Owning your own home

Sure they will!

Sounds like things are done somewhat differently in Denmark :)

A system based on trust, apparently.

Trusting estate agents? How does that work?

If I found something I liked via a private seller but I want to suss out if they'd lower their asking price, do I straight out ask if they'd move on price, do I offer something to see if they're interested, what's the smartest way to see if they NEED their asking vs. the NEED to sell it? It's been on the market a while so I reckon they might not be super desperate to sell but who knows how long they can sit on it, right?

But I think that financially it is a bit different. I haven't fully figured out your loan system from reading this thread, but it seems like it's a bit different to ours.

"Yes, we'll just refund you the money if it doesn't go through...".

funny lot the Danes....

Later we found out that her sister lives on the next road along, which was a bit WTF.

Proper lol’d but also Rageface

Dunno, and I'm not going to find out. I have a meeting with my lawyer in a few hours and then we'll see. I can't really find another house as this one fulfils certain criteria that can't be found elsewhere

Don't play too hardball with a probate sale because by there's a critical moment when the power dynamic changes and they can then sell to anyone. No point saying if you're late we take off £50k or whatever because they might say, well, fuck you then.

Never ask them what they'd sell it for because they'll never tell you their basement price. They'll respond with that +10% or whatever.

Offer what you're willing to pay. They'll soon tell you if that's acceptable or not.

Do I let the proceedings continue to and then mention that I'll be renegotiating a new offer if delayed beyond the stamp holiday?

Fox has probably covered it all but you've got three things to do

• assess where they are in the probate process
  
• decide if you want to continue
  
• specify your terms
  
  

Without going in to the detail that Fox has again, the simplest way to get a feel for where they are is to say to the EA in writing

• I'd expect to exchange by this date before the SDLT holiday ends. If this is not viable, I would expect to exchange by this date post SDLT holiday, latest, and the vendor pays all my (or increased) stamp duty and all costs I've incurred from this thing dragging out due to being probate that we wouldn't have reasonably expected to pay had it not. Please confirm how the vendor can / would like to proceed including all detail Fox has laid out above. Love Mario.
  
  

That will light a fire under them and things will either start to line up or fall to bits. In the meantime, time to find house B, so that when they try to do what Bears indicates or they fuck the process up completely you can tell them to fuck themselves.

If this is aimed at me I will let you know that although I hate nature, I always found mowing lawn very joyful. In the current place we have no lawn; I dont miss it.

I do need to get someone to prune a pear tree though.

I think I'm just being supremely dense.

Nothing to see here folks, move along.

f I found something I liked via a private seller but I want to suss out if they'd lower their asking price, do I straight out ask if they'd move on price, do I offer something to see if they're interested, what's the smartest way to see if they NEED their asking vs. the NEED to sell it? It's been on the market a while so I reckon they might not be super desperate to sell but who knows how long they can sit on it, right?

If you are asking for something you need to give something. As Soul says, you can't just ask them what their lowest is - it just doesn't work like that. So you can say 'in exchange for a quick cash sale I'd offer this £ that takes in to account the nature of the sale and whatever work needs doing to the place that I've identified'

I want to pay the minimum they'll sell it for, obviously :)

But it would be good to know if they are at all flexible on their asking price or if they're just going to hang out for it.

Yeah but I don't know if they want a quick sale. So I could start low ball and then waste a bunch of our time waiting to see where they stop raising to. But if they're gonna stick to asking price, why bother?

I'm not paying their asking price.

As @Soul says, turn it around. If you were selling something, and a buyer said, "would you be willing to take less?" you'd be an idiot to say yes. Offer less, if they are willing to accept it, they will. If not, they'll show their hand at what they are willing to accept, which could still be the asking price, but that usually has some wiggle room.

You prune them in winter.

Yeah but I don't know if they want a quick sale.

Nobody wants a slow one with buyers who are hapless. If you present yourself as someone who gets things done who has the money unless they are idiots they will listen.

You can just offer nicely, if they say no it doesn't matter, you can't make them sell it to you. You can come back four weeks later with a reminder and perhaps a little sweetener (don't offer sex).

ffs, see how little I know about nature?!

don't offer sex

What kind of chump negotiator are you?

I helped my 90 year old neighbour by pruning his in December. The trees have male and female bits and you need one of each to produce pears. I'm including a more scientific description of this because I thought he was taking the p**s when he told me.

The common fruit trees of Europe - apples, pears, cherries, plums and so on generally carry flowers that have male and female parts. For fruit to form, the female part (pistil) must receive pollen from the male part (stamen) of another flower preferably from a different but compatible variety of the same species.

Do you have 2 or is there another one in a garden nearby? If so you might have a bumper crop of pears in late summer.

In any case you can dazzle your friends with your knowledge of pear tree sex at barbecues all summer now.

Sell yourself as a 'good' buyer - everything in place (cash, mortgage, solicitors lined up etc). They'll be saving EA fees as well, so factor that in. But not having the EA as a buffer you also want to show you know what you're doing and are nice and fair to deal with (even if that's all bollocks).

If you have to get planning permission for astroturf, what's to stop people just paving their gardens instead?