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Original poster

Is it fair to ask our buyers for more money?

112 replies

MediumOrchid · 08/06/2015 21:30

Bit of a long story :

We sold our house in September. Had an offer accepted on a property in November. Long story short, but all the paperwork went through, then 4 months later the vendors decided they didn't want to sell their house after all and took it off the market Angry. Both us and our buyers were really disappointed.

We are fairly particular about where we want to move to (our buyers know this) and properties don't come up that often. Our buyers have been looking elsewhere but at the moment are still waiting for us. They have been very patient.

But the problem is that the market has risen in the 9 months since we accepted their offer. We've had our house valued again recently at £15k more than they paid. Our house is currently the cheapest of its type in our town. The houses that we want to buy have also risen in value.

Would it be fair to ask the buyers for maybe £7.5k due to the rise the market? Or more?

Half of me feels that's really unfair on them and we should honour our agreement, but the other half thinks that it we don't ask for more money then we might not ever be able to afford to move -then the buyers won't ever have our house!

To complicate matters further, our estate agent says he has a couple who want to buy in our area and would pay the full 15k more. This may not be true, but if it was, I couldn't do that to our buyers. It just feels that it would be so unfair to them.

Or do you just have to be ruthless when buying and selling property?

Why is it all so complicated?!

OP posts:
LizardBreath · 09/06/2015 08:57

We sort of had this, wanted to buy our rented property, agreed price with landlord, couldn't sell our house for 6mobths, in the meantime area became super desirable and rented house property went up £40k! We weren't stupid enough to think she'd agree to original price as the house was worth way more now! Agreed on new one but landlord changed mind at last min and didn't sell.

I would just pull out, wait a couple of months and then re list at higher value.

stilllovingmysleep · 09/06/2015 09:01

It's not an 'undervalued bird in the hand'! Shock. For goodness sake, it's a house they probably want to live in & are patiently waiting all these months for. It is not the buyers here who are playing games.

I also don't buy it that one can be priced out of a whole area for 7,000£.

User595994944 · 09/06/2015 09:27

For all those who say that renegotiation would be unethical, I wonder where you'd personally draw the line on 'gifting' a buyer the rise in equity?

From the tone of the responses I imagine you are thinking of a first time buyer scrimping for pennies, with the OP heartlessly depriving them of their first home.

But what if the buyer was a banker buying the house as investment with a cash bonus? Would it still be unethical to ask for what the house is worth?

What if it was a buy-to-let landlord getting a steal in an expensive area?

Or a developer who would be able to make even more of a killing getting the house at cut price.

You have no idea the buyers wouldn't just flip it - immediately sell for the higher price themselves and pocket the difference.

And where is the cut off for the level of the gift for a nine month wait? A lot of you seem to think £15k is OK. What if it was £50k or £100k? A friend who bought in an expensive area has had a rise of £105k in 12 months. Would she be expected to just hand that to buyers in this scenario.

I'd be amazed if any of you could really bring yourselves to gift tens of thousands to a stranger out of a misplaced sense of fairness. If you could you really are running your own personal charity....

OhNoNotMyBaby · 09/06/2015 09:34

Toodle I agree with you
OP I sympathise - and in your position I would do what others have suggested and take the house off the market. But I do think it's worth being completely honest with your buyers and tell them what you are going to do and give them the chance to increase their offer by the 7.5k you suggest.

Prices HAVE gone up. It's your house, your money, your family, your choice. You should not feel guilty for trying to do what's best for you and for trying to get the very best price you can.

YonicScrewdriver · 09/06/2015 09:44

It is an undervalued bird in the hand. I'm not being disparaging by saying that. If her buyers aren't looking at anything else and wouldn't offer on anything that they preferred, then they are unusual.

As a buyer, I would rather be told "we can't find anything so we will take ours off the market, when we remarket it will be at a higher price" so that I could plan accordingly.

WinterOfOurDiscountTents15 · 09/06/2015 09:46

You "ethical" peeps are full of it. House prices have gone up 15k..what if it was 50k? 100k? If its an obvious principle the amount is irrelevant, and you'd still sell your house for 100k less than its worth today? You. Would. Not.

People talk such shit on here.

YonicScrewdriver · 09/06/2015 09:48

And it's not as if OP is selling and keeping the money - if she could get more for her house and thereby buy a house she liked, then that's material to her life.

expatinscotland · 09/06/2015 09:51

This thread just goes to show you why the entire housing industry needs to be radically overhauled. All this pulling out on a whim, increasing the price on a whim is a joke. No one idea why people put up with it.

Lweji · 09/06/2015 09:52

Unethical would be to raise the price very shortly before exchanging contracts.

Also, I have just noticed that the buyers have been looking elsewhere (on the OP). They are certainly not that ethical, then. :)
But I'm sure they haven't found anything to match the OP's price, because prices have gone up.

RiverTam · 09/06/2015 09:53

Whilst I completely get your point and realistically don't think you've got any choice, I can't help but feel that it's bad karma and it'll come back to bite you in the arse. Your buyers have stuck with you - that's worth a lot.

WinterOfOurDiscountTents15 · 09/06/2015 09:53

It's not on a whim. The price of the houses she's looking at have gone up. To buy one, she needs to sell her house for enough. There is no regulation that interferes with basic maths.

Lweji · 09/06/2015 09:54

I agree expat.

If the sellers had to pay compensation to the buyers for pulling out of the deal, they would think twice. Same with buyers.

ItMustBeBedtimeSurely · 09/06/2015 09:54

If prices have gone up then you have to either renegotiate, or compromise on the house you buy. I would renegotiate, no question. It's not great for your buyers, but ultimately that is a risk you take with waiting. They probably know prices have gone up, which is probably why they are waiting, rather than from a sense of loyalty to you.

Idoc · 09/06/2015 10:20

What if prices had gone down?

Idoc · 09/06/2015 10:25

Sorry I know it's irrelevant but what if and buyers tried to pay less due to all the waiting
People do seem to think prices just go up but I think in some areas they are flatlining or going down

That said I understand the dilemma especially if I was in a fast moving area and would probably be having the same thought process

OP it sounds like that's what you need to do I would just withdraw the sale and remarked but expect to lose your buyers... If prices really have gone up you should find buyers in no time

YonicScrewdriver · 09/06/2015 10:25

If prices had gone down, I would expect OP's buyers to offer a lower price.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 09/06/2015 10:25

If prices had gone down the buyers could well have lowered their offer. Who knows.

Op, you need to do what you need to do.

YonicScrewdriver · 09/06/2015 10:27

Don't fprget, OP was screwed around by the people she was buying from and probably lost £2k on solicitors just as her buyers did x

BishopBrennansArse · 09/06/2015 10:29

Isn't this all a bit hypothetical?
After all the OP has been dicking their buyers around for 9 months now waiting for their moon on a stick.
I completely accept the need for renegotiation but why now when the OP isn't even remotely proceedable on somewhere they want? Or should the OP spend the next months/years increasing the price whilst not actually doing anything about finding somewhere to buy?

noddyholder · 09/06/2015 10:30

I made an offer on a flat in March and the seller is vacating and I am a cash buyer was predicted to take a few weeks but his solicitor has been very very slow and we still haven't exchanged. The agent and I both know that since the election it has increased by about 25k on what we offered and so i am being patient but if he asked for more £ I would pull out You have a good buyer considering the delays

Floggingmolly · 09/06/2015 10:32

Is the only reason the sale is taking so long because the buyers are waiting for you to find a new property?? If I'd been held in a chain for 9 months to suit the seller who then pulled a stunt like that, I'd tell them to shove it.
How do you actually know your house is worth £15k more, anyway?
Valuing property isn't an exact science.
Given that estate agents valuations can vary by +/- £60k or more, sometimes, depending on who you ask to quote? If it's Foxtons; they're probably talking bollocks

YonicScrewdriver · 09/06/2015 10:32

"agent and I both know that since the election it has increased by about 25k on what we offered and so i am being patient but if he asked for more £ I would pull out"

And that would be fair enough. He would have to weigh up the risk of losing you vs the prospect of getting more.

If prices had gone down 25k, would you submit a revised offer?

TheClacksAreDown · 09/06/2015 10:37

When we bought our first property we made an offer on a property, it was accepted, we spent money on surveys etc. The vendors claimed to have somewhere to go to but turned out this wasn't true. It became clear quite quickly that they neede to downsize for financial reasons but were being unrealistic about what they could get for their budget. About 3 months into this the agent called and said, good news, they'd found somewhere. Bad news - it was 7k more than they could afford so they wanted us to pay 7k more for their house. No rationale was provided of the house going up in value, just that they needed more for it. We told them to jog on. We didn't formally withdraw our offer, their didn't seem much point as they might have turned it around, but started looking more aggresively elsewhere and after a few weeks made an offer on another property.

Postchildrenpregranny · 09/06/2015 10:43

We had to do this 29 years ago ..Property prices were rising so quickly -we started looking at £80,000 -£15,000 more than our house-and ended up paying. £121,000.we found a house a month after we accepted our offer ,but our agent revalued our house at £10,000 more .Our original buyer stuck with us (we compromised at£7,000 more) as did theirs-they also paid more ..we moved in 6 weeks to the day after making an offer (our vendor was down -sizing and not 'greedy' thank God .)Terrified property would keep going up.4 months later similar properties were going for £160,000.
Agree the system in England needs to be like Scotland .Daughter in process of buying in London.Stretched to limit (first time buyer) but loves the prospective purchase and dreads this happening .

WinterOfOurDiscountTents15 · 09/06/2015 10:55

If prices had gone down, I would expect OP's buyers to offer a lower price.

OF course they would! They are hardly going to say: here, take 15k over the value, cos we're lovely ethical people!

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