AIBU to decrease house price offer?

[Onefortheroad1]

Our offer on a house was accepted in late summer. Since then obviously there has been a lot of upheaval, lots of mortgage offers pulled, rocketing interest rates and house price drops widely expected.

If you were buying would you seek to renegotiate and lower the price because we are not committed to buying yet and the economy has got significantly worse since our offer was accepted? Or do you just think this is part of home ownership and we should proceed as agreed.

If it makes a difference the sellers have lived there for a while and the value of the house has increased significantly so I think they are mortgage free so a lower offer won’t push them towards negative equity or a financial loss.

I want to be fair and reasonable to the seller but can’t afford to overpay as prices come crashing down.

can’t afford to overpay as prices come crashing down

1. what does “can’t afford” mean?
2. prices haven’t fallen by much yet at all, still lots of people out looking even if mortgage applications have fallen
3. you could afford it then you can afford it now unless there has been a material change to your finances
4. prices will go back up in a couple of years anyway, they always do (see: cycle)
5. YABU

Would be a cynical maneuver

This!

You would have to be prepared to lose the house. Saying that, no you're not unreasonable, the market is changing and you'd be silly not to consider that.Your vendor might rather your reduce your offer slightly than pull out entirely.

I'd also consider that if the vendor have an onward purchase suggest perhaps that any discount for you buying the vendors house can be moved up the chain.

*So you could drop your offer, lose the house and then have to find elsewhere, your offer expire and then end up on a much higher rate mortgage.

but yeah. Reduce your offer. See what happens*

this!

would you want this to happen to you in a few years-if no then dont do it to others

I think the only reasonable thing to do is to withdraw from the sale.

If you still have the same mortgage offer and it's fixed for a long time I would go ahead. If it's not I would ask for a reduction or pull out.

Prices haven’t dropped. All you’ll do is loss them off and yeah it is a shitty thing to do. I’d tell you where to go

If you’re prepared to lose the house are you prepared to find one again when your current mortgage offer has expired and you need a new one with a much higher rate?

Be careful you could be shooting yourself in the foot and ending up with a higher interest rate if you don’t complete this mortgage.

Hear hear

It also depends on your area my area is really declining hard , reductions everyday and stuff just sitting. Other areas might be different.

People saying it’s unacceptable, at what point would it be acceptable? Say prices had dropped 20% since the offer was accepted? Are we really saying we would pay more than a house is worth for the sake of honour?

I don't really care and I don't see it as personal. It's a business transaction why do people get so up in arms and I say this as a homeowner. 🤣🤣🤣. Sellers for the next few years are going to get very offended.

It's not unreasonable to prioritise your own financial security above that of a stranger who is selling you a house. You can't commit to a financial decision that no longer makes sense just to be nice.

But think very carefully. What is actually happening to the housing market in your area? For example, where I live we're seeing houses sit for longer on the market and some of the very ambitiously (greedily) priced properties are being reduced. By contrast, this summer we couldn't even get a viewing on several of the properties we were interested in because they were being sold for way over asking price to the first viewer before we even had chance to get there (our viewings were cancelled). Others ended up in a bidding war and went for ridiculous money. So whilst asking prices haven't necessarily come down, properties aren't tending to attract the feeding frenzy that they did in the summer and the sale prices are closer to asking prices.

If prices haven't actually come down in your area then you can reduce your offer but the buyer will likely tell you to sling your hook and put the house back on the market. That's what I'd do. If you have a decent mortgage offer and prices haven't come down then there's no reason for you to be messing them around.

you wouldn’t be getting my house if you tried to pull something as trashy as this

Dick move. Are you in a chain? Would you want YOUR buyer to do this???

Our house purchase took a long time because of the sellers. By the time we were nearly there the house prices had gone up and the seller asked for more money. We told them to get fucked and they agreed to honour the original price.

It's been widely reported by various media outlets this week that house prices are reducing. This is very unlikely to be a blip given that we are moving into a recession and there is a risk that prices could fall significantly. If you agreed a price in the Summer then on completion day your house would be worth less than you paid for it. Have to be honest this would make me evaluate.

What to do in this situation depends on your current situation and how long you plan to be in the house. Agree totally it's a shitty thing to lower your offer but equally don't go ahead just because you don't want to upset the people you are buying from.

The market is collapsing and a lot of folks are going to get burned you didn't engineer that but looking after your own interests in these difficult times is no crime indeed if you don't look after yourself who else will?

Buyers have done this twice to us, on the week of exchange both times, since we put our house on the market in April. Both times we have been unable to accept their lower offer because we are part of a chain. Both times it has caused huge emotional and financial stress for our family. Both times, it has affected my relationship with my husband, my mental health, the atmosphere in our home for our children.

It’s a fucking shitty thing to do. Our house has sold for a third time, above asking in a matter of days of being listed. Clearly the market where I am has not been adversely affected by the current financial climate so all the cheeky fuckers actually achieved was losing out on our house, and causing my family huge stress in the process.

I hate to break it to you but you didn't say that at all in the comment I replied to...

You said "If op got a mortgage in principle then submitted mortgage application prior to dates going up they will hold it for 6 months as mortgage offer at that rate. Will cost more to have to redo that application as mortgage interests rates higher." A different poster said about the vendor pulling out and OP buying a different house but I didn't respond to them.

So, no, I didn't misread what you wrote at all.

The property market is likely to fall, if it isn't already. You are free to renegotiate, the vendors are free to decline. Take the emotion out of it and employ hard financial facts.

You can ask and they can say no. They can also then refuse to sell to you and sell to someone else. 🤷‍♀️

I can see that you are getting a lot of negative comments but I think you would be right to lower your offer.

There is a lot of hypocrisy in the responses so far: people seem there is nothing wrong with the fact that for years buyers have wanted to make as much money as they possibly could because we were in a sellers' market.

Yet when the market takes a slight turn for the worse, which is what is happening at the moment, they criticise you as a buyer when you are simply doing what the sellers have been doing for years: getting the best possible deal based on where the housing market is at.

Swings and roundabouts

I was going to make an offer this week on a house but I have now decided not to so, although the sellers were willing to take a lower offer because I think in the next few months prices will go down further and I will be able to buy a better house.