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

Don't budge on the offer you've already put in.

Their choice whether to go with you or not.

Meanwhile keep looking for alternatives, it's a good way of cutting the emotional ties, and you may even find something you like more.

Walk away 👍👍👍

I would tell them to take it or leave it. I wouldn't increase my price just on principle.

Do walk away, Quandaries. I know it is disappointing but, honestly, another property will come up that is just as good and may even be better.

Good luck.

Walk.....if you up your offer then you risk that being upped again and you are held to ransom. The EA knows how much you want the house, he/she is on a commission..not unknown for the 'cash buyer' to mysteriously disappear once you have committed more money.

Remember the EA works for the seller, not the buyer. With the kind of budget you have you have and the position you are in that gives you choice and some leverage.

This happened to me with my first house. I was 21. I offered under the asking price and it was accepted all going through. I then get a call saying a cash buyer had offered the asking price. I was with my financial advisor at the time who told me to match it. I did and I got the house. He didn't believe there was any other offer, let's face it is there's was and he was a cash buyer they'd have gone with them 🤷🏼‍♀️

If your going to be heartbroken if you don’t move then pay it, if not walk away. Think what they’ve done is awful though.

I hope you're not selling with this estate agency.

@HollowTalk

And say to the estate agents, "Let me know what else comes on the market. As you know, we're cash buyers and ready to go."

We’re not cash buyers.

We have the mortgage fully secured and ready to draw down. The mortgage is just under 40% of the purchase price so we have a big deposit (due to a bereavement and inheritance, unfortunately) and the amount we’re borrowing is well within the affordability range.

Our solicitors are engaged and they were chasing contracts as we had thought we’d be exchanging on Thursday or Friday.

I genuinely think we can move faster than any cash buyer as we literally just have to sign the contracts. All due diligence, valuations, survey etc are done. The new cash buyer would still require a survey, and their solicitor would need time to get to the stage where ours are in terms of land registry info etc.

To the person who asked me if we’d need to adjust the mortgage if we up our offer, sorry I’ve lost your post. No, we’d cover it from savings.
However, that’s also pissing me off. If they’d spoken to me 3 weeks ago to say they wanted to renegotiation, I could have asked the bank to up the mortgage. Now I’ll be using money from savings that was earmarked for furniture etc which is annoying because we put the maximum amount we could of our savings into the purchase to reduce the mortgage liability.

We had a scarily similar thing happen-

everything set to proceed on the Friday and on Monday got a call to say they'd had another offer (still under the asking price but a LOT more than we offered) the seller said they would still like to sell to us but wanted the money. If we raised our offer they'd go with us.

We did and I love our house so have no regrets except for the extra money we paid out

I would probably pay up and never look back

We ended up paying over our original offer on our house, in a very similar situation to you OP.

Every time we uncover yet another bit of their shitty DIY that costs us a small fortune to fix I hate them all over again. We see the owner quote often around our village and she won't even make eye contact with us.

In that situation again I'd always walk away.

8k is just over 1%. So we are talking about a 700k property here? How often do they come up? That will have a bearing on your decision. My feeling is to say walk away. But you really want it. I get that. Failing that, I would offer 4K more on the condition that they exchange next week (if you are ready). They’d be bonkers to walk away from that for the 4K extra the ftb are allegedly offering.

It would be very much worth having a word with the senior sales manager at the estate agency selling your property first to ask if they believe prices in your area have gone up. They should be able to give you some good advice.

@MzHz

Wish them the best of luck with their new and insistent buyer and look for some else

Perhaps offer to sell your survey to the new buyers - seeing as they’re so insistent

You are being played. 100%

Full asking is enough to take the property off the market and expect things to go through

They’re up to something and they know you’re not the kind to gazzunder

You had a deal

This.

I was in a similar position with my current property and rather than competing I just told the EA to leave my offer on the table in case the new offer dropped out. 10 days later the new offer dropped out and I got the house for my original offer.

Hmm. It's not much money really, considering the price of the house. £8k. Asking for £50K more would be unacceptable, but it's 1%ish and you love the house. You also said it was "really good value", so if they had a lot of interest and good offers, the seller may be feeling they underpriced, and were too quick to accept.

Those saying there will be others - we are talking about a lovely house in a village (not town), in the OP's preferred school catchment. There aren't going to be shedloads of similar style/size/location properties. I would look again at the location, see how far you are prepared to travel for school and work. If there really is nothing else, I would increase the offer.

As PP has said, you don't know anything about their financial situation - they may really need the money. It's not great to mess you around, but frankly this is a business transaction. I reckon if most people were selling their house, and were suddenly approached by a CASH buyer who offered over the asking price they would at least think about it!....

And people talking about cowboy agents and bad publicity is nonsense, - are you really going to take to Twitter/Facebook and name and shame? Better have deep pockets and a good lawyer.

I'd walk away

While the initial response is 'walk away' - seriously, consider the longer term view. If it's that great a house then it's worth 1% and a bit of your pride.

You are fabulous buyers: at the same price why would they go for the new buyers rather than you? You're ready to go, no chain etc. You could counter offer £8k (or £10 or £12 if you really must) on the basis that if there is any more tomfoolery you will walk away, and if you haven't exchanged in a week (or whatever makes sense) you will also walk away. And be prepared to walk away.

How would they feel if you lowered your offer at a later stage?

Hmm. It's not much money really, considering the price of the house. £8k. Asking for £50K more would be unacceptable, but it's 1%ish and you love the house

Funnily enough, I was saying to DH last night that I’d have much preferred if they came back looking for an extra 10% rather than 1%. At least then I could see that they stood to make a significant gain.

1% just feels like a kick in the teeth.

I found it odd that some people are very relaxed about gazumping & this is the process, blah, blah, blah.

I can guarantee if you started this thread saying we put an offer in, but the market has changed & we now want to offer 1% less some posters would think you were worse than Satan.

This happened to my sister and we walked away. In the end she found an even nicer house. Once they have you on the hook they will come back for more. Oh, and change estate agents.

This is probs the most unhelpful comment but it depends how much you want to live in the house. People understandably get very emotional about buying and selling houses and I know some people are very devious but surely it’s a business transaction like any other. I can well believe that someone has offered more, it would be very bizarre for them to decide at this stage that they want a bit more money and create a fictional scenario, get the agent to collude in it and risk losing the buyer they have who’s half way through the process. It’s a bit shitty but how many people can honestly say they wouldn't take a 2nd higher offer? I would absolutely offer more if it was a house I really love and you can afford to do it.

I would also walk away. They should not have shown the house to anyone else and have shown themselves to be untrustworthy.

Walk away. You will find something else in time. The market is very likely to slow before too long and you may benefit from this.

They have acted really badly springing this on you at the last minute after you have paid for surveys, solicitors, etc. Really bad behaviour just because of their greed.

@Quandaries

Hmm. It's not much money really, considering the price of the house. £8k. Asking for £50K more would be unacceptable, but it's 1%ish and you love the house

Funnily enough, I was saying to DH last night that I’d have much preferred if they came back looking for an extra 10% rather than 1%. At least then I could see that they stood to make a significant gain.

1% just feels like a kick in the teeth.

Remember you can walk in anod out of the "bidding war" so I would

1. decline to take part, you will find out if its a real bidding war
2. If it is real (i.e. they decide to go with the other party) you can say sign tomorrow and I'll up the bid to match the other offer if you want to or go with +£12k.
3. you could get to exchange day and drop your bid again, play them at their own game.