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

This EA must be gutted OP ... but you absolutely did the right thing 🌺

**

@Bearbehind

If you’ve offered £7,750 more and NB have offered £12,000 more then you’re arguing over £4,250 and a bit

If the house is c £800k that’s only about 0.5%

This thread reminds me of all the LTB ones where posters who have no vested interest are happy to say what they’d do in an ideal world without considering the repercussions for those involved

It’s not an ideal world and it’s your potential house move

Only you know if it’s worth it but being annoyed about such a small amount now will only be worse if you do lose it and then wish you hadn’t

I suspect the EA can’t get hold of the vendors as they’re trying to buy some time and ‘scare’ you into paying more

The threat of pulling out might be enough, but if it isn’t I’d offer £5k more and insist on exchanging straight away

RTFT

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

It’s in the OP.

how is the OP supposed to trust these people won't do it again if she extends her offer to what they want?

The vendors can’t be trusted but there’s 2 very relevant points

• No vendors can be 100% trusted with the English system, particularly in a sellers market

• The OP is very close to being able to exchange so there’s limited opportunity for the vendors to further fuck around

@VinylDetective I have RTFT thank you

And it’s not at all clear because the OP has said it’s not £250 that’s the difference (the difference between £7,750 and £8k)

The first post said NB offered £8k more but for some reason it then mentions paying £12k more - I’d assumed this was what the NB was prepared to go up to but it’s not clear

If the £12k is just an arbitrary figure suggested by the EA and actually all that’s needed is an amount over £8k then that’s even more reason not to be too hasty given they’re already up to £7,750

Bearbehind I think the OP said they are in Scotland, FWIW.

You can't do this in the Scottish system can you?

I think of the EA did come back and say the house is back on the market (NB mysteriously not able to proceed or whatever) I wouldn’t go over my original offer that they’d already accepted - and only on a proviso of no further views and very fast exchange. If I really wanted the house.

@Longwhiskers14 The OP specifically said they weren’t in Scotland - this wouldn’t happen there

If the house goes back on the market it will be interesting to see if the asking price has also gone up!

They’re NOT in Scotland

We were gazumped on our last house sale the sale Was agreed we just needed to sell ours and then suddenly they got an offer from someone who was proceedable and they dropped us like a bloody hot stone for £5k.

the funny thing was we then moved into the house we found in response months before that sale went through.

Sod them op you’ll find something else hope it’s soon

The OP is not in Scotland, where, although not impossible under the Scottish house buying system, is extremely rare. To the extent that although technically there are chains, house purchasers aren't really aware of them as each link is complete. I think it's a continuation of the whole process moving much more quickly up here, people tending to buy after selling and the move-in date usually being part of the offer. Plus the fact that offers get made with a survey already done and via the solicitor.

Stand firm, OP!

We are not in Scotland. I said so explicitly in my first post.

Just to be very clear:

They accepted our offer at the asking price of £775k.

They then, weeks later and after lying by saying that they’d instructed their solicitor to send contracts to our solicitor, accepted an offer of £783k from NB.

They told us that they wanted us to offer £787k to get back in the game, an increase of £12k.

At this stage, we have the benefit of being ready to proceed faster than NB so we call their bluff and increase our offer by 1% to £782,750.

Vendors have now disappeared. As has NB, it seems, leading me to think NB wasn’t a genuine buyer and was a friend or family member putting in dummy bids to create a false bidding war in order to drive our price up.

Therefore I think they never had an offer for £783k and I’m doubly glad we didn’t go straight in at £787k. If we had, I’d guess that the next we heard would have been that NB went higher again and they wanted us to increase again.

As it stands, I don’t know why they’ve disappeared. EA said he’d try to reach them again today but that’s none of my business now.

All of this is moot as vendor has gone AWOL and we’ve withdrawn.

What a shame for you OP. I think you’re spot on, it sounds like they’re trying to increase the sale price via these mysterious new buyers. There will be another house, though for your own info I hope the EA updates you on what happened

If they come back I’d offer 750 but they have to exchange within a set time.

You've made the right decision. Maybe you also had a lucky escape.

You mentioned earlier that the vendors moved out " then renovated “my” house completely and it’s in turn key condition.".

They've demonstrated their greed, dishonesty and lack of integrity in spades, so you can be pretty sure the renovation to sell, was done along the same lines. I'd bet that in a few months time the NB's will be finding out the hard way, that the "turnkey condition" hides a multitude of cheapskate materials, shortcuts, shoddy workmanship etc.

I absolutely reckon too that the NB is a mate of the vendor

They’re now planning on what to do.

Screw them! Seriously @Quandaries with houses, everything happens for a reason, if you’re meant to get it you do.

@quandries so sorry to read all this. I was really hoping you would have secured it yesterday. Whilst it doesn't feel like it now...what will be will be. Good luck.

I wouldn't be shocked if they come back to you.

What utter bastards.

You're doing the right thing OP. From sellers going AWOL with their EA, it does appear that NB either not genuine, or sellers trying to verify that NB can actually honour their offer.

Either way, you did match NB's offer, were ready to go immediately, the sellers are the ones not being clinical and business minded by not exchanging and completing.

When we sold years ago, our buyers actually tried similar with us, they suddenly reduced their offer by £2000 the day before we were due to exchange (they'd already gotten a huge discount since we had a house we loved that we wanted to buy), just because they thought we'd be so desperate to keep chain intact that we'd give in to what was basically blackmail on their part. . We just refused. They then wanted us and people we were buying from to each give them a £1000 (to basically split this £2000 they wanted off). We refused again. They then quickly scrambled back and paid their original offer.

Good luck OP.

I work in an area that involves a lot of negotiation and integrity, and I can’t sit in a house (pretty as it is!) for the next thirty years knowing I dropped my personal standards because of a nice garden and some marble countertops.

Oh come off it! Sitting in that garden next summer with a glass of chilled wine and those gleaming counter tops inside... all this would seem a distant memory!

@2bazookas

You've made the right decision. Maybe you also had a lucky escape.

You mentioned earlier that the vendors moved out " then renovated “my” house completely and it’s in turn key condition.".

They've demonstrated their greed, dishonesty and lack of integrity in spades, so you can be pretty sure the renovation to sell, was done along the same lines. I'd bet that in a few months time the NB's will be finding out the hard way, that the "turnkey condition" hides a multitude of cheapskate materials, shortcuts, shoddy workmanship etc.

Possibly, but equally the greediness might be an attempt to recoup overspend on the renovation because they couldn't help themselves, as seen over and over on that Sarah Brent programme about flipping houses.

*Beeny

If they come sniffing back, I’d be tempted to say that my original accepted offer is back on the table and too would only be on offer till 1700.

I’d also want to put in a ‘backing out’ penalty clause for oh - say -
12k....