Buyer is likely to ask for a discount shortly before exchange date

[Upset12345]

Hi,

We're selling our property in Birmingham at the moment and we're buying another house in Birmingham.

The owners of the house we want to purchase want a completion date of August 25th.

We agreed to do that, but our buyer is causing us massive problems.

He's already buying the propery 16k under asking price.

Initially he offered 15k under asking price, he's a cash buyer.

But after the home buyers service we agreed to a further 1k discount (although there was nothing wrong with our house).
It was just to get the sale over the finishing line.

He now says he is only willing to exchange contracts on the 21st of August.

When the estate agent asked if he could exchange a few days earlier because people have to book removal vans, he said "I don't care, I will exchange on August 21st".

On top of that he booked another viewing tomorrow at our house for a "3rd review".

He's already seen the house twice before.

He's also mentioned to our estate agent about house prices further dropping on the phone and he has sent links and articles to our estate agent describing how house prices are dropping.

Our estate agent pointed out to him that the articles are talking about the national average and can't be applied to Birmingham. They also said he's already buying the house very cheap at a good price.

What would you do in our situation?

He's in a very strong position, he's a cash buyer and doesn't intend to move into the property himself.

We on other hand have small children and I know that the other family, that's selling the house to us, also have young children.

In December our mortgage deal runs out and we would have to reapply at a higher rate :(

I'm feeling really exhausted and I've been crying a lot since we got the news yesterday.

On top of that I'm pregnant as well, so everything is a bit harder for me at the moment.

I have a bad conscience that the other family might not be able to move because of our buyer.

Definitely hold firm on the agreed price. He's trying to play games.

Either sell at the price agreed or go with your plan of renting your current house out. Hire a good rental agency to vet prospective tenants & worm out any arsonists 😉.

I had a nightmare buyer like this. I'd say no to the third viewing and tell your estate agent to earn their money and manage their buyer.

If you give an inch, you'll lose even more money so better to play hardball. Say you'll put it back on the market and get a bridging loan if they try to chip again (even through you won't).

I've been a renter for many years.

I'm just being cautious as I heard of nightmare renters that completely wreck places :(

Consider asking the estate agent to show your house to other people to gauge interest and valuation..

What's his situation now? Is he renting?

If he tried to knock off aother £1k you could ask the estate agent to tell him 'do you really want to be in a position where you lose out on this house and have to spend that £1k+ on rent?

People don't talk much about the good tenants, only the bad. I always leave my rentals spotless and in my last house I replaced a new carpet my cat destroyed before the LL knew.

Managing agent regular inspects can alert you to any trouble far before a lease ends anyway.

Also, you can purchase LL insurance to protect you from unpaid rent and damages.

Well, the situation still isn't resolved.

Our buyer was due to have another viewing with the estate agent yesterday at 2:30 pm.

We were out, but left the keys with the estate agent.

At 2:25 pm our buyer rang our ringdoor bell camera.

We communicated to him that we weren't in, but that the estate agent would be there shortly to show him around. Our buyer said, it's okay, he will wait.

After that we haven't had any more activity on our doorbell camera and there were no keys dropped through the letterbox.

We conclude from that that the viewing hasn't taken place.

We don't know if the estate agent rearranged the viewing or if they just didn't bother to show up (it has happened before).

It's all just so frustrating :(

He's in a strong position. He's a cash buyer and he doesn't want to move into the property himself.

He either wants to rent it out or buy it for his son (we're unsure what his intentions are with the property)

My experience is that, whilst being chain-free can be a bonus, cash buyers are PITAs because they think they have an advantage, they really don't though.

I think you need to give an ultimatum and stick with it.

If I were you I would not be that emotional and deal with it like a business transaction. you are selling on a dropping market and lucky enough you got an offer - many people don't even have that. if your buyer is a smart guy he understands he can get a deal now and must have already shopped around to see more houses and wants to view yours again. So no point to be rude to him and not showing your house again. I would be kissing his ass telling the wonderful stories about my house if he wants to view it again. how wonderful is the neighbouhood etc. how you loved living here and how warm and sunny is your place.
Also, assume the highly likely scenario he would ask for a discount. I would go to the chain above and ask them to share the losses with you since the market is dropping - telling them the same story your buyer told you. and try to at least meet his needs in the middle as well so you won't lose too much.
I would try to cut a rude agent (as I buyer now I much prefer nice welcoming agents now rather than agents who are only thinking how to talk to sellers at the moment and doesn't give a shit what is my needs as a buyer - even what negotiating timing for the meetings) and try to charm as much as I can the seller. once you establish the connection with the seller it will be more difficult to seller to ask for a big discount from you.
business is business nothing personal.

OP - this is possibly going to sound a bit racist and it's not intended as such and will hopefully make sense soon - is it a Hong Kong based buyer? We've had a run of them in our local area and they've behaved incredibly similarly - including the one who bought our house.

If the EA didn't show up for the third viewing - that's the EA's problem - bounce it back to them. I'd also strongly urge you to make sure the third viewings are done by the EA to eliminate any attempts to piss take. Our buyer sent their representative around for a final viewing just before exchange and they were here fucking hours doing the full on Homes under the Hammer theatrically opening every cupboard and drawer routine (like no, my knicker drawer is clearly coming WITH me when we move) - EA was really pissed off when they heard as normally it's a quick in and out - or getting the last few measurements, and we'd even provided them with historical floor plans from when WE bought the property (as the measurements were better than the ones on the listing ones).

They came back huffing and puffing about one thing - wanting something done that we were never going to get the trades booked to do 2 days before exchange (they'd previously tried to huff and puff about something similar that they'd gone through the survey they'd had months and months the week before that - and we'd called their bluff and just had that work done because thankfully we have a builder who lived next door). They were clearly angling for a couple of grand off - but we got prices, sent the quotes back with the phrasing that we would agree to discount that figure, nothing more and that we were not entertaining any talk of how the market had changed since then - if that was the case they were perfectly entitled to cut their losses and go looking again, but that this was the final concession we were willing to make and that we would be prepared to lose our onward purchase if required because they were behaving ridiculously. (At this point the Estate Agent who was just trying to close the sale and encouraging us to placate this pair of plonkers was about fit to faint in terror) No more visits were to be allowed - if they hadn't measured up enough by that point, considering DH had loaned them his tape measure since they were trying to use one of the paper ones from Ikea - tough shit.

They exchanged. Cost us about £150 discount as it was a slightly blown tiny double glazing unit they were niggling about at that point and clearly thought it was worth an extra couple of grand off the price.

They were also utter fucking pains in the arse over transferring the cash over by the way - it was held overseas and they were trying to do so much a day to avoid the worst charges - but they didn't bother to actually start to transferring it over - at this point our solicitor mildly lost their shit with them and suddenly they managed to find a solution. Then they were late as fuck transferring funds on completion day - hadn't even started this until, again, solicitor shit was lost on them by about 2pm when they'd done fuck all (no chain).

They almost broke me and I'd never be happy at the sight of a cash buyer again - give me a family mortgaging themselves up to the eyeballs who aren't going to prat around because they need to get the sale through so their kids have somewhere to stay that night!

Incidentally - this was earlier this year and our house has gone UP in value from what we paid with it - so all this plummeting house prices is NOT the picture everywhere.

I think the OP is just very stressed @Mama_bear and probably catastrophising about every possible eventuality ( plus I think op is also pregnant so already probably stressed about moving? )

Very useful thread as I also have a cash buyer wanting a viewing before exchange. I'm also worried.

Buyers are supposed to ask for viewings right before Exchange. Solicitors advise it.

7 purchases and it's never been suggested to me. However, it would be emminently sensible.

We have bought and sold a lot and never had anyone ask before. It is probably sensible tho in this case. I might just tee up the estate agent to squish any notion of price changes.

Maybe it’s a relatively recent thing but we were advised to do it when we bought our house 5 years ago and daughter got the same advice last year from her solicitor.
It’s not always for sinister reasons, can just be to protect the Seller in case the property has significantly deteriorated since they last viewed it.

Have had the nonsense with an o/s buyer trying to send his underage kid to the bank to get the cash transferred in the UK. Bank said no.

Your buyer is a chancer OP. I love near to Birmingham and the market is holding up there. I'd refuse the viewing tomorrow. Tell him you are on holiday until 23rd August. You got a late deal. Allow him to view with EA on 23rd and exchange on 24th. Make it clear to EA before viewing you won't drop price further. He is trying to bully you. If he pulls out so be it but you will get another buyer. Maybe you can even charge £5k more with a new less aggressive buyer.

Sorry that should have read to protect the Buyer (not the Seller)

Well, we got an email on Sunday from our estate agent that the viewing went ahead and the buyer is happy to go ahead with the purchase.

I forwarded that information on to our solicitor, she replied yesterday saying she will contact our buyers solicitor to find out if he's been instructed to proceed.

So far no update from her.

We're also on holiday now since yesterday, luckily I have good wifi here.

It's all still very stressful, but I try to enjoy our holiday as best as I can.

Yes I’m not sure about the fact that it’s a ‘buyers market’ meaning buyers can do whatever they like surely? I’m quite wary of a cash buyer who doesn’t want to live in it - it means it’s purely a business investment and he’s negotiating very hard. Sounds like he will ask for another price drop.

But… he still wants a bargain and he is invested, but just not as much as you which gives him the negotiating advantage.

What do you think your market is like? Could you put it up for sale again if it really came down do it?

Tell him to shove it op, he's going to keep demanding things. He's not even moving in to the house and he wants to change exchange?

How stressful, feel sorry for you op as it's bad enough as it is!!

By the way I'm a cash buyer and I haven't put my vendor through this!!