Gazumping - can I live with myself Post Reply

[csml]

I just noticed on the "Am I Scrooge.." thread that the OP has said she is going to gazump after all....

[supergirl]

Obviously you do what you want but since you ask for opinions...

When we tried to buy our house, we ended up being in an estate agents war. In the end we were the highest bidder (higher than the asking price) so when they agreed to our offer we had both estate agents and the sellers to agreed that the property was off the market and to no more bidding. 3 weeks down the line, survey done and the other estate agents come back with an offer in cash from the other bidder (11k more). The sellers didnt have the graciousness to A. Refuse or B. Send us a note to apologise via the estate agents (we did it 6yrs before when we sold our previous place. We apologise). They then asked us if we wanted to match the offer. We pulled out absolutely disgusted (bare in mind this was a week before xmas with a newborn and a toddler).

2 days before Xmas the estate agents called us asking if we were still interested as it turned out the other bidder didnt get his mortgage agreed in the end. We were ready to go we said yes but with a 25k reduction on the place. The sellers had been humiliated fir their greed and i felt "yep the world is fair and this is the magic of Christmas". I even got a 8ft non drop tree from northcote delivered for a mare £35!!!!

Conclusion: be wary for what you wish for.

[lemonzest]

I don't bear a grudge, and I certainly wouldn't circulate the news around the playground, but I can't say that others that I know wouldn't if they were in my shoes

I think the system is flawed, which doesn't make accepting a second offer once already under offer right; but I just think there's no point whinging on about it being unfair. It's rather like tax avoidance in that respect... If you don't like it - lobby about it, make a change - no point getting depressed and complaining about people's behaviour if it's legal (but perhaps not acceptable to you).

[windmill26]

I think gazumping should be illegal.
You were happy with the first buyers offer and they took your word for it.
They spent time and money believing that they were buying your place.
I believe in Karma .

[Tinasan]

Um Supergirl I'm intrigued with your tale - you were a gazumper yourself, but thought that it was ok that you sent a note of apology via the estate agents? Yet when it happened to you, you were "absolutely disgusted", and then when the gazumpers came back, you felt that they had been "humiliated for their greed"???? Sheer hypocrisy....

[Medway]

I agree - Supergirl this is a very hypocritical post, you do sometimes come across as rather smug I must say.

[juliantenniscoach]

Lemonzest has made some good points and suggestions. Take the money but refund the original buyers costs and allow them to meet new offer.

But the system is bonkers. Much fairer and clearer in Scotland, France, Spain..........pretty much anywhere but here it seems.

[Erykah]

Lemonzest tends to make very fair suggestions

[supergirl]

Sorry you are feeling this way medway. Can you please tell me what "smug" mean before i tell you if i sgree with you?

Yes we were absolutely disgusted because even though we had paid a lot of money they did after the agreement of putting the house off market and not accepting any more bids. We took their words from them, for us when we give our word we mean it. And also because it was 1 week before christmas with a newborn. Thats it.

When we did it it was about 2 days after accepting their offer, we didnt believe they had any money just time. But we said to the estate agent if they had to give us a copy of their invoices and we would happily cover it. I know the estate agent told them. They never came back to us.

So smug? Hypocrit? If you want. But honest and polite YES i am. I also have a lot of humility.

But like i said, obviously evetybody does what they want. And btw, this shouldnt be made illegal, it is the whole system thzt should be improved. Starting with estate agents i believe.

[coldatchristmas]

Did it.

Felt v v v bad.

Have offered to pay as per suggestions on here, thanks everyone.

[juliantenniscoach]

I have to say that the system allows, almost forces you to play the game, especially given the tactics of (some) estate agents. £20K is a lot of money, just take it off your mortgage if you have one. You've offered to pay expenses which many people wouldn't so...........
accept it, move on and enjoy the new house.

[audrey]

Obviously, you decided to accept the higher offer, which is par for the course - up until the point of exchange, nobody is safe, the buyer takes all the risk of spending money on solicitor, surveys, etc. while the seller can still change his mind.

But, leaving aside the moral aspect of going back on a "gentleman's agreement" (which one simply doesn't do), you also have to think of the transactional risk, you just put yourself at risk from the moment you accepted the higher offer.

Obviously, it depends on your circumstances, and whether you're inclined to take risks or not. But if it was me, I would have simply chosen the "safer" money (exchange due over the next days, buyers already committed, very low risk of them pulling out). The new buyers may prove risky, couldn't deliver on the funding side, may even try to drop the price one day before exchange, who knows? As long as you're prepared to accept the risk and spend again time to bring the new buyers up to speed, the fact still remains that you are again "under offer", i.e. have not yet sold. With the other buyers, you would have been very close to exchange, i.e. you have "almost sold".

Hopefully, your risk pays off and your new buyers do indeed deliver and you're better off £20k. Then, you'll forget all about moral-not moral and laugh all the way to the bank

[dkm]

I'm not surprised you feel "v v v Bad" it's a terrible thing to do! I think the emotional stress of trying to get to exchange (especially in a chain) is far worse than the financial outlay they will have lost. The house buying process is poor here so we have to rely on gentlemans agreements otherwise the whole thing is a nasty greedy mess. Oh well, with Karma and all that it will happen to you some day......

[SFMC]

The buying/selling system here is totally flawed! Gazumping or pulling out of an offer should not be allowed.

Just curious how does gazumping even happen here? Do the sellers or estate agents continue to show the house!?!?

[Localgirl79]

I've got a mate who works at an estate agent and what usually happens is that an applicant who previously viewed the property when is was available but didn't make an offer, comes back at a later date to put an offer in (usually because they can't find anything suitable or have themselves lost out on a purchase!);
by law, the estate agent has to put the offer forward to the vendor so you can't blame the estate agents for this type of situation. It's all down to morals and decency on both the vendor's and the new bidder's part and I always get so disappointed in the human race when greed speaks higher than morals!!
Anyway as said before Karma will decide....