about to be gazundered?

[BERGS2]

Guys -

just want to float this past to see how 'normal' it is regarded as:

We accepted an offer on our place about 6 weeks ago from a chain free buyer (just over 8% under asking)

We submitted our (very honest) house information through the solicitor - figuring it would be better to be upfront than her fine out further down the line - these included:

1) Longstanding settling (its very common in our area)
2) evidence of woodboring beetle (i.e. OLD woodworm holes in the floorboards)

All went very quiet for weeks until we got a load more q's about corgi certs building reg etc which we answered very swiftly about three weeks ago.

Now - i called our solicitor last week for an update & he informed us that there was noting left but her to return signed docs for us to proceed to exchange. Great news i think, as we've just about committed on a lovely rental place to start in two weeks time.

all good so far.....

Fast forward to this lunchtime - my missus takes a call from the EA asking if a surveyor can access the property tomorrow - to look at the evidence of woodworm....

I've now got the jitters about the sale - as i cant think of a logical reason as to why someone would hold off this sort of extra information survey unless they think it'll give ground for re-negotiation....

i'm now in two minds about signing up for our rental if our buyer is about to start playing silly bu66ers....

The EA assures us that shes just having this survey to put her mind at rest (the valuation has already been done) but i cant help but feel its all about to go a bit pear shaped...

So, guys, what you think?

as a further factor - the missus is 7 months pregnant - so if this is going to cause stress I need to deflect it completely away from her & miniBERGS...

[JustinP1]

You have the jitters and you are only moving into a rental!

They'll have the jitters too. I think they are just putting their mind at rest. For the problems that you are mentioning I would be getting my own independent survey too.

Just be strong in case there is a counter offer and say it is out of order to change the offer so late in the day.

[BERGS2]

JustinP1 said:

You have the jitters and you are only moving into a rental!

They'll have the jitters too. I think they are just putting their mind at rest. For the problems that you are mentioning I would be getting my own independent survey too.

Just be strong in case there is a counter offer and say it is out of order to change the offer so late in the day.

yeah you are probably right -

the listing on rightmove has reverted from "SOLD STC" to "under Offer" - and i've not managed to get hold of the EA to ask why yet...

It'll hopefully be fine - but as i say - right now its stress we really dont need!!

[King Herald]

Depends on how much they want to drop the price by. Do you have a figure you might accept?

Make your mind up beforehand, make a decision, then you can give them a flat 'Thanks, but no thanks' should they ask the question.

If you appear confident and determined, they may just crumble in the face of your overwhelming decisiveness.

[BERGS2]

King Herald said:

Depends on how much they want to drop the price by. Do you have a figure you might accept?

Make your mind up beforehand, make a decision, then you can give them a flat 'Thanks, but no thanks' should they ask the question.

If you appear confident and determined, they may just crumble in the face of your overwhelming decisiveness.

they've not yet said - and indeed may not - if its a case of £500 for treatment of something that crops up, then fair enough - if they want to drop their offer by thousands they'll get a firm fk off...

We'll put it up to let instead - but the though of a mortgage payment + rental + costs of all the new born paraphenalia for a month or two is not ideal

[VX Foxy]

Went through a similar experience 4 months ago.
Without going into detail, WE paid for a survey which the buyers wanted despite us knowing it was a waste of time. Very frustrating.
I took a pragmatic approach knowing that I didn't want to be finding another buyer. Contracts were supposed to be exchanged conditionally pending results of the survey. But the solicitor didn't exchange and the buyer tried gazunder us - I told them to FRO. Fortunately the sale went through. Our solicitor was an arse.
We went into rented but there was no way I would have committed to that before exchange.
My advice is to comply with the buyers requests as promptly as you can. Their requests seem reasonable. If no rectifications are required, there's no reason they should reduce their offer - but that doesn't mean they won't!
I'd focus on getting the place sold - you don't want to have to find another buyer do you?
Good luck, get it sold, and let us know how you get on

[chris_w]

Hi Bergs, we had this on our sale a couple of weeks ago. Buyer seemed very keen but her solicitor was a pain and threw up all sorts of stupid objections to the lease which they wanted the Freeholder to address. The sale started to drag and, at one point, she said she'd proceed in spite of the 'issues' (introduced by her own solicitor!) if we dropped the asking price by 10K! This got a swift and very firm 'no' from us, and a reminder that we'd already met her in the middle between bid and offer on the basis that it would be a very quick sale which was now not turning out to be the case.
We also were waiting to put down a deposit on a rental, I guess my advice here would be don't do it until you've exchanged contracts - a fair few of the agencies we dealt with actually wanted us to have exchanged before they'd even give us a contract to sign. Line up more than one rental you like, just to be sure.
Hope it turns out well with minimal stress, remember the buyers have already committed themselves financially and you could always hint that all the positive news on house prices this week have got you wondering if you accepted too low an offer...
Chris

[mas99]

The problem is that most damp injection and insect treatment companies will suck their teeth and slap a huge estimate in.

And most of that sort of thing is pointless (in my opinion). This time of year is however just the right time to see evidence of active beetle infection. They exit and fly in may/june so you would reasonably expect to see fresh frass and or beetles if you look now. If they come round I would be there looking over their shoulder for signs of anything active.

I've just (week before last) removed a floor which I knew to have dry rot in the joists - we found active beetles emerging from some of the joists as we were removing them.

[BERGS2]

Thanks for all the advice guys -

update on yesterday:

turned out the chap who came round last night was there to carry out a full structural survey.

Nice enough guy, but pointed out loads of 'flaws' with the house: Drainage/Electrics/Lack of building regs approval (despite us already highlighting these to the buyers solicitor )

Then the buyer turned up with her old man for a verbal report (none of with the EA had deigned to inform us of....)

Strikes me that to book a second survey this late in the day (the banks basic valuation survey was OK) is more than likely a negotiation tactic

So - where does that leave us? I've got a guy coming round tomorrow morning to sort the drains (at my expense) but this 'late survey' will likely throw up more grist for the solicitors to slowly exchange views on....

Now - I have a fallback position (due to having to work around the baby due date) that IF this sale fell through - we'd let the property out instead....

I found from chatting to the buyer that she works at a company i know - and i'm tempted (due to having absolutely useless EA & Solicitors) to just pop her a politely worded mail just detailing out our situation:

1) Most fundamentally (she knows this already) the wife is 7 months pregnant & i dont want this dragging on.
2) Her offer was acceppted on the basis of a quick sale.
3) If she is even considering pulling out, We will need to put the property up 'to let'

She seems like a nice enough girl, but the missus was in tears last night and the moment this starts to impact on the wellbeing of the little one is the moment I stop it.

Any thoughts?

[Busamav]

Its a good sign that she has invested further monies into the purchase of your property .

Its difficult , but try to remember that she wants to buy your property just as much as you want to sell it .

We had a similar situation where the buyer (a solicitor) pulled out on the day of exchange , then asking for a price drop.

[VX Foxy]

What are you actually worried about? The buyer is just being cautious - as she should be. If the survey brings up things that the buyer was previously unaware of, of course she's going to negotiate. I don't think you've done her any favours sorting out the drains 'at your expense', it's the kind of thing that would need sorting regardless.
With respect I don't think your wifes condition is relevant - certainly not to the buyer. But you may want to set some deadlines - although I would be concerned that any pressure would make your buyer even more jittery.
I guess it all depends how desperate you are to sell. If I were in your position I'd be bending over backwards to push the sale through and set the buyers mind at ease.
I wouldn't send that email. Try to let the agent do their job .

[BERGS2]

VX Foxy said:

What are you actually worried about? The buyer is just being cautious - as she should be. If the survey brings up things that the buyer was previously unaware of, of course she's going to negotiate. I don't think you've done her any favours sorting out the drains 'at your expense', it's the kind of thing that would need sorting regardless.
With respect I don't think your wifes condition is relevant - certainly not to the buyer. But you may want to set some deadlines - although I would be concerned that any pressure would make your buyer even more jittery.
I guess it all depends how desperate you are to sell. If I were in your position I'd be bending over backwards to push the sale through and set the buyers mind at ease.
I wouldn't send that email. Try to let the agent do their job .

fair points.

When i mentioned sorting the drains 'at my expense' i meant as opposed to (the surveyons suggestion) getting the 7 houses that feed to our drain to share the cost... I am bending over backwards to put the buyers mind at ease...

I think that the main issue is that we'd 'planned' the timings such that we'd not be doing anything in & around baby due date - and any hold ups push us closer towards that date....

with hindsight - we were a bit mental trying to move & prepare for the patter of tiny feet at the same time.

I'll hold out on sending the email - as for letting the estate agent do their job....

[V8mate]

BERGS2 said:

VX Foxy said:

What are you actually worried about? The buyer is just being cautious - as she should be. If the survey brings up things that the buyer was previously unaware of, of course she's going to negotiate. I don't think you've done her any favours sorting out the drains 'at your expense', it's the kind of thing that would need sorting regardless.
With respect I don't think your wifes condition is relevant - certainly not to the buyer. But you may want to set some deadlines - although I would be concerned that any pressure would make your buyer even more jittery.
I guess it all depends how desperate you are to sell. If I were in your position I'd be bending over backwards to push the sale through and set the buyers mind at ease.
I wouldn't send that email. Try to let the agent do their job .

fair points.

When i mentioned sorting the drains 'at my expense' i meant as opposed to (the surveyons suggestion) getting the 7 houses that feed to our drain to share the cost... I am bending over backwards to put the buyers mind at ease...

I think that the main issue is that we'd 'planned' the timings such that we'd not be doing anything in & around baby due date - and any hold ups push us closer towards that date....

with hindsight - we were a bit mental trying to move & prepare for the patter of tiny feet at the same time.

I'll hold out on sending the email - as for letting the estate agent do their job....

Give the EA an ultimatum - contracts exchanged by Friday or you're pulling out, renting the place for 6 months and won't ever return to him.

[VX Foxy]

V8mate said:

Give the EA an ultimatum - contracts exchanged by Friday or you're pulling out, renting the place for 6 months and won't ever return to him.

Cutting nose to spite face, maybe?

[VX Foxy]

BERGS2 said:

I think that the main issue is that we'd 'planned' the timings such that we'd not be doing anything in & around baby due date - and any hold ups push us closer towards that date....

with hindsight - we were a bit mental trying to move & prepare for the patter of tiny feet at the same time.

Haha, when ours arrived we had no bathroom and not much of a kitchen - his first baths were in the kitchen sink!


^ 3 weeks old

You know what they say about the best laid plans...

I'm sure you'll manage

Edited by VX Foxy on Wednesday 10th June 11:29

[V8mate]

VX Foxy said:

V8mate said:

Give the EA an ultimatum - contracts exchanged by Friday or you're pulling out, renting the place for 6 months and won't ever return to him.

Cutting nose to spite face, maybe?

In some instances, yes - but in this case the OP has said he wants 'calm' during the time of birth. Getting the house rented now and back to market four months after the birth will ensure that happens. Might even be worth a couple of bob more in 6 months

[Soovy]

Buyer is spending money on the transaction - good sign

If she gazuners you, tell her to f k off. On principle.

[VX Foxy]

V8mate said:

Might even be worth a couple of bob more in 6 months

...and that, as they say, is the rub!?

[VX Foxy]

Soovy said:

If she gazuners you, tell her to f k off. On principle.

What if something crops up in the survey?

[V8mate]

VX Foxy said:

Soovy said:

If she gazuners you, tell her to f k off. On principle.

What if something crops up in the survey?

OP has 6 months to get it sorted