Scared about buying house, should I reduce my offer? :(

[falaff]

Hi all,

I've had my offer accepted on a house. I love it and it ticks all the boxes. I paid over the top end of the asking price but I'm in a very competitive area (last house had 40 viewings!). I plan to live there long term (at least 5 years). My job isn't at risk, I'm a first time buyer with a 60% mortgage, and it's vacant posession so most things can go ahead in line with the government guidelines.

I'm not too worried about losing money in the long term, but I am REALLY struggling with the decision whether to proceed. My friends think I'm mad to buy now when I could wait for 3-6 months and potentially buy a similar house for 30k less. I don't know whether to listen to them. I feel like perhaps prices may not drop so much in a high-demand area, and if I don't buy now I could be waiting a year for a similar house to come up.

I was thinking of perhaps reducing my offer and discussing sharing the risk with the vendor, so for example if prices may crash by 30% then to ask for a 15% reduction. But there were 5 other people with offers in too, one of which was higher than mine. I don't know if any others have as good a deposit though. I've been burned before by being cautious and lost out on another house as I didn't move fast enough, so I've felt really pressured.

I have saved hard my whole life to have a 40% deposit and I would be gutted to think that I could have saved tens of thousands and used that money in a better way.

I can be a very impulsive and emotional person, so whilst it's ultimately my choice, outside advice is important for me to get some perspective.

Any advice? If I try and renegotiate could I will risk them withdrawing the offer?

You'll lose your earnest money deposit (if you paid one) if you reneg or try to modify your offer now.

It won’t affect you long term. I’m not expecting prices to fall too much if at all.

If you were my buyer though I would take my house off the market. I dislike renegotiations for anything other than structural defect post acceptance. If it’s the climate you’re worried about then you should wait until you’re happier. A few people are.

Best of luck either way!

Just slow everything down. You’re not going to be able to get a valuation done just now so it can’t really proceed as normal. Use that time to wait to make a decision when there is more information.

You sound like your mind is racing through every possibility. That’s not a good place to make a decision from. Wait until your path forward is clearer. The market is pretty much paused, you’ll have time.

@DesperateElf our mortgage will be with HSBC, but they have already done their own valuation - it was really quick to come through so I suspect they just did a ‘desktop valuation’ (ie looked it up on google street view!). However I would never buy a house without getting my own more detailed survey of the building itself so that is what we are trying to arrange.

I don’t know who our buyers’ lender is - I think the agent said the surveyor was from countrywide, but I suspect they are just one of these services that put you in touch with a local provider as the surveyor seems to be a one man band (as is the guy we are using in fact, so don’t know if that makes a difference).

@SpringFan a homebuyer’s report is more detailed than a valuation survey
www.moneysupermarket.com/money-made-easy/what-sort-of-survey-should-you-go-for/

We had a full building survey on our current house as it’s over 100 years old, but we’re going for a homebuyer’s on the one we’re want to buy as it was built in the last 15 years.

Thanks. I will get two surveys done in all - the homebuyer and the structural one.

I just can't seem to be able to work through it all and j just keep worrying. I am hoping that I can get some mortgage advice today and ring some solicitors on Monday and start things moving a bit, with the mindset that I can pull out if I really have to. The only reason I would do that is if I were going to lose lots of money.

Just for clarity, my intention is to buy the house. I appreciate that it's very inconvenient to pull out and I don't want to do this. But if it's between inconveniencing someone and losing a decade of savings I'll have to make that decision, as would anyone I think. But I dread the thought of continuing to house hunt and potentially have no suitable properties on the market for months.

@Peasfox I fully agree with your view on negotiations, but this is really exceptional and I would hope that people would be understanding and at least be able to have a discussion about it. I don't see how anyone could be expected to not consider a market crash if it happens and just overpay regardless. Obviously they can say no but to feel like I would be penalised for just being sensible is really hard. I'm not being cheeky, I'm being realistic about what the house is worth. I'm very happy to pay what it's worth.

@springfan my view on mortgages was that you just look at the fixed period, usually 24 months, factor in any closing penalties, and remortgage after that. Just like I do with my ISA and savings account every year. Obviously I will speak to an advisor but is that not the norm?

So many things to think about.

@CaptainWentworth oh I see what you mean. We weren't planning a more extensive survey but yes all physical surveys are on hold at the moment. I think wait until you can get the survey done and at that point if you disccover better reasons to negotiate than the coronavirus crisis, then do that. Don't upset your vendor with coronavirus worries now.

Usually at the end of a fix, there isn't a penalty. You either go onto standard rate or remortgage. I found the broker I used would come back to us and discuss options.you need to read the terms and conditions carefully. Initially we didn't move our mortgage but after about 3 or 4 years , interest rates dropped and we remortgaged. Cos of DH age we had to shorten the term but payments were still less. So we overpaid to the level of previous payments. We carried on doing that, and took an extra year off the term everytime. However we paid it off about 10 years ago so I'm not up to date.

Is it your forever home
One where you can stay for at least 10 years big enough for you and a family so say 2 adults and two or three kids and a garden .

If it is and your certain your job is secure I would go ahead and buy .
Fix the rate for 5 years at least as i think interest rates will have to go up to pay for everything once this is over
No matter what you buy your house for as a rule if you can the longer you can stay in it so 10 years plus your price will go up
Yes there will probably be a crash
But if it’s not an overpriced new build or help to buy it won’t be as bad for you
That’s just my thoughts
Although I would be keeping back several thousand pounds as buffer

If I were the seller and there was other interest I probably would not want to deal with somebody who wanted to renegotiate. They might think of you as the sort of person who phones up on exchange day and asks for another discount. If you can afford it then buy it at the agreed price. if your job is at risk or could be at risk then dont.

@NotDisclosedToday that's my concern. I'm not that sort of person. Otherwise I wouldn't have bid on the house. I'd also take this view if it wasn't exceptional circumstances.

I really hope the market doesn't crash, or if it does, that it recovers quickly and there aren't other properties that would make me regret this. The unknown thing is the worst.

Your life but house prices are likely to fall dramatically... will depend on what government intervention takes place however

I find it really hard to accept that I probably have to either give up the house or pay over the odds :(

Local authorities will more than likely not be processing searches at the moment - it's not an essential service.

You need to just wait, probably at least three months, and see what the situation is then.

Anyone who has not yet exchanged contracts (or completed) will not be moving for some time.

And apologies if anyone has already posted this - but this is what you need to read OP. And expect it to be updated.

www.gov.uk/guidance/government-advice-on-home-moving-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak

@CrocodilesCry, thanks, I've read this and taken it all in. It does state that agents and conveyancers should continue to support and progress sales of vacant properties where possible.

I've spoken to a mortgage advisor who has said that I shouldn't be polished to make a decision until after the homebuyer survey, which may or may not be possible on a vacant property but probably not possible.

So I just need to chill a little and hope that people don't get impatient for things beyond my control.

The things is @falaff you're not really in a transaction yet.

No mortgage offer, no survey, no searches (which likely won't be done as councils are prioritising essential and emergency services) and the guidance states that only critical house moves should go ahead.

It also states that the guidance applies only if your move is scheduled.

You really need to park this for now and save yourself the stress and worry.

How do you think I should progress? The agent wants 'evidence of commitment' early next week. I was going to look for a solicitor and continue to look for a mortgage in the next couple of days, but not sure what else I would do.

Sorry I am just finding this incredibly anxiety inducing. I have had two bad experiences of losing out on a house because of unreasonable pressure and estate agent errors and I'm just worried because it's all out of my hands.

You need to park it. You're not in a transaction, it's not a critical move.

The searches almost certainly won't be done any time soon - councils are worrying about keeping the elderly and vulnerable alive under a lot of pressure.

Things could look different in three months but you won't be going anywhere now, it's less stressful to just accept it.

These points from the gov guidance are key:

• Home buyers and renters should, where possible, delay moving to a new house while measures are in place to fight coronavirus (COVID-19).

• Our advice is that if you have already exchanged contracts and the property is currently occupied then all parties should work together to agree a delay or another way to resolve this matter.

I think from what you’ve said you should buy it. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that a house is only worth what someone will pay for it, but it seems like this could be worth quite a lot to you, due to your specific requirements and the stress that not buying could cause. If you can hang on for the longer term you will almost certainly not loose money on it. I’ve just bought and will probably have lost money pretty much immediately but it’s a home not an investment for me so I’m focusing on that.

I agree with the others saying just go ahead. Stop overthinking it. It's likely to take 3 months before you get to exchange point anyway, so continue on and it's things changed dramatically between now and then you can renegotiate if you feel you have to. You've said yourself you want to stay there a long while so it's fine. If the market does go down a bit its unlikely a lot will come on and it's so unusual to find a house you LOVE in a hot location you love! Think of how much you'll pay off your mortgage in 12 months than even renting in twelve months rent (maybe 10k) so just do it!