chocaholic22

Thank you for all the advice and good wishes.

So far heard nothing more from the agent since we said no to upping our offer. So it's a wait and see game now.

Hubby has decided that if they come back, we are now going to offer less as
prices still seem to be coming down! All good fun!

amideislas

This type of thing is so normal it's not even amusing anymore. This or some version of it happens to almost every foreigner here. But a good agent will take care of the problem.

cricketman

I thought the vendor was British?

Lynn R

There are greedy and unscrupulous people everywhere. We hear plenty of tales during good times in the UK property market of owners accepting an offer and then letting people down, often after they've gone to the expense of having a survey done, by accepting a higher offer from someone else, and on the other side of the equation I know people who have been selling, both in the UK and here in Spain, whose buyers have suddenly said immediately prior to completion (or as one tried it on with a friend of ours) actually in the notary's office, that they aren't prepared to pay the agreed price.

When I sold my UK house I'd heard so many of these horror stories that I refused to give in my notice at work until the sale had actually completed, we arranged our move to Spain and I took a week's holiday and then went back to work my notice period. I wasn't prepared to have someone hold me to ransom if they thought I had no alternative but to accept less than agreed.

anonimouse

When they realise what a mistake they have made, reward them with a 10k less offer or forget it.

They must be fools in this climate, plenty for sale so don't back down and best of luck teaching them a lesson.

pwwm

we had this in 2003, but with Spanish owners, the increased the price by
20k, sterling this was, we walked away, dont think it has ever sold. we bought, obviously a different property and now quite pleased they did this to us.

Really sorry you have had all this, serve the so and so right if you just walk away. good luck whatever happens.

jackytoo

Happened to us too, Spanish owners drunk on their success of selling. Their logic being if we were willing to pay X amount another sucker must be willing to pay another 5000 or whatever...we walked away.

johnnyone

I would walk away totally and refuse to deal with the seller..
I don't think it's a nationality thing just greed based on an absence of morals. Happens the world over hence the mess we are all in now.

HBG

It's a weird thing, greed, and I'm sure it happens the world over, but I only know about Spain. When the recession started five years ago, I noticed that prices actually went up at first, from the price of a cup of coffee to house prices.

It didn't last long when competition kicked in and bars who had put up their coffee lost their customers. Estate agents who had put up prices closed down and common sense returned to the market place.

Telefonica were slow to realise that people had a choice and left in droves; they've reduced their prices ever since to get the customers back but many have stayed with cheaper providers.

We went shopping for a new toilet suite the other day and found that our usual supplier was closing down but still had their products at old prices. An 'anti-crisis' outlet a few miles away had the same product at half price and was doing a roaring trade.

You can't have greed in a recession, it's self defeating. Ask the thousands of unemployed investment bankers.

cricketman

This is a bit of a myth. The investment bankers havent lost their jobs. I have a friend who is one and they are doing as well as ever. And bonuses still as high as they ever were.

He also said the crisis had nothing to do with investment bankers. It was down to banking policies of giving mortgages to people who couldnt afford it.

Domino

did he also tell you why they should get so much money in bonuses ??

they are exceedingly well paid to do a job, then grossly overpaid in bonuses for doing that job.

many of the UK's pension funds would not be in "deficit" if the cosy arrangements between "trustee's", "advisors" and "investment bankers" were renegotiated sharply downwards to the point where they paid a more sensible price for the services they receive.

.

HBG

30,000 investment bankers losing their jobs is a myth? Santander has practically ceased their investment banking in Spain and the UK, in line with all the others. RBS alone sacked several thousand investment bankers.

But you're right with your second point, the crisis was not directly caused by investment banking, as in dealing with derivatives, for example, but dealing with dodgy mortgage products that very few people understood.

chocaholic22

Hi, all still no news!

What is so annoying is this is the second time this has happened to us. Two years ago we had the mortgage arranged, amount for house agreed and then the vendor asked for another 25,000 euros!

Obviously we told him to take a running jump. Since then we have received emails from him every so often, offering us the villa again. At present we could now buy it for £39,000 less than we originally offered, but it's too late now. We went right off the property and decided it needed too much work! Just hoping history may repeat itself again and this idiot realises what he is doing- by the way he has said it's his wife's decision!!

Domino

we put our UK property up for sale, the estate agent found a positive buyer inside a week !
he then started nibbling in large chunks at the asking price, even misrepresented the surveyor's report to get a reduction.
we gave a little but at the misrepresentation stage turned our backs, even when he suddenly jumped up again to his original offer.
funnily enough the estate agent couldnt get another offer from anyone else - why am I surprised (not).

So the property is let and providing good income.

Neighbour sold his house 2yrs ago as he was retiring to Spain, the buyer knocked another £15k off the price 10 days before final signing. he reluctantly accepted as he would have lost his house in Spain.
There is alot of it about.

bobd22

When we bought our house and were arranging the viewings we had seen one and arranged to view it that was about 3 weeks before our trip out. 3 days before we were flying phone call from agent saying that seller had put his price up 17000 euro. We cancelled the viewing as that put it over our budget and although it seemed a lovely house I was confused they were British sellers. We went out and bought our little house 7 months later saw the house we had wanted to view advertised at 15000 below what it had been offered when we wanted to view so 32000 below what they put it up when we showed interest. It did sell but I bet for well under their final asking price, pure greed springs to mind and they got what they deserved for it!