AIBU to reduce our accepted house offer after selling ours cheaply?

[Miserablestrawberry]

We offered asking price on a house (825k) a couple of weeks ago (the house had only just been put on the market), and the offer was accepted but the vendors refused to take the house off of the market (completely understandable) and have had multiple viewings but no offers since.

We’ve now accepted an offer on our house. Due to the market, we’ve accepted quite a low offer (650k when we were initially valued at 700-715k from multiple agents) as the market seems to have sunk since the Iran war. We wanted to accept an offer Asap so that we can formalise the offer on the property mentioned.

As we’ve accepted a fairly low offer, would it be seen as cheeky to amend our initial offer on the house we wish to buy? We were thinking of going back at £815k.

But when they accepted yours you were not in a position to proceed as you hadn't accepted anything on your house.

Have your buyers sold ?
It sounds to me like your house sellers want someone who has actually sold up and almost or has no chain. A cash buyer.
Two weeks to be up for sale is no time at all.

Massive overreaction! Their house price is just as liable to change as the OP’s due to world events and market forces. They didn’t even formally accept the offer and kept themselves open for a more suitable one. Neither OP nor the sellers are unreasonable here, it’s all still up for negotiation.

That shows you're simply daft. The survey could show problems which could cost a lot more than 10k.

If the survey shows significant issues that's exactly the time to go back and reduce your offer, because every other potential buyer would have a survey which picks up the same issues, so it's a sound basis for a reduction in the offer, not your current basis which is simply because you feel entitled to as you've accepted a low offer on yours.

People are weird about property.

If you accept an offer, the property is taken off the market. If they want to keep showing it, it implies that they haven’t accepted your offer as they are happy to entertain others.

So, of course reduce your offer, and I would go lower than reducing it by 10k.

It is a commercial transaction. You don’t need to care what they think.

Why is offering above asking in return for removal from the market and giving us time to sell CF behaviour?

Because the house hasn’t been on the market that long. Also I wouldn’t trust you not to put another lower offer in closer to completion. The fact that you’ve accepted a lower offer is not my problem.

Exactly. And now I am in a position to proceed.

Well then maybe you’d miss out on the property that you really want to be able to put an offer in but can’t as you haven’t accepted an offer yourself!

Very true.

That said, enough people are entitled about the price of their house that it is something OP needs to think about, if she really wants the place. They have every right to take their ball home and refuse to play.

I wouldn't be concerned about offending.
You can ask then it's up to them.

I agree with you generally, but the sellers hadn’t accepted the offer. They just said they would if OP was proceedable.

I don't see anything wrong with this - your circumstances have changed. They haven't taken the property off the market so it's not as if you have inconvenienced them in any way. I think people can get quite precious about what their house is worth (partly because that's the figure they've got in their minds based on the valuation) but it is only worth what someone will pay for it and that obviously changes with the market surely? Try them out, explain your situation.

Absolutely, she can ask and they can say no.

I would do the same.

It’s fine to offer £10k less under the circumstances, they might say no but they probably won’t. If they do go back to your original offer. You’ll never meet the sellers and they need you as much as you need them - it’s a business deal, not a date.
Good luck!

Reading through the wording I now agree that they hadn’t ’accepted’
your offer at all. You weren’t in a position to make an offer and they didn’t take the property off the market.

So I’ve changed my mind. I think you can go and say ‘we are now in a proceedable position and due to the market changes this is our offer’. They can choose to accept or not.

I do think people shouldn’t offer on houses and then say ‘oh I just need to sell my house first’. As it’s not a serious offer - it’s an offer in theory.

But then the whole system is bullshit.

This. House buying and selling in England is shit. It depends on trust. If you damage that trust before we’ve even kicked off I’m going elsewhere

I can't speak for that poster, but I would also be annoyed if I was the seller and, unless I was desperate, wouldn't sell to you. The reason is, you made an offer you were happy with. Nothing about the property has changed - no massive horror that will need extensive repairs/replacing has come to light to justify the price reduction; you just don't want to pay what you originally offered. That's your right, of course, but that's why it would annoy me and make me suspect you'd be a massive problem throughout the entire sale process.

Go back and say you've had an offer under your asking price but you are willing to accept it if they are willing to drop their price a bit and take their house off the market. They may not want to do so immediately but give them a week and they may see things differently.

I made an offer I was happy with based on what I presumed I would sell my own house for.

My circumstances have changed.

I suppose it depends on how much they want to sell their own house. They very much want to sell - they want to offer on a property that is already on the market before someone else does.

Quite unusual circumstances. It seems that you do not have a deal as yet if they still might sell to someone else. I would be unhappy with this set up, it feels very uncertain.

Seems morally unethical to me.
You are monopilising on the fact that they haven't had any more offers.
Seems unfair to me

So be it. I don’t believe in playing games. Like I said if someone had made me an offer at asking price then reduced it (survey excepted, then I’d be open to negotiating if any issues were raised) but if not, I’d lose all faith in them as buyers and see them as being hassle and chancers.

Donning hard hat here- I have done this and buyer accepted my lower offer. I was a cash buyer. I was fully aware the vendor might have refused to sell to me, but was prepared to take the risk.