Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To tell gazunderer to do one?

973 replies

Mustnotbeleftblank · 12/05/2023 08:19

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.

OP posts:
ancientgran · 14/05/2023 13:14

CarolinaInTheMorning · 14/05/2023 13:00

There is no contract until written signed contracts are formally exchanged.

I am always stunned by how the system operates in England. I'm in the US and there is a lot of variation by state, but property laws are essentially derived from English common law. In my state, there is offer, acceptance, a deposit and that is a binding contract. Buyers and sellers can't alter the terms at the last minute. How did the English system develop in this truly confounding way?

I'm old, name gives it away, and when I was first buying houses 50 years ago I never heard of exchange and completion happening on the same day. I assume it is a fairly modern way of doing things. When you exchanged a month or so before completion everyone knew where they stood and could plan accordingly.

SheilaFentiman · 14/05/2023 13:20

I think it’s rare to exchange and complete on the same day as it’s too much to do fund flows and paperwork. However, sounds like this is a completely chain free process, with a probate seller and a cash buyer (theoretically!) - it should have been doable

DogInATent · 14/05/2023 13:24

ancientgran · 14/05/2023 13:14

I'm old, name gives it away, and when I was first buying houses 50 years ago I never heard of exchange and completion happening on the same day. I assume it is a fairly modern way of doing things. When you exchanged a month or so before completion everyone knew where they stood and could plan accordingly.

Show quote history

It's not new. I hear less of same-day exchange and completion now than I did 20+ years ago. I think it was more common in a housing market boom when people are trying to flip for profit. I don't see any benefit, it means committing to the move and a variety of expenses that could see deposits lost if the exchange fails at the last minute.

Iwasafool · 14/05/2023 13:31

DogInATent · 14/05/2023 13:24

It's not new. I hear less of same-day exchange and completion now than I did 20+ years ago. I think it was more common in a housing market boom when people are trying to flip for profit. I don't see any benefit, it means committing to the move and a variety of expenses that could see deposits lost if the exchange fails at the last minute.

Show quote history

I was talking about 50 years ago, at my age 20 years ago is recent.

countrygirl99 · 14/05/2023 14:09

We've done exchange and complete same day a couple of times. First time was 1981 we were first time buyers and sellers were emigrating with just 1 family member in the UK to tie things up. A boundary error and a strike at Land Registry held things up and we finally got the keys 2 days before we got married with the intervening day being Good Friday. By this time I was sofa surfing as I'd had to move out of my lodgings as it was sold.
2nd time our seller was divorcing which added aggro and the FTB at the bottom of the chain handed his notice in on his rental without bothering to check dates with anyone. Chain of 3 houses all on one day was a bit sweaty and we didn't get our keys until 4.

Worpet · 14/05/2023 14:30

Do not drop the price at all. Tell them you will stick to the agreed price. In addition I would give a deadline of say 48hrs for completion or the property will be remarketed. In addition, you can always get 'a friend' to place an offer on the other flat at the same or higher than your agreed price to take the other flat out of the equation. Your friend can always 'change his mind' immediately after your completion. Play them at their own game. :)

Perspectivo · 14/05/2023 14:53

Batalax · 14/05/2023 10:26

Sell it 20k cheaper if you have to - but to some nice person who hasn’t dicked you about.

🙄

Perspectivo · 14/05/2023 14:54

SchoolTripDrama · 14/05/2023 11:06

@Dustyourselfoff No, OP never accepted £20k less? That's what the buyer is now offering AFTER originally offering more. OP said no....then did offer to take £10k off but buyer refused this.

You are wrong Agreed price was £20k less than asking/previous purchase price and included all furniture @SchoolTripDrama

Sheilaworldwide · 14/05/2023 17:14

Good luck. I had a buyer in Spain who turned up at the notaries 500 euros short. ( very small percentage) so I said ok I wish you luck in your search and left the office. He was back in30 seconds with the 500 euro. Hold your nerve,

DepartureLounge · 14/05/2023 17:56

DarrellRiversCriminalBehaviourOrder · 14/05/2023 10:01

No, she means a gazunderer. Gazumpers are sellers who try to up the price after accepting your offer, usually by keeping the house on the market and then telling you they have a better offer. Gazunderers try to reduce the offer at the last moment.

Show quote history

Still wrong actually @DarrellRiversCriminalBehaviourOrder . A gazumper is a buyer who persuades a seller to sell to them despite having already agreed to sell to someone else, by making an inflated (usually above asking price) offer.

Both words relate to buyer behaviour, but gazumping requires the complicity of a greedy seller, whereas the seller in a gazundering scenario, like OP, is generally blameless.

I'm not sure if there is a particular name for a seller who ups the price at the last minute, but cunt would probably cover it tbh.

WonkyBananas · 14/05/2023 18:25

@Mustnotbeleftblank can you withdraw your property from the market?

And then put it back on at a higher price in a few weeks?

Schroedingersimmigrant · 14/05/2023 18:48

I think it’s rare to exchange and complete on the same day as it’s too much to do fund flows and paperwork.

I think it's bit masochistic tbh

Ganainm488 · 14/05/2023 19:09

Sorry I meant that for me it’s a verbal contract or agreement and the honourable thing is to stick to what has been agreed. I understand the legal side allows for this kind of thing to happen.

Palmasailor · 14/05/2023 19:13

There’s no honour, it’s all about the money, and being honest you wouldn’t pay over the odds either. No one gives money away they don’t have to. That’s especially prevalent in virtue signallers and those in a silo, which on this subject is most in here.

OP has had enough advice and she needs to decide and own it.

the only reason she’s even asked is that she suspects if she tells this guy to poke it she’ll end up with a sale price £60k lower in 18 months time bc it’s gone to hell in a hand basket.

Jamandbreadsupper · 14/05/2023 22:15

This happened to a friend of mine, was selling his mums house. He tried saying he wanted to pay less, told them no and under no circumstances must they let him buy the house after he tried that trick. Put it back on market, buyer lost money on solicitors and everything he’s paid out to this point. He sold for more money in the end.

DarrellRiversCriminalBehaviourOrder · 14/05/2023 22:31

It's purely anecdotal, and easy for me to say because thank fuck it's never happened to me...but in every case I know of gazundering where the seller stood firm, the gazunderer relented.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 14/05/2023 22:34

No one gives money away they don’t have to. That’s especially prevalent in virtue signallers and those in a silo, which on this subject is most in here.

Have you ever been to a shop selling an item for more than you are willing to pay for it and, instead of leaving the item on the shelf or even asking if they would accept a lower price, just handed it over, said you'll take it, allowed them to go to all the trouble of carefully wrapping it and ringing it through the till, and THEN telling them that you'll only buy it if they reduce the price?

This is exactly the equivalent of what the (suspicious) would-be buyer is doing - and it is weird and thoroughly dishonourable.

Alinino124 · 15/05/2023 01:22

Don’t reduce it, re market it if they don’t exchange pronto.

Palmasailor · 15/05/2023 02:40

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 14/05/2023 22:34

No one gives money away they don’t have to. That’s especially prevalent in virtue signallers and those in a silo, which on this subject is most in here.

Have you ever been to a shop selling an item for more than you are willing to pay for it and, instead of leaving the item on the shelf or even asking if they would accept a lower price, just handed it over, said you'll take it, allowed them to go to all the trouble of carefully wrapping it and ringing it through the till, and THEN telling them that you'll only buy it if they reduce the price?

This is exactly the equivalent of what the (suspicious) would-be buyer is doing - and it is weird and thoroughly dishonourable.

It’s now “weird”, “suspicious” or anything else.

he just thinks it’s going to crap out there and he’s gonna over pay for it.

he’s not contractually committed and so he’s chopped a bit off what he’s offered.

that’s all that’s going on. He regrets offering too much, he isn’t contractually bound and so he’s chopped a bit off. If something else comes up he could easily walk.

it doesn’t look like the other worse property that’s being referred to has sold either.

he’s probably watching Rightmove like I am and seeing a sea of reduced property. I’ve sold a load of roperty and had to reduce it, and I’m looking at buying and I think it’s all dropping so I’m holding back. That’s all. It’s not personal.

for the last 30 years it’s been a sellers market and so everyone here thinks that OP will just be able to sell it at what she wants. Because that’s the way it’s always been in their memory. And she might. But equally she might not.

i get it that everyone is giving her moral support but that’s not a pragmatic approach in the environment we’re probably now in.

the right approach might be to suck it up and take what’s on offer while it’s there because it just might get a lot worse.

Perspectivo · 15/05/2023 05:41

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 14/05/2023 22:34

No one gives money away they don’t have to. That’s especially prevalent in virtue signallers and those in a silo, which on this subject is most in here.

Have you ever been to a shop selling an item for more than you are willing to pay for it and, instead of leaving the item on the shelf or even asking if they would accept a lower price, just handed it over, said you'll take it, allowed them to go to all the trouble of carefully wrapping it and ringing it through the till, and THEN telling them that you'll only buy it if they reduce the price?

This is exactly the equivalent of what the (suspicious) would-be buyer is doing - and it is weird and thoroughly dishonourable.

What an utterly daft analogy 😂

SoupDragon · 15/05/2023 07:31

Palmasailor · 15/05/2023 02:40

It’s now “weird”, “suspicious” or anything else.

he just thinks it’s going to crap out there and he’s gonna over pay for it.

he’s not contractually committed and so he’s chopped a bit off what he’s offered.

that’s all that’s going on. He regrets offering too much, he isn’t contractually bound and so he’s chopped a bit off. If something else comes up he could easily walk.

it doesn’t look like the other worse property that’s being referred to has sold either.

he’s probably watching Rightmove like I am and seeing a sea of reduced property. I’ve sold a load of roperty and had to reduce it, and I’m looking at buying and I think it’s all dropping so I’m holding back. That’s all. It’s not personal.

for the last 30 years it’s been a sellers market and so everyone here thinks that OP will just be able to sell it at what she wants. Because that’s the way it’s always been in their memory. And she might. But equally she might not.

i get it that everyone is giving her moral support but that’s not a pragmatic approach in the environment we’re probably now in.

the right approach might be to suck it up and take what’s on offer while it’s there because it just might get a lot worse.

Show quote history

He didn't have the money!!

Perspectivo · 15/05/2023 07:45

Palmasailor · 15/05/2023 02:40

It’s now “weird”, “suspicious” or anything else.

he just thinks it’s going to crap out there and he’s gonna over pay for it.

he’s not contractually committed and so he’s chopped a bit off what he’s offered.

that’s all that’s going on. He regrets offering too much, he isn’t contractually bound and so he’s chopped a bit off. If something else comes up he could easily walk.

it doesn’t look like the other worse property that’s being referred to has sold either.

he’s probably watching Rightmove like I am and seeing a sea of reduced property. I’ve sold a load of roperty and had to reduce it, and I’m looking at buying and I think it’s all dropping so I’m holding back. That’s all. It’s not personal.

for the last 30 years it’s been a sellers market and so everyone here thinks that OP will just be able to sell it at what she wants. Because that’s the way it’s always been in their memory. And she might. But equally she might not.

i get it that everyone is giving her moral support but that’s not a pragmatic approach in the environment we’re probably now in.

the right approach might be to suck it up and take what’s on offer while it’s there because it just might get a lot worse.

Show quote history

Thankfully the Op isn’t following the “fuck him” nonsense advice. She knows that she had one offer in 2 months and for £20k less than asking. She knows that if she pulls it off the table, she’s potentially cutting her nose to spite her face

Perspectivo · 15/05/2023 07:52

I think he must have asked them to take it off market when he agreed the purchase as it disappeared from Right Move and their website, but they refused saying "I don't want to lose the buyer."

the EA works for you. They wouldn’t have followed his instruction re marketing the property. And when you noticed it was off RM and asked for it to be relished and they said no…. You just shrugged?

Palmasailor · 15/05/2023 08:01

The agent checks you have the money and ID prior to submitting the offer.

if it got to offer accepted stage, he had the money.

Palmasailor · 15/05/2023 08:03

Perspectivo · 15/05/2023 07:45

Thankfully the Op isn’t following the “fuck him” nonsense advice. She knows that she had one offer in 2 months and for £20k less than asking. She knows that if she pulls it off the table, she’s potentially cutting her nose to spite her face

Show quote history

Lol…😂😂😂

Swipe left for the next trending thread