… to ask your help deciding on how to respond to our buyer’s request

[Northerngirl1969]

So, we’re part of a four person chain with four houses being bought/sold. Our buyer’s house has been surveyed and an issue has been found. Their buyers (the FTBs) are requesting a £20k reduction as a result. The estate agents representing our buyers (and the house with the issue) are suggesting we help out our buyer by taking £10k off our price and that our sellers should take off £5k. Thus we would be worse off by £5k, our sellers worse off by £5k and our buyers (and the owner of the house with an issue) £10k. The first time buyer will be better off by £20k. The issue is not major. Our estate agent believes the quotes for the work don’t come anywhere near the £20k but of course there’s inconvenience etc. Lastly the FTBs got the survey done on the house very late. So we’ve already 3 months in and several thousands of solicitor fees in. Your thoughts are very welcome!

Just to add I live in an expensive and competitive part of the country (don’t we all) and have lost my share of houses for a variety of reasons.

£5k is a tiny fraction round here but I’d still say no and challenge the EA. compound interest on the lifetime of a mortgage and you’re not far off £10k. At what point do you wish you’d had a dream holiday, paid for your kids tuition, pension etc.

Or you could just fund a pair of first time buyers/chancers because an EA suggested it.

At what point do you wish you’d had a dream holiday, paid for your kids tuition, pension etc.

In my case, never. I needed to stop doing a 120 mile round trip commute as soon as possible, the M25 was breaking me. I never regretted it and until I saw this thread I’d forgotten all about it. It totally depends how much you need/want to move.

This is very unusual and I'd say the estate agent knows someone in the chain.
I'd prefer not to get involved if it were me x

If I was a first time buyer I wouldn't want to buy a house with damp, reduction or not.

See an earlier post I wrote the majority of damp is "diagnosed" with a damp meter which are totally useless. They are used by surveyors to cover their backsides and damp treatment companies in order to sell damp treatments which are not needed.

This happened to us. The whole process had nearly fallen through so many times and we were desperate, so we took the £5k hit. I felt £5k was worth it given all the money already spent on searches etc, and the fact that the contents of my house were in boxes and had been for months. And I absolutely hated my current neighbours. I stand by the fact it was worth it.

It would be a no from me .

It's between the FTB and the vendor of the house they are trying to buy. The vendors may have known about the "damp" issue- £20 k seems a "convenient" amount

• I would be asking the EA what they are offering to the pot to keep their 2 commissions in tack

• of prices are reducing ask if FTB and your Buyers are prepared for renogiation of mortgages (if applicable) and inevitable delay that will incur

• if you want to consider the request ask to see the relevant paperwork

I was an Executor for a relatives house - chain ended with us - after messing us around for months the buyers suddenly about a week before exchange of contracts (that they had sat on for months) reduced their offer by £50k siting a couple of issues and mentioning subsidence risk - it was a minor point in survey that they had had for months and ignored - according to EA they had had another specialist survey done and it was going to cost £50k to fix - I asked to see this specialist survey and quotes - nothing happened so I told the EA I was putting house back on the market -weirdly I then got a EA call saying that the buyers were going to stick with original offer ....

Happened to us. We said no. Sale continued to completion.

Common practise, agent is trying to save the chain and the respective sales that he is acting for. It’s why the agents are called “negotiators “. Sorry, being facetious. Seriously though. So, perhaps the agent could sharpen their skills and negotiate less than 20k off for the 1st time buyer by getting actual quotes and then try spread that up the chain. That, or you all go back to market.

It’s not unusual, it’s relatively common practise when all other areas have been explored. The agent is using initiative. It’s only unusual for home sellers / buyers because the average Joe doesn’t buy/ sell very often whereas agents deal with this stuff 24/7.

Why are people complaining about the FTBs and not the seller who is trying to force the rest of the chain to pay the fee to fix the issue that they should have already had fixed before they listed their home? Makes no sense

Having been stuck in a very long house sale/purchase for several months....id agree to this

Yes of course the EA wants the sale to complete. That's how they make money. They're not doing it for fun...

But the commission may only be £5k anyhow

How much do you think EAs make? We're talking about a first time buy

What’s first time buy got to do with it? 2 bed terrace for £500k. Mucho fees across the whole chain.

you could ask the EAs to reduce their commissions up the chain to absorb the cost too? I think it’s cheeky asking people to absorb costs for someone else’s repairs.

This happened to friends of mine, only they were asked to stump up about £30K. They said no. That was 18 months ago and they are still trying to resell their house. They have now dropped the price by more than £30K. For £5K I would say yes, but maybe depends on how quickly you sold and whether you have your heart set on your new house. The budget might change stamp duty which could mean paying more anyway.

It's not your problem and I think they've got a cheek. Let them find the money themselves. We once had an offer accepted on a house and we waiting on the seller finding a house to buy. After a couple of weeks of waiting, her estate agent suggested to us that we should up our offer to allow her more to spend on her next house. What is wrong with these people, do they take us for idiots?

That’s an entirely different scenario and nobody in their right mind would agree to it. In this instance it’s a relatively small amount of money to hold the chain together and prevent several sales falling through. The suggestion is that every link in the chain shares the cost.

It's between the damp house and the FTB only. I don't like the pressure, basically saying if you don't pay then whole chain falls apart. Call their bluff.

Just say no to dropping your price. It's up to the others what they want to do but it's not your problem. I'm sure you have things you want to do to your new home & wouldn't expect others to help fund it so why lose out on your sale price just to help someone else.