Potential buyer dropped offer due to "market"

[DareDevil223]

DP is selling his late mum's house. We had a full asking price cash offer which we accepted over other, lower offers. Buyer has now dropped his offer by 15k because of the current pandemic and its likely effect on the market.

Any advice? I'm concerned that he'll keep dropping it because he thinks he's got us over a barrel. Should we counter offer or explore one of the other offers? Neither of us are experienced sellers

To be honest, at the current time, the conveyancing on this property is not going to be quick. Solicitors are working from home, which has limitations. Management companies are operating with a skeleton staff, if at all. Planning/building regulations departments at local councils are closed with some staff working at home. Land Registry also is offering a reduced service. Banks are also not offering face to face appointments and presume that non-essential staff are now at home.

Transactions which have exchanged/near exchange will be the priority and yours will be delayed until the pandemic is over as you are not in a position to exchange yet. You don't have probate and I'm sure that will also be delayed due to the pandemic.

Therefore, I would be inclined to accept the offer for now and just let the transaction poodle along, then reassess once the pandemic is over and you have probate granted.

If house prices drop considerably, then this offer might be fine, providing the buyer doesn't want another reduction. Or, pull out and remarket. If the price at the time is still realistic, you will still have people keen to buy an empty, no chain property with probate already granted.

Absolutely no point trying to make rushed decisions at the moment. It will not speed anything up and you will be in the middle of the process with no control how quickly it progresses.

It sounds as though this buyer might be an investor or developer, in which case they already know that probate properties are reasonably priced and they go after them as soon as they come to market because they can usually make some serious money on flipping them quickly.

When my aunt died, her house was advertised at £180. We had four offers from cash buyers (developers/builders) within 3 days of being marketed, all pretty low offers around the £160 mark. While one of the executors was keen to accept, we did wait another couple of weeks, then got an offer of £175 which was accepted from a young couple keen to get on the ladder. This was 10 years ago though and sold prices were generally lower than advertised prices.

Thanks Spickle that is great advice and the way that we are approaching it. So much is uncertain that there is no point in stressing or trying to push things through right now.

Just a quick update. Things are moving again in the property market and the buyer still wanted to buy at £235k and wants to exchange and complete quickly so not messing around.

Bearing in mind the current climate DP has accepted and he should be exchanging this week, fingers crossed all will go smoothly and we can crack on with buying a place together. Thanks for all the advice.

If it went as quickly as you advised it did I would call his bluff and advised your have other, higher offers on the table.

Maybe ask your agent to see if they are still interested just so you have the upper hand.

Notice mortgages for people needing to borrow at high LTV are being pulled. Lots of your potential buyers won't even get a mortgage now.

They aren't taking the piss....prices are falling. You can accept their offer (saying you will not accept any further drops) and specify you want a speedy completion...although actually without probate you aren't in a position to complete - shame, because the longer you need to wait the more likely the offer will be dropped further or you will lose the buyer and see the value drop before your eyes. Hanging on for the previous offer seems daft.

You just have to be realistic - it is a buyers market now, whether you like it or not.

We do have probate and everything is ready to go. We will also be cash buyers so in a strong position.

High LTV rates aren't likely to impact potential buyers of a fixer upper though - they are likely to do better given the low interest rates.

Forecasts are a drop of between 5 - 10% in the short term so if you can lock him in on a £15k discount and he really is a cash buyer, it's probably as good as you're going to get at the moment.

You did the right thing OP. I remember when house prices were starting to drop here in Ireland in around 2008 a work colleague put his house on the market and was laughing at the cheek of people to offer him less. He was holding out for a bigger offer. It sold eventually for one hundred thousand less than the original asking price.

Thanks for coming back to update, OP! Sounds like a wise decision.