House Purchase: DH - seller is going to be difficult

[Stellaaaaaaa]

Need some advice re a house purchase.

The house we are interested in is being sold by the children of the owners, to pay for their care home fees. The parents have both in residential care for over a year.

The house came on the market in late spring/ for £750k but was later reduced to £735k.

It remained on the market at £735k and an offer was accepted in July / August.

The house has come back on the market because the prospective buyers failed to sell their home.

We’ve had two viewings and placed an offer of £705k which was rejected. We placed a second offer at £712k, a day later, which has also been rejected.

I think our offers are reasonable based on the condition and other comparables. The local market has had a slow down this past month, and a few houses are back on the market.

We are chain free, having sold our home earlier this year.

I want to place another final offer but DH is no longer interested.

He thinks the sellers will mess us around because there isn’t the incentive for them to push through sale, unlike a normal sale. He also thinks they won’t negotiate on price if the survey reveals faults.

Has anyone purchased a house which is being sold by someone who has power of attorney? Does it make things more complex?

Id like to get people’s thoughts if they have similar experience?

You made your offers, they rejected them. All perfectly reasonable on all sides.

I think trying to second guess people around house moves is a waste of time tbh, you offer what you want to pay and see what happens.

They will presumably need the money for the care home fees. Make that final offer, tell them it's subject to survey. Tell the estate agent it's your final offer. You love the house, but you can't mess about. You need to buy. Explain once again what a great position you're in. Your message and tone will be passed on to the sellers. Good luck!

That is what I have tried to do. The EA was confident our last offer would be accepted and was annoyed it wasn’t. I am am guessing she wants the sale to push through as quickly as possible to get her commission.

Thxs for suggestions.

If it’s somewhere you really want then I would increase by £1k and say it’s the final offer and will be on the table for one month, or if you find somewhere else whichever comes first

It is so frustrating. My son and DIL really wanted a house which was being sold due to marital break up. They offered close to asking and were knocked back - they offered what they could afford. The house eventually sold much lower than their offer, but they'd already bought by then 😔

You’ve made two low offers which have both been rejected. What’s the point in dragging this out ha’penny by ha’penny?

Find a house you actually like, make a proper offer and stop pretending to be cut-throat negotiators.

You may think your offers are reasonable , they obviously don’t as you say they aren’t in a hurry

I don’t they were ‘low’ offers. If they wanted £735k they could have stated OIEO.
It’s the asking price they have stated.

Slightly different situation but I sold my parents' house after they died. We had a sale fall tjrough and the Estate Agent tried to get me to drop the price. Clearly wanted a quicker sale for his commission I was in no hurry to sell so said I'd try it again at the original price and it sold for close to that.

If there is no immediate need for a sale because there's no onward purchase, they can afford to be picky. People do offer some ridiculous low amounts and are surprised when it's turned down. Sellers aren't "messing around" if they think your offer is too low.

I think £705 is low if the asking price is £735.

Sorry, OP, but £712k is a low offer, considering they already reduced the property to £735k. What was the previous offer they accepted? Likely close to the asking price, given they are not accepting £712k or giving you a counter-offer.

It’s rather tiresome when buyers try to insist what is a ‘good offer’ on someone else’s property. At the end of the day a good offer is what the buyers will accept based on what they want to get, so yours is not it.

OIEO is not a good sales tactic unless something is very new to market.

When you are spending £700k+ you have to try to save. Sorry but when I bought in 1993 our house was on the market for £57k , I paid £55. They weren't happy but tough. It's the ops money.

Personally I'd walk away, my wife keeps an eye on the local property market and it's starting to drop, prices have been ridiculous here and now it's cooling despite interest rates being cut.

I don't think the power of attorney makes much difference. You offered a lower offer than they previously accepted, so they'll be holding out for a similar offer again (around 735) and time is on their side.

Unless there's something major like subsidence that wasn't declared up front, most people won't really budge much on the price after the survey. I think it unlikely you'll get the price down below 730 when all is said and done.

If you can't afford 730/735 then maybe another house would be better. Or wait 5 or 6 months and if this house has had no offers by then, maybe they'll be willing to negotiate.

If you really like the house then tell the agent you're happy to leave the offer on the table, and go quiet. Give it a couple of weeks. If the market is cooling in that area then they may end up coming back to you.

When I sold DP house (DM died, DF in care home) I cared who I sold it to as well as how much. One couple sent us an email outlining all the faults they saw with my childhood home to justify their offer. It was the highest and we didn’t accept it because their email was so ill judged. I don’t think it being a POA sale makes it more complicated because there’s no chain but it can mean there’s more emotion involved.

Why don’t you just ask them what they will accept

Why do you think they are not motivated to sell? They may well need the money to pay for the care home fees. And it's likely they just want to get it over and done with, believe me there is a lot of aggravation involved in having parents in a care home so they won't be looking to drag it out.

And from your point of view there is the huge advantage of there being no onward chain, so it should be relatively quick and straightforward.

But if your husband refuses to make a further offer, there isn't much you can do about it.

… If you can’t afford a £700k property, then don’t buy a £700k property. It’s not the owner’s job to save you money. What on earth does your house price is 1993 have to do with anything?

It must be nice to have 50k to throw away.

I suspect they may be arguing over how much to sell for and one won’t reduce or something.
there were two probate houses near me and on for £750k.
One kept dropping the price and eventually I think went for £550k which a couple of years prior was unheard of. The second one sat for ages, went off the market came back on and I think it was for sale for £550k or £575k so not sure what it went for.
I wouldnt offer anymore. I’d sit and wait and eventually they’ll probably be forced to lower the price as it’s been on for such a long time already

I mean £712 for £735 is probably expected and reasonable. The fact they’re rejecting it and not even coming back with a counter offer would put me off.

It's only worth as much as somebody is prepared to pay. A chain free buyer on a property of that price is very much in demand. My personal take on it would be to sit back for a bit, I'd suspect after another month it will drop again and even if not, make a low offer iro of your first. Ignore the naysayers saying your rude. It's your money, not theirs.

We haven’t highlighted any faults. We are very careful with what we tell the EA.

Agreed.

I would guess they consider anything lower than £725k too low, especially as they've already reduced to £735k from their original asking price.

Yabu
your offer is to low and they may as well wait to see if they get a better offer

properties at that end of the market do tend to take longer to sell, but that doesn’t mean they need to take a hit on price just yet

eta they might not accept a further offer from your for fear you’ll mess them about and try and drop again a non issue on the survey

Sorry @Stellaaaaaaa i wasn’t suggesting you had - just giving you the benefit of my experience from the other side of your situation.