Gazundered, what now?

[AnitaPNesse]

Annoyed, so excuse the writing! Accepted an offer in April and buyer's solicitor asked no-end of rounds of enquiries (London leasehold). Had discussed a mid-July completion date and was supposed to exchange in the next couple of weeks. Buyer then requested a third viewing which I was against. Agent said I'd create issues by encouraging buyer to do so until after exchange so I went with it. Agent rang the next day to say that buyer started enquiring about other properties listed at the agency, stating they're in quite a strong position now given their mortgage in principle's valid for 6 months while my mortgage repayments are going up because of recent interest rate hikes. Agent was obviously not happy at all and asked buyer if they wanted to complete or not and they wouldn't give an answer. Agent called the buyer several times yesterday trying to get a response. Buyer was elusive and 'in meetings'. Suddenly picked up saying they had a few minutes to spare and wanted to renegotiate and offer 10k less on the accepted offer and had to receive a reply from me within those few minutes. I responded by saying No and that I wanted to put the property back on the market. Heard nothing back from buyer. I'm going to relist with a new agency as my listing had been online for way too long before the accepted offer that I want to remarket it with a fresh listing.
Would like a sense check from MN before doing so. Am I doing the right thing? I don't want to play this game with the buyer. If they found something bad from the survey, fair enough, but they haven't and they're just trying it on. Appreciate any thoughts or suggestions on how to achieve the best outcome in this horrid situation.

At this point I would be rethinking putting a property on the market again. It is a shame that the buyers have messed you about. With interest rates going up and the market slowing down - do you really need to be moving right now?

I do sympathise but this is going to be happening more and more as the market falls. As the pp pointed out now is not a good time to move if you dont really have to.
Buyers are getting cold feet about overpaying and understandably so.
Much as its distasteful, if you have decided you must move, its probably better to negotiate with your buyer and try to get the deal done as its at a late stage. If you re market that lower offer might actually turn out to be more than you can get in 2 or 3 months.
Unpleasant I know.

I had lots of documentation of my parents chasing offers down in the late 80s/early 90s. The final offer they accepted was about $200k below the maximum they received. I hope you can update here with good news soon.

I totally understand your frustration and the way your buyer has handled this is shoddy. However, if they are seeing/believing they can now get more for their money then I can also understand them getting cold feet. I think I would counter offer £5,000 on the condition that they commit to exchange within a week if that’s feasible. It’s possible you won’t get another buyer for a long time and may have to accept a lower price anyway. Plus you would have more months of paying the higher interest.

How much is a London flat?
Is 10k actually a large percent?
If there is a chain involved, could someone further up the chain take some of the hit? So, you take a 6k reduction, they take a 4k reduction?

Realistically, what has the market done since you sold? Is 10k less actually reasonable given the current market?

Yes, there is a mountain of emotion involved, but it is also a business transaction. Think about how it might look going forward as well as the knee jerk "not a fecking chance" - totally reasonable - reaction.

I think I would try to take the emotion out of it and think what is 10k as a percentage? It may be a very small percentage of the sale price being in London and if it is, I would be inclined to accept it or offer a 5k reduction to meet in the middle. There is just so much in the media at the moment about house prices falling. Your buyers may be worrying they paid too much and who knows? Maybe they did. Try not to walk away from the deal in a fit of anger. Though it is very understandable that you are upset with them.

I would think very carefully before you turn this down. The market is much more difficult now than when your buyers made their original offer. You may end up getting even lower offers in the future, and you will have to start the legal process all over again, meaning you will be paying your increased mortgage costs for a long time to come. I would be tempted to accept personally, given the current market, but on the proviso that if it doesn’t exchange by say the end of next week then you will re-market.

I think this is a good idea. Accept and tie a quick completion date to the deal before they really get cold feet. Unfortunately properties are losing value so it’s not as unreasonable as it might initially feel.

Accept and tie a quick completion date to the deal

Funny enough DS (FTB) has this, he revised offer down after asbestos found & then seller tied him in to exchange-by-date as counter-condition. Fine but...

DS had trouble extracting his deposit (bureaucracy fault, not DS's) & the seller wanted to revisit that deal, since DS would be delayed to purchase. The EA talked seller around to letting it go, looking at market conditions, that seller was taking too much risk to mess DS about.

5 days & counting to DS's exchange now.

It's weird market conditions and buyers do have the upper hand. Lots of headlines about prices falling and mortgages becoming unaffordable.
It's not great and you would hope buyers would honour their initial offer. But if you look at it in a pure buisennes way, you can't really blame them.

I would try and gage how much money you would lose by going back on the market. You probably need to pay your solicitors for the work done up to date and then again for the new attempt to sell. So depending on house prices that could be several grand.
Then you aren't guaranteed to get the same offer again. In fact in the current market you are very likely to get less. So thats potential money lost as well.
Then you need to factor in the additional months of mortgage and interest you are paying.
I bet all of that comes pretty close to the 10k.
So I would be tempted to counter offer 5k less or even just accept it, as frustrating as it is.

I’ve had this , though many years ago. I just toughed it out, reasoning that they buyer must have wanted the property, and probably still did. They caved.

I would be wary that once you have given in, you will be faced with another price drop demand , just before exchange. I suppose it depends how desperate you are to sell.

I'd accept the £10k reduction based on the exchange happening almost immediately - as in as soon as legally possible.

My SIL is having this , people buying are constantly finding ways to drop price , it’s a doer upper , but was priced accordingly. Latest is 20 drop since they realised her mortgage is going to jump up to unmanageable amounts . She’s going to do it as her mental health won’t take doing it all again . Just keep eye on end goal , SIL is moving to a beautiful spot that’s going to be perfect for her . Good luck , people can be arses !

totally depends on how much 10k is in relation to the full asking

Just to add , they have to sign on the line by Monday .

It happened to me a long time ago. The buyer dragged their feet, and just before exchange, reduced the offer £10k. We ended up splitting the difference and exchanging and completing in one process on the original exchange date.

However, we're currently considering how DC is going to find a place to live if they get a job they're applying for in London. There are a lot of studios and one-beds on the market, and they are being reduced steadily, so if it happens, we shall play hardball at the offer stage.

A mortgage in principle is somewhat meaningless in this current climate unless you know for sure that buyer is buying massively under their means.

I would meet them half way, but only if they are prepared to show someone their actual mortgage offer. In May we could get 4.89 but now we would be lucky to get 6.15, so how good is their actual affordability?

Also, why are to dumping the agent? It doesn't sound like they have done anything wrong to me. They could have encouraged your buyer to find a more expensive flat and made more commission, but they did the right thing in telling you. An honest agent is like finding hen's teeth, imo.

The buyer is in a good position and understandably has cold feet given the slew of bad data. I’d negotiate and get rid. If you are in London, I don’t imagine 10k is a huge % of the property. You’ll be 6 months down the line with a reasonable risk of not having sold. Things are only getting worse in the coming months.

This

To be honest with the way the markets going you probably won’t get what you’ve previously been offered. Interest rates are putting people off and the knowledge there’s probably going to be a fall in house prices. I’d accept the 10k reduction if you think he will proceed.

The market has turned unfortunately.

You're so close to exchange, I'd go back with an agreed £5k off if you exchange next week.

Thanks everyone for your replies, time and thoughts. Yes, there has been a lot of emotion because I had already accepted an offer that was way below asking price as I just wanted to free up equity. I'm not in a chain. It's a rental and I have a tiny mortgage on it (it's almost paid off so the higher interest doesn't bother me).

Although I think offering the buyer 5k with the requirement to exchange next week is a decent idea, wouldn't that in practice be held back or depend on both of our solicitors' productivity? Currently it seems as though the buyer's solicitor keeps asking question after question, so even if they instructed their solicitor to exchange next week, surely they wouldn't be able to have a contract in place at a moment's notice and be ready to exchange and sign, or am I misunderstanding how it works?

You can (usually, there are exceptions) only exchange when everything is ready if both sides agree, but also there must be a set-in-stone completion date at exchange.

After enquiries are settled then you each sign the contract, and the solicitors exchange.

So as long as all the questions are resolved and the contracts are signed, you can absolutely exchange very very quickly.

I think buyers ought to offer at the start what they are wiling to pay and stick with it, less any serious survey problems of course.

By all means put in a low offer if that's what you think it's worth in the current market.

OTOH, it's dishonest and manipulative offering a sum you already intend to drop at the last minute whn you expect to have the vendors over a barrel.