Selling property

[shininglight16]

I'm in the process of selling my flat to a buyer who's an investor and is trying her level best to knock the price down even further. We're midway conveyancing and she's been playing pressure tactics to knock off another £10k.

Asking price was £300k, we got down to £290k and said that is it, no more negotiation. They agreed at £290k but since the valuation has come to £275k they want us to come down to that or £280k max. We would be losing money and are not ready to sell at that price since we bought for £260k and spent roughly £25k in doing it up (got burnt by the builder).

Now the thing is, a comparable has gone for £285k just opposite our block of flats and does not come with a private garage or a 900+ lease. We thought of putting our property up with the same agent who sold the flat in the opposite building and he came for a valuation today. He mentioned that someone from Connell's surveyors had called him last month and asked for the sold price of that price. It doesn't appear on the land registry yet since it was recently sold and I believe it takes about 6 months for the price to be updated.

Despite having that information, the surveyor from Connell's has undervalued our property which has additional features/benefits. Can we contest this? The buyer hasn't shared her valuation report. She's only been bargaining and using excuses such as 'I won't be living for 900 years', 'I don't need a private garage ' and other nonsense.

She's switched stories, changed solicitors, mortgage companies and wasted a lot of our time.

I just want to know what would be a sensible thing to do and tactical as well going forward, to contest that look a variable with lesser features, smaller size has gone for 285k recently and you're asking me to sell mine for 280k. Should I ask her to show me the valuation report, speak to Connell's directly and make an appeal? I don't know what's the best way to do this and for us to stand firm and complete this at £290k.

We don't have a like for like comparable to compare with in the history of sold prices within the last 6 months.

We need to close this and get on with our next purchase asap.

Many thanks in advance!

We're midway conveyancing
^ this means nothing and contains no useful information for anyone to try and help.

• Is this in England?
• Have you Exchanged Contracts?

I'm sorry this wasn't clear. I'm in England yes. Searches, queries all done and clarified. Surveys done. The buyer got 2 surveys done, one gave a valuation of £260k another £275k. Both surveys were done with the same company, albeit, different surveyors came in.

So we're thinking right, you get two very different valuations, what if the 3rd one is higher than £275k?

I just want her to know that she can't mess as about just because she's a Director at a Housing Association and very sharp at negotiation. I don't know if she'll pull out or not, my only impression is that she is keen if she got 2 surveys done. But again, I'm not part of this sector to know how expensive surveys are, whether she got them free through her lenders etc.

I don't want her to pressure us to knock the price down but when I have my final conversation with her, I want her to know that we are firm and we won't be messed around. I want to give sort of an ultimatum to her madness, with backed up evidence and using sharp language.

It's a private buyer, they came to us since we told a neighbour we were looking at selling our property. No estate agent involved I'm afraid.

From my point of view, having had an ex who was an estate agent, and also knowing what grasping scoundrels BTL landlords can be...

I'd tell her to fuck off that the price is the price, take it or leave it.

I do feel like doing that..it's such a gamble. She may or may not agree.

So you are not paying say 3k in EA fees? Even more reason to meet her half way at 285.

Ignore the valuations, it's worth whatever someone is prepared to pay. They're her valuations, not yours.

Asking price was £300k, we got down to £290k and said that is it, no more negotiation. They agreed at £290k but since the valuation has come to £275k they want us to come down to that or £280k max. We would be losing money and are not ready to sell at that price since we bought for £260k and spent roughly £25k in doing it up (got burnt by the builder).

You spent money on the property, ok - but there's no guarantee that it raised the value by as much as you spent, or that it raised the value at all. You could easily spend £25k and lower the value by £50k if you got it wrong. You're focussing on the wring things. It's what you did that affects the value, not how much you spent doing it.

You got burned by the builder - that does not mean you can expect to recover the cost of your mistake from someone looking to buy.

You need to give yourself a bit of an attitude check on the value of the property. What has the agent come back with as the value? And you're talking to an agent today about marketing with them when you already have an offer? - presumably you're already thinking about telling your potential buyer to jog-on?

You want £290k, she wants to pay £280k - meet in the middle at £285k and you might have a deal. If you don't budge at all I think it might fall apart. Flats can be tricky, unless you are in London where a lot more people live in flats.

We're in London and the location is good/desirable.

Sorry my initial post may have been unclear.

So this buyer came to us privately after we told our neighbour that we were looking to sell our flat and to let us know if they knew anyone who was interested. They came to our door.

The other agent has sold a flat (comparable to ours) in the opposite building, hence, we reached out to see what price had he sold at. That's when we found out that Connell's (our buyer's surveyor) had reached out to them to ask what price they sold at and he told them £285k. Aesthetically, our flat is far better and more spacious. We have a 900+ lease and private garage. We don't understand how our valuation came at £275k. Zoopla valuation shows a rough estimate of £298k.

We want to contest it but don't know how to.

We are fed up of the buyer and her tactics but also being pressurised by the seller of the house we are looking to purchase to move things fast.

If the garage is detached from the property, why not separate it from the title and retain it? If she doesn’t need a garage and is using it as a way to reduce the price, agree to it. Won’t cost loads to sort the paperwork and then you can rent out / sell separately to make up the shortfall

You’re twisting yourself in knots, this is not a complicated scenario. You’re not desperate to sell so you can just find another buyer if this one pisses you off.

If you’re selling without an agent that means you’re not paying agents fees. Selling privately at £285k is probably the same as selling at £290k with agents fees.

I think if the valuation has come in (twice!) at under what you want to sell it for you'll likely have the same problem come up for every buyer won't you? We agreed to buy a house for £750k, valuation - from private surveyor and bank - came in at 725k. We offered to split the difference with our seller at 737.5k and ultimately agreed £740k. So we're paying more than it's worth really. But it's in the catchment we want so it's worth it to us.
BUT the seller could have held out and then probably had the same problem with the next people. Not many people will be happy to pay more than it's worth! Id negotiate if I were you. I reckon she's being more than reasonable suggesting paying more than both valuations came in at!

We want to contest it but don't know how to.
You don't contest the Buyer's valuation, you just ignore it.

Or you just walkaway from an awkward Buyer, because if they're causing hassle at this stage it's only going to get worse.

You're overthinking this. It's not your problem, it's the Buyer's. You just stick to the price you want.

And remember, as long as you're dithering with a private sale and not marketing through an agent the longer you're not getting alternative views and offers. You've locked yourself into all-or-nothing with this Buyer.

Assuming you haven't yet Exchanged, walk away from the Buyer and put the house on with the Estate Agent. Or give them an ultimatum (say, until midday Monday) to agree to your price, or it's going on the market.

Valuation is with the garage. She's not going to be like okay this is great. She knows what she's doing.

What sort of problems will we have later...sorry we're not experienced in this and it's the first time we're selling a property so would really love to hear your inputs.

She's been a headache and more so, because she's the Director of a very big and popular housing association, hence, knows the ins and outs of a trade.

’The price is X.

If you wish to pay Y, I will happily exclude the garage from the sale, as you mentioned it’s not something you need.

Please let me know how you would like to proceed by end of the day.’

The valuation is a negotiating tool, similar to the survey. You don’t have to sell it for the valuation amount - the only relevance it has is for the buyer and their financing.

Just decide what your baseline is and go from there. Is a bird in hand worth 2 in the bush? Or are you happy to try to get more?

good luck.

A buyer tried the 'valuation' tactic with me. I replied that it was just one of several valuations and left it at that. Radio silence works wonders. Paid up in the end.

Honestly, I'd put it on the market. You should sell again quickly.
We had something similar and then resold within a week..
She'll find another reason to pull the price down further just before exchange.

She's being a headache largely because you don't know what you're doing and are trying to do this for the first time without an estate agent. It's less that she knows what she's doing, and more that you don't know what you're doing.

You need professional assistance. Your solicitor might be able to help, but that might be expensive. Estate agents fees vary, but they have been through this before.

We don't understand how our valuation came at £275k.

It probably didn't. Have you seen a copy of it?

I agree with you hence we're in this fix.

You are making this much more complicated than need be! Make a decision on what price you will be happy to accept and let your buyer know. If she doesn’t want to pay the price you want then put it back on the market. Just because another flat has sold for a certain price doesn’t mean your flat will sell for the same or more.

No we haven't. She may choose not to share it. We asked for the valuation report for the house we're purchasing and the lender said it was only for internal purposes and they couldn't share it. They said it was a desktop valuation and apparently most lenders do that now. So we haven't even been able to see ours.