Nasty disagreement over house purchase

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We are negotiating a house purchase and found a house we both like. We have been going back and forth with the seller over the past few weeks.

Our last offer was £555k which was rejected but the seller has said they will accept £558k. My husband wants to offer £556k and not a penny more. I think we should offer the full amount but my husband has refused and is adamant he won't offer more than £556k.

Am I being thick, it's £2k more and we get the house? My husband isn't moving and has called me a clown for saying "it's only £2k more."

prices have been amended to avoid outting

Make a sensible offer in the first place and then make a second offer at most which would be 'left on the table'. Now quibbling over a few grand shows the sellers they can wait and eventually they'll offer the £558k because they've already made significant offer increases and have shown how much they want the house.

YABU to buy a house with someone who calls you a clown.

If he is really determined not to go higher just state that with the amount of work needed you can't afford more, and mean it.
On the other hand you could go to 558 but make it clear to them that should the survey produce problems you will have to reduce your offer accordingly as you have a limited budget for the improvements.

Does he normally call you names? Because that seems like the real issue here.

YANBU. If people kept offering “nearly” the asking price but obviously just trying to get any discount for the sake of it, I would probably just reject the offer on principle if I had a decent house. Obviously not if it had been on the market for a year but I assume that’s not the case in relation to the house you’re buying.

Or if I were forced to accept it I would not be leaving any extras- the last house we sold I left a washing machine, fridge, wardrobe and all the blinds (good quality) for free. No way would I do that if you’d played hardball over less than 1% of the purchase price.

They probably know you'll bend to going to the full amount. The fact your offers keep going up. I think your husband has used the wrong tactics of he wants to put a hard stop at 556. The seller can see how many times you've increased so it looks to them like you'll do it again.
Is he really prepared to back to square one over it?

Sounds like your's is the highest offer they've had, so just find the right language and offer the £556k.

If they think you can't scrape the extra 2k, it's on them as to whether they want to pass on a guaranteed sale for that amount.

Sometimes you just have to be as cheeky as the other party and hold your nerve. They'll more likely to blink first if they think they've squeezed you to your limit and it's that close, unless one of them is like your husband of course...

I don't understand how you've been going back and forth on this for a few weeks. I bought a flat earlier this year. I made an offer, the sellers rejected that and stated what they would accept. I upped my offer to that amount - deal done. All this was done over the phone in about 30 minutes.

What was the final price you agreed between yourselves when you started putting offers in?

What was the thinking behind the offers you've already put in?

Has your charming husband articulated why he feels that it's so important he brings them down another 2k? Does he not really love the house? Are you in much of a rush? Does he feel that it's already overpriced? Is he nervous about how much work needs doing to the house? Does he just want to feel like his dick is bigger than the seller's? As a general rule I'd say he's being ridiculous about this if you both love the house. However, context is everything. Have you actually calculated how much difference it's going to make to your mortage repayments? If he sees the pathetic £5 a month in black and white he might realise how ridiculous he's being. I think you need to tell your DH you both either need to sit and have a frank and sensible discussion and do some actual number crunching. If he isn't willing to do this then tell him you're a grown adult and you deserve respect not childish and baseless insults. If you don't get that then you'll be finding somewhere to move alone.

Are you 'proceedable'?
That would make a big difference to me.

It depends how much you want it. If other houses are reducing in your area, it sounds like a buyer's market. You could just hold your nerve if you're prepared to lose it. Is there something unique about it that make you want this particular one or could there be others you'd be happy with?

Either way, calling you a clown is uncalled for.

Be slightly wary, I have pulled out of a house sale when the buyers just kept coming back for every penny - it feels indicative of how people will behave through the rest of the process, and in the end, I want to deal with reasonable people 🤷‍♀️

Edited to add the house was unique, which helped, and I did warn the buyers that they were reaching the end of my patience!

It's a few weeks to Christmas. Once that's over and people are starting to look ahead, they may well get the kind of offer they're looking for.

After multiple offers if I gave you my lowest price and you came back with another offer I would be saying go find another property.

Tell them you'll leave £555k on the table and keep looking, but will only leave it there for 2 weeks.

Agree.
£2k is better in their pocket than yours from their pov.
The vendor may be happy to wait for another buyer.
Your dh shouldn’t be calling you a clown.

Ah based on the prices (and how you've changed them) I know what house this is! We saw this one as well. I would say your husband is right on this. It's not worth that much. A few better in the area.

The house is very dated and will require some work

But what type of "work" are you talking about?

Replacing things that are perfectly functional but not to your taste, that's not really a basis for serious negotiation.

Roof condition inside and out, damp, leaky windows, render cracked, no guarantees on work the owners have had done, cracked plaster, ceilings, basically structural things and non-guaranteed work, they are the ones you can ask for price reductions on.

Him calling you a clown is so rude. If he think he is engaging in some clever psychological negotiations when all that could happen is losing the house (at best you save 2k) and the BIG cost - he made his partner feel small and insignificant.

I’d not want to commit myself to such a purchase with someone who thought so little of me.

He called me a clown because I had told the EA how much we loved the property at the 2nd viewing.

What on earth makes you think you know which house it is? Bizarre.

Is this the real issue though? Does he just not like the house? Because the percentage difference between 556k and 558k is so laughable that if it isn't worth one it surely isn't worth the other.

There is nothing like the house buying process to bring out the most ridiculous grand-standing and posturing in people. The game playing is incredible!

That's amazing!