Helping daughter with House Purchase

I wasn't trying to find a fault Petera, it is just the situation of buyer and seller before each is very different, so it is necessary to be fully clear, and I read correctly what you mean to say.

A bridging loan would make more sense than equity release however I would not recommend either.

I was in a similar situation with a buyer 9 months ago.
I got our solicitor to give their solicitor an ultimatum, exchange in 1week or it’s off!

It worked, the buyer called me the day before exchange and said she would buy the house at the agreed price but could I give her £1500 cash?
I told her that that was not legal and as she kept telling me that she was a lawyer I suggested it could be a bad move professionally!

She had been dragging things out to wear me down, it was a deceased estate and she thought she would get away with it!

Totally agree with Squiffy and Kamiso similar happened when I was selling my parents house after my Dad passed .
Buyers trying to force us into a corner, told them I was taking it off the market, and they can get lost. Went through no problem in the end, on original agreed terms.

M0nica

Petera said the buyer was due to complete today, I suspect she meant exchange, as well, because if the buyer refuses to complete after exchange, they lose their deposit and have to pay all the sellers legal costs. As a result it happens, very, very rarely.

Yes my fault - Im not English and mixed up the terms

My OH had an estate agency and he would have called their bluff. If they have already paid our for BS survey, legal fees etc, they have a lot to lose. He did it twice when we were selling and I was horrified, but it worked. Left to me, I might well have caved but i’ve toughened up a lot since then.

Petera said the buyer was due to complete today, I suspect she meant exchange, as well, because if the buyer refuses to complete after exchange, they lose their deposit and have to pay all the sellers legal costs. As a result it happens, very, very rarely.

So, if completion was today were they going to move today as well? Were they going to complete on their purchase too? And is that now in jeopardy? If so has she exchanged? Sorry about the questions but if she was exchanging and completing on the same day then that’s a real pain and as others have said it doesn’t give you enough time to arrange another Mortgage of any sort.

Your daughter needs to get a bridging loan urgently or pull out of her purchase and remarket her house.

It shouldn’t be allowed, you should have to exchange and then complete 6 weeks or so later as we used to do in the past it leaves the buyer with too much power to get a reduced price.

Sorry, - day for exchange

Well you couldn’t arrange a mortgage or a loan today anyway, if today is the date for completion. It will take several weeks.

So either way your daughter can’t exchange on the house she wants. Nothing to do really except tell her buyer that time is now if the essence and that the house is going back on the market. It’s still available for her if she exchanges next week.

Either she will come up with the goods early next week or she never intended to buy unless it was a bargain because she can’t meet the the agreed price.

There are other buyers out there.

We had buyers who kept coming up with all sorts of delaying tactics and spurious reasons for a price reduction.
In the end I said we are going on holiday (pre-booked months before!) and if you're not ready to complete when we come home, the house will be going back on the market.
She said you can't do that, I said watch me.
They were ready...

I’d call their bluff, too. My buyers decided to gazunder at the last minute, so I instructed my solicitor to tell them that, if they didn’t pay the original offer price, I’d put the house back on the market. That focussed their minds and they paid up! Some people treat it like a game

I would call their bluff. Years ago we were in a much similar situation and we caved in, would never do it again if I could help it.

In which case pull out of the deal. That is what we did when someone did this to us.

Either the buyer suddenly gets in a panic and sorts it out within days or they were never serious buyers anyway and the deal was always doomed to fail.

M0nica

I doubt anyone would give you a lifetime mortgage in order to tide your daughter over for a few months.

Very few houses sell for their asking price. We have always found that accepting a lower offer hedged around with conditions like being dependent on exchanging contracts within six weeks, much more to our advantage than hanging on grimly dtermined to get the asking price.

And again, agreed. But that's what they did; they accepted a lower offer on the condition that completion was today and she's now refusing to complete.

I doubt anyone would give you a lifetime mortgage in order to tide your daughter over for a few months.

Very few houses sell for their asking price. We have always found that accepting a lower offer hedged around with conditions like being dependent on exchanging contracts within six weeks, much more to our advantage than hanging on grimly dtermined to get the asking price.

avitorl

I've just seen what I have posted previously and it is so messed up,sorry. I think I have Gremlins in my key board.
I agree with Peasblossom that a price reduction would probably make more Financial sense than a Lifetime Mortgage.
I think Nationwide do a Lifetime Mortgage if you want to check it out on their website.

No apology necessary. It's all good advice and of course I need to look at everything. At least people are not saying that equity release is an instrument of the devil.

I've just seen what I have posted previously and it is so messed up,sorry. I think I have Gremlins in my key board.
I agree with Peasblossom that a price reduction would probably make more Financial sense than a Lifetime Mortgage.
I think Nationwide do a Lifetime Mortgage if you want to check it out on their website.

Well, irritating and unfair as it is, it may well be cheaper to reduce by a bit than go to the expense of a lifetime mortgage. That will cost a lot of money. Just cost it out and be level headed, if you can.

However, having done that, if on the day she asked for a further reduction I’d call her bluff. She would lose money at that point if the sale didn’t go ahead and be back to square 1 too.

Lifetime mortgage I will look at. I must admit I didn't know that bridging loans still existed (we had one 35 years ago...) but I'll look into it.

As for price, they could reduce it but it would really back them into a financial corner and they already accepted her offer that was below the asking price. She has been delaying at every stage and knows that if it’s not completed in the next few days they will lose the house they’ve offered on. It may sound nasty but, to all of us, it’s looking like she will come back to them at ten minutes to the deadline and say take it or leave it.

Does she have to reduce the price? If it was not really urgent I would tell the buyers to move else where! Too many people have watched Kirstie and Phil and think the seller SHOULD let them have a reduction.

What about a bridging loan?

I you may think need a Life Time Mortgage to do that and the Interest is higher than normal Mortgage Interest.