HELP! Due to exchange tomorrow. Buyers want to drop a further 25k. Is there anything we can do?

[MamaChris]

We accepted an offer 50k below asking price on our flat 3 months ago. Buyers have been awkward all the way, and now want to drop a further 25k, the day before we are due to exchange. We can't afford this, unless the next property in the chain takes the hit too, and we really don't think he will.

About to speak to agents, but does anyone have any advice? Is this likely to be a negotiating position or might they really pull out if we say no?

Scared.

The sale of my house fell through a few months back but thanks to the rental market doing well I've been able to rent it out.

I would say....stand your ground and don't budge one little bit- but only you know how badly you want to sell.

It depends where you are.rentals are not shifting either and are negotiable too.If you can afford a bit of a drop I would move on because you will probably not achieve more than that with a new buyer.Also letting it keeps you attached and you sound like you want rid.10k is more than enough though 25 is just ridiculous at this stage.

QuintessentialShadow - I think you need to get some advice on how to proceed, maybe try landlordzone? Even if rents have fallen in the area your tenant should not have taken it on herself to unilaterally reduce hers, I would be concerned about what that says regarding her character.

OP - I think most experienced landlords are willing to negotiate on price to secure trustworthy tenants, so bear that in mind whether you decide to become tenants or landlords! As a tenant I prefer to deal directly with long-time landlords, I would never rent from someone who had just moved out themselves. Besides their emotional attachment to your home, in the current market there is too great a risk of them being reposessed and making you suddenly homeless, plus they are less likely to have budgeted properly for repairs and maintenance. Obviously all that is a generalisation!

Good luck today, Mama C. it's a horrible position to be in. I agree that renting out your home isn't as easy as it seems - we thought about doing it when it looked like we may be gazundered, but the costs were actually quite high, and you end up taking on extra admin and responsibilities to a place you want to leave. But I really, really hope they back down and you get what you need.

good point Upwind. I guess those are questions we must ask the agents. What sort of reduction should I ask for in rental price? (Don't want to start a negotiation with something outlandishly stupid!).

Still waiting for EA to bother to turn up to work.

MamaChris - Where are you moving to?

Hi MamaC. How have things been today? Have been thinking about you and the awful situation you have found yourself in and hope you are getting somewhere

MamaC - any news? Hope you get sorted out today.

so. buyers have come down to 17.5k off. sellers won't budge, so we're going to try and sell and rent, if we can get buyers down to 15k.

but now our landlord (leasehold flat) has thrown a spanner in the works, and wants a deed of variation to the lease. might still all fall through

Swedes - moving to Cambridge

Have you told your seller that your buyer is forcing the price down, so it is a question of you having to pull out of the sale if they wont budge?

Every part of me screams don't do it, they are fuckers!! But, like others have said, if you can take a partial blow at least you can move on. It would be awful of you had to take less next time. It's very hard though.

I am hoping to exchange on a property next week depending on my survey. I can't imagine demanding a reduction the night before. I would feel really low.

That was a joke btw!

QS yes thy know that. Their agent is really annoyed with them, but they're stubborn.

MamaChris you will be near me. If there's anything I can do to help please let me know.

Am so with your prospective purchasers. I still don't think you should do business with them.

Say no.

You have got alternatives, and honestly, if you do rent out your property I promise you, you won't be emotionally attached, coz your hearts will be in your own home, where you next move to.

As I said before, neither me nor DH could sell our places before (negative equity situation) and rented for two years before ultimately buying a house again, and neither of us gave a second thought about lettting our flats once we'd made that decision. It was just a means to an end if you see what I mean.

Thinking of you!

Tell them 10k and not a penny more and give them the weekend to decide.Are there any other buyers registered with your agent who might be interested?

Agree with Noddyholder- never thought I'd be saying that! Excellent name.

If you feel it's the right thing to negociate, say 10k and if they don't agree to that you can always come up to 12.5k.

Fuckers

Whatever you decide to do, if you do move out and sell to the buggers, make sure you throw a coujple of kippers behind the bath panel

kippers. What I would do is look at your agreement about what you have to leave. Someone tried something like this with a friend of mine years ago, and she took everything she could. Not just the lightbulbs, but the light fixtures as well!

If you do sell to these people, buy your biggest removal man a jumbo Ginster's pie before inviting him to use your loo (after loading the last remaining box on the lorry) for the biggest shit Finsbury Park has ever seen. Tell him a £5 tip is all his if he fails to flush. I'm sure he won't refuse you, especially if you explain the circumstances.

'I would never rent from someone who had just moved out themselves. Besides their emotional attachment to your home, in the current market there is too great a risk of them being reposessed and making you suddenly homeless, plus they are less likely to have budgeted properly for repairs and maintenance. Obviously all that is a generalisation!'

Yes, a huge generalisation I would say, having moved out of house 2 years ago to accompany my dh abroad. Yes, I am emotionally attached to it, but go back once a year to take the tenants chocolates and have a look at the house and budget for repairs for the next year. The mortgage is paid from salary and the rent is held in a different account to maintain the house. All the servicing of items comes out of the rent before I get it from the Letting Agent, and any bills like the gardener, or having new windows put in, I pay direct, and obviously sort out buildings insurance etc myself. As far as I am aware, we are in no danger whatsoever of being repossessed, and my tenants have not had a rent rise this year, as I knew that oil for heating the house was expensive and as they are older people, I wanted them to be warm. What concerns me is that the house is lived in and warmed through...although I am again fortunate that we don't need the rent for the mortgage.

MamaC - work out how long it would take you to lose £25k if you rented it out...and think carefully.

My heart is not in my London house. It became a means to and end as soon as I moved and the tenants moved in.

Now all I want is for the market to recover so I can sell it.

well we've given in.

with our landlords now wanting a deed of variation on the lease (which would take 2 weeks at least), we said "ok, 20k off, but we exchange today and you deal with the deed of variation".

So that should be that... except... they've only just sent the deposit to their solicitors, so now we can't exchange till Monday, and must spend the whole weekend hoping they won't pull out.

I know we should have negotiated harder, or said no, but we couldn't face waiting all weekend. And now we have to anyway. We're soft idiots.

I think you've done the right thing, it could have been worse