Renegotiating after valuation

[JustPurple]

We had an offer on a house accepted 2 weeks go. Our formal mortgage offer came through subject to valuation, but now the banks valuation has come through £20k lower than the offer.

Our sellers aren't depending on the sale going through for their move, so I'm preparing to have to walk away. We have some savings we could use but not the full £20k. Would it be perceived as really cheeky to ask to reopen negotiations to see if they might meet us somewhere in the middle?

You won't lose anything by trying....

Not cheeky at all. Whether or not they accept will depend on how much interest they've had, but unless there is a cash buyer waiting in the wings I think there's a good chance they'll agree to meet you halfway. Good luck!

I think its entirely fair to renegotiate: the bank thinks its worth 20K less than you have offered

Hopefully they will meet you in the middle

It was a flat no. Not even if we covered 75% of the difference.

Nevermind.

I think it depends on the circumstances. We sold our last house to the first set of people through the door (lots of interest) but their mortgage valuation was about 50k less than the offer price. It turned out that the valuation from the mortgage company was just wrong, it was a desktop valuation (they hadn’t even been out to see the house from the outside), they hadn’t realised we’s renovated completely, had a garden twice the size of most other houses on the road and also that prices in the area had risen quite a bit over the previous 6 months (the comparable from the property site were out of date). Plus mortgage companies at that time were being super cautious. We politely refused to negotiate and the buyers went ahead (they didn’t have a huge loan to value)- I think they knew it was just wrong and we knew we could sell it to someone else. I personally don’t think mortgage company valuations are any more reliable than those of the estate agent for a true value, what they are trying to do is protect the mortgage company from risk. If you really like the house I would be speaking to a mortgage broker to see if you could go with a different company.

You should negotiate. In today's market lot of sellers are putting up ambitious asking prices. Mortgage evaluation looks after bank's interest and that of the buyer.