To tell gazunderer to do one?

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Selling a probate property, due to exchange and complete today. Agreed price was £20k less than asking/previous purchase price and included all furniture. Ours was the show home apartment, and another was put on the market which is empty, much smaller and in a less favourable, dark and dingy aspect at £20k lower than our agreed price 🙄 this flat is with an EA who persistently undervalues these properties which is why I did not use them.

Received a call from our Estate Agents yesterday. Buyer still wants our apartment but now wants to pay the same as the cheaper, crappier one or he'll withdraw and buy the other apartment. I am properly pissed, but offer £10k off to get it past the line.

Buyer is firm, £20k less or he'll walk.

I think the buyer is trying their luck, the other property was marketed in March. I've seen the buyer at the building whilst clearing out the property, I know they've been to look at the other flat long before this week and I suspected that he would try something like this at the last minute. I am also confident it's our flat he wants, just at the crap flat's price.

I've made them wait for my response, and having slept on it I am of the mind to hold firm on the £10k drop, requiring immediate exchange to stop him dicking about, or deal's off. If he walks, I will still have the property to remarket as well as all the furniture the buyer wanted included in the sale which will cover fees to date, and he'll have taken the competing property off the market.

AIBU to not reduce further and wish them luck with the other property if they withdraw, or do I suck up losing £20k?

Selling a property in England sucks.

Is it back on RightMove yet?

BTW I also get the point that most buyers would dislike a property still being marketed when they're already spending on legal fees and so on, but that doesn't alter the point that it needs to be the vendors decision

What the hell the EA was doing de-listing it on the buyer's instruction I really don't know - or rather I suspect I do, but could never prove it

Good for you, OP. Hang in there.

If she doesn’t get another offer any higher she would be better off taking the reduced offer. Plus taking into account the costs of having the property stuck empty for longer.

Depends on whether the market is doing in the OPs area. No LOL about it.

I hope your vendor tells you to fuck off.

Retirement flats where I am looking are on for months, there are some on that were on a year ago when it was a sellers market. Do look and see if they are selling where you are. I'm not sure why they can be so hard to sell but sometimes it is a bit of a vicious circle, I've thought about looking at some as they are a bargain but then I think what if I want to sell and it puts me off. The service charges are also an issue as some are so high and I've noticed lots of agents don't disclose them on Rightmove, I move right on if that is the case as I think if they want to hide they they are probably bad.

If they tell you to get stuffed, will you allow the sale to fall through?

And what will you do if your sellers suddenly up the price on or close to exchange day? Do you expect them to?

I can't believe anyone would come on here and admit to doing that plan!
And I agree with @SoupDragon, I really hope they tell you where to shove it.
😡😠🤬

Call his bluff. I wouldn’t have dropped the price at all, but if you’re happy to take the 10k off stick with that and not another penny. Tell the EA to tell him that if he walks and then changes his mind or things fall through with the other flat, assuming you’re still on the market, if he wants your flat it will be full asking price or not at all.

Well done OP!

Slightly off topic but aside from the management charges I thought the reason retirement flats were cheaper was due to the age restrictions.

He pays the original offer price with exchange and completion happening today and agreed or your not selling to him.

Would be my response.

sit tight OP! I would not give him any money off at all!

what a shitty tactic they are trying! awful

It's really not a daft post. Much dafter to confidently assert that "plenty more people will be interested" with precisely zero knowledge of the specific property or the local market.

I think a lot of posters are getting caught up in the bullish mood on the thread but have no understanding of what the property market generally is doing now.

Believe me, I feel the OP's dilemma as I was put in exactly the same position by a CF buyer at the end of last year. I already had a strong suspicion that they were going to mess me around and then (hilariously, though not at the time) they posted a thread here and I recognised myself as the vendor of the house they were discussing. About 95% of posters told them that dropping their offer at the last moment would be a shitty thing to do but they did it anyway. I could have told them to swivel, but the reality is that the market was falling by then and I couldn't absorb the financial and personal cost of remarketing the property for months and then maybe only getting what they were now offering (or less) anyway. Six months on, I know I definitely did the right thing.

Sometimes it's better to take the bird in hand.

Not in the short term, obviously, but it's a fair point that if it's on the market for months and a service charge/ground rent is being paid, that will start to erode the price difference.

Absolutely not saying OP should accept the drop, though. If someone wants to under-offer they should do it at the start. Unless an offer is being reduced due to unforeseen issues in the survey, there is no excuse for gazundering.

What a cunt. Tell him to fuck off. He’s going to buy it anyway, he’s just trying it on

Well done op. Cheeky fucker countering with “only” another £18k off his original offer.

Tell your estate agent the buyer has until 4pm today or to decide whether he wants to proceed on the original offer otherwise you want your property back on right move tonight for the weekends viewings.

Just checking, he's offered £2k above ... so now £28k below asking price? ... if so then definitely don't entertain him. Honestly, I'd tell the EA to put back on the market before the weekend

You’ve done the right thing. If he wants the apartment as badly as you think he does, then he’ll cough up. But, having been in a similar predicament a few years ago, I know how nerve fraying it can be and I feel for you. Stand your ground, and well done for warning the other EA of what’s happening. He’s using the other flat as a bargaining chip for yours so I hope the EA tell him to do one. Good luck.

Are there not rules about who you can sell a retirement flat to which are checked by somebody? I thought that was the whole reason they were cheaper than a normal flat. Is the buyer paying and it's in his mums name?

So, update is that buyer has upped offer by £2k.

He's doing exactly what good negotiators do. Signalling a deal is possible at the right price. You can either interpret the signal as an insult, or a point of negotiation depending on your choosing.

I've also contacted the EA of the other apartment advising them he's a CF and to not let their sellers to accept a penny below asking if he appoaches them.

Dubious for a few reasons. Not least because it is never wise to give your competition information about your ongoing negotiations.

Your comment to @Donotgogentle was both rude and ill-informed.

An apartment is only worth what the highest bidder is prepared to pay. Retirement apartments are notoriously difficult to sell because the target market for this type of property is much smaller (55 and over) than a regular apartment on the open market. There is now a second apartment for sale in the complex.

Accepting £20K less than the asking price is better than having to accept £25K less than the asking price. Hopefully, it does not come to this and the OP will receive the asking price but there is no guarantee.

Came to ask why you've got a problem with your spatula. Can see its a different kind of guzunder. As you were.

Sounds more like 38k. He offered 20k below the agreed price, which was already 20k below the original asking price. Refused to bargain down to 10k and is now offering 2k off the second 20k. Absolute CF !!

It depends on what type of flat - some only require the buyer to be aged 50+.