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

Interesting to read your update OP. As I thought, the gazumping has been fuelled by the vendors not their agents. The average person is so committed to the idea that EAs are scum that they never give a bit of rational consideration to why EAs have that reputation (ie. that they work to vendor's instructions). I quite like your DH's plan but that's all based on schadenfreude not real life!

Don't offer them an extra £8k or £12k. Offer £4k and then be done with it.

I got badly screwed by sellers in a similar situation. Their kids went to the same school as us and they lived a few doors down from the house we bought. We spent the last X years since the move passing each other awkwardly. Not worth it. There will be other houses, especially once the stamp duty cut bubble has burst.

Walk away. Had something similar happen to us they were a young couple with two kids that were selling to us..found out they had neighbours from hell and there on another locating street the police were there on a weekly basis .even thought everything with the house was fine ..any way we pulled out and it was the best decision we ever made ....sometimes we need to take a step to the side and then move up the ladder...my words are well it wasn’t meant to be and there something better in the pipeline. And there always is...good luck on your next purchase clear run threw x

No, not really. At the point of making an offer, the buyer doesn't yet have as much emotional attachment to the property. The time to do it is exactly as has happened to the OP - when you believe that the house is yours, and you're close enough to completion to have started really investing in and getting excited about what it's going to be like to live there and looking forward to your new home. In your mind it's already your home, and psychologically we find it (understandably) much harder to give up something we already have than to go without something we never did.

But it’s a far, far bigger risk on the vendor’s part. It might be easier for the buyer to walk away at the point of offer, but it’s also harder for the vendor to start again if the buyer calls their bluff and walks. If they lose an offer before they even accept it, it costs them the chance of that offer, but not the time - and doesn’t risk a break in a chain.

In any case, all of this would require an estate agent to be complicit with the lie AND to take the risk - all for a much smaller potential return on their part.

Yep, it would have to be a ballsy vendor to take that kind of risk unless they had a genuine offer from someone else.

Ballsy or very very stupid.

Agent trying to squeeze you for more money and bigger commission. The seller would be crazy to let you walk away a bird in the hand and all that.
Go back to the agent tell them to emphasise to the seller you are ready to go but will not pay more.
BTW the agent is a shark - just like most of them

The average person is so committed to the idea that EAs are scum that they never give a bit of rational consideration to why EAs have that reputation (ie. that they work to vendor's instructions).

Exactly - and they imagine they’ll just lie at the drop of the hat and risk losing their entire commission for the potential of a few quid extra. That’s before you even consider the potential reputational damage.

All the people saying the agent is a shark etc.

Estate agents are only as shark like as sellers demand.

Agent trying to squeeze you for more money and bigger commission.

An agent’s commission is typically 1 - 1.5%. Minimum £8k, maximum £12k on an £800k sale. If this so-called strategy works and the OP offers an extra £12k, this could be worth as little as £120 to the agent. Why would they risk £12k for an extra £120?

With potential lockdown and further restrictions and winter on its way it is unlikely it will sell anyway

The market’s red hot where I live and according to OP also where her house is. Everything nice is selling within days.

Wow is that even allowed?? You’ve already started the process. What stops sellers from keeping their house on the market just in case someone comes along and offers more? Sounds very unethical to me. Good luck OP!

@StillCoughingandLaughing

Agent trying to squeeze you for more money and bigger commission.

An agent’s commission is typically 1 - 1.5%. Minimum £8k, maximum £12k on an £800k sale. If this so-called strategy works and the OP offers an extra £12k, this could be worth as little as £120 to the agent. Why would they risk £12k for an extra £120?

Yes, as I also said earlier on in the thread.

Just for context, the house was on the market for five days when our offer was accepted (accepted within 24 hours).

In that time, there were 21 viewings*, and 5 offers. 3 below asking (including a cash buyer), 1 at asking but in a chain, and us.

I’m guessing the vendor is regretting accepting so quickly.

*Again, this info came from the EA but I think it’s pretty likely. On the day we bid, we drove past half an hour early (to scope out the village 🕵️‍♀️) and there was a viewing taking place and another couple waiting. After our viewing, another car was waiting to go in too.
Then the following day we drove there again to see what the village was like on a week day, and same- two carloads of viewers.

Stupid sellers’market.

@ghostee

I have also seen a lot of "offers over" ads, which seen designed to get the highest possible amount.

IME offers over is when the sellers aren't getting what they want because it's over priced.

There's a house in town that's been on the market nearly 2 years. Originally for £880k, dropped to £850k, then £820k. New agents and back up to £850k. Has just dropped to £800k, offers over. That house is overpriced right now. If I had the money, I'd not be offering any more than £800k.

Walk NOW! Houses are like buses there will be another coming along shortly

How can they legally do this? Since they're effectively pulling out they should have to reimburse all costs you have accrued this far.

Upon reading more... I like your dhs idea... But I'm a vindictive bitch haha

DH, on the other hand, wants to make them a killer offer to really get them excited and then walk away entirely on the day we’re going to sign. I like his style.

I would bet money that these new cash buyers don’t actually exist and that they’re actually connected with these sellers in some way. So, couple have conversation with friends who say “you could get more for it than that,” then they approach the agent claiming to be interested. Agent then approaches the sellers and they encourage a viewing. Friends go and “view” the property and put in an offer, and couple think that because of this you will offer more, and bingo, they’ve made more money. Cash buyers aren’t real, and if you walk away then they’ve lost the entire sale, at which point I would drive by their house cackling as I went....

FWIW I would never, ever, pay more for a house where an offer had already been agreed. Especially as given in your case you don’t have a house you’re selling so you’re at the end of the chain. Just as much as I wouldn’t accept a higher offer if I’d already agreed to sell to someone. It shows a complete lack of integrity.

And IMO there’s no such thing as a dream house. It’s a house, bricks and mortar and nothing more. There will be other houses...

Nah. If you let them muck you about now they will keep pushing. Call their bluff. Leave your offer on the table for a fixed time and start looking elsewhere.

Vinyl the two you know are not 'everyone' or 'most' either - it depends what they were buying. I remember asking MN about it and the unanimous answer was 'you must do the survey' - tbh you have to be mad not to on an old/older house, you might be into thousands of repair, too much of a risk.

Appreciate the update op. The more information you have, the more comfortable you will be with your decision, whatever it is. If anything this is a cautionary tale against 'generalisations'.....e.g. the property market is slumping, buyers are coming back with lower offers etc etc. There is no substitute for knowing the specifics about the house, the area and the vendors, and most importantly how you feel with that information. Good luck. (but I like DH's idea too 😬)

Just typing this comment because DH and I are discussing what to do next and if I type on my phone instead of speaking, I won’t burst into tears.

I swear to god, I’m actually a tough nut. I just really love this house. It’s like nothing we’ve seen in the past 18 months of looking.

Match them if you love it but insist on contracts being exchanged in 24hrs and also be patently clear that you will not bid up again and if there’s even a whiff of them attempting to get a counter bid from the new bidders you’ll walk. The new bidders sound like arseholes and if they do end up buying it I’d be seriously tempted to post something unsavoury through the letter box but I’m clearly incapable of being gracious in this type of situation!

@Rachand23

Walk NOW! Houses are like buses there will be another coming along shortly

The problem is that, as the OP has discovered, there is a lot of competition to buy at the moment. So there may be other houses, but there will be a similar number of other buyers.