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Original poster

Help, gazundered!

146 replies

RachQ86 · 15/05/2020 10:08

We put our flat up for sale last year and just into the new year we accepted an offer from a young couple for £5k below our asking price which was £450k. Everything was progressing and we were due to exchange just before lockdown happened and everything went on hold until this week.

We have now heard from our agent that our buyers have now sent a revised offer for £390k as they claim they need to add more to their deposit from the mortgage. I don’t understand, how does bringing the price down increase their deposit?

We bought the property for £410 a few years back so there’s not a chance they are getting it for less that that, how should we approach this as we don’t want to lose them as a buyer as it took long enough to get the offer in the first place, but we’re furious they would offer a price and then change it!

OP posts:
Lightscribe · 16/05/2020 13:28

This reply has been deleted

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Smallgoon · 16/05/2020 13:48

@Lightscribe People aren't sticking their fingers in the their ears - they're merely stating that the the same was said of the UK post referendum. Only it didn't really happen. And as others have posted, when it's in the interest of the govt to keep the property market afloat, I can see HTB being extended to second hand properties very soon. In London, I imagine those that will be affected will be the most will be developers of extortionately priced (for the size), new build flats (of which there are surplus) located in prime areas.

Emma939 · 16/05/2020 14:12

It is of my opinion that the government are going to let the housing market fall, in the big re-set of the economy, which will coincide with a no deal Brexit at the end of the year.

Honeyroar · 16/05/2020 14:20

Prices may fall. Nobody knows how much for yet. These buyers are trying their luck. I’d perhaps go with a £10k drop, but certainly not the amount that they are offering.

Sometimes you have to sit a recession out. I had a flat stuck in negative equity for over a decade in the 90s-2000s. The value came back eventually and it sold for a lot more than I’d paid for it.

DeadHouseBounce · 16/05/2020 14:58

Brexit hasn`t happened yet, and the US V China spat is only going to get worse, plus I believe that the EU is showing real signs of not being able to hold together now, add to this a genuine global medical emergency and we have an almost perfect storm. The talk around what would happen if we voted to leave was hot air, actual Brexit and this crisis are real.

DeadHouseBounce · 16/05/2020 15:01

Certainly there are loads of votes now in the letting the property market fall, and this crisis would be perfect "cover", although I think this crisis is real enough that they might not be able to prevent a property crash now, even if they wanted to. Absolutely not the time to be carrying large mortgage debt IMO.

LisaSimpsonsbff · 16/05/2020 15:15

I'm sort of surprised you're surprised. We'd just accepted an offer on ours when lockdown started and I've been waiting ever since for them either to pull out or to try to lower the price significantly - obviously I don't want them to, but tbh I think they'd be a bit mad not to. I would assume, though, that £390k is an opening offer and that you'd be aiming to meet in the middle rather than just take the full £55k hit.

As people have said, you either need to move and can afford to have the lower price or you don't or can't. I think we'll take a lower price on ours when it comes to it because we're desperate to move and it wasn't that easy to sell in an ok-ish market so I fear we'll be stuck with it for years if we don't. But I will also then ask for the same percentage decrease on the property we're buying and then pull out (and move to rented) if we don't get it - the really stupid thing would be to take a hit on the sale without gaining on the purchase.

One thing to consider, OP, is that I think flats are going to have a sharper price drop than other properties, unless they have a private garden. The last few weeks are going to make people more reluctant to live in flats - already the least favoured kind of property for most people - for a while, I think. So if you're trying to work out what the flat is now worth you need to compare against flats and not all property in your area.

HappyDinosaur · 16/05/2020 15:16

It sounds like they are trying their luck.

Smallgoon · 16/05/2020 17:45

Would be helpful if the OP could return and answer some of the questions posters have asked... and also because I'm curious Hmm

milveycrohn · 16/05/2020 17:48

That is such a reduction, that unless you have to sell, I would not accept it.
If they pull out, I would wait a few months before retrying.

theBounder · 16/05/2020 18:37

The probability that a house bought for 410k "a few years back" will. be worth more than 300k in 12 months time is zero. Zero.

It's called reality. Deal with it.

LisaSimpsonsbff · 16/05/2020 18:48

Where did you get that figure (300k) from, thebounder? It's suspiciously round, but I'm sure it's based on detailed financial forecasting by experts...

DeadHouseBounce · 16/05/2020 23:05

Yes flats might be less appealing now, but who really knows?

slipperywhensparticus · 16/05/2020 23:10

If you can afford to say no say no

TurquoiseDress · 16/05/2020 23:31

How desperately do you need to move?

I'd be inclined to tell them to jog on and go back to the drawing board & take stock of what you want to do.

Then again, you could accept this offer, with the view that things will only get worse....like some race to the bottom.

Smallgoon · 17/05/2020 10:29

@theBounder There's a huge difference between 300k and 30k. Suggest you yourself deal with reality.

Smallgoon · 17/05/2020 10:35

@DeadHouseBounce If it's a two bed with a garden/large balcony, I imagine it will be in demand. Smaller flats will be less appealing, but they're so much cheaper than alternatives, so beggars can't be choosers.

I imagine the new build flats will be the worst affected. They are ridiculously overpriced in the first place, which govt aided in its HTB scheme criteria, unfairly propping up the property market.

DeadHouseBounce · 17/05/2020 14:02

People who bought in the last few years are going to have to get used to being offered less than they paid, I think that is inevitable, but hopefully most people have not spent massively on refurbishment etc. if only because they were stretched to buy in the first place.

TurquoiseDress · 17/05/2020 19:16

@theBounder

What are your calculations for arriving at a figure of £300k?

JayKay183 · 17/05/2020 20:11

I'd only consider selling at that price if you could get an similar reduction on your new house. I'll eat my hat if a regular house bought for 410k a few years ago was now worth 300k.

MarshaBradyo · 17/05/2020 20:13

A game of chicken atm. Another thread a poster was advised to not overpay by £30k.

You can walk away. I probably would unless you desperately need to sell. But then who knows what’s coming.

PeterWeg · 19/05/2020 13:49

6.5million furloughed are likely to be unemployed in a few months. 850K increase in April. Anyone who stretches themselves at this time with a bigger mortgage is crazy, IMO. Batten down the hatches and hope to survive.

snowspider · 19/05/2020 14:33

Current situation is really unpredictable and there is no one size fits all answer at the moment. I was lucky to go sale agreed over asking In Feb but buyer reduced his offer in April just before exchange from 275k to 185k. I turned him down. If necessary I will hang on, but I just put it back on the market this morning and have a viewing booked for first thing tomorrow. I have no expectations and will play it by ear.

mapsie · 19/05/2020 16:21

Wow @snowspider that's a huge drop

orangeDutch · 19/05/2020 16:45

We are in the flipside of this situation - we are the buyers. The comments here are spot on. If we went forward with the offer that we made in January, then WE would be taking all the risk of the falling market prices, instead of the owner. Why would the buyer ever take on that potential to lose money before they even move in? would you have bought the flat if someone had told you that you would immediately lose value?

Imagine if you were dress shopping and you agreed to pay £100 for a dress. When you got to the till, several other women were standing there paying £85 for the same dress. Would you still hand over your credit card and pay £100? Of course not.

The probability of prices falling in the near term is extremely high. If I were making an offer today, we simply would not have made the offer that we made in January. It is not an emotional decision. As soon as emotions get involved in home purchases, all reasonable pricing goes out the window. OP, look at the numbers: can you expect to find a buyer in today's market for the price you want? if you dont think you can, then go back to the buyers and make a counter offer. if you think other buyers will be lining up to pay you what you want, then kindly decline their revised offer and line up some showings.