If you’ve had an offer accepted recently - are you tempted to gazunder?

[Amtheyest17]

Hello,

If you’ve had an offer accepted recently - have you or are you tempted to gazunder because of market conditions?

With the volatility in the market and house prices coming down. Obviously there is a concern that you could be overpaying for something

Anyone planning to or tempted? I know it’s a shitty thing to do. Not saying we will but we keep coming up against hurdles because of the market and we are starting to consider changing our offer as market conditions are really squeezing us now.

Whilst i do not agree with gazzundering, i do believe it possible in the current climate to protect against interest rises.

For example, it wouldnt take much for your solicitor to link the agreed price to the change in interest rates. Ie, if interest rates go up by 1% in the time it takes to complete, well then the price of the house can be reflected down by 1% accordingly. This would seem entirely reasonable and fair in the current market and it can give poeple the incentive to get their act in order with mortgage offers expriring etc.

We did something similar with our new house a few years ago with the stamp duty holiday. Our house builder wanted to exhange early and we had it written into our contracts that if they then took too long to build the house and we missed out on the stamp duty holiday, they had to pay the stamp duty.

Fair enough @ThisIsACoolUserName - I think people including myself are just pointing out the potential problems with your mum's strategy.

Not to have a go at you but more for any other Sellers who may be wondering what to do in her situation.

There is no objective ‘worth’ when it comes to house prices.

Would that work the other way?

if the interest rates go down in the time taken to complete, why shouldn’t the seller be able to negotiate a higher price?

Fair enough but the way you told the story sounded as if you thought the man was being unfair and potentially manipulating and even intimidating an older woman. This probably isn't the case at all.

It depends on how much you want "that house" at "that price". If it's your dream home that you would be crushed to lose then gazundering is a dangerous game.

However if you have found another house that you would equally be happy to buy then by all means try to gazunder but be aware that there will be a strong chance the seller says no and walks away and in which case buy the other house instead.

I'm sorry that your husband is having a tough time but some of the responsibility for this mess rests with estate agents themselves. So many of them have been totally over pricing properties and talking the market up when it has been falling for a year in reality, longer in some areas and it was obvious that it would fall long before that.
Greedy sellers and over valuing/ greedy agents are partly causing these sort of problems. If properties are priced at realistic levels (lower than 21/22 prices) they are much more likely to sell quickly and less likely to fall through. Buyers budgets have fallen by around 30%, lots of mortgage deals have being pulled and repriced upwards, confidence is much lower. This will only get worse through this year/ 2024/2025 and the foreseeable future. Sellers need to accept that the market has fallen and act accordingly which will reduce the likelihood of them being messed around subsequently.

Don't know ? But "Guzunder" has been long used as meaning a pot that "Guzunder the Bed" . ( A time with outside toilets ) .Never heard it used in mortgage /property terms .

I think it's potentially quite intimidating turning up at someone's front door. We're experienced house sellers and would never do that.

I'm experienced in selling houses and would do differently, but it's up to my mum what approach she takes.

It's a common term, and not particularly new.
Every day's a school day, remember :)

Sure

We did many years ago. I don't think it's a shitty thing to do. Neither side is committed to the price (nor to the transaction at all) until contracts have exchanged. If circumstances change up to that point, or fresh relevant information comes to light, it's fair to renegotiate or pull out. Those are the rules.

All the posters saying they wouldn't do it from a moral standpoint - for 99.9% of people this is the biggest financial transaction they'll ever make. The contract isn't agreed until it's signed and you're perfectly within your rights to chip your offer. I wouldn't be paying say 50k more than I thought it was now worth just to be kind. I say this as someone who has never done it, but have had it done to me.

However - you have to be prepared to lose the house because the seller is also perfectly able to tell you to piss off - we have done this with an 11th hour gazunderer in the past. So long as you can make your peace with that, then I'd do it. If it's the house of your dreams, and you're going to stay there for years and years, then a short term drop in the market and the house value likely won't affect you long term.

No BUT if there was any proper concerns in a survey I would def renegotiate

there was a time where after a survey you either just pressed ahead or withdrew- whereas now I think renegotiating is reasonable if circs dictate

OP if I was selling a house and accepted an offer on it, if the person making the offer came back a week later and reduce their offer I'd not sell to them. I'd go back to the next highest offer, even if that was the same as the offer now on the table, because I'd no longer trust you.

Given how you're feeling OP, I wouldn't go ahead with the purchase.

Buying in this market is like trying to catch a falling knife. There's more interest rate rises to come and I don't think we've even begun to see house prices slide yet. It's on a real tipping point and you don't want to be caught out on the wrong side of that.

Of course it could. However at the moment its a buyers market and things are really quite difficult for people. You could try this tactic but chances are the buyer would laugh at you. My guess is my reasonable suggestion would be considered at the very least. Not everything is done to get the better of someone.

No. . Treat people with honesty and decency ffs. Just like you would want them to treat you.

We had our offer accepted and we’re progressing fast to completion. Definitely not going to ask for reductions. We negotiated £20k off the asking price and the survey doesn’t give us any cause for concern. Our mortgage went through fine and now looks like good value after two rate subsequent rate rises. There is no good reason for us to ask for reductions and we’re not going to do it just because we smell weakness - that’s predatory and horrible.

OP, if you asked for a reduction one week after having your offer accepted I’d sack you off immediately. You’re clearly going to be flakey/nervy/troublesome all the way through.

Talking about seeing the opposite behaviour in a rising market, plenty of sellers did this during the covid craziness.

Because of the intense competition for houses, many sellers allowed buyers to be gazumped so they could get a higher price or directly demanded a higher price just before exchange. So let's not pretend it doesn't happen on both sides of the transaction.

At the end of the day it's a business transaction. People lose sight of that but it is. Its the biggest financial decision most people will ever make, based on a few viewings of a property. It's unrealistic to think people shouldn't be able to renegotiate their position if needed. The seller might walk for sure, that's their perogative but equally it's the buyers perogative to do what's best for them. It's a business deal, pure and simple. Nothing is set in stone until exchange of contracts. That's the point of no return.

I wouldn't class what you are suggesting as gazundering. To me that implies offering lower just before exchange of contracts, when you think you have the vendor over a barrel.

I do find it odd that just a week after offering, you've decided you want to pay less. When you offered you should have taken into account the current unstable mortgage issues - we've all been aware of them for some time.

You're perfectly within your rights to offer less, but if I were your vendor I'd lose faith in you as a buyer and would assume you'd expect further reductions later on in the process.

No

I assume you're being pedantic.

Have to admit I agree with this especially having just read the rest of your posts. You sound anxious and appear to have been persuaded by the agent to increase your offer beyond what you are comfortable paying.