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5k reduction.. are they taking the p***

111 replies

AniAfri · 02/04/2020 19:28

Evening all,

Hoping some from advice regarding a recent property purchase.

I had an offer accepted on a property just over a month ago and are nearing completion. For context I am a first time buyer - the agreed sale price pre covid-19 was 323k on a house that has an asking prices of 330k. Despite thinking I’d offered to much, I decided to continue anyway.

I’ve recently gone back to the buyer to request a reduction i.e. due to the economic climate that will follow. I requested a reduction to 309k but was refused and told that the best and final they’d accept is 318k.

Would you continue with the purchase based on this amount? The property is a small 2 bed which is probably stay in for 5-8 years.

I think this is quite unreasonable but I’m a novice in the property field.

Is this the norm? Would you pull out? All opinions welcome!

OP posts:
ChicCroissant · 03/04/2020 12:45

@Goingtogetflamed thanks for the invite to an argument, but I'm declining this one because I'm not interested!

FinallyHere · 03/04/2020 12:55

Put the vendors out of their misery so they can move on and find a better buyer.

Good luck with that in the current climate.

It would be called "buying at the top of the market. "

Chewbecca · 03/04/2020 12:59

If not buying immediately isn’t financially costly to you, I would put the brakes on the purchase for a couple of months, slow it down. I wouldn’t bother renegotiating the price right now, just hold off to see what the price should be after the crisis.

Goingtogetflamed · 03/04/2020 13:03

@ChicCroissant it wasn’t an invitation to an argument. I’m genuinely interested in what your opinion is based on.
If it’s just a gut feel that’s ok too and there’s no harm in saying so.

jimmyjammy001 · 03/04/2020 15:53

There is simply to much risk for a first time buyer at the moment to buy due to the upcoming state of the economy, if your moving up the ladder then this will have no effect on you, I would definitely be holding off, a recession is a definite a depression looking more likely by the day, the housing bubble may finally pop!

AniAfri · 03/04/2020 18:27

Thank you all for your input!

I have decided to be cautious and pull out. Just as well as I’ve received an email from work advising some members of my team may be furloughed in the coming weeks.. I’m extremely gutted but I guess it wasn’t meant to be.

OP posts:
cstaff · 03/04/2020 19:00

Sorry to hear that OP but in the circumstances it is the right decision. Hopefully things improve sooner rather than later.

mynameisntlouise · 03/04/2020 19:57

If I were you and was worried about ending up in negative equity with only planning to stay there for a short while, I'd consider pulling out. I think the market will take a while to recover. Can you manage renting for a while longer? You might be better off waiting for house prices to be lower once this is all over, IF you're going to be in a strong buying position, such as with a high deposit, as banks may be picky about who they lend to.

I personally am in a 3-link chain. I've agreed to sell my house to a cash buyer and I'm relying on my sale to fund purchasing a house we've had our offer accepted on. If my buyer were to now ask for a price reduction, I'd be screwed. In my situation, the house I'm wanting to buy will be our forever home so I'd rather just get in and worry about the market after.

augustusglupe · 05/04/2020 17:57

If you felt you’d offered too much to start with you shouldn’t have gone ahead tbh. I actually think they’re being very fair offering you another 5k off.
It really depends, do you love the house? Or with the current situation do you want to just get out? You need to make a decision.
We are in rented and I can’t wait to buy a house but now isn’t the time.

TobyHouseMan · 17/04/2020 21:15

If you think the market will drop then you would be MAD not to take that In to account when buying a house now.

Stick to your guns and get the reduction you want. If they won't play ball then walk away - if you're right then in a few months/year you'll be able to buy a similar property for less money.

Do not go against your instinct.

Gutterton · 18/04/2020 00:59

It depends on your LTV - if it is low (ie big deposit) then you could cope with a temporary dip and still be able to move on if needed in the short term because you wouldn’t be in paralysed by negative equity.

If your plan is staying for 10 years then quibbling over £5K is silly.

However I personally would want a 5-10% discount from the original sale price (£330k) to carry on the purchase now in this state of uncertainty. Otherwise I would pull out and hold off to start looking again at the beginning of 2021 - so you would be in your new home this time next year. I think you would need this timeframe (at a minimum) to see a material shift in prices - there will be a lot sitting on hands for the first 6 months.

It also depends on your job security and if your mortgage offer would be extended, unchanged over the next 12 months. V unlikely - so you might need to do a calculation of a much worse deal or not even getting one at at (that could be because your LTV is now not seen as good enough).

So those are the hard core considerations if it was purely a business transaction and you were 100% a property investor that needed slack to be able to sell it quickly if needed.

However a certain % is also an emotional decision about creating a secure home base for your DC and a long term lifestyle choice.

So are you happy to continue living with your DP for another 12 months? Or will you now look to take on a 12 month rental (v few are 6 months). How much will this cost in non refundable fees and how much more is rent than mortgage. Add to this the fees that you have already paid out for the survey, mortgage fees, searches, legal fees for this failed attempt and add a duplicate of them all again if you decide to buy again next year. So quite a complex spreadsheet needed for costs of various scenarios - and you can see that your £5k is neither here nor there.

But more importantly are here school catchment decisions tied in with this specific property? Does it work for you as a perfect location and home? How challenging emotionally would it be to stay another year with your parents? Or get back to a temporary rental? How long were you house hunting for - is there loads of similar stock to this house or is it a rare find that suits your needs?

What I am trying to say is yes it’s important to go through finances with a fine tooth come to make sure you don’t do anything frivolous financially but also to consider what’s the true cost of pulling out financially and emotionally.

Sometimes we just need to get on with our lives and we might have to compromise.

If COVID hadn’t happened and you were 5-10 years down the line - would you have been happy to have bought and raised a family in this home? Because COVID will go away and any drops are likely to have recovered within 5-10 years.

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