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Original poster

Buyers asking for £60k off just before exchange

415 replies

Loobydoobies · 14/08/2023 17:56

Just as the header says. Suddenly wrote us a long letter ranting about interest rates etc, and asking for a huge discount.

We live in an area where property is scarce and holding its value ATM due to that. Told agent to tell them where to go. I am furious as we will lose our dream home.

OP posts:
fullbloom87 · 14/08/2023 20:45

Why would you change agents? What do you think the EA done exactly?
You accepted their original offer and how is the EA supposed to know they're going to be difficult?.

fullbloom87 · 14/08/2023 20:47

Trust me this is going to be causing the EA stress too. All they want is to shift your house and get their fee. They'll be hating the buyers as much as you I promise.

Helpmepleaseimbusy · 14/08/2023 20:50

OP I sympathise. My purchaser was an absolute c u next Tuesday. I don’t even want to go into the things she said and did. In the end, I told my solicitor to tell her side that if she didn't stop, I wouldn't sell to her. I meant it. She stopped.

I still hate her to this day.

AnxiousFairyQueen · 14/08/2023 20:56

I think the EA is at fault here. They should have advised you to pull out of this deal earlier.

fullbloom87 · 14/08/2023 20:58

AnxiousFairyQueen · 14/08/2023 20:56

I think the EA is at fault here. They should have advised you to pull out of this deal earlier.

You obviously no nothing about estate agency.

Original poster
Loobydoobies · 14/08/2023 21:01

fullbloom87 · 14/08/2023 20:45

Why would you change agents? What do you think the EA done exactly?
You accepted their original offer and how is the EA supposed to know they're going to be difficult?.

I don't want to go into this much, but there are other aspects of the service we have been unhappy about.

OP posts:
fullbloom87 · 14/08/2023 21:02

@Loobydoobies

We run an estate agents so maybe I can give on advice on whether it's worth changing agents or not. I know sometimes things are blamed on EA that are out of their control and sometimes of course the agent is at fault.

billybear · 14/08/2023 21:16

i had similar buyer was a buy to let man,where i was moving to was very slow not my fault they picked slow solicitor,he told me had workmen booked for a weeks time if we didnt exchange in 6 days he wanted 20- grand off price, i told him to get lost back on right move next day sold for 40 grand more,sod them,hold your ground,

CarterBeatsTheDevil · 14/08/2023 21:27

Asking for that sort of discount this close to exchange after three surveys is breathtaking cheek.

FrogTaped · 14/08/2023 21:28

I had a similar experience, the buyer was a nightmare. From the start, demanding long viewings and writing long essays about why they wanted to reduce their offer (no good reason! Nothing found on survey, just things like 'I want a 5 foot fence, not a hedge' etc.)

It's so stressful! We got to the day before exchange when she demanded £4k off because she wanted to change a window in the living room to French doors.

I told the EA to just withdraw the house from sale, and fuck it, I'd rather sell it for less to someone else, anyone else!

Buyer came back with their tail between their legs, lots of apologies, wanted to exchange ASAP - trouble is, I wasn't bluffing and I meant it.

I put it back on the market 3 months later and found wonderful buyers who loved the house, didn't mess me around at all. And they offered £10k more!

fullbloom87 · 14/08/2023 21:59

FrogTaped · 14/08/2023 21:28

I had a similar experience, the buyer was a nightmare. From the start, demanding long viewings and writing long essays about why they wanted to reduce their offer (no good reason! Nothing found on survey, just things like 'I want a 5 foot fence, not a hedge' etc.)

It's so stressful! We got to the day before exchange when she demanded £4k off because she wanted to change a window in the living room to French doors.

I told the EA to just withdraw the house from sale, and fuck it, I'd rather sell it for less to someone else, anyone else!

Buyer came back with their tail between their legs, lots of apologies, wanted to exchange ASAP - trouble is, I wasn't bluffing and I meant it.

I put it back on the market 3 months later and found wonderful buyers who loved the house, didn't mess me around at all. And they offered £10k more!

Good for you for sticking with your principles!.

ihadamarveloustime · 14/08/2023 22:03

That really sucks, OP. I'm sorry. I'm dreading that aspect of moving eventually, the ridiculous process of buying and selling homes here!

thaisweetchill · 14/08/2023 22:19

Do not let them have a penny reduction, they are trying it in! You'd be surprised the amount of spoke who do this because they've got you at a vulnerable stage. Hold your ground, they will back down.

Plankingplanks · 14/08/2023 22:27

@Honeyroar my advice is not to do that. Our agent said the same and it turned into a 5 month nightmare and we didn't sell at auction in the end. People don't want to buy on auction in the UK and you don't deal with your estate agent, they pass it over to the useless iamsold who faff about and tie you into a 6 month contract.

cymraes12 · 14/08/2023 22:47

Whammyyammy · 14/08/2023 19:38

They're scum. Instruct your solid to influence them agreed price or no sale.

Happened to my mum many years ago, cocky husband of a couple tried it last minute by asking for a reduction. She declined and relisted and told EA not to forward their correspondence. Wife of couple turned up at house crying as it was her dream house and her husband ruined it. My mum sold to them in the end, for the same % over the original agreed price as he tried to reduce by.
He certainly learnt a lesson that day

Something similar happened to us years ago. Buyer went awol on exchange day and her father then called the EA saying he had just found out she hadn’t had a survey (she’d had four months to instruct one since we’d accepted her offer) and that he had told her not to exchange until WE paid for a survey AND had any work done that was picked up as an issue 🤔 Once we’d stopped laughing/ crying, we sent a message back that it was far too late for a survey now and we certainly wouldn’t be paying for one. When there was still no sign of the buyer three days later, we assumed she no longer wanted the house and relisted (with gritted teeth as we were packed and ready to go and our vendors were only willing to wait a few more weeks tops).

Buyer then called the EA in floods of tears saying it was her dream house and why was it back on the market, genuinely thinking her dad was right when he said we would have no choice but to agree to his demands. The EA then explained to her that in 30 years in the job, she’d never once known a vendor to pay for their buyer’s survey, and politely suggested her dad perhaps didn’t know a lot about buying and selling houses and was perhaps ruining things for her … we exchanged a day later ….

BarbaraofSeville · 14/08/2023 22:59

This is the worst bit about buying and selling in England (and possibly Wales). People can have spent thousands and months on the sale/purchase, plus the same for everyone else in the chain and one person can pull out with no consequence and the whole thing collapses.

Hopefully if they do pull out OP, you'll find another buyer quickly and you'll be able to take some small satisfaction from them paying for all those surveys for nothing.

Tommysvindal · 15/08/2023 00:22

The same thing happened to us recently - our Buyer knocked 5% off the agreed price a week before the supposed exchange after a three month process and us rejecting other offers in favour of them, citing market conditions as the reason. Unfortunately we had no choice but to agree to it. The question you need to ask yourself is does the sale/move still make financial and life sense to you? You need to ignore the Buyer's scumbaggery and not let that influence you. You cannot call a bluff unless you're prepared to walk away and in the end, we weren't prepared to lose our sale. If you're in a chain, you'll have to try the same thing with your purchase.

stayingcool · 15/08/2023 00:30

The EA then explained to her that in 30 years in the job, she’d never once known a vendor to pay for their buyer’s survey, and politely suggested her dad perhaps didn’t know a lot about buying and selling houses

Just wanted to pick up on this. This scenario is how it works in Scotland. The vendor pays for a home report from a surveyor. The home report is made public. Perhaps the dad had experience with the Scottish system.

Polik · 15/08/2023 00:53

Our buyer tried for a £25k discount. Then £10k, then £5k, then £1k (why bother asking for £1k?!).

We said a straight no every time, no offer of negotiations. They paid full asking price in the end, just bluffing.

Cucucucu · 15/08/2023 01:28

It’s a volatile market and not a great one to buy homes as people can end up with negative equity so maybe they are doing it out of desperation

PissedOffNeighbour22 · 15/08/2023 01:52

Some people are just a complete pain in the arse and love causing agro.

My DP sold his house a couple of years ago (got stuck in the Covid shut down so dragged on and on). We had 2 godawful buyers who both pulled out after repeated drops in their offer prices.

The first one eventually pulled out because we refused to include a large amount of the house contents for free. She went around the house pointing out things she wanted - even down to the little pot DP kept his kitchen sponge in 😕.

The second pair were an absolute nightmare. Every week they'd call with another issue and another price drop. We'd say no so they'd disappear then come back with a slightly different issue. We found out they were trespassing on the property regularly, planning 'their' garden. Booking in tradesmen to start work on dates before the property had even exchanged. We pulled the plug on them and they phoned the EA repeatedly begging for us to accept their offer.

We went back on the market and immediately got a viewing from someone asking if we'd accept his original offer - that we were completely unaware of. The EA hadn't told us they'd received a full asking price offer from a cash buyer 😑. We'd been paying the mortgage on 2 properties for months, being told there was little interest in our house. EA asked us to accept the dreadful couple's lower offer every week until exchange date with the lovely couple who paid full asking price and completed quickly with no issues.

Still can't quite work out what the EA were trying to achieve.
We lost the house we wanted as couldn't get both houses sold in time. We've ended up in a money pit house that we hate and can't wait to move from.

Netaporter · 15/08/2023 02:56

@Loobydoobies i literally just posted this response on a similar thread, hopefully of some use to you!

That is rubbish. I’d ignore the ranty letter. They either can’t afford it or there is another reason. Neither of which is your problem. It won’t get any better from here on in with them.

Practically, can you buy the searches from your failed purchaser? That’ll help speed up the process for the next buyer. There will be a buyer - it’s just a matter of your EA finding one.

Change agents if you are unhappy because after multiple viewings and sunk costs all round they should’ve been on top of the situation. They cannot earn commission without a sale so they should be motivated to keep you happy. Be clear the house is going back in the market. Ask them for a full list of interested purchasers in your house before you go to a new agent so that they cannot claim a commission too. Explain to the new agent you have the searches and there is no survey issue. If you retain the EA, get a reduction on their fee because of the inconvenience and to recoup some of your sunk costs.

In the meantime, get the house tidy and ship shape again. Get new pictures (even with the existing EA who frankly should be doing everything you want at this point) which will look better because it is now August. Consider re listing on Friday 1st September when people are back from hols.

Good luck!

if it helps, I’m selling something at the moment and my purchaser has obviously confused the sale with a task on ‘The Apprentice’ and is the worst sort of negotiator. Think along the lines of ‘how much is it? £100? I’ll give you £15’ sort of negotiation. He doesn’t understand why no, I don’t want to do everything by WhatsApp and I’ll be needing it in writing and why the day before exchange I’m not biting his hand off. I’m currently giving ‘Karen Brady side eye’ to the situation. And copying in his ‘Co Director’ i.e Dad into my rather withering emails to him. It would be quite amusing if it wasn’t so irritating. Prick. 😂

ZeldaWillTellYourFortune · 15/08/2023 04:04

BlastedIce · 14/08/2023 19:41

Say no, call their bluff, when they agree to proceed, tell them you want an additional £20k!

This.

I'd go to the grave before letting them have the house now.

Roselilly36 · 15/08/2023 04:47

Awful thing to do, but it happens, our buyer wanted us to drop £40k after survey, we said no, we would re-market, the next day they agreed to exchange as the agreed price. I know it’s upsetting, but it’s transactional, you want to sell, it will be easier and quicker to proceed with the buyer, as the agreed price than find a new buyer in this market. Regardless of which you think of their tactics. They are probably just bluffing, stand firm OP, Good luck

HappiDaze · 15/08/2023 05:01

I had a buyer like this

I went to another agency and somehow or other they saw the paperwork I'd been told to leave in the top admin tray at the desk Confused and suddenly they got their arses into gear and the sake went through very quickly after that

I was however really pissed off that my details were left on display like that in their admin tray