AIBU to walk away from this house purchase?

[Quandaries]

Will try to keep this short.

Viewed a house and loved it 6 weeks ago. Ticked all the right boxes and was very good value for what it was. Offered asking price and it was accepted. Survey done, solicitor engaged etc so at the stage where it’s cost us some money.
Booking deposit has been paid but is refundable (not in Scotland).

We have a large deposit and mortgage is ready to draw down. We’re not in a chain.

Our solicitor was chasing theirs for contracts.

On Thursday I got a call from their agent to say they’ve allowed another viewing from a very insistent couple who are cash buyers and offered £8k more.

Agent now wants us to reoffer and increase on the new buyers’ offer so we’ll be paying £12k above what was agreed. He insists that the house will go for even more if it goes back on the market and says that houses are being snapped up before they go on the market as more people are working from home and this village is very popular for those with just an occasional commute.

I’ve had a look at Right Move and can’t see any evidence of anything other than price drops in the area. I accept that there may be houses selling before hitting the market and I don’t have this data.

My heart loves the house. It’s in a stunning village and really ticks all the boxes in terms of schools etc.

My head is saying we’re actually in a better position than the cash buyer as we’re 100% ready to go and can sign this week whereas they will need to have survey done etc.

Head is also telling me that if the sellers are going to screw us for £8k (for context, that’s a bit over 1% of the purchase price we had agreed), they’ll be a nightmare to deal with and it’s only a matter of time until they come back to us either with a new offer from the other bidders, or pushing to put it back on the market.

I’m also guessing that house purchases slow down a bit in winter, and it’s an area where more Covid lockdown measures are likely so putting it back on the market may mean there aren’t many viewings.

For additional context, we can afford to increase our offer. I’m just loathe to get into a bidding war due to how the vendor has sprung this on us.

But I love the house.

YABU- up my offer
YANBU- walk away

The vendors are playing a nasty move here , they should keep to there word but some people simply don't , ask yourself how many other similar properties are available / been available in your chosen area , I know nothing much is coming onto the market where I want to move to but your area might be different
Sometimes you just have to suck it up to move on and that depends upon how much you want that house and that move or if you can afford to let it go and wait
Are you currently paying rent ? How quickly would £12 mount up in rent ?
I know you have said you are nearly there but if the other buyers are indeed cash buyers with money in the bank and no chain they are only a couple of weeks behind you , they might only have searches and not bother with surveys just be aware of this
When I had a previous property for sale and had an offer that was below a friend said how much is it worth dropping to move on in your life ? I've used that question quite a few times since in various scenarios
Good luck whatever you decide

I was in a similar situation and had been awaiting the vendor's to find a suitable house when it was announced via the estate agent that an offer 5k above asking had been put it. I was annoyed as we have been more than fair and remained in rented accommodation waiting for the vendors, I immediately withdraw my offer. Funnily I was contacted 6wks later and informed that the purchase had fallen through and was I still interested, " If my money was not good enough the first time it's not now!" We were asked on three further occasions over the coming months. The property eventually sold 9 months later for less than we offer, I was delighted.

I suggest you ask a friend to make enquiries as another potential buyer offering the same price and gauge the feed back to see if you are being played. If you're not happy reiterate your original offer and tell them it will be withdrawn in24hrs if the property is not removed from the market and contracts signed. If firmly puts the ball in in the vendor's court to make a decision, there are plenty of other houses. The alternative is to view other houses with the same agent, who will relay your wandering eye on other properties to the vendor.

Play the game, it's fun and pull out if you're not 100% happy.

As a matter of principle I would withdraw.

Are you currently paying rent?

No, we own. We’re not planning on selling our current property yet.

Thanks everyone for all your great advice.

I’m going to ring tomorrow and find out more about the mystery cash banker. Will also ask my solicitor to contact their solicitor.

I was upset on Thursday when I got the call, but that’s now shifted to anger so I think I’ll be well able to park my emotions and walk away.

We have a good budget, deposit, and can be flexible on location. This house is lovely, but another will come along if this falls through.

And why did the estate agents allow other viewings after they'd accepted your offer and solicitors and surveyors were instructed? I definitely wouldn't be buying any other property though them!

Tell them you can exchange this week ( if that's actually the case- do you have a written mortgage offer?)
If you up the price, you need to inform your lender and they will need to issue a mortgage offer, thus causing a potential delay. You might want to ask the mortgage comp how long it would take for them to reissue.
It may be that speed is more imp than the extra money to the seller.

Call the agents tomorrow, confirm you are ready to proceed on the original terms, and that you will give them until the end of the day to discuss with the vendor and get back to you. Make sure they are aware you will walk away should they want to play games and make sure too that you let them know you have found the way they are dealing with this unprofessional and greed driven.

Another one here for walking away. Stick to your guns and if it’s not meant to be then so be it. God works in mysterious ways and something else will come along .

But please keep us updated!

I'd walk away. The vendor agreed a price now theyre either playing you or being greedy . You offered the asking price and it was accepted. That should be the deal.

Yes, please update the thread when you can op!

My SIL had similar but opposite tale. Agreed asking price on house she was selling. After 2 months the buyers reduced their offer by 10k due to a couple of minor issues from survey.

SIL pulled out of the deal completely, and told agent's not to forward any offers/contact from these buyers.
2 weeks later the buyers wife turned up on the doorstep in floods of tears, it was her husband forcing the reduced price etc and she was saying that they would stick to original price as it was their dream home in the same village as her mum who was going to provide childcare and not many houses come up for sale at this end of the market here, too late was my SIL reply you had your chance.

She sold to someone else for 3k over asking price with same EA in the end, wss her house before she met her husband, so was in no rush to sell.
Playing these games is not a good idea.

Great attitude OP.
It will serve you well.

Appalling the EA giving a viewing so late.

If the area is small, he's very stupid to do something like that.

Believe me NOT all EA's would do that, only the cowboys.

Fully briefing your solicitor how pissed off you are is good too.

Word spreads when people behave like this.

EA actually has more to loose but the owner's are very shabby.

I would say something along the lines of ‘sorry to hear the vendor has allowed more viewings,

That was absolute rubbish, making out that the cash buyers (who may or may not exist) were 'insisting' on viewing the house and they didn't really have a choice but to allow them to do so. Unless there's a CPO in place by rule of the government, nobody actually has the right to demand to buy a house, just because it had previously been on the market but they've missed the boat as an offer has now been accepted from somebody else.

Do you think they would risk lying or endangering the sale to OP for an extra £80 to £100?

It's standard procedure for a lot of people to always try to squeeze a little more or tell lies to secure a sale. Same mindset as those who will haggle over 5p at a car boot sale - it's just in their blood.

We once bought a used car from a bloke who specialised in dealing in expensive, prestigious German cars. In amongst all of the pristine 1-2yo top-of-the-range BMWs, Audis and Mercs in his yard, the one we were there for was the 8yo Golf that somebody had traded in (presumably they'd come into money). He was nice enough, but seemed a bit dismissive as we obviously weren't his usual customers and the car wasn't his usual big money-earner. Even he tried it on, when he was out with us during the test drive, when he answered a call on his mobile. "The Golf? Yes, it is a fantastic price to clear; I'm very sorry, but I've got somebody with me interested in it right now; I've promised them first refusal, but I'll let you know if they don't want to go ahead. What's that? You'll definitely take it if they don't, no question?!" We had already decided that we wanted it, but his efforts were laughably transparent. We'd only found it in the first place because he listed it on AutoTrader as brown and we were intrigued as to just how popular brown cars were nowadays - it was actually a lovely dark green and he'd clicked on the wrong box

Just because £8,000 is a lot, it doesn't make an extra £80-100 not worth having in addition. It's not like it's 80p. For all you know, they might have an agreement in place with the vendor that they go halves on any extra money they can squeeze out of you, so it could be an extra £4,000 they're potentially looking at.

It also occurs to me that the purpose of this method might not actually be to get more money out of you, but to prevent you from being tempted to try it on with them and insisting on dropping the price at the last minute.

No imaginary cash buyer offering more: you suddenly knock £10K off before agreeing to sign the contract late on the Friday afternoon and their vendor might say no, they're back to square one and the vendor could even blame them for incompetence and relist it with another agent instead of them; Reported cash buyer: you hurry up with the sale and don't even dream of holding them to ransom with a lower price at the last minute, as they already have a supposed better offer lined up to replace you and could easily call your bluff.

Good on you OP...

they could be faking and potentially lose your offer..

they could also be telling the truth and will happily shaft this other couple too...

tells you all you need to know about this Seller.. 🌺

Why offer £12k, which is 50% more than the cash buyers who are (probably) months away from exchanging? If you did up it, i would start low. And under this £8k. But it is a business transaction at the end of the day. Try and keep that in mind. You might regret walking away. Youre buying the house. No need to be their friends!

Honestly I'd say to the estate agent that you're ready to exchange on Thursday at the agreed price. You don't believe it would be possible for even a cash buyer to complete any sooner so would like to proceed with the exchange date and price as previously agreed.

This happened to us a number of years ago. We walked away and refused to up the offer. Ended up the new buyers did actually pull out further down the line and we ended up getting the house for 3% less. There is justice in this world!

I think you are being really sensible to not pander to their manipulative tactics. Really bad form to allegedly allow another viewing so near to exchange and then to try to use it to try to make you increase your offer by playing with your emotions.

The 'cash buyers' may or may not exist but, even if the story is 100% true, they are foolish to turn down a sale with reliable purchasers that can potentially compete within days for one which will inevitably take longer increasing the chances of it falling through/ renegotiations.

Perhaps you could put the ball in their court and the pressure back on them by saying that your offer stands for 24/48 hours and that you are ready to exchange on x date. It will be off the table after 24/48 hours and you will be resuming your search for a property. You are in an unusually strong position too if you are not needing to sell your house in order to purchase this one so you don't have the usual pressure of losing your own sale.

It seems that buyer has had an unexpected increase connected with their purchase and they’re trying to shift it onto you.

The agent has really fucked up whether the new viewing took place (why?!) or whether they’re lying just now. I’d have pointed this out to them and that you’ll be leaving a review/ taking it to the ombudsman/ letting everyone you know, erm, know (word of mouth).

@DelphiniumBlue

Tell them you can exchange this week ( if that's actually the case- do you have a written mortgage offer?) If you up the price, you need to inform your lender and they will need to issue a mortgage offer, thus causing a potential delay. You might want to ask the mortgage comp how long it would take for them to reissue. It may be that speed is more imp than the extra money to the seller.

Our mortgage offer states something along the lines of “£X amount borrowed over a term of Y years at Z% interest, with the balance being drawn from private deposit funds” so I think we should be ok to add on extra as long as we can pay it ourselves, and our bank has been really good and fast so I’d imagine we could get paperwork rectified ASAP.

Currently plotting gazumping revenge of we do end up buying the house. So far we’re thinking leylandii and roosters as sellers will be in reasonably close proximity.

I went off and looked this up. According to the code of conduct, once an offer is accepted their client can either withdraw the property from the market, or continue to market it, but if the latter the estate agent has to tell you that the property is still on the market. (not an expert in these things mind you)

Stand your ground; if it's still on the market in a couple of months, come back and offer them less.

Just lost a really long post.

In essence.

Walk away.

Why didn’t the agent just say that you have to match the offer, instead of telling you to offer 4K more? It looks like a ploy to squeeze money money out of you.

I was in a similar situation years ago so we let the house go. The cash buyers then fell through and they came back to us, we offered below what we had before and it was accepted.

Happened a again 2 years ago we let the house go and it was in a really long chain. Managed to find an even better house and I couldn’t imagine not living here now and it took 1.5 years for the other house to complete. Hind sight is a wonderful thing