Aargh - reduce for buyers or stand tough?

[Thurlow]

Had a bit of a saga selling and buying anyway so am at my wits end here. Buyers bought in May, we lost properties in the summer, now waiting on a lovely chain-free property that we really want.

Our house is 120 years old and needed cosmetic work compared to other houses on our street, so was priced 10-15k less that other propertiesto take account of this. Offer accepted was 6k under asking. Buyers have held on for months while we found another property, so on the one hand we're grateful to them. But survey has come back and buyers now say house needs more work than they expected so have asked for a £14.5k reduction - this is apparently for some building work a contractor has said needs doing, but is the kind of thing the contractor was never going to say didn't need doing, so it's pretty hard to trust that, and anyway if the work does need doing, it's not so urgent the house is going to fall apart within 5 years if it's not done...

We can't afford that reduction. Plus that would mean they got our house at an absolute steal for a property this size in a very popular part of town. And of course, in 6 months the property has gone up by about 20k anyway!

We could say no, it's offer price or we relist (house should sell well at the price we want, market is sparse, and we could be more open about work needed doing) - but obviously that means we do risk losing our onward property, which is a dream house.

Gah! What would you do?

If they were genuine they would not have waited for months to ask for the reduction. They are chancers asking at the last minute.

Practically all old houses would "need a new roof" if you asked a roofing contractor.

Get it revalued, and put it back on the market for a higher price.

Remember, that with talk of increasing interest rates, some lower rates are disappearing, so it is in their interest to complete now.

@NoSquirrels

We can't afford that reduction.

Be honest with them.

Say you understand their position, but it’s impossible to sell to them at that price. That it was listed to take into account £15,000-worth of work needed at a point in the future, that they got it for £6,000 under that, and you cannot move forward with your onward purchase if you don’t sell at the price they offered originally.

So you’re terribly sorry but if they are prepared to walk away over this you understand their position and will resist the property.

(It’s a polite and sympathetic ‘fuck off’)

This ^ but I would also make the point that the value has increased by £20k since they made their offer.

Everything NoSquirrels said.

Obviously, as buyers, it is worth them asking - after all it has got you wavering and considering offering them £2- £3k (which I wouldn't) - but that doesn't mean they will pull out if you say no.

You get the estate agent to point out that the price already took into account the condition and they still got a further £6K off that and the prices have risen considerably in the waiting time, so if they were starting again now, they couldn't get anything comparable and they are already invested in your property.

Hold firm.
I don't blame them for asking, but you'd be daft to renegotiate at this stage.

@saleorbouy

If its a slate roof then they can last over 200 to 250years with only minor repairs. Just because it's old does not mean it needs replacing. If it's water tight it's good.

^this

When we bought our current house the survey said 'it'll need a new roof' but we were lucky enough to have knowledge of old buildings at our disposal and knew this was unlikely.
We've been here 12 years and last year we had a roofer in to redo a small extension roof - we asked him to look at and price up any work needed on the other roofs. He said some minor repairs required but that the original slate was better quality and better fit than anything we would get now. He basically said don't think about replacing it.

There is so much misunderstanding about the fabric and quality of older buildings. We were also told to insulate the whole thing, and from a heritage point of view we would have knackered the walls if we had. Our house needs to breathe.

Stand firm. I wouldn't even offer 2k off from what you've said.

Yes my post did not work but I agree with @NoSquirrels & to say if the price they want to buy for does not get you your dream house and you can live where you are - well good position for negotiation. It seems like you have given a lot & you can say no - to £2k - well your choice - not the £14.5 which stops you buying your house - that would be a flat no from me . .

Ask your buyer for copy of house survey. Survey should reference areas requiring attention. If buyers builders 'essential work' addresses issues raised in survey then you need to negotiate. It could be buyers are trying to pull a fast one - the worst are buy to let types. I told my EA to tell aforementioned types to f..k off with insulting offers when selling my house.

I wouldn't offer any reduction at all and I'd let them know straight away, rather than holding out till Wednesday as though you've given it any consideration at all. Don't let the EA know you're wavering either. They're supposed to be working for you, but at the end of the day they just want the sale to go through and a couple of hundred in commission means nothing to them. Once the EA knows you're not prepared to negotiate that's when they'll really do their job and go back to your buyers and lay it on thick about what a good deal they're getting and how they'd be foolish to pull out now. I've just been through this myself and at first the EA said he'd told them they should disregard some of what the survey had said and he'd talked them into only wanting XX off but when I stood firm I'm assuming he went back and told them the original price was reasonable blah, blah. They didn't get any reduction and we exchanged soon after.

Thanks for the positive story! I think we've agreed we will just go back and say no. If they do call our bluff maybe then we have a think and see what our vendors say, so trying to remind myself that it doesn't have to be the end of the road if they don't agree.

I may reply with photos of all the other roofs on our street that are not replaced I.e. all of them!