House selling stress- have we done the right thing?

[Pusstachio]

We’re selling our house. I actually put a thread up here when someone tried to gazump our buyers and we opted to stick with the original people. I deleted as it went onto featured threads and I panicked!

Anyway, post survey our buyers have found a classic survey finding and have advised their dad says it will cost £15k to resolve. We have had numerous verbal quotes of 2-5k and offered a £5k reduction. They have refused to accept these as they are not written and when they called one contractor he couldn’t remember talking to us- fair enough but why are we expected to accept their dad’s best guess? They reiterated they need £15k

We offered £8k to move things on and they still won’t budge. I do think we will get written quotes arriving slowly over the next few weeks but I’m unsure if this is actually helpful if they’re after a £15k reduction no matter what.

The whole thing has been rumbling on for nearly three weeks now and is immensely stressful, I’ve been in tears about it this morning.

How much hassle is it to pull out and re list, has anyone done this and managed to sell without dropping the price? I’m really not convinced they’re being genuine and I’m worried if we get past this there will just be something else crop up.

Sadly people often put in a higher bid than they can afford always planning to ask for a reduction after the survey, close to completion.
If you can I would refuse to give them the reduction. Offer them an amount you think is fair and tell them that is your final offer.
It sold once it will sell again.

If the work required didn't affect the valuation then they have a cheek asking for any reduction! I'd call their bluff and say relisting if they haven’t exchanged by next week, if you sold within a week you definitely weren't over priced and I wouldn't have the hassle of getting the work done either.

Between now and Monday you can get the chimney work underway

I’d relist. We had a buyer mess us around for almost a year before we finally relisted - got more for the house and a totally smooth sale in the end with completely reasonable lovely buyers.

Original buyer came back a week before completion offering £30k more to let them buy the house - told them where to shove it!

Your house is in demand - don’t let them mess you around.

Relist ! The buyers sound like they would be always asking for more ! Good luck

In your situation I would absolutely relist on Saturday if they don't accept a reasonable discount (£3k say) by Friday 4pm. You'd probably not even need to tell your vendors as you'd get a new offer within 1-2 weeks. Disclose the chimney issue to new offers so that any new price is agreed on with that issue priced in.

Relist, after you’ve done the work.

Bugger that whole “relist on Monday”. You miss a whole weekend of Rightmove viewing.

Tell your agent to have it ready to push the List button at 4 pm on Friday. Your buyers offer can remain live while they think about it but who knows who is out there?

I’m just reading through the thread now and was waiting to get to the end to say exactly what the previous poster has, don’t wait until Monday! You lose an entire weekend of viewings which really matters because there are many people who can only view on Saturdays.

This situation has been going on for weeks, they get this evening to think about it and the house goes back on the market tomorrow!

@Pusstachio I mean this nicely but time to find your backbone. They are totally dicking you around.

You will have the work done and certified to the satisfaction of the solicitors before exchange. No discount. Instruction goes to the EA close of business to relist the property with open house next Saturday 14th.

If the second-highest sealed bid was for £7k less, but you’ve offered these buyers £8k off, why don’t you ask the estate agent to contact the second lot and ask if they’re still interested?

Thanks all- we’ve emailed asking for a call with the agent tomorrow to plan the relist. The ‘buyers’ if that’s what they even are haven’t had the basic courtesy to respond at all today.

It’s not just about money, they have proven themselves very difficult to work with and of course there are so many elements yet to negotiate.

We’ve put it to the agent that we want to plan the relist rather than giving the buyer a deadline or notice as they don’t seem to want to negotiate so much as dictate.

Honestly just relist it - or at least tell buyers the accept your offer or its being relisted this weekend
We had similar issue and soon as we said it can go back on market.next week and gave them 24hrs to decide they suddenly were happy to proceed at original price

Play hard ball no reduction now and back on the market sealed bid and pick someone else

I did suggest this on Tuesday and the agent said in his experience that rarely works and people just walk away

We've essentially made three offers and they have said no twice and blanked us. It’s not a negotiation if they won’t move at all. I suspect they think as they’re the first link in the chain they have all the power (somewhat misjudged when the house was in demand I think)

Get the work done (you will probably have it come up in someone else's survey) and refuse to give them any discount. Not a single penny. And get it relisted tomorrow afternoon ready for the weekend.

What's that phrase? FAFO

I am an agent (albeit in a different country) and your agent is being lazy and untruthful with you. Get it relisted by 2pm tomorrow and ask for GUARANTEES that someone is calling around everyone on their books. If there are no viewings over the weekend, you know that the agent is playing games with you. Don't even bother going back to the buyers. If they cannot be bothered to contact you, then assume it is not going ahead. Let them panic when they see that there are viewings. How much longer is your contract with the existing agent? If it were me, I would rather use another agent that is working for you and not looking at the easy option. The commission loss of 13k is nothing - so he is not fighting for you.

F them off- all too difficult. You will find another buyer.

There is no point selling to people like that. We wasted a year on similar buyers and in the end they pulled out. They sound like chancers and the fact they are now blanking you is very telling.
Agree with everyone else - relist tomorrow. Then blank the “buyer” if they question why!

If the work required didn't affect the valuation then they have a cheek asking for any reduction

Totally agree with this, your mistake was entering into negotiations in the first place with an issue which has no material bearing on the property’s value, they now think they have the upper hand, the fact they were also trying to get money off for a dripping tap tells you what type of people you are dealing with, red flags everywhere.

We had buyers like this previously - it's fortunate you are finding out now as they don't seem committed. They are highly likely to pull out just before exchange and at that stage it will be much worse. I bet they have "no completion no fee" lawyers so very little skin in the game. Relist and get buyers for whom your house is their dream home and are excited about their future lives there. The current buyers are chancers - ditch them before they do the dirty on you.

Ditch them. At the very least they should have responded saying they need time to think. They can’t afford it. Move on else they will mess you around further down the line

I do have their solicitor’s details, might see if they are no fee. They paid for an extra intensive survey, surveyor said he usually looks at houses 100 years older than ours.

How did it end up taking a year?! This is enlightening!