A woman who posted on Mumsnet that she was planning on either pulling out of a house purchase or gazundering with a week to go, has been slated by fellow users.

On the popular forum, she said she and her husband were 30-year-old first-time buyers.

They had had their £440,000 offer accepted on the property in Croydon at the end of January.

But with just days to go before exchange, she said “terrible news” about the economy and housing market convinced them their offer was too high.

She added that she was “not going to over pay for a house just to be nice or honourable, unfortunately”.

She asked if she should “walk or offer lower”.

But her post has met with a storm of criticism.

One Mumsnet user wrote: “Honestly, I think either of your suggestions are disgusting. You offered what you were happy to pay for the house and have gone with that for four months.”

Another said: “Now with just a few days before exchange you decide to jeopardise the entire chain and waste who knows how much of other people’s money. Beyond selfish.

“You could have withdrawn at a much earlier stage or reduced your offer. But you didn’t. Your preferred option is blackmail – reduce the price or we walk.”

Another warned: “You’re the one that loses money. You’ve paid out for all the surveys, they’ll find another buyer. Your name will be mud with all the estate agents in the area. They do all tip each other off.”

Another said in no uncertain manner: “Absolutely vile thing to do which should be illegal. We had our buyers pull out two weeks before. I was heartbroken. It cost us a fortune, we lost our new home and the deposit we’d paid. All our stuff was packed. The whole chain collapsed.”

Undeterred, the original poster returned to say she was “very impressed at the morals of all of you who would risk taking a big hit and ending up in negative equity”.