What did you haggle for with your house?

[condor]

illmonkey said:

condor said:

I bought mine for the full asking price way back in 1986 - did try to knock some money off but the seller said no.
Come moving day, I turn up with the keys, moving van and small army of helpers and there's still loads of the owner's stuff being loaded up to go elsewhere. I ended up with quite a lot of his tat ( washing up bowl, bathroom fittings etc.).

When I sell my house I'll be wanting to leave quite a lot behind - it will be too much hassle to move it. You could ask if he intends leaving certain white goods behind as a matter of course.

Ah, then don't worry about it, let the new owners have to deal with your crap. It's as bad a fly tipping.

Obviously I'd mention what I was planning to leave first to some people ( especially first time buyers) having curtain and other wall fittings left behind is a great help. I'd expect kitchen white goods would also be welcome.

[Salt flat rat]

When I received the brochure from the agent I noticed that the asking price of £850 k was a sticker stuck over the original price of £995,000. I bid £795,000 and we settled on £825,000. Because they were downsizing I bought some nice antique furniture and carpets etc. from them. On the day we moved in there was not one item left in the house. They'd even taken the ceiling light fittings, never mind the antiques !

[Shirt587]

Good point on what gets left: we moved in to find no plugs in any of the sinks, two lightbulbs in the whole house, and half the light fittings were missing the bit of plastic that screws on to hold lampshades. Mostly because we hadn't thought to agree they'd be left...

[MrMoonyMan]

Oh yes, what was left...

After the sale had been agreed I got a call from the agent to say I could have the new washing machine, spin dryer, cooker, fridge and freezer for £100 if I wanted.

[anonymous-user]

Salt flat rat said:

When I received the brochure from the agent I noticed that the asking price of £850 k was a sticker stuck over the original price of £995,000. I bid £795,000 and we settled on £825,000. Because they were downsizing I bought some nice antique furniture and carpets etc. from them. On the day we moved in there was not one item left in the house. They'd even taken the ceiling light fittings, never mind the antiques !

Whenever I've agreed stuff like this, I get both solicitors to itemise it so that it forms part of the contract. That way you have a written contract that you can enforce.

[Fun Bus]

jdw1234 said:

How come everytime a thread pops up concerning a house sub £1m / outside zone 1 you get a string of comments on how cheap it is compared to their own house/flat?

It never seems to have anything to do with the original question.

My point was aimed at 5-bed houses in my area - not my own property. £280k is a lot more money than my house and more than I can currently afford.

[Miguel Alvarez]

I was quite lucky. I got left some tools, lamp shades, torch, candle, spare bulbs and other stuff of that nature. I thought it was a nice touch. When I move I'll try and set aside a box of stuff to help the person moving in.

[New POD]

When I initially spoke with my solicitor, I told him that the house and garage was full of crap that nobody would want and I wanted him to make sure that on completion, it was all GONE.

On the day we moved, most of our stuff went into storage for 2 weeks, except my car full of DIY tools, and the wifes car with all our clothes, so she could take the kids to my parents whilst I fixed it up.

On finding that the executer of the will had failed to get the message, I phoned our solicitor, and later a man with a van came to clear the house.

I carefully kept a few tools from the garage, but he basically took 3 trips to the tip.

[caprirob]

In response to the OP expecting to haggle after your offer has been accepted is taking the p1$$.

You will get a fixtures and fittings list from the sellers solicitor which confirms everything they will be leaving in the house once it starts going through but you can't seriously expect the seller to start chucking extra stuff in with the deal after you've agreed the price.
That always needs to be done BEFORE you agree the sale.

The only exception when you can renegotiate is if something comes back on the survey/valuation that says the house is worth less than it is or if there is some sort of serious issue with it. If the survey comes back clean forget expecting anything else - you'll just p1$$ the seller off and if the house is that good you wont be the only interested party.

[Zigster]

swerni said:

Shouldn't you have negotiated when making the offer?

As has been said, you were happy with the price when you made the offer
The price it originally sold for has no relevance.

Fun Bus said:

e8_pack said:

Now ive just found out that the previous sold price was 250k in Nov 2008

I don't see how this is in any way relevant?

I actually had something very similar when I bought my current house a couple of years ago. The couple we bought from had only lived there for a year but were getting divorced. The price they had paid wasn't yet on nethouseprices (and never has appeared there) so we explicitly asked the estate agent as they said they had also sold it the year before. When it is such a recent sale it is a good indication of what other people were prepared to pay for the house and therefore helps to get a feel for whether or not the price you are thinking of is reasonable.

The estate agents lied to us about the price they had sold it for a year earlier. We found out part way through the conveyancing when the Land Registry documents turned up. The price the agents said they had sold it for turned out to be the price they had marketed it for, and it had gone unsold at that price before being sold privately (i.e. not by the agents) for quite a bit less. Our offer was quite a bit in excess of the price the agents had told us they had sold it for a year earlier - but we had felt this was reasonable given how the market had moved over the year.

Given the new information, we were now concerned we were overpaying, so renegotiated and got a price reduction. I was very hacked off with the agent's dishonesty about this, but they didn't seem to think they had done anything wrong and it isn't one of the items covered by the estate agents Code of Conduct (?) of things they're not allowed to lie about.

Nearly 5 years down the line (i.e. in the OP's case). I guess the information about previous price sold is a bit more out of date so less helpful.

[e8_pack]

The original question was:" what did you negotiate to be left with? and what did you get?" There doesn't seem to be much in the way of helpful information to my original question so kindly narrow your response to answering it. The fact that i have made an offer 30k over their original buying price in this current market surely affords me a few extra's?

i am a FTB with over 40% of my own savings in the deposit so it may be that they have capitalised on my inept decision to make an offer qwithout negotiating contents and thinking they can keep everything. Whilst i accept that this is a mistake, it does leave a bitter taste in my mouth. The agent knew i was a FTB and didn't advise me on anything to do with my offer so i just need to firm up the contents.

I don't recall saying i would pull out or negotiate the price - my question is what does 30k + excess stamp duty get me? i think my offer is very good in the current market climate so i'd appreciate some recognition for it.

Question is - if someone (bearing in mind the current market) gave you an offer like i have would you still rip up the carpet and take all the white goods or are you thinking "well it's his fault, he should have asked for them before his offer" To me, that is the kind of attitude that loses your sale.

[SpeckledJim]

e8_pack said:

The original question was:" what did you negotiate to be left with? and what did you get?" There doesn't seem to be much in the way of helpful information to my original question so kindly narrow your response to answering it. The fact that i have made an offer 30k over their original buying price in this current market surely affords me a few extra's?

i am a FTB with over 40% of my own savings in the deposit so it may be that they have capitalised on my inept decision to make an offer qwithout negotiating contents and thinking they can keep everything. Whilst i accept that this is a mistake, it does leave a bitter taste in my mouth. The agent knew i was a FTB and didn't advise me on anything to do with my offer so i just need to firm up the contents.

I don't recall saying i would pull out or negotiate the price - my question is what does 30k + excess stamp duty get me? i think my offer is very good in the current market climate so i'd appreciate some recognition for it.

Question is - if someone (bearing in mind the current market) gave you an offer like i have would you still rip up the carpet and take all the white goods or are you thinking "well it's his fault, he should have asked for them before his offer" To me, that is the kind of attitude that loses your sale.

Negotiate first, then buy.

As you've admitted it's all your own mistake, why would you expect anyone to give you their things?

[e8_pack]

SpeckledJim said:

Negotiate first, then buy.

As you've admitted it's all your own mistake, why would you expect anyone to give you their things?

Because i made a very good offer in buyers market. I am also a FTB with a good deposit and can make a quick completion. There has been no mention of contents so it is on the agenda.

What would you leave if i was buying your house? or does the above count for nothing?

Edited by e8_pack on Saturday 2nd March 20:02

[SpeckledJim]

e8_pack said:

SpeckledJim said:

Negotiate first, then buy.

As you've admitted it's all your own mistake, why would you expect anyone to give you their things?

What would you leave if i was buying your house?

Exactly what we had previously agreed + a bog roll in each loo + 1 bottle of wine. And I'd mow the lawn.

The above assumes you've not had a fit of buyers remorse and tried to renegotiate upon learning that I bought it cheaper than you did.

[e8_pack]

SpeckledJim said:

Exactly what we had previously agreed + a bog roll in each loo + 1 bottle of wine. And I'd mow the lawn.

The above assumes you've not had a fit of buyers remorse and tried to renegotiate upon learning that I bought it cheaper than you did.

I'm upset and angry that you have exploited my lack of house buying experience. I am now not comfortable with the deal.

[caprirob]

e8_pack said:

The original question was:" what did you negotiate to be left with? and what did you get?" There doesn't seem to be much in the way of helpful information to my original question so kindly narrow your response to answering it. The fact that i have made an offer 30k over their original buying price in this current market surely affords me a few extra's?

i am a FTB with over 40% of my own savings in the deposit so it may be that they have capitalised on my inept decision to make an offer qwithout negotiating contents and thinking they can keep everything. Whilst i accept that this is a mistake, it does leave a bitter taste in my mouth. The agent knew i was a FTB and didn't advise me on anything to do with my offer so i just need to firm up the contents.

I don't recall saying i would pull out or negotiate the price - my question is what does 30k + excess stamp duty get me? i think my offer is very good in the current market climate so i'd appreciate some recognition for it.

Question is - if someone (bearing in mind the current market) gave you an offer like i have would you still rip up the carpet and take all the white goods or are you thinking "well it's his fault, he should have asked for them before his offer" To me, that is the kind of attitude that loses your sale.

If on agreeing the deal you didnt formally agree what would be left behind you have to assume nothing.

In reality not many people bother ripping up carpets and removing curtains - this will be confirmed on the Fixtures and Fittings forms provided by the solicitors.

They may take the light fittings but if they do they have to leave a ceiling rose/flex and lightbulb.

I wouldnt expect them to leave any white-goods that arent built in. Even things like Garden sheds need to be specified as part of the deal normally.

Sounds like the agent has done you no favours but they dont have to - ultimately their responsibility is to get the best deal for the seller not the buyer.

[SpeckledJim]

e8_pack said:

SpeckledJim said:

Exactly what we had previously agreed + a bog roll in each loo + 1 bottle of wine. And I'd mow the lawn.

The above assumes you've not had a fit of buyers remorse and tried to renegotiate upon learning that I bought it cheaper than you did.

I'm upset and angry that you have exploited my lack of house buying experience. I am now not comfortable with the deal.

'the deal'???

It's YOUR deal. You offered to buy the house, I accepted. Now man-up and show me the money. If you want the ride-on mower and my natwest piggy bank collection, that'll be a grand. Take it or leave it, but the house is now yours.

[SpeckledJim]

e8_pack said:

SpeckledJim said:

Negotiate first, then buy.

As you've admitted it's all your own mistake, why would you expect anyone to give you their things?

Because i made a very good offer in buyers market. I am also a FTB with a good deposit and can make a quick completion. There has been no mention of contents so it is on the agenda.

What would you leave if i was buying your house? or does the above count for nothing?

Edited by e8_pack on Saturday 2nd March 20:02

You don't know it was a very good offer. You only know it was good enough.

But it's only good enough to buy the house. If you now want the house plus A, B and C without expecting the price to change, you need your vendors to do you a big favour, not the other way round..

You're going to be a real pain in their arse, aren't you?!

[SpeckledJim]

e8_pack said:

SpeckledJim said:

Exactly what we had previously agreed + a bog roll in each loo + 1 bottle of wine. And I'd mow the lawn.

The above assumes you've not had a fit of buyers remorse and tried to renegotiate upon learning that I bought it cheaper than you did.

I'm upset and angry that you have exploited my lack of house buying experience. I am now not comfortable with the deal.

As an aside, I was once very upset and angry with a casino for expoiting my lack of craps experience. They didn't reply to a single one of my letters.

And don't start me on that sneaky Nigerian Prince. Grrr. If his billionaire uncle ever makes bail I'll ask for my share of his buried diamonds AND a gesture of goodwill.

[e8_pack]

SpeckledJim said:

You don't know it was a very good offer. You only know it was good enough.

But it's only good enough to buy the house. If you now want the house plus A, B and C without expecting the price to change, you need your vendors to do you a big favour, not the other way round..

You're going to be a real pain in their arse, aren't you?!

If i was dealing with you, it wouldn't go well at all.