Should I lose my buyer? And tell them no

[Murdermysteryreader]

Have house on the market and because it had been on the market a while accepted a lower offer. Felt quite beaten down by the price and the purchasers seem really grabby. House in good condition. They have had the survey which raised a few things. One of them that something is(don't want to say what) is working fine now but will need repairing sometime in the future unsure when cost will be about 3K (sometime in the next few years) , also they are wanting to turn our integral garage into an additional room so are checking whether there's asbestos in the roof. Estate Agents tells me if there is asbestos they will want us to cover the price of the removal. I point out that as it stands the garage is fine and that I shouldn't be paying for their home renovations: eg a spare room. They have paid for survey and a couple of experts. I have had an offer accepted on a house, but have not paid out anything. Feel like telling them to forget the sale if they want more money off. They are wealthy and I feel that they are trying to claw back every penny. Would you pull out the sale or offer some money towards these costs, even though they are not really necessary. My agent seems wholly supportive of them and just wants the sale to go through. It would hurt a lot to lose more money on this sale.

Depends whether you really want / need to move and whether you would still be able to at the lower offer.

The agent obviously wants to conclude the sale, as that is how they get paid (and recoup their costs), don't be pressured by them

But if if was on the market for a while with no offers maybe it was over priced to begin with?

We were in the same position. Said no. They backed down. We were prepared to lose the sale over this. Something might break down? FFS.

It all depends on how much you want to sell your house and move really.

One thing I have noticed in my area is that all the houses that have been on the market for a while are overpriced.

In the absence of any other offers maybe you should consider that you're asking too much for it and rather than them being 'grabby', they're only willing to pay what it's actually worth.

of course the agent wants the sale to go through - he doesn't get paid otherwise.

your decision. Their wealth irrelevant. (Wonder how they got that way?)

but if it hasn't shifted in a market where others are, you are overpriced.

Asbestos is only dangerous if disturbed. Their choice to do work which requires removal so their cost. How quickly did it go under offer?

Oh annoying for you.

But yes, agents want it to go through. They want their money ASAP without the faff of having to find you another buyer.

I think you should separate in your mind the fact that they got money off when the sale was agreed; it had been on the market for a while and no one else wanted it at any price. You agreed that price, end of that.

I'm with you on not wanting to take money off for what they want to do in the future. They should have factored that in originally when they offered.

How much do you want the house you have offered on? Maybe call their bluff and so no to any reduced offers, but be prepared to lose the house you are after.

I would not pay them a penny and pull out. They are pisstaking, and if you give in, they will pisstake even more.

We've been on the other side of this. As others have said, there is a fine line between being 'grabby' and just offering realistic market price on a house that's sat on the market because it's overpriced.

When we found unforeseen stuff that needed doing following our survey and reports, our sellers were initially reluctant because they clearly felt we'd got a 'discount' on the house already (we hadn't, based on whats sold locally we paid market value). In the end we did come to a compromise and met halfway. Having said that this was work that needed doing immediately, not sometime in the future or as a result of extension.

If I were you I'd hold firm on the asbestos (which is only a problem if disturbed), but maybe contribute 1/3 of cost of the future repair (so £1k). So you show you've considered their points and offered a balanced solution (give your reasons to the agent in writing to pass on). That's if you love the house you've offered on and don't want the hassle of finding new buyers.

Above all, don't indicate to agent or in your replies that you think they're being grabby. We saw the response from our seller on our survey points, I wasn't very pleased that they implied we were trying it on.

thank for this. All interesting and good advice. Beware Estate Agents I say. They put our house on at a high offer zero interest for several months, reduced it by 50k , people flocking. Accepted this offer because there was no chain. Spoken to hubby he says we should be prepared to walk away and I think we will. I do like the house we've offered on, but we've not surveyed or anything and we offered a really good price. We would struggle if we accept even more off our price. If something urgently needed doing to our house that would be one thing but paying for their garage conversion is another - it has 3 double beds anyway, thanks all. I think we will walk if they suggest less. Had they not knocked us down so much before we'd have more wiggle room but I feel like they are ribbing us anyway.

I agree that you don't want to lose the sale, but actually, I think they probably have more to lose than you do. If they have paid for a survey, and then paid for 2 x expert reports, they are already quite heavily invested in this house. If they weren't interested they'd have walked away by now.

I would say no (but I let my heart rule my head sometimes and I would feel if you've already knocked a chunk off the asking price, they are taking the mickey) and you are absolutely right that you should not be paying for their renovations. It works as a garage. If they want it for something else they pay for it. If the item which might need replacing at some point in the future, that is their expense too.

I would hold firm. I would also be quite stroppy with your agent and tell him he works for you and not the buyer. I'd tell him to tell the buyers that the price is X and there is to be no more negotiation. If they don't confirm they will proceed at the agreed price, you'll put it back on the market.

We had prospective buyers last year that were on the verge of doing something similar so I feel for you OP. Our buyers viewed just after we had knocked a big chunk off our AP in order to achieve a quick sale as we'd already seen our onward purchase. We knew they could afford more as they'd told our EA their budget. We had dropped our price by £50k and they came in £25k below that. In our case our original AP was actually significantly lower than the average valuation of the five EAs we had round, the highest being £500k, and for our location we were very competitively priced - but it was a notoriously slow area to sell in.

Our potential buyers made lots of references to building a second storey onto an existing extension and had lots of plans to structurally change a property we had just taken from uninhabitable wreck to show home condition.

There was no way we were going to fund the changes they had planned. We declined their offer and even after they increased it (very slightly), we refused as we had a gut feeling they would be trouble.

Within a couple of days we accepted an AP offer from a lovely couple that could see what a bargain they were getting. Their survey threw up a few issues - it was a 200 year old thatched house so you'd expect it to - but they made no attempt to beat us down, even after their buyer gazundered them prior to exchange.....the bastard.

They were perfect buyers. Your perfect buyers are out there OP, maybe not these people though - I'd call their bluff.....if they walk it wasn't meant to be!

I had accepted a low offer on my house as I was rushing to offer on a particular house, which did not work out in the end. Still felt morally obliged to continue with my buyers while looking for another house to buy. During this time, I increasingly felt that the offer I accepted was too low in comparison with comparable houses. Circumstances fell right, I had private interest towards my house, my buyer counteroffered with a reasonable offer and so everyone is a winner.

Think it depends where you are, I'm se eng The market here is moving so fast houses often sell before they are getting on right move, if market is a buoyant where you are, perhaps worth holding fast, maybe researching what other similar hours are self for, but I agree with others, you don't need to keep reducing the price.