Lowering offer weeks before signing

[emjay1122]

Anyone ever decreased their offer on a house a few weeks before everything was signed? If so, what were your reasons for doing so?

Our buyers did this to us 10 years ago , in our previous house.

We rejected their lower offer and put the house back on the market.

Are you prepared to take that risk?

I think it's immoral behaviour unless the same has happened throughout the chain.
I'd pull out of the sale if this was positioned to me.

Our buyers did, so we pulled out.
Cue lots of begging, apologies and ‘that was our dream house blah blah blah’ mithering for weeks when we said we weren’t interested in dealing with people like them.

Sold it to another couple for the original price in the end.

If you like the house, don’t take the piss. 😅

The only acceptable reasons are 1) we just got the survey/valuation back and there is 30k of completely unexpected work and/or our surveyor says your house is worth less or 2) your probate has taken 6 months, the market has fallen and we now need to pay 2% more for a mortgage.

Anything else is gazundering, it's taking advantage, is frankly nasty, and buyers are fast tiring of it, and may well tell you to sling your hook.

There have been many examples of the latter on this board in the last few months.

The market generally looks like it’s tanking / has tanked. More or less depending on the area.

The property simply may not be worth what the original offer was, and it’s up to you if you want to pay that or not. If you haven’t exchanged you’re not obliged to.

If you stick with the original offer then you have to suck up the loss at some point, and if you knock the offer down or walk away then the other side have to suck it up.

lots of people will tell you that chipping the offer is a shitty thing to do, but those people probably haven’t ever lived through times when it’s gone seriously wrong.

Property has not always been the one way bet that most people expect it to be and what has been a relentlessly rising market has bailed a lot of people out of absolutely dumb decisions that would have bankrupted them in a bad market.

your decision.

It depends on the reason. If it's just because you want to spend less then no.

As others have said the reasons for doing this are:

a: something has changed.

b: you’re a twat and deserve to have estate agents refuse to deal with you.

We did it once. The sellers lied about having the certificates in place for work they’d had done. When it came close to exchange this became apparent (they’d lied about loads of stuff!). We thought about pulling out, but decided to continue as long as they accepted a slightly lower offer (reduction was less than the cost to rectify). If they hadn’t accepted the lower offer we’d have pulled out.

If something has changed such as there's work that needs to be done. Then yes its reasonable. If someone did that to me for no reason I would pull out on principle

It’s a reasonable thing to do if the survey has thrown up something unexpected & expensive or if the mortgage rate changes and you can no longer afford it, otherwise it’s poor behaviour.

I wouldn’t do it just because I felt like paying a bit less.

It’s shitty
you like the house, you agreed on a price just because the market is tanking why should you refuse your offer
it could have been the other way round and the buyer wants more because the market has increased how would you feel then ?

The house your friend is buying won’t have decreased in value much in the 4 months since they made their offer. Which they made in the full knowledge the market was stagnating or likely falling in their area.

There is nothing legally to stop Buyers trying it and a minority will do so. But equally, there is nothing to say Sellers have to accept it. The Buyer may feel it’s worth it to get a few grand off. Or they may regret it if the sale falls through.

It’s risky behaviour if the Buyer does actually still want to buy the house because at the very least it risks ruining the amicable relationship between Buyer & Seller. And could potentially lead to them having to start all over again with a new purchase and running up more legal fees etc.

Our buyers did this, we told them to get lost and put it back on the market. Sold again within 3 days.

I don’t agree with that. My daughter bought in May 22 and we knew then that prices were forecast to stagnate or fall in her area. Nevertheless, she needed a home so went ahead with a purchase and doesn’t regret it.

4 months ago it was all over the media that prices were falling in most areas.

Dear op, the following comments assume you are buying a family home by mortgage - and not an investor with cash needing a return. If your loaded, or trying to use residential property as a way to cash in - then I hope you get burned.

Put all the "Its a shitty thing to do" comments to one side. It's happening a lot at the moment for good reason.
Buying a property is a massive financial decision for you and your family. You need to do what's best for you and yours. End of. Treat it as the life changing financial commitment that it is.
You do not owe others involved in your purchase anything, they are strangers. They are looking out for their own interests - as must you.

You need to decide, without delay, wether or not you are paying a price for the property that you are comfortable with. Factoring in to that the fact that the property may, or may not reduce in value. Interest rates may go higher, may stay the same or may reduce ? No one has a crystal ball, the majority opinion seems to be that values have further to fall if the status quo remains. I agree with that but have no idea how significant a correction this will turn out to be.

My advice is if your thinking the property might be a short term solution- and that you would probably be moving again in the next few years - then you need to be very afraid of overpaying.

If this property is going to suit you for a long time then you are historically unlikely to loose out. The fact that it was a bit more than you wanted to pay really won't matter.

On the subject of how best to achieve a reduction. If you haven't already, then you need to pay to have a full structural survey done that includes a market valuation. It will almost certainly find issues that you can use to renegotiate. It will almost certainly value the property lower than the estate agent, vendor or mortgage provider has done.

You need solid reasons to renegotiate successfully, pay a little to get them. If it turns out everything is hunky dory with both the structure and the valuation then it's also money well spent for the piece of mind of KNOWING you didn't overpay at the time of purchase.

If your research leads you to believe, as some do, that a large correction in values is imminent - better you just pull out and wait.

Good luck

Did you mean May 2023 and not May 22!, In our area prices were going through the roof. Had to offer thousands over asking price to secure a house,
competeting against 20/30 people to buy a house. Don’t think there were forecasts of falling prices in May 22!

If you do this - expect no goodwill - no nice gestures like leaving curtains, white goods. We kept great relations with those we bought off and they left so many nice things that they need not. John Lewis curtains, a new tall fridge freezer. My friend congratulated herself on bashing down her sellers £2K jjst before signing but they then took everything - dug up plants, curtain rails, took bathroom cabinets etc and she was so stressed she she said she wished she hadn't. They were also difficult about post - she'd paid for redirection but some slipped through Try not to do this.

yes we did this and got a discount. it's not immoral. Tough times, you got to do what you need to do.

is it you dropping price, or your buyers?

is there a reason, or just market?

No I meant May 22, prices weren’t actually falling in her part of London at that stage but the mad Stamp duty rush was over and it was well known that prices were about to start falling or at best stagnating. I remember discussing it with her at the time that it was important to be fussy partly for that reason.

I think it varies in different parts of the country @LindaDawn there is no one property market even in London let alone the whole country.

For example, property prices were falling in central London as far back as 2021 due to the lack of international buyers. People need to know what is happening in their own areas at the point they make offers.

In our area, south east (South Bucks, Berks) housing market went from manic (Jan22) to slowing down (June 22) to there being few buyers in December 22 when there was little competition and houses were not flying off the shelf. Offers where then not going over asking price but below asking price and it seems to have continued.

We are selling our house and if our buyer tried this, I would put it back on the market. If it is down to a survey and something appeared then raise that with the vendor. If not and you just want to lower the price because you feel you paid too much, you have a right to ask for lower amount but as a vendor currently myself, we would say forget it!