Renegotiate the price.before exchange

[midnightOK]

I think we might have paid too much for the house we intend to buy. Is there a way to renegotiate the price before exchange ? I feel quite bad to do that, but it is not a small amount[

We had someone do this to us. Really fussy older lady, several viewings before she offered, more to measure up after. On one occasion she sat in my living room chatting and drinking tea with me for 90mins! Then when we were almost ready to exchange she dropped her offer by £10k. I was pregnant and our seller was in a rush so we reluctantly agreed to a £4K price reduction, but on the advice of our solicitor we asked for a £1k non refundable deposit to cover our costs so far in case she dropped out. She paid it, dropped out, then wrote to is asking for her money back!! We sold the house for the same as her lower offer a week later and kept her deposit. We lived in a small village and we made sure other sellers knew what had happened to us. Our old neighbour's told us months later that she hadn't had an offer accepted on anything yet...

From your responses it's clear you're not really listening to what people are saying or you don't want to hear it. No one has said you can't rethink about the house, in fact the majority of people have said if you aren't happy with it pull out of the sale or go and view it again and see how you feel then.

And no one has said you can't ask for a price reduction, there is nothing to stop you doing it, people have just warned you that if you do you should be prepared to lose the house as a lot of sellers will lose trust in you and just find a new buyer.

I'm sure everyone has a moment of 'is this the right house for me?' But like everyone said a lower price won't impact the garden size and you don't know the circumstances of the other house sold on the street.

Difficult one. We paid too much for this house, but it was the only one dh had agreed to and I didn't want to live in limbo land. Will be nice one day ..... At the end of the day it's not a short-term house for us, so it evens out. What appealed to you about your house back when you made the offer.

Yes people do have wobbles and people do pull out. If you no longer feel the house is worth what you have offered, if you think you can find something more suitable for a better price and if you are not in a rush to move then of course you are within your rights to change your mind and pull out.

However, as you can see from the reactions above, if you choose to approach your vendor in the hope that they will drop the agreed price by something approaching 10%, it is highly unlikely that they will simply agreed to your request and carry on.

Go and have another look, look around at other properties on the market and make your decision based on that.

We live near a road with identical houses, three on the market at the same time, I viewed them all. They all sold at a time the bottom was falling out of the market, and prices varied by up to £70k or 20% purely because one buyer was prepared to pay more and one was not.

OP can you actually buy another house at £35k less now? Because If you can't it's irrelevant really. If I were your vendor I'd simply pull out and remarket, not drop the price

Just for reassurance (not read whole post) they don't just agree with the agreed sale price of a house.. this is from personal experience of this happening to three houses (twi of which got valued less then their purchase price in 2007)

I have just checked back and you have been having doubts about this house for a couple of months now. In previous threads you've said you've been looking for over a year and have previously been too picky, plus prices have been going up and you're scared you'll be priced out. You've also said you think the garden's too small, but other houses on the market in the area weren't suitable because of the primary school catchment area.

So, here's my two penneth fwiw: you are having to compromise in order to buy in the area you want to be in. Either you accept those compromises or you are honest that this isn't what you want and you go back to the drawing board. But, if you can't afford whatever it is that is your dream then you have to make the compromises and get on with things. It isn't going to be forever.

Just on the garden size - if you were to build a new garage onto the side of the house, either on its own or as part of a bigger extension, you would lose drive space but have a much bigger back garden. This might not be something you can do immediately, but it's worth considering in the future. My parents did exactly that and it made the back garden bigger, more secure and private.

Honestly, lots of people will tell you not to do this, that it is immoral etc. But you are the one committing to a massive commitment and it is not binding yet. You don't have to go through with the purchase as a moral obligation to the seller. I agree with you (5 house purchases) that the valuation is always the same as the price you have agreed to pay. I also agree with you that a house being sold for significantly less in the same road that is only just now on the public record impacts valuation. The house opposite me has recently sold. The price that house achieved will directly affect the valuation of my property. Few of us are experts in property valuation. Mostly we rely on estate agents. The valuation surveyors ask estate agents for comparable sales. If you have a real sense you are overpaying, you probably are. It's not nice to drop the price you are willing to pay at the last minute and if you do so you do it in the knowledge that the seller may pull out. But it's not the worst thing in the world either. I

You sound more unsure about the garden than the price. Just withdraw and find a house that's more suitable.

Vendors will quite often put the property back on the market in this situation so there's a very big chance you'll loose the house. You'll also been known to the EA as someone unreliable so if you offer on something else through them they will look out for their clients interests and tell them your past history. Most vendors are not going to accept an offer from someone who's tried renegotiate when the valuation has been fine at the last minute.

Has no buyer hesitated before they are.about to buy a house? And think about.the price and the house one.more time?
Yes, but for better reasons than the ones you propose. TBH you just sound like you're trying to pull a fast one. If it's not right for you, is the reduction in price going to make it better for you? Not really. It's not going to grow you extra garden space, is it?
Don't like the house, don't buy!

sopsmum
I agree with you (5 house purchases) that the valuation is always the same as the price you have agreed to pay.

That is just fundamentally wrong. You only have to view these boards for numerous posts about valuers giving a value less than the agreed price. It may have been your experience, but it is absolutely not always the case.

I think the point is (as lots of people have said) is that a buyer can renegotiate until exchange. The reasons the OP has given don't justify a change of value though, she's just getting cold feet so entirely reasonable for vendors (and agents) to be completely hacked off.

We have had one down valuation before...

Agree you don't have great reasons for renegoating nothing has changed no no information has come to light so you don't start of in a great place! Also as pp have said yes people have 2nd thoughts/ doubts but the flip side of the coin is the vendors out there that are getting messed around last minute! Ultimately if you don't think it's value for money then don't proceed but be honest with your self can you afford what you want in the area you want don't loose a good house for a dream that doesn't exist

I think the general message of this thread is: Don't. Be.An.Asshole.

Ocelot41, you are really mean. I don't want to do this myself, of course I know it's immoral, that's why I come to mums net and post a thread here. But it is the money that I have been working very hard to have saved, I would like to make sure they worth what they are supposed to be. Lots of people have the luck to buy the house before the prices actually inflated. But we haven't.

Anyway, many thanks to all mumsnetters who have either criticized or reassured me, I will give it.another.thought before proceeding

We did but I didn't really want the house and only dropped by 5k which was what I had originally said to dh I wanted to pay and offered.

You can do it, shitty laws here mean it's not illegal. It's not immoral either, it's just not a particularly nice thing for the vendors. But they're not your concern.

Why it's not officially changed instead of this bullshit of some people not doing it and others OK with it I'll never understand.

Depends on the market / chain as to how vendor will react. I'd tell you to take a hike, since there's nothing objectively which has changed to justify your request. However, realising the house is not for you and pulling out is fine - it's a long term commitment, and an expensive one, so no need to buy the place out of guilt or politeness.

midnightok, I didn't say you were an asshole, just that everyone here is advising you not to make decisions which mean you act like one. If course it is your hard earned cash - it is for everyone!

Gazundering breaks whole housing chains and we have now had this happen in our chain several times (only once to us, thank God). Huge expense, delays and stress all round, including all to the children who thought they were moving house and then couldn't. Do I think this is asshole behaviour? Yes I do. Do I think its immoral? Yes, I do.

You don't have to buy a house you want and it is totally normal to have doubts. But don't gazunder just because you are having a wobble - its really unkind and self-centered. You need to think through an offer carefully before you make it - the vendors will have turned down others to go with you. So just treat them with respect and either keep your word, or walk away.

Well, i sold a house once when the buyer, egged on by a most unpleasant son, threatened to withdraw from the sale at exchange unless i agreed to a private e drop. They were nasty money grubbing bastards basically who'd messed me around from the moment they made an offer.

I would have called their bluff, but it was a business sale for me, and I'd made my profit already. But i refused any further concessions and drove them hard for a quick completion.

You can do what you like with your offer BEFORE exchange of contracts but if you mess the vendor around be ready for them to pull out of the deal. It sounds like you're panicking and haven't do e your homework.

"price drop" not private bloody phone

A friend of mine got a massive gazunder on Xmas Eve! Most of their stuff was packed and ready to move in the NY. No sign from their vendor anything had been wrong, just little delays which meant the exchange was really going up to the wire. Later, they realised that the buyers had deliberately planned it that way. What complete bastards. Two kids under 5 cried A LOT that Xmas.

Sorry op but this is such a horrible thing to do. The garden hasn't changed - you should have decided if it was suitable before making your offer. If my buyer pulls this shit we will absolutely pull out - no way will we let them get away with it. It wouldn't even cross my mind to do it to my vendor.

Walk away now - stop dragging this out as it is only going to make everything worse for everyone involved. Fingers crossed that your vendors manage to find buyers who are committed and won't mess them around this time. You absolutely cannot renegotiate the price just because you have suddenly realised the garden is too small

Ocelot similar happened to my sister, she had no choice but to accept but we all still harbour a lot of bad feeling to the culprit as the stress they caused her at the time was unforgivable - she was having to move due to her baby being critically ill (needed to be nearer to hospital and family) - the buyer knew the situation but chose the day before exchange to say he was dropping his price by 10k or dropping out..............

Yeah people do it like that. As i say, it happened to me. I saw it as a business matter, and did my homework about alternatives. I could have kept renting the house out (I'd moved and so was an "accidental landlord") but i wanted to release the capital.

No nice note or bunch of flowers for the bastard buyers though! I just wanted to get shot of the property and not have to deal with the unpleasant buyers, who thought they were being clever. Or actually, couldn't quite afford the property, i suspect.

MissDuke that's just . What is WRONG with people like that????