buyer asking for a price reduction right before exchange, panic or is this just the norm these days?!

[nipersvest]

mil is selling, has been a drawn out process already despite such a short chain, buyer is now asking for a 5k reduction. am i right in thinking this is something which happens a lot these days, buyers trying it on at the last minute?

We did but it was panic after rereading the survey and thinking everything that was flagged up was going to happen. I didn't want to buy a house in London but felt a bit pushed along. I wanted the sellers to say no but they agreed. We ended up paying what we had originally offered.

Blimey some mean ideas here, hope it is just tongue in cheek . There are some buyers who really genuinely think they have good reason to reduce their offer.

I am sure there are also those who try it on.

It's never a simple thing, trying to negotiate a price, as it's so bloody arbitrary. You have to be reasonable and have to meet halfway.

We offered on our new place before Christmas and it got to JULY and we went to sign the contracts and there was STILL stuff wrong with them. Their solicitors were just dire.

We pulled out, though we really wanted the house - despite it having a fair few issues - and they put it on the market for 10K more than the original price, (we had offered almost the original price fwiw) and they had a lot of interest...we then realised we wouldn't find anything more suitable, and asked to go back in, but had to offer 5 and a half K more than our previous agreed offer. We were lucky (I think) as they accepted, then they had a full asking price offer the next day and still kept their word and said as long as we complete by the end of the month, it's still yours.

We basically chained ourselves to our solicitors' doors, though it was theirs that had held it up, and got it done within a few weeks - but we are in a freehold share so have to keep good relations.

There was goodwill on both sides. Yes we paid a lot more than we needed to but after 8 months prices had risen. They are very lovely people, but until tested we were unsure of each other's motives.

That's my point. Sometimes it is hard to trust your buyer or seller. Sometimes you shouldn't and sometimes they are just good people with good intentions who are concerned about the deal they are about to sign.

The house does need a fair bit more work than we thought, but we are sucking it up, and our seller is sucking up the fact they lost out on 5 grand which they could have accepted over and above ours.

Be cautious; give the benefit of the doubt but most of all, TALK to each other.

Yes it was tongue in cheek but you're wrong in that you don't have to meet half way. The point of the post (and why people thought the sellers were being cheeky / game playing) was that they waited until exchange, having known of issues for a significant period of time before.

And damp was identified on our survey too. We had a specialist do a report which identified some issues for us, but we didn't negotiate down because we knew we'd agreed a fair price in the first place and with a 1930s house, there is likely to be some element of damp.

Everyone seems to forget that a reasonable seller will look at comparables etc and say right. House A across the road sold for £200k. Recently renovated, new damp proof course, new kitchen / bathroom etc. Mine is exactly the same but not refurbed, could do with some remedial repairs. I'll put it on for £190k and expect to get £180-£185k for example. A buyer comes along and agrees £180k. Then gets a survey and damp is identified, likely to cost say £3k to put it right. Buyer then says, I'm reducing my offer to £177k or maybe £187,500 because I expect the seller to meet me half way. Seller says on your bike, I agreed £180k on the basis that I knew there was work to be done. Perfectly reasonable seller, greedy buyer in my view.

So its not necessarily a question of renegotiating - the costs may be reflected in the price you've agreed in the first place.

Fair points. It just seems daft to get defensive and assume the worst of your buyer until proven necessary, iyswim.

We've just negotiated a discount on the grounds of damp but made it clear that our offer was subject to survey. There are other issues in the survey that will cost us a lot of money but we've agreed to a price reduction on the damp. It took a while to get a reliable builder to give a quote so our seller probably thinks we took too long but we genuinely didnt.

I think you need to find out why they want to reduce the offer. I don't necessarily think it is greed - afterall house prices are at ridiculous levels at the moment and a bit of common sense in the market wouldn't go amiss.

If it is due to a survey issue which they ahve just got a costing on (which can take a time - I know having spent a large part of the sumer trying to get various quotes for stuff to be done in the house), then your mil could either agree to it, meet them half way or say no, depnding on how desparate whe is to have that extra five grand.

I think it can also depend on how good the Agent is too. We had a survey on this house, came back with issues so got some builders in to assess - asked the EA to tell the Vendor we would be revising our offer depending on the work. Got quotes from the builders and submitted a revised offer, then got a VERY shirty mail from the EA expressing the Vendor's disappointment at the offer. Turns out they'd mentioned nothing to the Vendor about builders etc (I'm not totally sure they told them about allowing builders into the property either) so it came as a total shock and probably appeared like we were pulling a fast one.

We genuinely weren't having them on and thought they were completely aware of the situation. Our EA's were just rubbish and didn't want to give them any "bad news" about their obviously much loved house.

latest news is the buyers have pulled out. just to clarify, there is no damp, the concerns that were being raised were that as its a cellar, it could potentially experience damp in the future. but on reflection, i think the buyers were looking for a way out and had changed their mind. it was a second property for them and they were buying via a buy to let mortgage.

house back on the market and already have viewings booked for tomorrow. onwards and upwards as they say!