Page 7 | Vendors Divorcing - want to put in a cheeky offer

Isitover23 · 2023-08-13T08:31:32+00:00

Hi we viewed a property a few weeks ago that is over our budget. It was originally on for £950,000 in May and has since been reduced twice by £25k a time, and is now advertised for £900,000. we know they are divorcing but the EA said they aren’t in a rush to move! It’s a lovely house but does need a bit of work. We are in the South. if we were to offer, we would want to put in a cheeky offer and I was thinking 15% below the asking price (£765,000). We aren’t in ‘love’ with it so wouldn’t be too sad if the offer isn’t countered! But this seems like a lot of money and is nearly £100k less than what they paid for the house last year when they bought it. has anyone has any experience with a vendor divorcing, as I would think they would just want to see to enable them both to move on? thanks

bunchofboys · 13/08/2023 18:29

More likely to need high price when divorcing.

rainingsnoring · 13/08/2023 18:54

sodthesodoff · 13/08/2023 13:49

To be fair I get more riled up by the wank puffins on mn than about any house offer... perhaps I just have a low tolerance of fuck wits.

Besides the ea was the one who got pissed and told all the other estate agents. I'll let him know he needs to calm it down

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Yeh, you do get a bit riled up in general from the sound of things!😄

rainingsnoring · 13/08/2023 19:02

@EldenRing4 'I do think people are very emotionally invested in their house sales. They also rarely do any research r.e price, letting the EA work it out...'

I do understand that most of us are emotionally invested in our homes BUT you need to try to keep a cool head and stop seeing lower offers than you were hoping for as a personal insult. If they are too low for you, just say no! Also, not doing research before buying/selling is really foolish. It's the highest value purchase/ sale most people will ever make.

C4tastrophe · 13/08/2023 19:05

Haven’t read all the comments, but sounds like censored bought it for 870k a year ago and asked for an extra 80k, for what?
I think they’ll be lucks to get 800k now, so 765 is a perfectly reasonable offer.

sodthesodoff · 13/08/2023 19:05

@rainingsnoring only for fuck wits!

rainingsnoring · 13/08/2023 19:08

lovewoola · 13/08/2023 15:10

But sticking to the facts, the house sold for about 865k in 2022? Their EA was an idiot for valuing it at 950k in the first place and for blabbing about their personal circumstances to potential Buyers

perhaps the sellers told the EA they wanted X price which EA didn't agree with hence why he/she is telling about the divorce?

You never know with EA. They are not always the most honest and professional bunch of people! But, it's probably more likely that the divorcing couple came up with the figure as they obviously need to buy two homes now.

However, @XVGN is right that it was very foolish of the EA to list it at 950K if it was sold for 865K last year at market peak. They must be aware that prices have fallen and that everyone can access them online. As they get paid nothing if they don't make a sale, this tactic of massively over valuing just doesn't work in a falling market as the property won't sell at all. If they had listed at a more realistic 800K, they would probably have secured a sale and @Isitover23 wouldn't be 'cheeky' at all.

PS don't worry about Twiglets. This is not a one off!

rainingsnoring · 13/08/2023 19:10

sodthesodoff · 13/08/2023 19:05

@rainingsnoring only for fuck wits!

I don't think I'm very tolerant of fuck wits either but I do understand that my definition of them is subjective! 😂

Twiglets1 · 13/08/2023 19:15

rainingsnoring · 13/08/2023 19:08

You never know with EA. They are not always the most honest and professional bunch of people! But, it's probably more likely that the divorcing couple came up with the figure as they obviously need to buy two homes now.

However, @XVGN is right that it was very foolish of the EA to list it at 950K if it was sold for 865K last year at market peak. They must be aware that prices have fallen and that everyone can access them online. As they get paid nothing if they don't make a sale, this tactic of massively over valuing just doesn't work in a falling market as the property won't sell at all. If they had listed at a more realistic 800K, they would probably have secured a sale and @Isitover23 wouldn't be 'cheeky' at all.

PS don't worry about Twiglets. This is not a one off!

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Actually it was me who mentioned the EA being foolish to list it at 950k not your mate, but glad you agree with me sometimes.

This is what I said "sticking to the facts, the house sold for about 865k in 2022? Their EA was an idiot for valuing it at 950k in the first place and for blabbing about their personal circumstances to potential Buyers."

rainingsnoring · 13/08/2023 19:26

'Actually it was me who mentioned the EA being foolish to list it at 950k not your mate, but glad you agree with me sometimes.

This is what I said "sticking to the facts, the house sold for about 865k in 2022? Their EA was an idiot for valuing it at 950k in the first place and for blabbing about their personal circumstances to potential Buyers."'

Well done @Twiglets1. I'm sure I agree with you sometimes. No need to take things so personally whenever people do disagree with you though.

XVGN · 13/08/2023 19:32

Twiglets1 · 13/08/2023 19:15

Actually it was me who mentioned the EA being foolish to list it at 950k not your mate, but glad you agree with me sometimes.

This is what I said "sticking to the facts, the house sold for about 865k in 2022? Their EA was an idiot for valuing it at 950k in the first place and for blabbing about their personal circumstances to potential Buyers."

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"Your mate"? You seem to be challenged by people with similar but different beliefs to your own. Don't be. Debate is great and useful.

CellophaneFlower · 13/08/2023 19:32

Do we know for sure they haven't done anything to the house though? They could have been renovating it and that's why they split up!

electriclight · 13/08/2023 19:34

What's wrong with trying to capitalise on their difficult situation?

You'd have to be a right mug to pay tens of thousands more than you need to just to help a divorcing couple feel less sad.

You never hear of vendors reducing their property to help out a struggling ftb or divorcing single parent do you?

Twiglets1 · 13/08/2023 19:38

XVGN · 13/08/2023 19:32

"Your mate"? You seem to be challenged by people with similar but different beliefs to your own. Don't be. Debate is great and useful.

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It is, isn't it? When the debate doesn't get too bogged down in worrying about who is getting triggered, who is getting challenged, who is taking things personally. When in reality I'm sure none of us are as it's just Mumsnet.

XVGN · 13/08/2023 19:46

Twiglets1 · 13/08/2023 19:38

It is, isn't it? When the debate doesn't get too bogged down in worrying about who is getting triggered, who is getting challenged, who is taking things personally. When in reality I'm sure none of us are as it's just Mumsnet.

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Good. I'm glad that is settled, as I often agree with you.

Original poster

Isitover23 · 13/08/2023 20:01

CellophaneFlower · 13/08/2023 19:32

Do we know for sure they haven't done anything to the house though? They could have been renovating it and that's why they split up!

they haven’t done anything to it. I’ve found the old listing and it’s exactly the same.

OP posts:

Seaitoverthere · 14/08/2023 05:28

Given you don’t love it and there are other houses to look at you don’t lose anything putting in an offer. Some people don’t listen to agent’s advice. I know someone who has just put a house on for 100k more than agent advised. Agent has gone ahead and listed as they are friend of one of their family members amd they wanted to keep the peace.

Personally though I would be keen to avoid a divorcing couple if possible. We have bought in these circumstances before but one had moved out years ago and remaining partner was moving in with new partner now kids were 18 so there wasn’t a chain. In this market I would be keen to avoid the potential of 2 chains and think one of the other houses would most likely be a better bet.

Disco123456 · 14/08/2023 07:54

We offered 12% under on a property the agents kept saying 'this property has to sell' because of divorce. We didn't do it to be cheeky, that was our maximum budget, they actually tried to negotiate but we didn't have any more money so it didn't proceed. I'm glad as we are now in a much better place for the same offer.

Fuckingfuming1 · 14/08/2023 08:13

dinmin · 13/08/2023 09:47

Legally the agent will have to put it forward, but they will laugh at you and if you ever try to offer on a property with them in future they may well remember you and they won’t say good things about you to the sellers

No, they don’t the vendor can tell them not to put forward any offers below X number

Fuckingfuming1 · 14/08/2023 08:53

Isitover23 · 13/08/2023 12:59

It was the EA. I called after the viewing as we saw that they only bought the house in 2022 and he told me.

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Just goes to show be careful what you tell your estate agent. The fact of the matter is £20,000 means very little in their actual pocket. Where as its an enormous sum to either the buyer or the seller

GasPanic · 14/08/2023 10:06

IMO the vendors strategy is right. They can lower by 25k each time to find where the market meets their price. This isn't the strategy of someone in a hurry.

The only thing I would do is "offer without making an offer". When the agent rings you for feedback, just tell them you like the place, but don't see the point offering as the price is too high. Tell them it's too high because they paid £x x years ago in a flat market an they haven't done anything to it.

This gives the agent feedback on what price people would be willing to pay for it which they may or may not communicate with the sellers. They may also work on the sellers to reduce their price expectations (but unlikely given the gap they would be trying to close). It does that without them having to go through any "formal offer" effort. This way you are hopefully maintaining a good relationship with the agent while encouraging them to work on the seller to reduce their price expectations.

TBH I think you are unlikely to succeed. The vendor will probably continue to reduce by 25K a time until a buyer crops up. But there is a (very) outside chance they may decide a quick sale is desired at some point and start talking to you.

electriclight · 14/08/2023 11:20

Reducing by £25k several times is not a wise strategy but just chasing the market down.

Price well now to attract interest, offers and get it sold. Rightmove is full of properties that have been repeatedly reduced by insignificant amounts when they'd have sold six months ago for more than they're on for now.

If divorcing it is even more critical to sell now - for what it's worth to a buyer not want you want it to be worth, or what it was worth last summer.

Twiglets1 · 14/08/2023 11:43

electriclight · 14/08/2023 11:20

Reducing by £25k several times is not a wise strategy but just chasing the market down.

Price well now to attract interest, offers and get it sold. Rightmove is full of properties that have been repeatedly reduced by insignificant amounts when they'd have sold six months ago for more than they're on for now.

If divorcing it is even more critical to sell now - for what it's worth to a buyer not want you want it to be worth, or what it was worth last summer.

I agree.

We had a good EA when we sold last year and he gave us the advice to drop by 50k (on a property priced not much more than OPs) because it's better to drop by a significant amount if you want to generate lots of new interest.

To drop from 950k to 925k was kinda pointless in my opinion. They should have gone straight to 900k especially considering they knew the value of the house in 2022 was only about 865k. They tried the very optimistic route but should have realised when it was time to switch to the realistic route. Now it just looks bad that the property has been reduced twice but is still overpriced.

BlueMongoose · 14/08/2023 18:46

I get tired of saying this, but
.........if you really want a house, offer what it is worth to you. Offering more is daft and offering less is risky (if you offer less and piss off the vendors, they may even rule you out regardless even if you offer what you really do think it is worth later on).

If you don't really want it, walk away and don't mess the vendors about- no vendor likes their time wasting, nor will their agent who may have other houses you may want to offer on, and these particular vendors have enough problems without you adding to them by raising their hopes of a sale you don't appear to be all that interested in anyway.

SmirnoffIceIsNice · 14/08/2023 18:52

Hate when people use the word "cheeky" in this context.

BlueMongoose · 14/08/2023 18:54

Neverseenbefore · 13/08/2023 11:02

How do you know they are divorcing? Who told you? If it was the estate agent, that’s very unethical. They are working for the vendors, not you.

We were told once- it was a material fact as we had to know what was going on- it was the subject of a court order and as it turned out, our purchase, like previous failed ones, was held up more than once for returns to court. The agent told us upfront that there was a matrimonial issue- they could hardly do otherwise given previous sales had fallen through because of that, and they needed to know how flexible we could be on timings, and so on. If we hadn't been told and warned to be prepapred, we'd have walked away the first time things 'got stuck'- or when our surveyor was threatened by one of the vendors, etc.