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!

I'm currently selling a house.

I am aware that people sometimes try this nasty little trick - wait until the VERY last minute and then demand a reduction.

I have decided that if my buyer does this to me I will immediately put the house back on the market and refuse to sell to them under any circumstances.

If you do this I hope the vendor does the same to you. Shame on you.

At the end of the day it's a financial transaction, and you should do what is best for you.

However, if I were the seller and you attempted to reduce the price now I would tell you to go to hell and put the house back on the market. And if I were an Estate Agent I wouldn't be rushing to show you other properties.

Everyone panics before buying, and starts wondering if they are paying too much. I remember wondering if I was an idiot for paying the full asking price, after missing out on other places. 15 years on I can see that 5k was neither here nor there - buying was the single best financial decision I ever made. The London market is not going over any cliff (unfortunately for many).

But will you get any of the properties you want in the areas that are now apparently appearing in your price range? You're not the only one watching the market, and if it's falling as fast as you think, not only will you get other buyers competing for the same houses, you might find it puts potential vendors off putting theirs up for sale.

Can you get another valuation? It is shitty but I understand your hesitation. I don’t know the Croydon market well but how future proof is the property? I’m in Wandsworth & prices have fallen a lot in the last few months here. Drops of 200k since Jan are not unusual, I think this is largely caused by agents overvaluing. My friend has just reduced by 25k in 3 weeks, the market is defo odd.

I also remember when gazumping was rife when the market was crazy here 5 years ago or so.

Op would it not bother you that your seller will lose money and possibly their new home? How would you feel if this was done to you.

I couldn't do this to my worst enemy. I hope you reconsider

I'm off for a night shift now so won't be able to respond but I'll not ghost! I fully expected abuse, of course, that's why I mentioned it in original post. Don't mean to come off as not bothered by responses, but I'll save my remorse for the real people in the chain. I have to say I am very impressed at the morals of all of you who would risk taking a big hit & ending up in negative equity. Also only mentioned growing up poor & scrimping as we're not getting any family help or inheritance buffers down the road. Finally, i don't believe renting is dead money, we'd still be housing ourselves and as planning to move abroad after 4 years (job contracts ending) would be free to do so.

Four months is nothing. You are being ridiculous. You will regret this.

@Rinoachicken Only a week to go til a whole chain of families move. Moving companies will be booked, boxes starting to be packed or already packed, kids getting excited and/or nervous, maybe they are moving away from friends and family and saying goodbyes, and then YOU happen.

This is exchange, not completion. Nobody should have booked moving vans yet... there is no deal until the exchange is done so no one should be counting on anything.

p.s. I have been gazundered twice and it was rubbish, but I got where they were coming from. No chain though

OP you are skewing your reasoning to suit your desired outcome: that a house in your preferred area could now financially be within your sights. You are also selectively misinterpreting all these replies to suit what you want to hear and have opened another thread in the hope of different responses to counteract the replies on here because they don't tally with what you want to hear. Not only that, you interpret your so-called research any twisted way you can just to suit your desired outcome.

OP, I don't know why you asked if you're not prepared to acknowledge that the overwhelming majority say it's a dreadful, morally indefensible thing to do. But then we don't know you, thank goodness. You have to live with yourself after this, we don't. Fill your boots, you'll be weighed down and regret it, guaranteed.

You shit bags and I only hope that when you then decide to move on someone does the same to you screwing with your head and life.

Predicting the markets is always going to be difficult, a family member did nearly the same but pulled out a bit sooner. Their reason was the market was about to crash, that was 10 years ago and the reality is they will never be able to buy now unless they get a windfall.

Oh and you know it’s a shitty thing to do as well!!!

Finally, i don't believe renting is dead money, we'd still be housing ourselves and as planning to move abroad after 4 years (job contracts ending) would be free to do so.

So what was all the bollocks about being sick of private renting then?

If you are moving abroad in four years and don't see rent as dead money why are you buying? Also the Croydon property market has categorically NOT dropped 6% in the last four months that is just a comfortable story to make you feel better about your flaky behaviour

So in your first post you want security and are sick of private renting.

Further along you won't buy until next Spring.

Now, your happy with renting and are planning to move abroad.

Ultimately you are very unlikely to be taking a hit, but you are so convinced you're right about the market dropping that you're not prepared to consider that your understanding of the figure you're quoting may be wrong.

It sounds like you are not ready to buy yet anyway, just a shame you had to waste other peoples time and money to realise it.

My neighbours did this as they got nervous at the end of last year re buying a bigger property. They pulled out even though they had a sale agreed on their property. They have just had a new sale agreed but it’s 75k less so who knows if it was the right decision.

Well in fairness, if you're emigrating in 4 years there might not be much point in buying. You are unlikely to make a huge profit by doing so, and in terms of wanting stability...if you're moving to another country that's surely a bigger upheaval than just having to move house.

OP
. Finally, i don't believe renting is dead money, we'd still be housing ourselves and as planning to move abroad after 4 years (job contracts ending) would be free to do so
Which begs the question, why buy at all under these time frames (and even more confusing with the "if we don't buy now we'll look to buy next year" and screw over everyone in this housing chain? You really should be utterly ashamed of yourselves.

You're not bothered as you won't lose anything, monetary wise... what about he people you were supposed to be buying from?! They have wasted months having the house off the sales market because you put an offer in!

We had a situation where we accepted an offer on our house, couple said they were getting a mortgage, then they were remortgaging rental properties, then lending money from family, then back to mortgage... this went on for 5 months, they never had a survey, never spent a penny. We took it off the market on accepting their offer. After 2 months we told them we it was going back on the market, they begged us not to, loved the house, just had a few issues... in the end we had to put it back on the market and luckily had a couple who previously viewed it now sold their house and were in a position to put in an offer.

We could've lost the house we were buying had we not been able to borrow money from my PIL as we have to complete 3 months into the above carry on! That does mean we are currently paying utilities and council tax on the 2 properties for significantly longer than we anticipated!
Have you considered your sellers position at all? Extremely selfish behaviour

I always think. Do I want this house to live in? If yes, then drop in prices means nothing. You could be living is house for many years, who knows what will happen to price then. If you have bought purely as investment then fine, drop price. If I was selling though, Id say no and p**# off.

If you're likely to end up in negative equity for £13,000 over four years, then you shouldn't have even thought of buying.

For everyone talking about market prices, if you've actually researched the market properly before bidding, then you really ought to realize that houses aren't like factory white sliced bread or eggs, price wise. Location can vary street by street, north facing, south facing, the flow of the rooms, parking, commute, schools. Different strokes for different folks.

There's no 'market price' for any one property, it's only the sale price paid by a buyer who proceeds that determines what it's worth.

You don't know what you're talking about, OP, as other posters have explained. You're going to fuck yourself over as well as others in the chain.

If you see the place as your long term home, buy. But if you are seriously planning to emigrate (and sell) within four years, I doubt you’re going to make a whopping profit.

I have to say I am very impressed at the morals of all of you who would risk taking a big hit & ending up in negative equity

The market hasn't crashed overnight, which would be a different scenario I give you that. You were clearly not bothered about buying in the first place, are lucky enough not to have spend much money in the process UNLIKE THE REST OF THE CHAIN.

It's up to you what you do, but no, I wouldn't do a shitty thing like that and I have bought and sold in raising and during the last crash that one was not fun.

I can tell you that many people are honest, and budget carefully when buying a home, and don't change their mind at the last possible minute.

I sincerely dislike the tone of your post because you are making it clear you don't give a shit. Other people are struggling financially and can ill afford to lose a chain, go for another mortgage, and spend a fortune AGAIN. Yes, it's the risk, we all know that, but it's terrible luck to end up in a chain with people like you.

Don't start the chain if you are not serious! that is the disgusting part of it!

I think you’ll regret if you pull out. There are no certainities in life, but people have been saying the London market will crash for years, and it hasn’t. A number of friends have been burned waiting for this drop and it not materialising. Remember you only lose money when you sell. You talk about moving abroad. Croydon will always be a good rental market if you want to keep the property when you emigrate.

Our buyers said they wanted 20k off asking price day before exchange. This is after we had already accepted 35k less on asking price for quick sale. We told them to take a long walk off a short cliff (Mumsnetters suggested some choicer words). They backed down. The reality is we didn’t have that additional money.

You also mention children. Be warned if you have a child between now and trying to buy you may struggle to get as good mortgage, because factors like maternity pay etc

As I say I would commit and buy. If prices had gone up in last 4 months would you be offering more?