Sellers won’t budge after survey price negotiation

[Montysmoon]

Hi everyone,

We had our offer of £735k accepted on a £750k house a month ago. The house was on the market a while - about six months and had no proceedable offers in that time (other buyer were needing to sell). It’s a probate.

While the house is old (100 years ish), no major alarm bells rang during our viewings.

But our homebuyer survey flagged urgent issues like gutters in disrepair that are causing damp throughout the property. The electrics are 40+ years old so the house will need rewiring, and the boiler is also old. There are other minor issues too like decaying woodwork etc.

We have asked the vendors to consider taking £10k off the sale price as this is what has been quoted to us for the repair work to the gutters and damp. This does not include anything for electrics or anything else.

Vendors are refusing to renegotiate price. I want to push back because we simply won’t have the money to do this repair work otherwise, plus they’re not exactly inundated with other offers so they’d be silly to risk losing us.

I’m also selling so I appreciate that it’s not always straightforward just lowering the price, but given the obvious defects in the house I think it’s a reasonable sum. Does anyone agree/disagree? Advice very welcome 🙏

You really need to make sure you never trust an estate agent- especially when you’re not the one paying them. Relying on them to negotiate for you as the buyer is bonkers

What’s your actual renovation budget? If your savings are going on the move, what will you pay for refurbishment with?

Bear in mind that probate sales that executors obliged to get the best price for their estate so they have to be seen to try, and offspring tend to want to get the most for the inheritance.

I’d just play hardball. It’s normal to reduce an offer after the survey. Given this is the only offer in 6 months the agent will have advised them to take it. If you walk, that might change the sellers mind. If you think you can afford it, I’m not sure you can.

Honestly @Montysmoon, I think you would be crazy to stretch yourself so much, borrow to the max, take on a huge mortgage and sink all your savings into this house which clearly needs a lot of work. This is not the time to be taking a big financial risk, with the economy headed rapidly South.

Whether you are reasonable to negotiate or not is just a matter of their opionion vs yours. Neither of you is right/wrong. It just depends on whether you are willing to lose the house. In a way, I think it's good that this is making you pause to think because I really think you should pull out. Can you sell and rent?

In the last 3 years or so, probate properties have tended to be very over optimistically priced. The cost of work is so much higher now that buyers are unwilling to pay what is being asked. So many are sit on the market for years not selling. It's interesting that some posters seem to take it for granted that they will automatically achieve their asking price as long as they wait 2 years or whatever. It doesn't seem to cross their mind that the market can go down as well as up.

.

Cross posted. This is a great option, one that you are very lucky to have!

Good idea, thank yoo.

Reading your responses OP, it seems like you’ve got cold feet a bit and are perhaps looking for a reason to back out? It sounds like maybe it’s not the one for you.

Gutters don’t cost anywhere NEAR £10,000!!!! Absolutely ridiculous price!! The electrics may be 40 years old but if there isn’t anything wrong with them then they don’t need updating until you want them to. Just a safety check from an electrician and possibly replacing the fuse box which is £100’s not £1000’s. They’ve reduced the price £15,000 whic more than covers all the work to be done and the roof may not actually need any work doing to it at all once the gutters are sorted. Many a house over bought the surveyors always said the roof needed replacing and the most we’ve ever had to do was replace a couple of tiles

Where have all these astute buyers been in the last 6 months?!

I’ve bought and sold a lot of properties in my life and I’d say this is a seller’s try on. They’re just trying to negotiate the best price and OP needs to the same.

Probate houses generally need significant work because the maintenance has lapsed over time - eg the gutters; the interiors are tired and in need of updating.

I don’t think 10k is enough given there may be damp issues. I also don’t think OP really has the funds for this property.

I am surprised that gutter problems weren’t very visible. Boiler I can see needing done but forty year old electrics is not something I would be concerned about. Not every forty year old house in the country has had a major enough modernisation to include replacing all wiring.

If you’ve got your mortgage offer then your lenders valuation must have been the amount you offered. As an ex EA the first thing you ask is what price was it valued at, unless it’s below the offer you don’t have a leg to stand on.

It is usual for the estimates for work needed on the surveyor's report to be very much at the top end of the scale. You will most likely be able to get the work done for considerably less than the survey estimate. Also surveyors tend to be very cautious, they don't want to lay themselves open to claims that they should have mentioned a fault that has been found after the sale.

The housing market is really quiet at the moment, more so than in recent years, according to the estate agent that I'm buying a house through at the moment. If the vendors consider how slow the market is, they might well accept your reduced offer rather than having the house on their hands for many months. Good luck with it.

I don't think 6 months is very long on the market for a house that needs big work. If you put a house like that on, you're well aware that a percentage of potential buyers will take one look and walk away. You are aware that another percentage won't want to pay the price. If they aren't in a rush to sell, then they are happy to wait for a buyer who is happy to pay the asking price. You either walk away or you offer more.

It's a buyer's market and it isn't going to improve any time soon.

It doesn’t matter what anybody thinks- it’s not going to change the mind of the vendor. The vendor is not putting their price down and you have to make a choice.

I don’t know why you would assume the family are desperate to sell just because it is a Probate sale. When you mention the house was for sale at 750K was that the price it was first marketed or did they drop to that? We are in a slightly similar position, albeit on the other side and if the purchaser comes back wanting a further reduction, I would be likely to remove it from the market and relaunch in the Spring.

Some sellers for one reason or another just won't budget even whdn there seems to be no logic to their decision. They must think they can get more than you are offering and dont need the money urgently. So there's not much you can do about it.

They haven’t reduced the price they’ve accepted an offer under ask because there was 0 other interest which is totally normal, particularly for probate.

These are all matters you expect in an old
house - didn’t you see the electrics and boiler when you looked around?
I would also stand my ground if I were the seller in this scenario. Otherwise it’s possible you will ask for more off on the day of exchange.. They’ve lost patience and trust basically.

They aren't really unforseen costs though. The two things you have mentioned are fairly identifiable issues without paying for a survey.

If you want the house u pay.
If you both not willing to compromise, house sale falls through. Not complicated really 😕

Even if that were the case I doubt that £15k would be anywhere near enough for damp, a new boiler and a total rewire.

In that case, you've over-stretched yourself. For an old house at that price I’d expect to have a sinking fund of at least 25K for renovations.