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

Lies. I wish them nothing but badness. May the bathroom flood with sewage, may the marble countertops be stained forever with lousy red wine, may the fish in the garden pond turn to ugly lizards, may NB be plagued with male pattern baldness and pubic lice

Ooh a person after my own heart. Wish them the best but hope for the worst

Though I now have a craving for Caramac....havent had one for years!! Anyone remember strawberry chocolate? It was foul. (Most pointless train of thought ever)

Sorry, as you were

love caramac......

I STILL have this thread open, because I am waiting for the plot twist finale.
Surely the EA is going to phone and say they want to sell for original price??
Or to tell OP that they have done a midnight flit??

obviously watch too much TV

I lovechocolate

Obviously what you do is offer to sell the new buyers your survey and searches (once you’ve amended it to include paragraphs about death watch beetle, knotweed and an incinerator plant plannning application)

I'm on the other side of this. Accepted an offer, days later whilst waiting for the original offer to be validated we had another slightly higher offer. We stuck with the original offer. Now a few weeks in the person with the second offer has come back saying he'll offer what we want (quite a lot more than the original offer). I'm torn as I feel like whatever we do I'll be upsetting someone.

Hope it works out for you op. I'd want to pull out but if my heart was in it I probably wouldn't be able to.

You've done the right thing OP. I would have offered £1 over what the fictional buyer was offering.

I doubt it was a fake bid, otherwise they'd have just asked for more from the get go.

I suspect they're trying to do the deal without the EA - saving lots of money both sides in commission. Given the EA didn't introduce them.

@liveitwell

I doubt it was a fake bid, otherwise they'd have just asked for more from the get go.

I suspect they're trying to do the deal without the EA - saving lots of money both sides in commission. Given the EA didn't introduce them.

If they're trying to do this, they're fools (and they didn't read the small print). Most EAs' contracts have a standard clause saying that if you sell while on their books, even if via a deal brokered privately, you still owe them the commission/fee.

Otherwise everyone would get an EA to do the donkey work of marketing, then magically find a "friend of a friend" who just happened to be passing and wanted the house...

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

OP!!!! No!!!!! Do NOT let people on here convince you with their wild theories about imaginary buyers! Even if they were going to risk losing a real offer at this stage by faking a higher one, you upped your offer by £7750k! Nobody is going to risk losing that by trying to push you even further with a fake offer. Nobody.

I was always partial to a Fry's chocolate cream. Haven't seen them for years...

Otherwise everyone would get an EA to do the donkey work of marketing, then magically find a "friend of a friend" who just happened to be passing and wanted the house...

Hallelujah - someone talking sense!

I was always partial to a Fry's chocolate cream. Haven't seen them for years...

Did you know there’s a raspberry variety now?

Something not dissimilar happened to us years ago, except there was no other bidder, the vendor just randomly came back and asked for an additional 40 grand. I almost wish they'd invented another bidder just to make the whole thing less insane

I really hate people like this. What utter twats

@harriethoyle @StillCoughingandLaughing I just recently found the raspberry version, so lush. Better than orange and the plain one. Stuff of dreams

Shame you can't sell your survey to the new purchasers!

@StillCoughingandLaughing

I was always partial to a Fry's chocolate cream. Haven't seen them for years...

Did you know there’s a raspberry variety now?

And orange, and strawberry 😁

Surely the EA is going to phone and say they want to sell for original price??

If they start to mention anything about the bins at Tesco to clinch the deal, drop the phone like it's a hot turd!

@BloggersBlog I found caramac breakaways in either Asda or Aldi.

Biscuity caramac goodness!!

I was always partial to a Fry's chocolate cream. Haven't seen them for years...

Wilkos still sell them - near the huge beakers of pick 'n' mix. Also try smaller convenience shops like Spar and regional chains. Might be only the normal (blue) ones and possibly the mint ones - the delicious orange ones are harder to find than an optician within 60 miles of Barnard Castle

@liveitwell

I doubt it was a fake bid, otherwise they'd have just asked for more from the get go.

I suspect they're trying to do the deal without the EA - saving lots of money both sides in commission. Given the EA didn't introduce them.

But they did the viewing and the counter bid through the EA.

NB approached the EA who said a sale was agreed and there were no more viewings.
NB then contacted the vendors directly.
Vendors contacted EA and said they wanted NB to view the house.

I think NB is fake and is a friend or relative who viewed the house and made a bid with the aim of driving up our offer.

I don’t think the EA is duplicitous here, he sounded at as much of a loss as I am.

I’ve lost a house, he’s lost a sale, we can’t even go for a drink together to get over it.

And orange, and strawberry

The orange ones are still available? And now strawberry too?! You need to tell me where!!!

And orange, and strawberry 😁

The orange have been around for years, but strawberry?! 🍓 This is a revelation of epic proportions

I hadn't thought of that - NB being an actual person, but the vendor's shill, with the EA non-the-wiser. Might not even be a friend or family member - they could just have done it themselves over the phone, using a dodgy Belgian accent!

I'm old enough to remember the multi-flavoured Fry's chocolate creams - a different flavour every segment

"Plain" Fry's Chocolate Cream is still one of my favourite chocolate bars - you can get them in most corner shops