My mother in laws house in Hertford is in the process of being sold, after agreeing a price the buyers have asked for a 5% reduction in what they pay as they believe the value of their investments and the value of the property they will be selling is in free fall.
The estate agents are saying that they believe this is not unreasonable and have seen and anticipate bigger falls still to come.
Does this seem fair, what would you do?

How much does she need to sell.

Call their bluff.

I think the phrase is “jog on then”.

My gut instinct would be to tell them to swivel, £ has dropped, which makes property in the capital cheap for foreign investors, SE house prices are going nowhere (IMO).

Maybe politely tell them that, and see if they come back with an actual reason rather than just ‘we want to pay less and brexit is an excuse’.

How desperate is she to sell?
She could call their bluff and refuse the offer but then again the sale might fall through.

My first thoughts would be ‘do one’ – if they’ve made an offer and going through the motions they’ve already emtionally invested in the property so are likely to proceed if your parents say no.
Do they need to sell quick?
Was there much interest in the property when it was up for sale?

If the buyers are even remotely into in the purchase stage such as having surveys done then I’d hold steady. If it’s just an offer I’d tell the agent to put it back on the market. Property prices aren’t in freefall. There will be some fluctuations but prices will be going up. They still aren’t building enough and look set to miss the election promises of new house building now

I’d suggest they’re trying it on. If they really can’t afford it they’ll have to start looking for a cheaper house.

Contrary to the other EA related post the EA would rather take a slight hit on commission than have to do a whole load more work re-marketing it.

Nobody knows what’s gonna happen to house prices, but I know Hertford and certainly wouldn’t expect much drop in demand there.

Did she get a good price in the first place?

MIL needs to get this completed for her healths sake, she is no longer able to live independently at home and is now in a care home elsewhere and although able to pay for that from savings and investments the sale will allow her closure and significantly reduce the stress she feels. This is a woman who worked at the top of her very stressful profession for many years and now needs to live with a minimum of stress and anxiety to allow her to have health in her later years.

This is gazundering, presumably they’ve spent a bit on surveys, have they got a house to sell? If this sale falls through what happens to theirs?

5per-f***ing-cent?
They can bide right on.

But did she get a particularly high price in the first place?

If surveys done etc.then jog on very politely. If they do, offer the discount if you really need to sell.

It’s up to you but remember a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush!

accept let them do the survey then annoy them by refusing it 😈

In my opinion they’re playing on Brexit and I guess fair play, however like you say she needs to sell to reduce stress (do they know that?).

If she can afford the 5% reduction, sounds like it is, then is it financially worth waiting for longer and prolonged stress? For her/you to decide, not us.

It’s a balance between principle and pragmatism

Raise the price by 5% for the same reason, due to uncertainty many people wont be putting their house on the market. See what they say to that. If they agree to the rise, your MIL can agree to the drop.

“Sorry, but the price has just gone up 5%”…

Say to them funny,you have had a better offer and if you want to match it the lets continue.

If I got wind that the seller needed to sell, I absolutely would do this, I’m afraid.

Rachel

allthegear – Member
If I got wind that the seller needed to sell, I absolutely would do this, I’m afraid.

Rachel

And that’s what douchebags do.

Can I ask how much the house is?

Ask the agent to take a % out of his commision – it’s their “buyers”, and if he wants the deal to go through he’ll have to take a % of the hit too. So say house worth £200k, agents % is 2%, tell him to swallow half a percent at least. Then ask the buyers to split the difference – drop 2%, they increase by 2%,and the deals back on with little effect and your mum still gets the sale.

Or tell them to do one. They could afford it last week, and if they want to find somewhere else, their investments will continue to drop,possibly faster than house prices, and they’ll be worse off…..

Prices are all made up by estate agents anyway so Important not to get fixated on it having a value until it’s in the bank. What was the next best offer? Ask them if they want to match the best and then decide.

Just going through something similar myself…in the process of selling my house, was due to complete next week…buyers have said now they want to postpone to see the dust settle.

They’re coming around for another viewing tomorrow and I have a sneaky suspicion this will be their next move…they had already negotiated 5% based on them being cash buyers which was hard to stomach but if they ask for anymore I’m ready to flip!! They can go screw themselves and jog on!!

With the FTSE 100 coming back up to 6300, ££ strengthening, interest rates looking to remain low, banks continuing with existing lending criteria and demand on housing grater than supply my gut feeling is the market may fall very slightly but medium/long term contine to be stable.

The estate agents are saying that they believe this is not unreasonable

…because they’d rather have 95% of their fee now rather than 100% later (assuming they’re not on a fixed fee).

the value of their investments and the value of the property they will be selling is in free fall

Yeah right … I’d politely decline.

The house is a better investment right now than UK cash IMO.

Unless the house is missing a roof or similar then you can honestly sell a house in Hertford in one weekend. So they’re either misguided or trying it on. Out of interest who are the EA?

[quoteJust going through something similar myself…in the process of selling my house, was due to complete next week…buyers have said now they want to postpone to see the dust settle[/quote]

If you were due to complete next week have you not already exchanged? If you have then are there not some nasty penalties laying in wait for you buyers (in your favour).

Just to add to my earlier post since your reply: Personally I think prices will be stable and go up long term so would tell them to “do one” as others put it but I can understand if times are stressful and she wants to sell. In that case I’d see it as an offer and at the very least counter offer.

Nah, they’re trying it on.

Send ’em on their way.

I don’t want to give to many personal details away and cause the lady concerned further stress, suffice to say it’s a detached property on Queens Rd in Hertford and the estate agents are Shepherds.

As nasty as it sounds my reply would be “house will be going back on the market on at 10am on Monday AT the original asking price”.

Give them the weekend to decide. I predict it would be an expensive mistake for them to pull out now.

If you wanted to be a walk over accommodating you could meet in the middle at 2.5% as a gesture of good will OR say you have the solicitor keep 5% for 3 months and if the market drops x% then they get it, if not then you get it. Mortgage company might night like that though.

OK maybe not sellable in a weekend but in that road it’ll be a ‘highly desirable’ (and expensive) property. 5% is a fair bit of wedge mucker so all depends on the urgency. I highly recommend speaking with the many other local EAs before you decide anything..

Friend of ours has just had their sale fall through, even though it was all positive a few days ago. Expensive property in Poole.

Buyers were not confident with what is about to happen to the world of money in a post Brexit era.

Banks in Singapore announce this morning that they are suspending loans on UK property – too risky at current prices apparently.

The buyers’ ‘investments’ are not in freefall as the FTSE is back above the level it was at before thursday.
Tell them to stick it.

Sounds like they are using the situation, Brexit and your MILs health, as bargaining tools. Which ironically, makes them the tools.