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

I was just about to say similar to Dino, plus how likely are you to find something else? Based on those and what you've already said about originally being prepared to pay more, I'd probably be minded to match the £8k on the basis that you exchange asap (I think this is what Wooly said upthread, I was agreeing with that too. You sound like you want to keep three house!

If the OP lowered their offer, the vendors already know they can attract multiple purchasers so they would probably tell them where to go.

Dishonesty never pays, and the OP doesn't sound like someone who'd mess their vendors around. It does take a certain type of hardened, unpleasant individual to pull stunts like that and live with themselves.

Utterly immoral of the ea to allow another viewing when it should have been off the market and you’re about to exchange. Very unprofessional. Trouble is, if you go back with another 8K, will it start a bidding war?

I’d be bollocking the ea and telling them to stick it. Can you contact the sellers directly or get your solicitor to contact them tomorrow saying you’re ready to exchange this week?

The sellers aren't trustworthy. Save yourself from wasting any more money.

One thing I've learned in my long history of buying house is that if someone starts messing you about, walk away - because if they will mess you about once, they will do it a multitude of times.

What is £8k now may become substantially more as you near completion.

So much of UK house buying (outside of Scotland) goes on trust. they have shown you cannot trust them - imagine someone comes along and offers them more the day before completion? Not ton mention the 'bidding war' (existent or non-existent) that is likely to ensue if you get involved in this.

I'd be really wary of this estate agent too. Most will want to redirect buyers to unsold houses (so as to get 2 sales) rather than set up bidding wars. So this one is up to something to be so invested - usually the most they do is phone and pass on the info from the sellers if they are playing games.

Keep well away from game-players in all aspects of life is my advice.

It’s a bit shitty but how many people can honestly say they wouldn't take a 2nd higher offer?

It's not as simply as that. We lost out as FTBs as someone offered more at a later stage, we walked away & then that sale fell through. The new buyers actually reduced their offer. The original seller came back to us but we had found something else. They ended up selling it for less then we offered.

I always think if you happy to take a later higher offer you can't judge those that try and reduce at a later stage. It works both ways.

So they could exchange this week or take a risk with the new buyers and have to start all over again. That is crazy on the sellers part!

Even for cash buyers the whole process takes weeks with loads of potential hiccups.

Just clarify that you are expecting to exchange contracts on Thursday and leave the next move to them.

1% just feels like a kick in the teeth.

True, but some people will chase every penny, and as I said, they might be kicking themselves for not asking more in the first place. Houses around here are being sold v.quickly, as this is a lovely area that is still commutable to London if needed. I doubt any have sold recently for much (if any) less than asking, and I have also seen a lot of "offers over" ads, which seen designed to get the highest possible amount.

I'd say meet in the middle as you can sign contracts this week.

If they want the full £8k they'l have to go back to beginning
Surely if you are that close to signing they must be mostly packed up etc ready to move? I don't understand why they would want to delay moving

I would walk away. We had something similar happen to us. I still see the about it now.

We walked, as part of us offering was that the house came off the market with no more viewings so if the new buyer did exist then they broke the contract we had with the buyer anyway. I wasn’t willing to risk other things being hidden.

it turned out there wasn’t another buyer and the house stayed on the market for ages before going for a cheaper price a year later.

However, in the meantime we found the perfect house for us, near to my daughters school in a different village but still close to the first one.
we have made many new friends and I’m much happier here than I think I would have been there as I think if I had paid the difference it would have affected how I enjoyed the house (no matter how irrational that sounds).

It is a difficult one. I would say - if you love the house will you in a few years time worrying about having paid an extra £8k or that you lost a fabulous house for an amount you can afford? If the vendors have been offered another £8k - well it's not an amount you would turn down assuming they are able and willing to go through with the sale quickly.

I'd be tempted to offer another £8,550 so they feel they are getting best price in return for exchange this week.

If the cash buyers really are cash buyers ( i.e. not just agreed mortgage with nothing to sell ) then they could in theory exchange and complete this week but as you sway - no survey. The EA I am sure won't be hanging out for £14k instead of £8k I am pretty sure at this level they will just want the sale completed.

Irritating but I would try that and if they come back with more of a bidding war then I would ask at what price they would change this week ( but I would not tell the EA that now)

Some will think I am being a bit of a wuss , but if it is affordable getting the house you want assuming you are in it for a while is worth it (if affordable.) I would go back as I have said and then take a view as to whether they are just going to mess you about further which I would say is the walk away point.

But everyone is different - just my view

I would not want to loose a perfect house for the sake of £8k (on a £700K+ home). However galling it really is. Sadly gazumping happens and the sellers have what seems to them a better offer on the table. No need to behold a grudge there either. It is a financial transaction, it is not personal.
I regularly drive past a house I very nearly bought and it saddens me that I didn’t.

you could get to exchange day and drop your bid again, play them at their own game.

A friend did this & the sellers were furious but she just played them at their own game as you say.

While I don't think the EA is lying about the other buyers, it would put me off the vendors tbh and I wouldn't raise my offer OP. However I get the impression that you have already decided to match the offer which is entirely up to you. If you do, I would make instant exchange a condition of the offer. And your mortgage may need to be changed to reflect the new purchase price which would cause a delay, even if it's not actually affecting the mortgage you need anyway.

I would walk away.

Though part of me doubts that there is another person making such an offer, but that the seller is trying it on to get more money, aided and abetted by the estate agent.

A reform of house purchase laws would probably have a lot of support, just a question of what reform there should be.

*lose

Walk away now.

We had a similar situation, we'd had our offer accepted, accepted an offer on ours, completion date agreed. We were buying new furniture and the sellers knew this as DH had gone round to measure up and seller had commented to him he could do what he liked as it was "your house now"

8 weeks before the agreed completion date, we got a call from the agent saying they wanted more money or they would put it back on the market...

I was gutted but refused to increase our offer! They agreed to our original offer, if they weren't happy, they shouldn't have accepted it.

In our case it turned out their daughter went to school with DH's cousin's dc and they knew we could "afford more" than our offer!

*I think what’s playing on my mind is that the new offer they want from us is within what we would have gone to as part of the original negotiation.

Maybe I’m being unreasonable in expecting them to put personal integrity (which is so objective) above getting the best price for their house.*

I think you are being played by the EA, they are trying to start a bidding war, but if you put yourself in the vendors shoes, I am not so sure that they have done anything so morally wrong. The big flaw with the English system is that until exchange of contracts, offers aren't binding. You didn't make withdrawing the property from the market a condition of your offer. They may well have accepted your asking price offer on the grounds that you were happy for them to continue to market the property but would have wanted a higher offer if you wanted it taken off the market.

You didn't offer them the full amount that you would have been willing to pay when you were negotiating. They didn't offer to stop marketing the property. You got the property for a lower price by accepting the risk that someone might make a higher offer before you exchange contracts. In the same way that they have the option to pull out if they get a better offer, you have the option to pull out if you found a better property or something comes up in the survey/searches that you don't like or reduce your offer.

It's a really shit system but I don't think the vendors have done anything wrong. You made a mistake at the negotiations stage by not asking for them to end viewings.

@Shizzlestix

Utterly immoral of the ea to allow another viewing when it should have been off the market and you’re about to exchange. Very unprofessional. Trouble is, if you go back with another 8K, will it start a bidding war?

I’d be bollocking the ea and telling them to stick it. Can you contact the sellers directly or get your solicitor to contact them tomorrow saying you’re ready to exchange this week?

Everyone seems to be forgetting that the EA works for the vendor and their job is to get the best price possible. Until it's a done deal that house is still on the market.

How ideal is the house? How many possibilities are there for other properties? How long may you have to wait for the right one to come along again? Do those make the house worth an extra £8k to you if so go back and counter offer saying you will match on condition contracts are exchanged in 24 hours or stand firm and see if they pull out.

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.

No one knows if the OP will only need 8k to secure the house. It seems a lot of agg for not a huge gain so that would make me distrust the sellers even more.

Walk away and say you will sue for costs already incurred.

@Horehound my current and previous houses cost more than £800k, and I'm saying walk away!

They're rather foolish aren't they? So if you say no to increasing your offer and they go with the buyers, what's to stop the new buyers then lowering their asking price by 8k just before exchange?