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.

A Gazumper goes above the price agreed with another buyer. A gazunder is indeed a chamber pot, but the term ‘gazunderer’ is correct - they wait until the point of no return and then try to get the price dropped.

Call his bluff!

I’m confused. It’s £40k under the original agreed price? Or what you listed it for?

Also, in your 7 year calculation, have you worked out what other ROI you could get from say having the final £x after IHT, in a fairly high interest bearing account for 7 years? If you leave it empty, it’s dead money. I doubt these flats are going to appreciate much…have you seen the excess death stats since covid? (Spoiler alert they are still running very high, and show no sign of stopping).

This - they don't have the money.

My friend had a similar issue, sold the house, deposit was being gifted to the buyer - they had all the paperwork (I think the parents who were gifting it had signed something saying they were providing deposit). When it came to exchange, no deposit. The buyers "didn't realise" the cash would need to ACTUALLY transfer to the seller....their parents were in China and the deposit existed in Chinese currency....the sale was delayed by several months while they sorted the deposit.

It's a common tactic now, buyers wait til last minute then threaten to withdraw if the price isn't dropped. We told our buyer to 'do one' and lost both the sale and the house we wanted, but I'm not sorry and if anyone tried it again I would do the same and say, Cf u I'd rather lose my money than sell.it to you.

But sellers need to be aware, less likely to happen if your buyer is in a chain, but somewhere in the chain, a buyer might try it. I don't know anyway to guard against it, but I'm definitely of the opinion it's bad form.

I can’t believe the CF thinks that a lesser flat at a lower price can be used as a bargaining tool!

Sorry, no updates. Taking a break from it all this weekend, we go again on Monday.

To answer some Q's, we marketed for 2 months, had 8 viewings and this offer. Probate is fully granted, estate is well below IHT threshold.

Also my bad writing, it was me who said no more dicking about, not him. I wrote it more professionally than that of course!

If his money is not ready then get it back on the market now

Out of pure principle, I would not be entertaining this man's shenanigans and fuckaboutery. I'd rather sell it to someone else for the same or less money, asshat.

Yep
id walk away too. Remarket the property.

I have been in this position. Tell them to shove it. And yes, it did work

Well said OP. What a thoughtless comment, totally missing the point.

😊

I’d remove my offer of a £10k reduction & let him buy the other property. Sounds like he’s trying his luck. If financially you can afford to, wait it out & get the correct price for your property. He’s just trying to panic you!

Ah I see.

So he was your only offer in 2 months
and you accepted £20k less
and since then interest rates have risen again and more dire forecasts

no wonder you’re not walking away from him

He’s probably looked at it, looked at what’s happening with dramatically rising costs everywhere and getting cold feet.

And you only had one offer. You weren’t fighting off offers.

Serious question - What do you think will happen if you remarket it?

Finally! Sense. All these posters saying “fuck him and walk away” never bothered to ask how long the property had been on the market and whether any other offers

transpires 2 months on the market
NO other offers
and OP accepted £20k under

she’s not exactly in a strong position here

I’m just offering my support, OP, whatever you decide. Retirements flats are different from ordinary residential properties with no restrictions, but your EA will know the market for yours and will have valued accordingly. Also the market for these properties has changed dramatically, there’s been a massive increase in retirement living developments, someone must be buying them.

If you can rent it out easily, you’re not under such pressure to sell, but if it’s likely to stand empty then you might want to tot up the likely service charges and see how the sums work if you take the hit.

it’s a shitty move o the part of your buyer especially as you’re also bereaved. I’m sorry for your loss and hope this all works out.

I didn’t actually say that. I was more considered.

you also have to bear in mind that the agent would not have told the buyer he was the only offer. The agent would have lied on behalf of the vendor that there were other offers yada yada yada

its what they do.

the value is only what someone is prepared to spend. If OP thinks it’s worth more then pull from the deal and re market it.

simples

This is good advice. Don’t be held to ransom by an arsehole!

I'm sorry OP. I'd just remarket it on Monday morning. New estate agents too I think. I'm so sorry for your loss. You only need one buyer, the current one sounds like a chancer.

Just because it didn't get an offer straightaway doesn't mean you have to sell to an underhanded fuckwit. It may well be that op puts it back on the market (with a new EA) and it sells quickly this time around.

This is the problem, people are getting uptight and losing site of what’s happening.

like it or not, he’s not legally obliged to proceed until he’s exchanged

i don’t like it either but that’s where it is.

and he may be a fuckwit, or he may have just realised that he’s offered too much and things have changed.

A rising market has bailed most people out of stupid property mistakes (aka paying too much) for as long as most people can remember. It can go the other way and it has in the past. I think we’re at the beginning of that again now.

So the OP needs to make her decision.

Fuckwit or not, he’s the only game in town right now and another may be a long time coming or holding a lot less cash.

Firstly - sorry for your loss (which ended up with this probate sale).

I think this whole issue is about time. If you want to get rid of it, you can sell to the cockwomble.

If you can afford to take your time then ditch him and put it straight back on the market. Even if you don’t get the full price he was originally going to pay, you may well get the 10k discounted price or worse case scenario the £20k off price he’s demanding now but to someone who is not morally bankrupt. Even better he’s shown that this sort of hostage-taking-esque gazundering behaviour does not work.

We ended up selling our lovely house to horrible people who messed us about endlessly and I still feel bad for our old neighbours for being lumbered with them next door (houses are detached, they aren’t noise nuisances or anything just absolute arseholes) but we were in a difficult chain with school term starting time pressures etc.

I absolutely LOATHE the way our house selling system is run and it’s well overdue reforming. If anyone in the government had half a bean of sense they would see that the stress and cost of it helps to stagnate the housing market costing them millions of pounds of lost tax revenue.

I would withdraw your offer of accepting 10k below your already agreed amount and stand firm at the already agreed amount.

I know going thorough a house purchase / sale sucks but the buyers are absolute cfs. No way would I agree to what they're doing! I'd start all over if needed. Call their bluff, let them withdraw and go for the smaller flat if that's what they want, don't let them have yours that's worth more for that amount.

Your EA sounds useless. Can you threaten to go to another EA if they don't stop enabling the cfs?