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Original poster

Offer already accepted and house prices may fall. WWYD?

42 replies

heartsetonthisone · 04/05/2020 21:24

(name changed for this). We had an offer accepted on a house we love at the end of Feb and were hoping to exchange end March. Then lockdown happened. We've been in touch with the vendor and they are happy to wait until lockdown is over as we can't apply for a mortgage atm. We were anticipating a very long completion (buyer's request), and that would have given us time to sell current house. However, now the value of current house may well have dropped. OH wants to ask for a 10% reduction from vendor. I'm worried they will let it fall through and go back on the market, and we are in it for the long term so it won't affect price of what we buy, but obviously impacts the mortgage if we sell current house for less than we thought. WWYD?

WWYD if you were the buyer (ie me)?
WWYD if you were the vendor and your buyer asks for reduction?

Thank you.

OP posts:

Smallgoon · 04/05/2020 21:32

What is the progress on your current property in terms of interest? I guess, I would wait to see if I get offers and whether they meet my expectation or not. If they are lower, as a result of covid, then yes I would want to offset this against the new property, and therefore request a reduction. It will piss them off the sellers though so you have to factor that in.

MagnificentMillie · 04/05/2020 21:34

I think if I were the vendor I would leave it to the open market, 10% is a big drop and you haven’t sold yet so that’s what I would do.

GoatyGoatyMingeMinge · 04/05/2020 21:36

How tight are your finances? By exchanging on the purchase you're locking in at current prices (in fact it sounds like slightly outdated prices). By the time you exchange on your sale the market may have fallen and you will be selling into a market calibrated at a lower level. It boils down to whether you think there will be a fall and how much can you afford to lose.

Personally given what I think it's about to happen I would not want my sale and purchase price to be set too far apart in time. Assuming you're upgrading you're better off in a falling market, unless you end up with the mismatch mentioned above. But I'm quite pessimistic!

Original poster

heartsetonthisone · 04/05/2020 21:43

Thank you for your replies. We were initially planning on letting out current house rather than selling, as we were fortunate enough to be able to do this, but now as our financial situation has worsened we might be better to sell. Although, it has hopefully only worsened in the short term and will even out.

We are upgrading to a larger house and we had only had one actual viewing before this all kicked off. But we were quite relaxed about it then.

The vendors therefore didn't need to wait for us to sell, and were happy about us not being in a chain as they aren't in a chain either. We want to see what the interest is like as soon as the market starts up again.

They have been very helpful with various things so I don't really want to piss them off.

OP posts:

Rivergreen · 04/05/2020 21:51

10% is a big drop. Are you sure that's representative of what's happening to prices in your area? Personally, I wouldn't accept that, but I suppose it depends how desperate they are to sell

MagnificentMillie · 04/05/2020 21:51

I would be more keen to keep you then if there is no chain but 10% I think is still a big hit to ask them to take. They might go for it but there is the risk that you will really piss them off- maybe 5% is more reasonable?

Happygirl79 · 04/05/2020 21:52

If I was the vendor and my buyer came back and wanted to reduce the offer they had already made and I had already accepted I would tell them to forget it!

MagnificentMillie · 04/05/2020 21:52

I have walked away when someone did that to me as it was coming up to exchange but I am quite stroppy like that

PersonaNonGarter · 04/05/2020 21:53

10%?! Where did he get that figure from?

That’s a lot. Unless it is an odd house or doesn’t have a garden then it is unlikely to drop fast enough for you to get 10% off.

GoatyGoatyMingeMinge · 04/05/2020 21:59

I think you have to try to dodge the emotive issues and strops though, and make a hard-nosed assessment of whether you think the market has fallen, and if so how far. If the vendor disagrees with you then you need to part ways, unless you're feeling extraordinarily generous to strangers.

(If the vendor bases her decision not on a hard-nosed assessment but on strops then she may well not be making the best decision, but you can control that )

lucyposting · 04/05/2020 22:04

I was very nearly in your position recently.. and think very carefully whether if you can't let your house (another lockdown?) or let it to tenants who don't pay you (and it takes months to evict them) could you actually afford to cover what I am guessing is a Let to Buy mortgage? Are you in very, very secure jobs? What financial arrangements have you made if one or both of you couldn't work due to illness etc.?I think I would be trying to sell your house and then look again at the market once prices have dropped.

Original poster

heartsetonthisone · 04/05/2020 22:54

Thank you for all your replies. I think we will sit tight for now and see what happens with ours. We do love it so much and really do want it. It is a very old property with a lot of original features and a wonderful cellar. I think I'll have to be guided by the estate agent re current values (?!!).

OP posts:

Thisismytimetoshine · 04/05/2020 22:57

I'd tell you where to go if you tried to renegotiate a 10% reduction, tbh.

Smallgoon · 05/05/2020 00:03

@Thisismytimetoshine but if it were the case that they took a massive hit on the property they were selling, they may not have a choice but to lower the offer. Yes it will piss the vendor off, but we're living in unprecedented times. Covid has affected many of us. I've now made my third mortgage payment, having not been able to move into my new property because all works have had to be halted. I didn't foresee Covid coming and expected to move into my new home by end of March. I haven't been able to and it's hitting me financially. Not to mention the fact that builder costs will probably increase once we can resume works due to the difficulty in trying to source certain things.
We've all had to take a hit. None of us saw this coming. The vendor won't be immune to it.

User7764217 · 05/05/2020 00:11

The market is picking back up where I am. Not seeing any reductions yet but if I did i can’t see it being anywhere near 10%. You’d wipe out most people’s equity with that figure. Most vendors would just take their house off the market.

Smallgoon · 05/05/2020 00:22

@User7764217 Are you in London?

mangocoveredlamb · 05/05/2020 07:34

I’d be tempted to wait until you can effectively market your property as you’ll have clearer information then. Nerve racking though.

OneMomentInHistory · 05/05/2020 07:39

I'd sit tight for now. You've not actually applied for a mortgage, you don't know what's happening to house prices and you don't know what agents will market your house for. If any of those things actually change and suggest a 10% drop is reasonable, then drop the offer.

Original poster

heartsetonthisone · 05/05/2020 07:45

Thank you for more replies. We are in a west London borough. I'm v hopeful that in the long term it won't matter, and it is just the difference between our current (post covid) price, and the new house (pre covid) price. I don't want to p the vendors off, and I don't want to lose the house. (Although I wouldn't mind a few weeks in lockdown post moving to sort it all out and unpack boxes )

OP posts:

weepingwillow22 · 05/05/2020 07:47

If I was the vendor I would be annoyed and would chat to my estate agent about the likelihood of getting other offers. I might be tempted to put it back on the market to see if there is any other interest. If however the market was clearly dropping I would be more inclined to take the loss. Does the vendor know how much you love the property? I would factor this into my decision making?

Hiddentree122 · 05/05/2020 08:03

Sadly a lot of sellers are going to need to face the impending reality, we are at the start of what is going to be the worst recession anyone alive has ever seen. If anyone thinks that property prices are not going to significantly collapse I don’t know what planet they are on!

AmandaHoldensLips · 05/05/2020 08:49

It depends on the house you're buying. If it's a regular sort of house with lots of similar houses on the market, or it it's a rarer kind of house. If you really want the house, then carry on in good faith and don't mess the vendor about. If somebody tried to knock 10% off my house after agreeing a price, I'd tell them to do one.

Feelinghistoric · 05/05/2020 08:54

10% is huge. And you haven’t even had any offers on your house to back it up. I’d tell you a pretty smart no and go back to the market.

lemonsandlimes123 · 05/05/2020 09:21

If you are in a west london borough, any seller with any nous would tell you to piss off! Picking a random figure out of nowhere and expecting to just pay tens of thousands less is insane!

Smallgoon · 05/05/2020 11:36

@heartsetonthisone Was your offer asking price, and if not, how much below asking was it?

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