About to exchange - identical house now listed 10k cheaper

[Housemover18]

So I’m pretty sure I’m not going to do anything but having a slight wobble so decided to post.

We’re around a week from exchanging contracts, reasonably long process - had offer accepted in August. We love the house but we’ve always been aware that it’s not the only one out there for us, it’s a new build area with plenty of houses available ages from 7 years old to not-yet-built. The prices in the area have been slowly drifting down, I’ve been aware of it and slightly concerned but renting is dead money and so so expensive. Plus there hasn’t been any other one that we like AS much come up. Until now. Yesterday I spotted on Rightmove an identical house - they are all new build and there were only a handful of this particular design so when I say identical I mean identical. Built at the same time, on the same street, a few doors away. Obviously different decor. It’s been listed at £315k, we are buying for £325k. Potentially they might accept a lower offer - £310k, less? That’s a lot of money. But we’ve been waiting, starting the whole process again is risky - anything could happen. We’d love to be in for Christmas, everything is ready to go. Am I crazy to just ignore the new property and keep going??

Happened to us. Ignored it. They dropped again after exchange. Our circumstances changed and I regretted it from day 1. I would go and have a look

How much equity do you have and how long do you thing you’ll stay in the house?

You could ask your vendor if they are willing to come down a bit, becuxae the identical house in the street is cheaper.

Which house do you prefer? If you love the other house more then think about it - if they are much the same then think about:

Extra solicitor fees/surveys/extra renting time/what happens if you miss out or they pull out etc

I'd probably stay where I was headed unless I was really in love with the other house.

Hmmmmm I'd go and look at it

I would think that was a disgusting thing to do to your vendors but reading the posts above I’m clearly alone. I despair of the society we have become: selfish, money-grabbing and totally lacking in decency and honour.

We have 40% equity.

IF we asked our vendor for a discount (which I think they would struggle with, they were very reluctant to come down to our offer because they felt it was worth more - plus they are moving out of the area) would that not make our mortgage offer invalid? They’ve offered us £195k on the basis of the house being worth £325k. If we managed to knock them down to £315k we’d need a new mortgage offer wouldn’t we - and massive delays?

Based on the pictures I’d say ‘our’ house is better presented, I like the garden more - same garden size but other house has decked most of it. I don’t know if I even want to go and view it.

Hedda I don’t disagree with you; I’d be devastated if it happened it is. But it’s a lot of money. Houses are an important investment - I wouldn’t otherwise ‘give’ a stranger 10k

"I despair of the society we have become: selfish, money-grabbing and totally lacking in decency and honour."

It seems the OPs sellers are charging too much for their property, where is decency there?

Don't know what I'd do OP, but yeah go and have a look at the cheaper property. Then if necessary go back to your seller and negotiate.

Version basically identical. They don’t know how much this house has ‘sold’ for (because it hasn’t sold yet) and the local market is dropping as I say...

Are you selling? Has your house decreased?

I would think that was a disgusting thing to do to your vendors but reading the posts above I’m clearly alone. I despair of the society we have become: selfish, money-grabbing and totally lacking in decency and honour
Why don't you go and hand 10 grand to someone you don't know then?

Ivy we are selling in a very different area. The market where we are selling seems more stable - I see signs that it is beginning to drop maybe, but not as noticeably.

FWIW we have already moved out of our sale house into rented - needed to be in new area for work. The sale will go ahead as planned no matter what happens with our purchase because we can break the chain.

No, they don't mind if they have to lend you less, as long as the deposit is within the terms of that offer.

Your vendor may tell you to piss off, though.

And, often, identical new builds are priced differently because of the plot eg slightly bigger garden, less overlooked, open views from the garden instead of the side of someone else's house...

And you can check on rightmove if the two houses were bought for the same price.

In 1998 we had an offer of £106,000 accepted on a small terraced house and the absolutely identical house next door went on the market during the course of the sales process for £125,000. Prices were rising in the neighbourhood at the time. We were so grateful that our vendors didn't try and change the goal posts after everything had been agreed, otherwise we would not have been able to buy that house. I will never forget that.

But it might be worth asking them for a reduction.
If you pull out, they’ll have to put their house back on the market at a similar price to their neighbour. They might not want the hassle and may accept a reduced offer.

Good to know about the mortgage, thanks pick

Thanks to Rightmove I know the original sale price of both properties - it was identical.

Tricky situation. As a matter of interest, when you come to sell how will you make your house stand out from the rest. Will you be caught in the same race to the bottom because the competition are all identical.

What has been the delay since offer was accepted in August i.e. down to you or them?

If you drop out of this sale you will be in rented for longer (losing ££) and you will have to start again with solicitors fees and searches etc (losing more ££). Plus that sale might fall through for random reason, leaving you hanging on for longer. Plus the stress.

But it is 10k.

Ooh tricky, I'm in homebuyers hell at the moment, you'll often find me 😭😭 on the waiting to exchange threads!

Even I would go and have a look at the other one, that's a lot of money.

senua I guess mainly us. We are selling a leasehold property and it’s just been slow. They knew we were relaxed on the purchase timeframe because of committing to a 6 month rental contract.

Teentimes these are all the things I am thinking of. This tiny two bed rental house costs more than the new mortgage (spacious 3bed). The new house is walking distance to kids school (planned ofcouse) whereas currently we have to drive. Plus all the fees and headaches of buying all over again.

Interesting thoughts, thanks everyone - including those who think I’m a monster for considering it. Still don’t know what I’m going to do but still leaning towards doing nothing, we are longing to move.