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AIBU?

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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:
WeWereInParis · 12/05/2023 10:15

I fail to understand why it is OK to drop a pricce by 20K because the survey shows damage but not OK to drop 20K because the market has dropped. Some missing logic here. At the ened of the day the place is worth xk less in both instances. No one throws away 20k unless they absolutely have to so why should a buyer.

That should have been clear to the buyer sooner than the day before exchanging and completing though. The other (worse) flat the buyer is saying he'll buy instead has been on the market at that price since March, and OP has seen him looking at it. Doing it the day before exchanging is clearly trying to take the piss and attempting to use the short notice as a way to pressure her into dropping the price.

SaturdayGiraffe · 12/05/2023 10:16

It will be a shame to lose a cash buyer but you do need to act in the best interests of the estate.

Nordicrain · 12/05/2023 10:17

Tell him mkto do one and withdraw the offer to reduce 10k.

oakleaffy · 12/05/2023 10:18

@Mustnotbeleftblank Aspect is everything!
Bright and sunny is so much better than north facing.

Relative had a Southern aspect house, it was a new build, and so very different to the North facers backing his.

Sun and light are so important.

Stand firm!

saraclara · 12/05/2023 10:18

Is this a flat in a McCarthy and Stone village or similar? Because they are horrendously difficult to get rid of after a death. Which is why people are prepared to get rid of them at a fraction of their value.

Just be aware that if you lose these buyers, it might take ou forever to find another one, particularly at the price you want.
Of course, buyers know this, which is why they try it on. Because it works.

ScandiNoirNuit · 12/05/2023 10:19

Let us know how you get on OP! Good luck.

GasPanic · 12/05/2023 10:19

WeWereInParis · 12/05/2023 10:15

I fail to understand why it is OK to drop a pricce by 20K because the survey shows damage but not OK to drop 20K because the market has dropped. Some missing logic here. At the ened of the day the place is worth xk less in both instances. No one throws away 20k unless they absolutely have to so why should a buyer.

That should have been clear to the buyer sooner than the day before exchanging and completing though. The other (worse) flat the buyer is saying he'll buy instead has been on the market at that price since March, and OP has seen him looking at it. Doing it the day before exchanging is clearly trying to take the piss and attempting to use the short notice as a way to pressure her into dropping the price.

Welcome to the world of contract negotiation.

Happens to me all the time. The deal isn't done till it's signed, and very often someone will ask for a last minute discount. I don't regard it as "taking the piss". it's all about leverage. If I need the work and want to push it through they get the discount. If I can take it or leave it they don't. Normally we end up meeting half way.

user1471538283 · 12/05/2023 10:21

If you can afford to hold firm and you are confident you can sell it to someone else at that price then you can refuse.

However, the market is very wobbly at the moment and you may not get another buyer quickly or at the original price you want.

It depends if you want it gone or not.

TokyoSushi · 12/05/2023 10:22

Don't drop! It sounds like you have been more than reasonable. Good luck OP!

LadyMacbethssweetArabianhand · 12/05/2023 10:23

I agree that he's probably a BT L chancer. No way would his dear old mum not have her own furniture and then some. He's going to market it as fully furnished. Hold fast.

Ktime · 12/05/2023 10:24

I don't know why you even offered 10k off. Agree with pp, withdraw the offer for 10k off.

WeWereInParis · 12/05/2023 10:25

@GasPanic I understand why the buyer would do it. But your comment was as if you thought it was unfair to expect him to pay the price agreed. Let's be honest, he's not doing this because of the market, he's doing it to see what he can get. Which I understand as a motivation, but it's not the same as a survey coming back and reducing your price based on that.
Also he's turned down OP's offer to meet him halfway.

PrettyMaybug · 12/05/2023 10:26

This reminds me of a house my husband and I were selling about 15-16 years ago. We were selling it for I think £165,000 at the time. And this couple, about a generation older than us put an offer in for it. I think they offered £161,000, which we accepted. Bit of a drop, but doable.

The Under Offer sign went up and we stopped letting other people see the property. About five or six weeks went by. They came to measure curtains, measure doors, measure rooms etc. They come back about four or five times, bothering us and walking round our house and walking around our garden. Umming and ahhhing, and muttering. All seemed OK.

A couple of months after they put their offer in, they contacted the estate agent and said they wanted to drop the offer to £140,000 because the garden was smaller than they would have liked, and there was no fireplace. (It had been boarded up, but they knew this when they saw the house the first time!!!) Also, it was too near a main B-road. (It was 150 yards!) AGAIN, they already knew this! NONE of the above was brand new information.

I was absolutely gutted because we had actually already picked a property that we were looking forward to moving into. And the people we were buying off were so chuffed we were buying their home too, as they were leaving the country soon, and wanted to sell quickly! And there was only a tiny chain there. (No chain the other end either as this couple buying ours were renting privately at the time...)

We couldn't have afforded to drop it £25,000 from the asking price, as we couldn't buy our new house. We had the mortgage in place that we needed, and it would have all gone to shit. Me and DH, and the couple whose house we were buying thought we were all going to 'complete the transaction' three or four weeks later. The couple who put in the offer for ours were absolute top tier, cheeky fuckers - and it really, really upset us...

I was upset and started to cry. My husband was actually fucking furious. He said to the estate agent 'you can tell them to go and take a long walk off a short pier. Absolute dickheads! Put it back on the market!!!' Estate Agent told this couple that we would not drop any further than the £161,000, and the deal was off. Next day they came back and said the buyers would pay the £161,000. We moved 5 weeks later. Never saw this couple again.

Cheeky fucking arseholes were trying it on, like YOUR buyers are @Mustnotbeleftblank Tell them to piss off.

shiningstar2 · 12/05/2023 10:26

He is trying it on. Trying to lower the price on exchange day is appalling behaviour. If he wanted a reduction because the market had changed he could have put this on the table with integrity before the last day. He thinks he's got you over a barrel. I would be tempted to pull out but you need to consider your best interests. Has the market changed considerably? How long have you waited for a buyer? I definitely would not be offering him any more than the £10000 you have already considered and I hope you feel you can pull out of the deal altogether. Please come back and let us know how things go op. 💐

Paq · 12/05/2023 10:27

Cheering you on OP. I'd charge him £5k MORE. Call it an arsehole tax.

Iwasafool · 12/05/2023 10:27

Greenfairydust · 12/05/2023 10:08

I would look at the overall market: have prices dropped since you accepted the offer or have prices started to recover?

The point being is that you have to assess how easy it would be to get another offer in your current local market.

That should tell you whether it is realistic or not to just dump the buyer/refuse to compromise.

If prices are stable/have gone up and there is a lot of demand and you are in no hurry to sell, you might want to withdraw.

If it is a falling market you will want to negotiate rather than start all over again and ending up with a lower offer anyway...

I would look at this purely as a business transaction and take emotions out of it.

The advice about telling them to ''fuck off'' and so on is rather immature.

It might make you feel better for 5 minutes, but then what?

You need to work out what makes more sense financially for you (negotiate a lower offer or putting it back on the market) and will cause the less disruption and stress long term rather than trying to score points.

Personally I would point out that the property the buyer is comparing too has completely different specs and that explains the different in price. I would state that are you are willing to offer X amount less (8K or 10K) as a compromise to get the transaction going but that you will withdraw if this is not accepted.

A very sensible approach. I wonder how many advising the OP to put the price back up, withdraw from the sale, would be willing to put their hands in their pockets if he ends up losing money.

I really think the OP should have a look on Rightmove for his area and see what the market is doing where he is, where I am prices are falling in other areas they aren't.

Schroedingersimmigrant · 12/05/2023 10:28

GasPanic · 12/05/2023 10:19

Welcome to the world of contract negotiation.

Happens to me all the time. The deal isn't done till it's signed, and very often someone will ask for a last minute discount. I don't regard it as "taking the piss". it's all about leverage. If I need the work and want to push it through they get the discount. If I can take it or leave it they don't. Normally we end up meeting half way.

Show quote history

The market didn't really drop though. The cheaper flat is smaller. The buyer is trying to get bigger flat for price of cheaper one and in questionable way.
Op tried to meet in the middle.
There are negotiations, there is pisstaking

JauntyJinty · 12/05/2023 10:28

GasPanic · 12/05/2023 10:10

I fail to understand why it is OK to drop a pricce by 20K because the survey shows damage but not OK to drop 20K because the market has dropped. Some missing logic here. At the ened of the day the place is worth xk less in both instances. No one throws away 20k unless they absolutely have to so why should a buyer. Up to the point of exchange your house has not sold, and people are free to change their mind at any time.

What I would do : treat this for what it is, a business transaction. Questions I would ask :

i) Is the property reasonably priced ? Did I get a lot of interest during the sale period, is it priced consistently with other properties in the area of the same type ? Is it likely to sell quickly if remarketed ?

ii) Do I need the cash now or can I wait for later ?How much is it going to cost to remarket and maintain during the likely new sale period ?

iii) Are there a lot of similar properties on the market in the area ?

iv) Is the market likely to drop while it is being remarketed as interest rates are going up ? Am I likely to chase the market down ?

Depending on your contract terms, I would consider hinting to the agent that if it is going to be remarketed then it will probably be with a new agent. That might get them back on side.

Ultimately only you can decide whether or not it is worth it to you to proceed under the changed conditions.

Your potential buyer sounds like they feel they are in a commanding position (otherwise they would have met your 10k halfway offer).

Would you agree that it would also be ok to raise the price by 20K if the market has risen? The problem is it can't be done that way around most of the time as the buyers morgage won't cover the higher figure - so the seller alway gets the shit side of the gamble.
Far better that the price is agreed upon at the time deal is done and the stuck to.

LimeCheesecake · 12/05/2023 10:30

Hold firm, they clearly want a flat in this location. They can afford yours. The question is, do they want to pay £20k less for a smaller apartment with less natural light?

its in your favour both flats are for sale at the same time, if you have to relist, buyers will go see both.

SirVixofVixHall · 12/05/2023 10:31

Jonnycakes · 12/05/2023 08:22

Personally I wouldn’t even drop 10k. He’s trying to get a bigger, better aspect apartment for the same price as a lesser one. Along with all furniture. I’d tell him to do one!

Agree.

Iwasafool · 12/05/2023 10:32

LimeCheesecake · 12/05/2023 10:30

Hold firm, they clearly want a flat in this location. They can afford yours. The question is, do they want to pay £20k less for a smaller apartment with less natural light?

its in your favour both flats are for sale at the same time, if you have to relist, buyers will go see both.

They aren't likely to offer full asking price on the other flat though so they might think they will get it for £40k less which might be more tempting than £20k less.

fruitbrewhaha · 12/05/2023 10:32

Hopefully you have put it back on the market for £5k more and told this gazunderer to fuck off, you will no longer be selling to him.

HurryShadow · 12/05/2023 10:34

Yeah, I'd be telling them to shove it too. Someone tried this with me once, wanting money off on day of completion but I was in a chain and the whole thing would have collapsed.

At the end of the day I didn't have another £5k to spare and I wasn't going to ask my vendor for £5k off their property too, so I told them to exchange or I'd be pulling it myself.

10 minutes later my solicitor phoned to say we'd exchanged. "What about the £5k reduction they asked for?" I asked, "What reduction?" replied my solicitor.

Idiot buyers hadn't even told their solicitor so the property exchanged at the original price!

As they were first time buyers and we had a short period between exchange and completion I'd already bought them a card and a bottle of champagne to leave in the house.

I most definitely took that bottle with me and enjoyed it myself in the first night in my new home!

OP, I highly recommend prawns in the curtain poles if it does go through and you have time to nip round...! 😂 (I didn't do this, but I was sorely tempted to be an arse!)

SchoolTripDrama · 12/05/2023 10:34

Have you made the call, OP? If so, what did EA say?

HurryShadow · 12/05/2023 10:36

*day of exchange, not completion.

Come on MNHQ - give us an edit function!