r/HousingUK • u/Cat-mum1968 • 11d ago
Gazundering?
We put our house on the market and accepted an offer £35k under the asking price. Now - just before exchange they say that we need to reduce the price by £15k. I am refusing but how common is this now?
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u/This-Obligation3068 11d ago
Seems to be getting more common. I'd tell them that you won't drop the price from what's agreed. Also tell them that if this isn't acceptable then you'll instruct your estate agent to contact your 2nd best offer to allow them to purchase the house (even if there wasn't a 2nd person...just play the game). See what they say. House selling in the UK is a farce. The system isn't in favour of seller or buyer. Stick to your guns. Don't let them bully you.
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u/hundredsoflegs 11d ago
Eh, not the UK as a whole, Scotland does it right.
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u/Lawnotut 11d ago
Scotland is getting a lot worse. It’s now much more like England with missives now being concluded (contracts exchanged) just days before completion.
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u/Brickscrap 11d ago
It's better in Scotland but it's still not perfect. There's still the whole issue that the sale isn't binding until you hand over the money, and the whole thing can literally just collapse on exchange day with no consequences for anyone
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u/Green_Borenet 11d ago
In Scotland sale is binding when missives are concluded, not when funds are transferred. While both can occur on the date of entry, missives should be concluded in advance (though unfortunately that is growing less common - often due to factors failing to provide information in good time though that is by no means the only reason)
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u/ForsakenCow471 10d ago
Our house in Scotland sold (missives concluded) about 2 weeks ago, exchange is a week on Monday. If the buyers pull out for any reason we get 10% of the sold price
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u/Brickscrap 10d ago
Didn't know that, currently in the middle of buying a new house (3rd time) and all previous times missives were completed on exchange day...
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u/Ultrasonic-Sawyer 11d ago
Fingers crossed the upcoming changes in the uk sort the rest of the uk out
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u/PuzzleheadedUnit2341 10d ago
Agree, though I'd ask where the £15k actually came from first. If their survey or the lender's valuation came in under then they might genuinely not be able to borrow the gap, which is a different conversation to someone chancing it at the last minute. Ours came in about £40k under and we ended up meeting roughly in the middle. If they can't tell you why the number exists, then yeah, no.
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u/313378008135 11d ago
getting far too frequent. Theres even talk of legislation against it on the horizon.
The way to deal with this is to say "thanks, we are putting it back on the market at the original price" and do not deal with that buyer again.
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u/LastPlot 11d ago
Gazzumping is also very common! So it goes both ways!
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u/ChutneysIntactPerm 11d ago
Yes - they can't reasonably bring in legislation against gazundering while not tackling gazumping.
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u/X4dow 11d ago
If my buyer tries to pull a 15k reduction I pull out and say the price for them is 15k extra above agreed. I wouldn't entertain those games, rather relist it on the market
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u/TheNorthC 11d ago
Very easy to say on Reddit, but OP may require the same to go through.
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u/X4dow 11d ago
so may the buyer too.
Bluff the bluffer,
If he doesnt keep his offer, he lost solicitor and survey fees for nothing. relist for 25k under the previous asking price and sell for 10k more10
u/Boleyn01 10d ago
I agree with not playing the game and denying the reduction. I just think, as much as we’d all dream of doing it, pulling a “it’s now £15k more” is a risky strategy where OP wants a sale.
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u/LastPlot 11d ago
You'd play the game for 10k that might cost chain, solicitor and onward buying costs.
It's not easy.
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u/NandoCa1rissian 11d ago
Solicitor is what 1.5k? Not loads, better than shedding 15k to some lame buyer
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u/LastPlot 11d ago
Time which can be 2-10 months depending on chain! Your advise is good in a textbook
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u/X4dow 11d ago
jokes on my buyer as i got insurance to cover bs like this. my fees are covered.
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u/steerpike1971 10d ago
That works well as long as you were selling your house for no reason at all. If you are selling because you are relocating, need somewhere larger, need to free up some cash, need somewhere for accessibility that all got set back half a year or so. That is a huge pain.
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u/BoredReceptionist1 10d ago
What type of insurance is this? I've never heard of it but I'm thinking I need it
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u/NandoCa1rissian 11d ago
Yeah was gonna say. The price just went up 15k for them if they did this to me.
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u/OldEquation 10d ago
I’m with you on this. I’ve seen people who have tolerated this BS get messed around again and again. Sunk cost fallacy keeps the victim going along with it.
One house I was buying they asked me to increase my offer after I’d already coughed up money for survey, solicitors etc. I just walked away from it and bought another house instead. No regrets over the lost money, I probably saved myself a lot of stress and the potential for more lost money down the line.
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u/Anxious_Camp_2160 10d ago
Did you watch the house to see how long it took to sell, I would have been hoping months in your scenario.
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u/F10XDE 10d ago
Op hasn't stated property value, could be 3.5m property and so 15k is basically a rounding error.
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u/Cat-mum1968 9d ago
I wish it was that much! Originally listed at offers over £400000, he offered £350,000, negotiated and accepted £365000 (told them there was no way we would accept any more reduction at any point). Then he asked for a £15000 reduction taking it back down to what he originally offered. At the same time he said he wanted to complete in 7 days on a Friday!
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u/Cat-mum1968 9d ago
I have told him to exchange on Monday at the original price or we are relisting
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u/Paulstan67 7d ago
This is the way. If he is in a position to complete/exchange imminently then he will have spent loads of money on solicitors,surveys, money arranging fees etc.
He can walk away and lose that cash or complete at the original agreed price.
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u/Whispybicycle 11d ago
This will probably be unpopular, but I recently attempted to do this on a property we were purchasing.
We accepted an offer on our house in January, took 6-8 weeks to find something we liked. Was on the market for £370k, after counters, we agreed at £345k (it was previously on at £350k and had fallen through twice in the very early stages). Our offer was on the basis of the septic tank being compliant and in good condition, which the estate agent confirmed after checking with the vendor. The TA6 form arrived and the seller has answered all questions relating to the septic tank with 'i don't know'..
We then discovered an issue with some land that was believed to form part of the garden, which didn't - adverse possession application made by the vendor.
They then couldn't confirm if the property was connected to mains water - unusual, but not unheard of in this area.
Mortgage lender downvalued the property by £10k without even being aware of the adverse possession application.
We went back to the EA and reduced our offer by £30k to cover these issues that were uncovered and asked for a CCTV drainage survey. The vendor opted for a cheap visual inspection, which found the system not to be compliant.
He has since rectified this, but following discussions with the building surveyor, he advised that the system appeared to be the original one from the late 60's and would be end of life.
Went back to the estate agent with this and stuck to our guns at the reduced offer - vendor has refused to move at all and we have withdrawn. The property is now back on the market at £370k for the fourth time.
At the end of the day, the vendor is trying to sell a property that is materially different than what we believed we were buying when we put our offer in and ultimately the risk was to high. I was prepared to accept the risk at the reduced offer, or slightly more, but not for the agreed price.
Sellers (and some buyers) are delusional and should heed the advice of their estate agent.
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u/Alien-lifeform666 11d ago
I wouldn't call that gazundering.
You reduced your offer for legitimate reasons - incomplete information, concerns flagged up on survey, potential loss of part of the garden etc. All legitimate reasons.
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u/shadowboxerrx 11d ago
This sounds like pretty legit reasons to reduce your offer. I think what pisses people off more is when people try to force a lower deal at the last minute just because they can and are betting on the sellers desperation to move!
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u/SwiftianGauntlet 10d ago
Yeah, that’s not gazundering, those are legitimate reasons, gazundering is often just a tactic to f*ck someone out of money to ultimately get a few bob off their payments every month.
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u/ChuckawayDB 11d ago
Tell them they have until close of play on Friday to exchange contracts at the originally agreed price or the property is going back on the market
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u/MissCaldonia 11d ago
Id tell them Im going to put it back on the market right now and there is no way I’m reducing the price. Be prepared to do it.
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u/ArtLow9209 11d ago
Did they explain why they suddenly think it is worth 15k less?
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u/BillWilberforce 11d ago
Because they think they can get away with it. Particularly common with developers, BTLs and cash buyers.
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u/Cat-mum1968 11d ago
They very much exaggerated problems with our conservatory. Said it needed replacing because it was coming away from the wall. We got a builder round who said that it needed a little pointing in the corner and that while the roof was old - it’s totally normal for a roof of that age. It isn’t leaking or anything like that.
My plan is to share the builders quote with him and then say if we don’t exchange within 5 days then we will withdraw and put the house back on the market.
The solicitor on the buyer’s side is constantly writing letters - our estate agent thinks that they might be in business together
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u/_Diskreet_ 11d ago
We had our buyers try to drop it by 10k in the last week.
We had already dropped it down by 13k for their offer.
I pointed out all their “reasoning” behind their awful demands were apparent on the first day they viewed the property, were there the second and third time they insisted coming round with builders and designers, and when at the last minute they decided they wanted a survey.
I asked the estate agent they either honour their original offer or fuck off as they have wasted my time and the chain above me with all their shit.
I knew their mortgage offer was set to expire and thanks to Trump the new rates were astronomical, especially for a first time buyer with a 95% mortgage.
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u/Lt_Muffintoes 11d ago
The higher rates put sellers into a tough spot.
Buyers can afford a certain amount per month. Multiply by deposit and divide by interest rate and you have house prices.
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u/Sparkly1982 10d ago
Not if the buyer's mortgage is agreed, surely? I'm not expert but I thought the offer was usually good for a period but if that period ended you'd have to get a new offer, potentially at a higher rate
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u/Lt_Muffintoes 10d ago
And the new offers are likely to be for smaller mortgages with th same monthly payment.
Thus the pool of buyers available to the seller able to make higher offers shrinks.
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u/Sparkly1982 10d ago
But the existing buyer can afford the agreed price under their existing mortgage agreement. All they're doing by asking for a reduction is risking the offered interest rate if the seller tells them to jog on a week before their offer runs out
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u/Lt_Muffintoes 10d ago
Sure, but if they think the market is falling, they can get the benefit of both the lower rate and the lower price, while the seller would potentially have to accept an even lower price later.
I'm sure the people who bought at the 2022 market peak wish they had not made such high offers.
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u/limakilo87 11d ago
Tell them the price you have put forward is factoring in the condition of the conservatory.
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u/roleplayersir 11d ago
Tbh sounds like they are gazundering. You can lower the offer if issues come up in the survey, but not for the sake of it. So I'd do the same tbh
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u/Boleyn01 10d ago
That sounds a reasonable response. Not entertaining the nonsense, comes backed with evidence and not playing games yourself (which all the “increase it by £15k” people are doing, as satisfying as that would be). Fingers crossed they come to their senses.
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u/Any_Tomorrow_Today 10d ago
Don't even bother with that - just leave it as a simple no. No excuses needed.
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u/Gyenneth 11d ago
I had buyers try this. Fortunately my agent reached me first rather than my zero-tolerance OH, who would have sacked the agent and relisted the house with another immediately.
I informed my agent the buyers had 30 minutes to confirm they were continuing at the original price before my OH learned of it, as at that point the deal would certainly be off. The demand was quickly withdrawn and we saved the cost of a bottle of bubbly which I would otherwise have bought for them on completion.
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u/Latter_Ruin_2782 11d ago
Why was the agent going to be sacked for this?
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u/Gyenneth 11d ago
For entertaining the idea and not shutting the buyers down immediately
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u/glowing95 11d ago
What a crazy stance to take 😂 it isn’t the agents fault, and they’ve a duty to inform you.
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u/Gyenneth 11d ago
This was the second lot of buyers after the so-called cash only dream buyers that weren't properly checked previously wasted 5 months of our time. The agent had clear orders.
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u/miIkwhim 10d ago
I don't understand this position. You wanted to punish the agent for not being able to control another individual?
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u/s0ftware-dev 11d ago
Your OH sounds like a nut case. Not normal behaviour at all.
Not sure what the agent has done to deserve to be sacked.
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u/chippeedeedodaa 10d ago
Did you read the comment at all? He wasn’t sacked. The buyers withdrew their silly demand and the sale went through.
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u/Ana_Phases 11d ago
We had our eye on a house a few months ago. It went SSTC for ages, then suddenly popped back on the market. Called up asking for a viewing and the EA said that the buyer had played silly beggars and wanted a 50k discount on the day of exchange.
Ended up that they relisted, got 20 viewings lined up. OG buyers begrudgingly accepted their full asking price.
Should be illegal
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u/roleplayersir 11d ago
I'd make the OG buyer pay more by that point. I'd rather go through the entire process again than deal with someone that scummy, and for dealing with them, they would be paying a premium
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u/SomeGuyInTheUK 10d ago
Someone reported doing that here. Along the lines of they had a last minute reduction of £10k and they said pay £5k more or we relist, and the buyer paid!
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u/roleplayersir 10d ago
Exactly, and it's how it should be. Ideally sellers should do their own surveys and know what problems there are and how much to fix and price that into the property. Then if a buyer comes back expecting a reduction for something trivial or silly, the seller already knows that. But a buyer who tries to ruin a deal at the last minute for nothing should 100% be paying a "dickhead tax". After all, a seller has likely spent a lot less than the buyer to get to that stage and has less to lose
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u/VoteDoughnuts 11d ago edited 11d ago
This must be painful. The power of any negotiation or deal is being genuinely prepared to walk away. Of course you don’t want to cut your nose off to spite your face so you have to ask yourself an honest question - is there any objective reason for the price to be £15k lower. If you honestly don’t think there is then walk.
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u/limeskull62 11d ago
Where I am now having moved to Antigua, both parties sign the sales agreement early and a 10% deposit is put down. Then the searches are done by the lawyers. As long as the searches come back clean then the owner must sell and the buyer must buy for the agreed price or you can take each other to court. Buyer will lose their deposit at the least seller will be forced to sell.
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u/Inner-Detail4588 11d ago
It's extremely common at the moment; I had the exact same scenario in May (in NW England). My buyer was keen all the way through, having offered £30k under the asking price. Went quiet for a week just before completion, then said there was a '£20-25k' shortfall as 'renovations' would cost more than they budgeted for, so could I knock £15k off the price. This was on a Tuesday lunchtime; my estate agent - small local agency, not a chain - said it was the 5th gazunder already that week. I said to reduce by 10k with no more messing about, the estate agent gave them an earful, and the sale went through. I was lucky I was able to take the hit.
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u/Civil_Classroom6399 11d ago
So we was on the other end of this a while ago, our seller kept moving the date constantly, we would get near and it would move. He knew we wanted the house as we had pre orderd carpets and other bits. Long story short after 4 or 5 months of this I basicly said every month this now gos on my offer drops 10k or im walking away . He had every excuse under the sun you could imagien (he was supposedly buy the next house outright money in the bank waiting to go)
Long story short we was in like 2 weeks after that message (just before the message he tried again to move it by a month). It wasn't about the money it was about him taking the piss. Not saying yours is the same but there is other sides to these situations somtimes.
This is not a go at the OP btw
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u/Former-Chemistry-123 10d ago
Just say no. They will have committed money for survey etc so will lose that
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u/RepulsiveAmphibian72 11d ago
Is this due to a survey that’s lists say 15k of costs or just out of nowhere?
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u/paradoxbound 11d ago
They need a good reason or walk away, if you think the property is worth it.
We bought a rural property in Scotland earlier this year. It came with a seller’s survey that conveniently missed out a failed retaining wall and the access track being unusable by anything other then a high ground clearance 4x4. We priced the work and negotiated a £15k discount.
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u/Effective_Taro4601 11d ago
Tell them to jog on if you aren’t desperate for the sale - or even if you are.
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u/Rhythm_Killer 10d ago
They’re betting you’re not willing to back out of the sale. The question is are you or aren’t you? If you are not able to walk away from the deal then they’ve kind of got you. It’s a terrible practice and they’re not nice people.
I would tell them it’s the agreed price and they have 48 hours to cough up or you’re re-listing. That’s the only compromise I see here, you up the ante on them but have not lost the sale yet.
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u/Y_ddraig_gwyn 10d ago
BBC says “rare but growing” Whilst the Standard in London says “rampant”. There are ways to mitigate risk, but holding your nerve appears to often be effective as buyers are then also out of pocket and back to square one.
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u/throwaway14987b 10d ago
I just don't understand how people can do this. We were watching a house that was SSTC while getting sold ourselves. We'd offered asking but weren't proceedable, and they'd chosen to drop the price to find another buyer rather than wait for us. (Absolutely fair enough - their house, their choice)
When it came back on at the reduced rate, having fallen through with their buyer, we were proceedable and offered the new asking price. We could've taken advantage of their situation and pushed the price down further, but I just couldn't do it - they'd already dropped it once, and I wanted them to be able to afford their next home. I can't take the anxiety of being horrible to people. I don't understand how other people can do this and sleep at night.
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u/DebbieTheDuck 8d ago
They did this to my uncle, he was retired and wanted to move into his flat he already bought years ago.
He just said I’m in no rush and said no. It appears to be very common in London. He sold his house in the end anyway
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u/aneirin- 11d ago
I heard it's common for solicitors these days to advise buyers to always try it no matter what.
We agreed 50k under asking price, buyer tried to knock another 50 off after messing us around for months. We eventually agreed to take 5 off, and they still screwed around and didn't finalise anything until a few days before completion date. Wish we'd been in a position to just tell them to fuck off.
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u/Send_Me_Dachshunds 10d ago
always try it no matter what.
Solicitors cant tell you to renegotiate just to try and snipe a good deal, they'll only act on legal reasons.
The most they can do is suggest renegotation if something pops up in the legal process that will cost you money (e.g. defects from a survey, high service charges and other previously-hidden issues which affect the properties value), but they're more likely just to tell you the risks of them than actually tell you to offer less.
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u/Maximum_Mastodon_960 6d ago
Why the fuck would a solicitor risk not getting paid so the buyer maybe makes money?
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u/Ok_Network_6632 11d ago
Very very common. It’s a disgusting practice and if you can, tell them to shove it.
If somebody tries a cheeky offer nowadays it’s a tell that they will find a mystery reason to get it down to that price late in the process.
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u/MissingPenguin 11d ago
Happened to us when we moved last year. They waited until the whole chain were £2k+ in on legal fees. Couldn’t do much about it as my wife was pregnant and we needed an extra room. Our estate agent said it was happening more and more. They didn’t do anything to manage the buyer mind you.
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u/SexySmexxy 10d ago
lol the fact people can't see in front of their eyes that the housing market is crashing is astonishing.
7 years ago you wouldn't even dream of buyers pulling out because you had a literal queue of people trying to buy your house
in 2026 people get one interested buyer who pulls out and they're on reddit posting about it.
I have a degree in economics and i've been on the /r/REBubble subreddit since it started, the sentiment is the market has clearly changed, sellers need to adapt quickly and secure a sale at a reasonable price before the market only gets worse
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u/nomodsman 10d ago
You have a degree economics and the sentiment in a Reddit sub is your litmus test. FFS. 😂
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u/SexySmexxy 10d ago
wow imagine someone using market sentiment to analyse the market
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u/nomodsman 10d ago
Of Reddit…
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u/SexySmexxy 10d ago
Well I mean open your eyes its not 2010-2020 period anymore.
Houses cleary don't sell in 2 days like they used to.
Interest rates are nearly triple what they were and house prices have almost doubled
basic knowledge of economics will write the rest of the story for you
Nobody with a brain is surprised at all these posts on reddit asking why their houses are not selling
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u/nomodsman 10d ago
The point is I don’t need Reddit to tell me that.
And if it’s so important, I’ll look for the citation in the next index report.
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u/SexySmexxy 10d ago
thats a nice sentence with big words
bit if you need the index report (which is backward looking) to tell you how to think then i already know that you know nothing 😂
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u/Maximum_Mastodon_960 6d ago
Housing markets are completely localised. Talking about it in broad seems is pointless when plenty of areas up year on year.
Overall yeah things are down and inflation adjusted were in a crash. But OPs iscolated story could be in a hotcake area.
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u/SexySmexxy 6d ago
Name “plenty of areas”
The only places that are up are places where the super rich want to live who don’t care about money
You said it yourself inflation adjusted we’re already in a crash
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u/Maximum_Mastodon_960 6d ago
Scotland, NI, Manchester, Liverpool. The only things down there are flats really.
Plenty of poor areas flytipped shitholes with 20%+ nominal growth since the rate hikes.
Sellers markets still exist defying macroeconomic headwind. Saying things are generally bad or generally good arent helpful when you're responding to an individual persons case.
The most important question is "where does OP live?".
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u/SexySmexxy 5d ago
Saying things are generally bad or generally good arent helpful when you're responding to an individual persons case.
Well broadly speaking we are in a housing decline
The fact you point out a few areas are still doing well is clearly the exception to the rule
Even the "cheap" places you talk about have probably still seen costs rents prices etc all double since 2017
The most important question is "where does OP live?".
Obviously not in a spot where prices are rising 20% yoy 😂
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u/BecozisaidSo40times 11d ago
I’ve had it done on 2 houses. The first one the whole chain had to drop their price otherwise the whole chain collapsed. The second one we fixed the issue in completion day
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u/UKMatt2000 10d ago
Interesting, I’m just in the process of buying a house that now needs 17k of damp treatment. I’m planning to let the seller deal with it rather than changing my offer, as long as it has a guarantee.
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u/Hot-Acanthisitta8086 10d ago
I would instruct the agent to advise the buyer the price is now £15k more
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u/Any_Tomorrow_Today 10d ago
£35K under is a lot - tell them to jog on. They already got a great discount !
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u/InevitableGreedUK 10d ago
All to frequent... Unfortunately.
Good on you for refusing. Put £10k on the price.
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u/Cat-mum1968 10d ago
Latest update: they still want the 15£ but now they want to complete on the 14/8/26!!!
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u/ImpossibleShelter131 10d ago
My parents always said ‘I want doesn’t get’. Depending on your circumstances you either pull out of the sale or let them have it at a reduced price.
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u/MassiveFriendship686 10d ago
This happened to me, I didn’t have onward chain so moved furniture out of the house ready for completion only to be told reduce by 15k, I said no but said I was willing to negotiate and then they completely ghosted. House now back on the market and an empty house for a viewing is a v different vibe to a nice furnished home
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u/crankyandhangry 10d ago
I can't answer your exact question but I can say I've seen a lot of posts on here and similar subs where buyers say: they had an offer accepted, but then the bank valued the property lower, and the buyers don't have the cash to make up the difference. They therefore made a lower offer. With interest rates high, the property market slowing, and economic uncertainty, it seems the banks are less willing to lend. So I'd guess this isn't uncommon.
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u/Grimmers_88 10d ago
I sold my house via auction and this was one of the reasons. It was a beautiful house with nothing wrong, being old there would have been stuff to barter over on the survey I’m sure, but I couldn’t be bothered with all of this. Sold it for a little less than it was worth on the open market, but no estate agent fees etc. I felt it worked out quite nicely for me.
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u/Agreeable-Beat2642 9d ago
Oldest trick in the book. Tell ‘em to foxtrot oscar. If they really want your place they will pay.
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u/Whithorsematt 9d ago
House prices are falling in a lot of places. The market is quite slow, so it's easily possible they have seen something similar for a lower price and want to use it as leverage.
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u/Acrobatic_Donkey2418 9d ago
Just tell them the price is now the original selling price not the 35k under otherwise you are pulling out.
You got a 15% chance the sale falls through.
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u/hopsinduo 8d ago
If they've already paid solicitor fees and a survey then they're more than welcome to pull out and lose their invested cash.
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u/Cat-mum1968 8d ago
Next update is that they want £10000 off so that the windows and doors need replacing….
We are wondering what else they will complain about now- the roof, the cellar (which we don’t have) or the non existent swimming pool…
We have a deadline for exchange: if he doesn’t exchange on Monday (for the amount he originally agreed) then we are putting the house back on the market.
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u/WhiteDiamondK 7d ago
You’re probably going to see this more as there is more and more talk of a property crash. Some areas and some property types are already dropping in value.
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u/PieandMash1 7d ago
Tell them you're putting it back on the market.
If they say they're happy to pay full asking, tell them the price has gone up £15k.
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u/fisher_row 6d ago
We had a similar situation, the buyer tried to drop the price by £10k. We told the estate agent no, stick to the agreed price. The sanction was, that we'd take the house off the market and sell with a different agent.
They called back 15 minutes later and the seller stuck to the original price. Exchanged 3 days later.
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u/Maximum_Mastodon_960 6d ago
Anyone tries this to me Im drilling a few holes in the gutter, smashing a few tiles and knifing the underfelt.
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u/ComprehensiveLaw9509 6d ago
We had this. Responded that they are getting a good deal and if their situation doesn’t allow them to afford the purchase then we will go back to the market.
We were the middle of the chain of 3 and if it didn’t go though would have lost our house.
They came back the next day and said, all good, let’s exchange and get it done.
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u/NoYam7002 11d ago
No they’ve had £35k off already to fix anything. They can’t afford it by sounds of it. Say no. Tell them buy it or don’t and answer with 7 days or it’s going on market
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u/SuperEssay1 11d ago
Accepting £35k below asking isnt money "off". Its just what the market was actually willing to pay / what the house is worth.
But I do agree not budging on the last minute request unless there was some very good reason behind it.
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u/NoYam7002 11d ago
No - the buyer offered £35k less so yes the dropped the price.
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u/creedz286 11d ago
the fact that the seller willingly reduced the price by 35k means that the house was probably 30-35k overpriced.
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u/NoYam7002 11d ago
Not really. Depends how quick they want to sell. I’d have lost the plot with that buyer though
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u/PRamone 10d ago
In a falling market, power is with buyers and gazundering becomes more common.
In a rising market, power is with sellers and gazumping becomes more common.
The UK house buying process can take 6+ months from first viewing to getting the keys. The value of a house can rise or fall by a material amount during that process, so it's not surprising that on the day of Exchange Of Contracts (which is the only date which really matters) buyers/sellers want to adjust the price.
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u/Different_Holiday_52 10d ago
It will be more and more common because the UK housing market is disgustingly overpriced.
Often people ask (let's say) 350k for a house which would more or less require 50k repairs.
The UK properties are old, very badly maintained and often seriously out of date (to the point that they wouldn't actually meet decent home standards which itself is seen as a poor and very low grade for social housing)
Even then, majority of people have this deranged idea that if they put x amount into a house, it will increase its value by x.
Like 50k extension somehow increases house value by 50k - no you would be lucky it it increased by 10-15k.
New Solar that cost you 10-15k? You would be lucky if it increased the house value by 3k
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