How to deal with greedy seller wanting more money?

[ChompStomp]

Hello

Currently trying to buy a property. It's been a complicated purchase because the vendors (a divorcing couple at loggerheads) have been as difficult as it is possible to be.

We were proceeding at asking price but now the vendor has come back (after a month) and said he wants an extra 10% as he feels the house is worth it although has no basis for that. The house next door sold at a the same price we have agreed to purchase at in early 2022 and is pretty much identical but with a much bigger plot as it has a small field with it, so arguably we are already overpaying. The Estate Agent has said that he is completely unrealistic, and told us that if we agree we will be paying too much for the property. It's over £500k so an extra 10% is a considerable sum, but we could stretch to it (just).

We really love the property and there is nothing else similar on the market. It has been on the market 10 months without a single offer and only a handful of viewings in all that time (because as the agents said to us, it started off overpriced and we are the only people to have shown any interest). He has said he will pull out the sale if we don't agree and the EA said he is totally serious about that and doesn't really want to sell it anyway.

We don't know what to do but would be gutted to lose it when we could stretch to it but it feels so silly to be held to ransom like this. We don't want to mess our own buyer around, and it is perfect for us. We will probably stay there 10-15 years. Over that amount of time does an extra £50k make a massive difference?

Not dangerous. Just looking a cost of enjoyment of life.

One of my life rules is "never enter into a contract with an arsehole, no matter how much you want the payoff". This extends to partners, employers, tradespeople, clients and people making major financial commitments like a house purchase. It's served me well so far ... so I'd agree, walk away

Agree, and then reduce the offer by 15% just before exchange. I know, I'm petty, but it's totally worth it even if I lost money!

Good grief he’s lucky to get asking prices in todays market. There is no way I’d pay £50k more!
Plus what does the wife want?
Id step away. God knows what he’ll do next.

Nope. Nope nope nope. This is one of those situations where you need to play chicken and tell him to fuck off. If he doesn't want to sell, he's only going to invent an excuse further down the line, causing you a lot of wasted time and even more disappointment.

If you really want the house, you could offer him 10k extra and point out that that is fucking it. I wouldn't, though. Cheeky twat.

🤣🤣

Plus what does the wife want?

A new husband.

Need we ask why?

Hi OP,

You've had plenty of advice already but here's mine, FWIW.

First up I'd call the EA and say you're on the point of pulling your offer.
Say you're concerned that the husband isn't after money, his intention is to prevent the sale.
Therefore even if you agreed to this 10%, or to meet him halfway at 5%, there's not going to be an end to his demands.
And eventually he'll prevent the sale.

The problem isn't the money per se; it's that he's against selling.

Then ask if the EA can contact the wife, find out if the sale is court ordered yet or not, and if she's prepared to get that order issued now or in the future.

From there you'll most likely have the information you need.

I am afraid that if you have a vendor who is reluctant to sell and there's no court order in place then this process is going to be very expensive, very stressful, and most likely will eventually end in you not buying the house.

Find out where you stand and walk away if you have to - better sooner than later!

Best of luck.

It's poker. Don't blink first.

Don't do it OP! What's to stop him from messing you about again and demanding even more money?! It sounds like you're paying the right price (if not overpaying), it definitely isn't worth more if it had been listed for 10 months without an offer!

It is poker, but you don't want to be ripped off.
Phone the EA and tell them you are withdrawing your offer.
This is the only way to not be ripped off.

You really can't make those assumptions. We bought our first home in 1997 and then sold it in early 2007 for more than three times what we paid - actually 3.2 times what we paid for it in 1997.

Apart from normal decorating we didn't change anything.

We moved into rented accommodation due to a job relocation and were lucky to miss out on the huge price falls in late 2007 and 2008.

I see from Zoopla that the people who bought the house from us extended the kitchen and updated the bathroom. They then sold the property in 2018 for 7.5% more than they paid for it in 2007.

So, we made 220% over ten years and the people who bought the house from us made 7.5% over 11 years.

You really can't predict what will happen in the future.

The Estate Agent has said that he is completely unrealistic, and told us that if we agree we will be paying too much for the property.

Has the EA told the vendor this? I don't know why the EA would put you off. Are they trying to make the house available for someone else?

This gets worse and worse! Have you not heard the saying 'past performance is no guarantee of future performance'? And that's assuming that your doubling in 15 years assertion is correct, which it isn't.

It is unclear what the seller wants. They sound highly unreliable, hence most people on her advising @ChompStomp to pull out or decline to offer more.
Your advice is both wrong and dangerous.

I’d counter with ‘we’ve considered your request and would like to counter, we’re reducing the offer by £10k.’

Had my fill of arsey buyers and sellers when we bought our current home - you just need to have nerves of steel and given them a scare.

Its your money your choice

But it's a huge amount extra - 50k is a decent holiday every year you plan to stay there, a couple of years on sabbatical, a decent deposit for a child's first home

I'd walk away - if they are messing around it's only going to get worse as the purchase continues

@WoolyMammoth55 spot on! This isn't going to end well, walk away unless you have this reassurance.

It’s not about the money, it’s about anyway he can continue to screw his ex over. It’s about controlling her and stopping her from moving on. He’s probably indifferent about selling or keeping the house but delaying the sale is just another way he can keep being attached to his ex. He might not ask for more money but next time it’ll be that he’s not had the paperwork witnessed properly or that he won’t agree to an exchange/completion date. He’s going to be a complete pain in the arse.

If you love this house, this is going to be colouring your view a little bit. You need to get some timelines of external factors. Is the ex prepared to take the seller to court, have they started this process and what are the estimated timelines on this if they are doing that? How long is left on your buyer’s mortgage offer and how likely are they to get that extended? If they can’t extend the mortgage offer, are interest rates higher now than when they got their mortgage offer and will that mean they likely ask you for a reduction? Are your buyers going to incur extra costs while waiting for this to be sorted through the courts such as additional commuting costs or rent if they need to sign a new lease and break partway? Again, are these costs likely to result in a reduction in your sale price? Can you find a short term rental to complete your sale while you wait for the seller to be forced to sell? You just affording the 10% extra at a push, does that work if you’re paying rent and storage costs?

If the ex is taking the seller to court to force the sale and the timeline for that is 20 weeks but your buyer has 8 weeks left on their mortgage offer, I’d look at moving into rented. If the ex isn’t prepared to take him to court and your buyer still has 4 months on their mortgage offer, I’d look for something else.

Personally, I would not be looking to pull out immediately but just accept it’s going to be a really stressful journey. I wouldn’t be adjusting my offer higher or lower at this point but I would mention to the estate agent that the original offer still stands, however, you are looking at other houses as you don’t feel the seller is serious about moving and no amount of money will change that. You love this house, your buyers are keen to move, the ex is keen for the move to happen and so it’s only the arsehole holding things up. Explore rented accommodation so you can get your sale through for your buyers but explain that if you need to go into rented, your original offer will need to be reduced to reflect long term storage costs. Your buyers have x number of weeks left on their mortgage offer and so you are looking to complete in that timeframe, at the original asking price with reductions in price after that.

Call their bluff and tell them your current offer is your final offer. If it has taken them ten months to get an offer they won't exactly be inundated with other buyers. Or play hard ball and offer 10% less as another poster said.

Your seller is trying to bully you OP. How do you deal with a bully? Well, you don't appease them, or you just encourage them to keep abusing you. Tell them your offer stands and you won't be raising it. They have until tomorrow to agree, otherwise you'll pull out. If they've had the house on the market for 10 months and no one else has been interested, even at the current price, they won't be getting any buyers at £50k more. Why should this bully get £50k more than his house is worth?

Don't counter-offer 10% less, as tempting as it may be on the petty scale. Stick exactly where you are.

50k is too much. If, and it is a big if, it is your dream house and you really cannot think of not loving there, I would counter offer with a very small amount, less than 10k but say the extra amount will be lodged in escrow, or with your solictor. If contracts are exchanged tomorrow (or whenever you choose), then the extra funds will released to the vendor as part of the deposit, if not, not only will they not get the extra money, you will withdraw from the sale.

Buying from divorcing vendors is always difficult, so I expect you have just become caught in the middle of it.

Be pragmatic about you actually want, if the house isn't your dream house, then looking else where and/or withdrawing from the sale may be the sensible option.

Nah I'd walk OP, the guy sounds like a total 🔔 end and I wouldn't want to be part of hus drama 🎭

Quite!

I mean ten months - the house is probably over priced to start with.

I’d now be tempted to say I’d want 10% off as the market is dropping and he’s wasting even more time!

Actually it wouldn’t surprise me if someone like this pulls a similar action further down the line. I think I’d walk away.

Walk away now before you waste any more time or money on this.
For sale for 10 months and yours was the only offer and already overpriced.
He’s playing games.
This won’t be the only stunt he wants to pull.
It’s a buyers market and I doubt he really wants to sell anyway.
Walk away.