Buyer trying to reduce offer - should I be wary?

[Erlina]

Sorry for the length of this!

We accepted an offer on our property 2 weeks ago. The buyer offered the asking price after viewing our house, we said "thanks, we've got a number of viewings tomorrow, so we will come back to you after those have taken place". They then came back 2 hours later to the EA offering another £5k but on the proviso we took the property off the market and didn't do anymore viewings. The EA told us it was a good offer so we accepted.

The next day the buyer came back for a second viewing. No problems and everyone gets started on sending draft contracts etc.

Yesterday we suddenly get a message from the EA, the buyer wants to know what boiler we have. We have a back boiler, outdated I know, but it is serviced every year and there are no problems whatsoever with it.

Today, the EA calls and says buyer doesn't like that it is a back boiler, she will need to replace it and has got British Gas to give her a quote for it and therefore wants to reduce her offer by £5K.

We refused saying that there is nothing wrong with the boiler, she has had no reports etc to say it needs replacing and she hasn't provided any evidence of any such quote from British Gas. She hasn't even had her survey done. But as a gesture of good will, we have brought our annual service forward to next week at a cost to us to provide her with some reassurance. EA then phones and says she would be willing to only offer £3k less. We are still saying no, there is nothing wrong with the boiler, if she wants to replace it, that is her choice to.

I am feeling that her second offer was now completely disingenuous, she never intended to pay that much and only did it to force us to take the property off the market. I'm wary of what else she may try and do further down the line closer to exchange. Considering telling the EA that she has 24 hours to decide whether to proceed at the price we agreed else it goes back on the market.

Should I compromise or stand my ground?

Sounds like she only offered over the asking price because she panicked and wanted it off the market but didn't really think it through. A huge impulse buy kind of thing...
I think you're right to be weary. Whatever happens I have a feeling this buyer is flaky and will pull out. If you're confident you can sell the house at asking price, I'd be tempted to put it back on the market full stop.

I'd stand firm. Get it serviced, then she can go through getting the property surveyed, which will likely throw up something else she will negotiate over.

At the end of the day, if you end up bargaining down to Asking as a result of any survey findings then you've still got what you asked for to start with.

Personally I'd have took Asking when it was offered.

If I was the buyer, and you declined an Asking offer, in favour of later viewings, held have walked away. It's just greedy

Stand your ground or she'll keep trying to fuck about. She has 24 hours, that's it, and it's back on the market.

Bernadette, thanks - we didn't actually refuse her offer of the asking price - the EA said to her they would put it to us but that we had more viewings booked in. Before we had an opportunity to respond, she came back with the second offer. Apologies if I didn't make that clear in my OP!

The buyer offered the asking price after viewing our house, we said "thanks, we've got a number of viewings tomorrow, so we will come back to you after those have taken place". They then came back 2 hours later to the EA offering another £5k

Or

we didn't actually refuse her offer of the asking price - the EA said to her they would put it to us but that we had more viewings booked in. Before we had an opportunity to respond, she came back with the second offer

These are two different versions though.

You are playing the buyers for best price and they are playing you. Neither of you is doing anything disingenuous, just looking out for your own personal interests.

Do you think you’ll
Quickly get another offer at asking price?

I’d be careful you don’t end up with no buyer at all tbh

Your buyer doesn’t sound very cunning: worse would be someone who plays along and then drops price at 11th hour

Sounds like she is just trying to chip down to asking and is looking for an excuse to do so

Did she see boiler on her viewing.?

I’d she is not booking in her survey she’s a time waster

However, if she likes it that much I would no expect her to pull out necessarily, just to try to get a few K off the price

I’d be inclined to ask to see a quote & say you would only consider a price drop if it comes up on survey... or you could just give a flat no

If your buyer saw the boiler when viewing, it’s a bit less reasonable

£5k seems an awful lot for a new boiler. We paid £2k for a Worcester Bosch albeit about 10 years ago. But still £5k seems too much.

Agree on cost: mine was 2-3k approx 2 years ago

Back boilers are inefficient and expensive to run though, aren't they? I am surprised you have never replaced it yourself. I don't know if I would have bothered viewing a house which still had one.

Do you also have a separate water tank? If so, that will be an additional expense.

Is the buyer a FTB? Seems odd not to have checked the boiler from the get-go. The whole thing stinks of inexperience - surely they would wait to get a survey before negotiating on price, etc?

If the boiler is important to her, I really can't see why didn't she ask about it on her TWO viewing!

I always ask about the boiler on viewing one, unless already mentioned in the listing.

Pp saying wanting more than askng price is greedy - well not really, depends on the area and what the agen'ts pricing is like. I often view with an agent who always put a price where they know there wil be competition, to attarct as many viewers as poss. Inevitably these always go over asking, for the best one by quite a lot.

It's always goo to have other offers as a back up and to see who is in a better position - many buyers do change their mind so then it's easy to go back to the next best / same offer.

Also if the area is popular it's not greedy from the pint of view that she will be buying in same area with competitors, prices may well be higher than anticipated.

You put an offer on the house based on what is known

You get a survey or find out more info.

If this differs you renegotiate a offer based on what needs replacing or repairing. Alternately you ask the seller to put the issues right at their own cost.

Having an old system would be something you would take into consideration along with any repairs etc.

If the EA knows the issues or is asked why the buyer dropped out they should reveal any issues with the house to the next buyers.

This is normal practice.

It's a game isn't it? I do agree though that a decent boiler will cost about 2K so what is the other 3K for?

this buyer will play you all the way, you were fair, she offered and you had more viewing to fulfil.
I will strongly put it back on the market and stop dealing with them.

they should offer based on what they see, once the survey shows anything MAJOR! they could not have known before hand then they can renegotiate.
stay away from them.

I'd offer 2k reduction a nod see what happens.

If you feel reasonably confident that you would potentially get another buyer (all the viewers who were cancelled last time) then I would hold firm for now and say if she doesn’t want to proceed at the agreed price, it’s going back on the market. She sounds like she could be flaky so better to flush out how much she wants it now rather than later.

I am feeling that her second offer was now completely disingenuous, she never intended to pay that much and only did it to force us to take the property off the market. I'm wary of what else she may try and do further down the line closer to exchange

I think you're almost certainly right, and if she's playing you there's every chance she could go ahead with the purchase and suddenly decrease the price again at point of exchange

If you've got plenty of viewings and are reasonably confident of selling I'd personally tell the EA that you simply won't be selling to her - end of. For context I've done this myself (twice) because I don't play games, and I certainly didn't regret it

Replacing a back boiler requires new piping though not just a boiler switch. I don't think that £5k is unreasonable. Lots of people don't want a back boiler, me included. It is obsolete technology and she will end up having to replace it and replumb.

I suspect she realised she had not asked about the boiler, asked and gulped when she heard it was a back boiler, leading to the request for a price reduction.

2 weeks in and she's already a pain.

IME, I'd cease hoping for the best, cut her loose, and put it back on the market. Otherwise, she will be the unstable link in the chain and the stress and potential chain collapse will cost more time, money and grey hairs than are worth it for asking price which she is unlikely to honour.

We replaced a back boiler and HW tank with a combi last year (in a different location). It cost us £2,500 in London so that estimate sounds quite inflated (standard for BG, mind).

I would tell her to jog on. If it works and has been regularly serviced it's a nice to have rather than a must have and therefore you shouldn't have to pay for it.

Sorry, she offered asking price. You should have accepted without negotiation.
If be annoyed if I was your buyer.

As soon as we got our offer, at asking price, that was it. We've been very good to our buyers as they haven't questioned anything. I will be leaving our house spotless with a bottle of wine as they deserve it.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

The buyer offered the asking price after viewing our house, we said "thanks, we've got a number of viewings tomorrow, so we will come back to you after those have taken place". They then came back 2 hours later to the EA offering another £5k

Or

we didn't actually refuse her offer of the asking price - the EA said to her they would put it to us but that we had more viewings booked in. Before we had an opportunity to respond, she came back with the second offer

These are two different versions though.

Sound the same to me. Offer at asking price was neither accepted or refused when the buyer decided to spontaneously come back at 5k higher.