moment.eg www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-5733321/Beware-red-danger-signs-house-prices-Young-buyers-borrow-record-sums.html or www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/10/celebrate-house-prices-falling-britain-property-values

You'd have to be mad to overpay in a falling market.

and where I live (Melb suburbs)

Yeah... you really can’t compare U.K. and Australia 😂

I was going to say Melbourne and the suburb of Croydon can't be compared. Seems as it is zone 5. I can assure you London does have bigger malls and in fact many cultural activities.

Population density : Melbourne 490/sq km, Greater London 5,590/sq km, Croydon 4,400/sq km

When we sold our last house our buyer pulled out at the very last minute. It was incredibly stressful for us and my DH ended up having a month off work as the stress triggered a terrible period of health anxiety.

When we sold again we had three very similar offers on the table. When our EA told us that one couple had already pulled out of a house sale they were immediately out of the running.

In the end it sold for £30k more than the original sale.

Hope your pulling out doesn't come back to bite you OP...

Not sure that Guardian article is very good. If I had shares in the rail operating company i’d be pretty pleased if fares went up 5%. That would be the right analogy for homeowners.