fuck and bollox been gazundered

[plim]

need some advice please, been gazundered two days before exchange by ftbuyers. They dropped their offer by 17k this morning stating the reason that it's going to cost them more than they thought to convert the office, outhouse and to do some remedial work like damp course, electrics and repointing.

The house is an absolute bargain already as we dropped the price by 40k to get a quick sale so we can get the house we want in time for my two children to start schools in september. We previously had tenants in there and they have now left, we have given notice on our tenancy for where we are living and are due to move in two weeks (completion date).

I immediately told the ea to stick it straight on the market and there has already been 3 viewings tonight, meanwhile, ea are trying to salvage the buyers offer by pointing out that there is electrical and damp certificates and a new damp course that was installed three months ago.

I am so, so devastated, don't know where we are going to live and god knows what to do about the kids school!!

fuckity fuck fuck

rant over! :(

The offer price is no guarantee at all I would always expect that to be subject to survey

Subject to survey yes.

2 days before exchange? No. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I'd accept the 3.5k and rise above the wanky behaviour. Trust in karma.

Agree with levantine offer 3.5K if exchange today/Monday.

In the meantime stay on the market and see what single man comes back with and don't take it off the market until exchange as you obviously can't trust them.

GOOD LUCK. I know they are b*stards, but still better to keep the sale if you can than go back to square one.

Please only give ground if they agree to exchange today. It should be possible.

And then sit back and plot your fishy revenge.

I

and my point Delphic was even when homebuyers packs were in place the same thing happened. They made NO difference... And I said I understand that an offer is subject to survey/searches and I would expect that (and have doen so myself), but TWO days before exchange?!

2 days before exchange? No. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Well yes actually. I've had it done to me and it's not nice, but the only time you know what you're getting is at exchange and when the market is shifting the property value shifts. People get nervous and that's when stuff like this happens.

Great news, nice to see some buyers standing their ground and not buying over-priced rubbish.

No sympathy here.

Only do it if they agree to exchange today

workingnomad you're clearly a bright spark.

Perhaps you can advise the OP how they can make their house less 'rubbish' and let her know exactly what figure would not be 'over-priced' for her house and the area (allowing for the obvious variables such as size, garden, schools, local employment opportunities, travel links etc).

Or perhaps you're full of shit.

God. So depressing that this behaviour is not universally frowned upon. I hope I never have to move again.

RCheshire
Standing one's ground/extortion - it's a fine line

Best of luck and wholehearted support here, Plim x

The whole housing market is overpriced, have you not seen all the news today about wages being well down compared to prices? House prices are now 6 times av wages, even more in London/Southeast, I think I read 13 times in London! Historically they have been 3 to 4 times.

So unless the seller has cut the price by 40% from what the Estate Agent thinks then I think it's fair to assume it is overpriced!

Practical advice for Plim - suck up the reduction, either the 3.5K the estate agent suggests or your husbands 2K idea. If you think you've got time and can face some more sleepless nights, you could try calling their bluff and telling them you will sell to the other interested people, but if push comes to shove, just capitulate. Selling to someone else is a huge risk that it will fall through (one in three sales...), and to get it done within the timescale you need will be near impossible - the conveyancing timescale is dictated by the buyer's solicitor, and that's something you have no actual control over.

As for the general discussion on gazundering, I'm with the majority of people on the thread who say this behaviour in this situation, is blackmail, and whether legal or not, is disgusting. The fact they have already dropped their demands from £17K to £7K when the OP stood firm demonstrates it is blackmail - if their reasons were that they genuinely thought that the house's value had dropped by £17K in the last 6 weeks since they made an offer then they would have withdrawn when she stood firm.

Yes they were clearly chancing their arm.

Working nomad - house prices are not behaving uniformly across the country. You are talking crap

I have never gazundered in my life how can you assume that? I have never had to only ever bought in a falling market or a renovation.

Me too pinot.
I hope it happens to them at some point!!

It's clear from this thread so far who has behaved in this manner. Well, it stinks & you should be ashamed of yourselves.

Sympathy to you, Plim.

The thing is, this close to exchange, they will have all their finance in place, unless they are 100 per cent cash buyers. They have already done their sums! Ergo, they are chancing their arm. Whatever their reasons, their behaviour is unethical.

I cannot believe the harshness of some of the posters on here. Are you completely inhuman in that you can't understand how this must be doing Plim's head in?!?!?!

Working nomad, we waited 6 years for the housing market to crash. During that time we spent nearly £70,000 on rent. We finally bought last year. Best thing we ever did.

working nomad, sorry I was harsh in my previous reply. I hadn't realised that you don't understand the drivers behind house prices, so will try and help you out.

There have been historical wage multiple trends in relation to house prices, however this ratio does not determine prices.

House prices are obviously driven by the basic model of supply and demand (i.e. driven by building programmes; forced sales, population changes; cultural changes (e.g. no. to a house), employment changes (which tend to be regional rather than national) etc.

However, the key factors applied against the supply-demand model are the availability and the affordability of credit.

In the boom 1990s/2000s the availability of credit soared leading to a shift away from historical wage:price ratios, which is now being sustained (or at least being allowed to deflate very slowly) by a focus on affordability due to persisting (& likely to persist for years) historically low interest rates - particularly for those moving who have lower LTV ratios; less so for first-time buyers.

Yes, if house prices dropped 40% overnight we would see the housing market wake up out of slumber and go into manic overdrive.

Houses sell today. I've sold two so have first-hand proof of that. A close relative completed last week. Let me assure you that whilst pricing sensibly is important, dropping 40% below recent selling values is laughably unnecessary in most parts of the country.

If I could buy for 40% less than EA valuations then I'd be over the moon. It's not going to happen. What is going to happen is a very, very gradual deflating of house prices. We have no signs of imminent mass unemployment resulting in mass forced sales.

This is why I never want to move in England, we moved down from Scotland where thankfully once your offer has been accepted it it legally binding!!

Unfortunately we will need to move in the near future.

watfordmummy, you are so right. The law is a total ass in England.

Practical advise from me - as per tedglenn, I'd probably swallow the 2k or 4k drop if it ensured an exchange within the next few days. Leaves a slightly bitter taste in the mouth but at least you can move on - who knows, otherwise the next buyer may fall through for a different reason.

To be honest (given the buyer's pregnancy) I think you could still call their bluff by saying you have another buyer lined up and don't want to deal with them anymore.

At the end of a day a personal decision that?

Also I said it was wrong but not unusual in a falling market. There will be more of this sort of thing as buyers get twitchy and think they are buying too soon.

How about commuting to the new school until you can find somewhere to rent near there and put your house back on the market, you might even get more for it.

Doesn't solve the problem of you buying the house you want though if they are not keen to hang on. I've heard of bridging loans for cases like this, don't really know how they work though. Worth an investigation.

Good luck buying your next house at 40% reduction workingnomad.