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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

940 replies

TitaniumBev · 13/05/2018 17:24

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!

OP posts:
boomboom12 · 16/05/2018 09:42

I think this threads proves why we have such a broken housing market & that no government will be able to sort it Grin

Unless your at the top of the pyramid ever increasing house prices don’t help & they certainly don’t help our productivity levels. Yes my home has doubled but so has the move up & now there is stamp duty to find.

RubyTrees · 16/05/2018 10:59

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.

An excellent point made by pretendingtobechilled.

scaryteacher · 16/05/2018 11:11

The OP had already got £20k off the house; and yes, even having the rtft, I still think pulling out or trying to renegotiate so late is a shitty thing to do. If you've made an offer, stick to it, or withdraw it early on; don't fuck people about.

Even in the late 80s/early 90s when the housing market was doing odd things, we made £30k in 4 years on a house that we didn't love, but was the best of what was available at the time.

Fuckedoffat48b · 16/05/2018 11:24

The OP had already got £20k off the house

No she didn't. It was never worth that much.

Pandoraphile · 16/05/2018 11:56

The number of people on this thread who are not operating at the correct standard of knowledge is astounding.

The OP is not nasty, disgusting, lacking in moral fibre, etc. She had serious concerns, considered her options and chose one. Which is basically the process anyone goes through when they're making a decision.

She can't act in the best interests of the vendors because that would be utterly ridiculous. House purchasing can be a cut-throat business (a relative is an EA in London) and everyone is out to get the best deal they can for them, personally. The OP is making HER decision based on her HER situation and what works for HER family.

I don't condone the behaviour of the vendors vendor, but it's a prime example of how people behave in their own best interests in house buying - which is perfectly rational.

OP - I'm glad you've got to a position that you're happy with.

Pandoraphile · 16/05/2018 11:57

Sorry, should be "knowledge and common sense" in the first para.

MarshaBradyo · 16/05/2018 12:02

They used to just quote now they screen shot slabs of the forum Hmm

Buteo · 16/05/2018 12:09

And give you a handy link to the thread ...

scaryteacher · 16/05/2018 12:15

Fucked off It's in the OP. Asking price £460k, agreed price £440k. That looks like £20k to me.

boomboom12 · 16/05/2018 12:34

I’m just happy that my understanding of the OPs predicament puts me on the opposite side of the DM commenters, not suprised in the slightest!

Furano · 16/05/2018 12:43

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

Quite.

House sale chains break and fail all the time.

Not sure why everyone is so keen for a FTB to take the financial hit on a potential upcoming downturn to protect the unearned income of the people above her in the chain.

It’s a dangerous time to be buying as a FTB.

Furano · 16/05/2018 12:48

@boomboom12 you can have an asking price of whatever you want. Doesn’t mean it’s ‘worth’ that much or ou get ‘money off’ if you offer lower.

Anyway, when/if I come to sell I hope I get one of you lot on here who thinks paying inflated prices is a moral thing to do :-)

boomboom12 · 16/05/2018 12:55

Furano Have you confused me with someone else?

Peachy92 · 16/05/2018 12:55

Seeing as this has made it's way to the Daily Mail I think the current owners are going to be pretty aware of this situation. It's a house in Croydon, at the end of the day properties there will always make a profit, even if only a small one. But you can guarantee you're the ones going to lose money if you pull out now. As others have pointed out, you're looking at trying to save yourself about £13k yet the costs you've gone through and will go through to pull out will near enough half that. Then you've got to pay it all again on another house, so are you actually going to save money? No.

AmandaGWilliamson · 16/05/2018 14:22

ikeepaforkinmypurse

people can have an opinion, even a strong one, without being troll

Yes people can have a strong opinion without being trolls. I agree. I wish there were more people like that on this thread. Such is life.

Tulips2lips · 16/05/2018 15:55

end of the day properties there will always make a profit

haha - so say everyone about everywhere until the next downward phase of the cycle hits that are...

CheeseBiscuit · 16/05/2018 19:34

The biggest purchase of your life and you're about to pay over the odds. Never get emotional about money.

Offer 20k less and if they accept you'll be saving a vast amount of money over the lifetime of your mortgage.

If they don't accept then fine, just sit back and wait, then when they drop the price to £420k offer them £400k.

Yep, first post, have a go at me all you like but I'm right an you're wrong.

SomeoneAteMyStrudel · 16/05/2018 21:52

If it were that they truly felt they'd be overpaying it would be one thing.

If it were that their circumstances had changed, it would be one thing.

It is a thing altogether when getting to the eleventh hour and built up all the hope and expectation of the vendor, to turn around and basically go 'nah fuck it I don't like it that much'.

Unless they would have pulled out if the property value had gone up instead of down then it is a totally legal, but shitty, thing to do. Sometimes people make shitty decisions that are the right one but too late, it might be the right decision for the OP but she should accept and be sorry that it's a fuckhead thing to do to someone (and the fact their chain collapsed anyway is neither here nor there as they still were prepared to do it with no remorse).

incywincey · 16/05/2018 23:27

I've checked the value of our Croydon house on Zoopla and it has apparently fallen by 0.2% in the year since we bought it, totally negligible. I believe Zoopla reflects local market fluctuations and is probably a more accurate indicator than the London-wide stats or even dropping asking prices in Croydon.

Personally I am mightily relieved house prices seem to be stagnating which may just allow some first time buyers some breathing space to save up and afford to buy. The UK property market is utterly depressing.

incywincey · 16/05/2018 23:40

Re 600k "luxury spec" flats next to East Croydon station, there are some but most of them are priced around 450k - 530k (but with pretty high service charges). There are plenty of young professionals buying these, both via help to buy but also as normal purchases. I know of one young city hedge funder who purchased one. It does seem a bit crazy but at the same time being so close to the station means you can be in London Victoria, London Bridge or Gatwick in around 15 minutes. Not to mention fast direct trains to so many other locations in London and the South East (and from next week, Cambridge too). Also 5 mins walk to Waitrose. You can see why people would do it and just live within their own little bubble in Croydon.

siwel123 · 16/05/2018 23:43

I agree above poster. Croydon is undervalued. Yes it may not be pretty and have some horrible stereotypes but it has amazing transport that is quicker then the tube from zone 3 in some places, moneybis pouring in and I'm so glad I have a little piece here as I can see the prices rocketing in the next 10 years maybe even 5.

PrimalLass · 17/05/2018 00:20

The UK property market is utterly depressing

FTB or anyone else can buy property at decent prices all around the country. It's totally affordable in lots of places.

But London is bonkers.

swimlyn · 17/05/2018 10:24

Toomanytealights
And what User said. Those further up the chain have been shafting first time buyers with soaring prices for years. I'm glad things are cooling,bout time ftb can call the shots for a change.

What utter rubbish. If you are genuinely on the ladder (I suspect not) at some point YOU will be ‘those further up the chain’. Are you seriously saying you will be dropping below market price to assist first time buyers? Nah – thought not. You’d be crazy to do that unless you’d just won Euromillions.

As for ‘I'm glad things are cooling,bout time ftb can call the shots for a change’ you evidently have no idea what is going on now, and has been going on, for decades, as regards property prices.

Dream on…