Well when we sold our house, we accepted the first offer at full asking price, and the house was taken off the market. For someone to have then offered us an extra £10k, they would have had to either walked up to our front door to offer without seeing the inside of the property, or the estate agent would have continued to market...

as this has turned into a debate about gazumping, i thought i'd give my view. i had 2 buyers fall through on me, and was desperate to secure the house i wanted to buy. when my flat was remarketed for the 3rd time i was terrified of getting messed arounf my any more buyers. i had 2 offers at one point, rejected one and accepted one. the next day another offer came through for another grand. i wasn;t bothered about the money was was desperate to ensure i had a serious buyer, so i took the EA's advice and he told both wannabe buyers that whoever showed they were serious first, i.e had mortgage sorted and survey booked, would get it. first buyer got the hump and pulled out. 2nd buyer went through with the sale.

see it from the eyes of the vendor, there are so many unserious buyers out there, in some cases it is practical to keep marketing the property after a sale has been agreed, i wish i'd done it with my 1st two non serious buyers who left me in the lurch. luckily, my flat was no problem to sell, otherwise i would've lost the dream house i'm in now.

quote:

Originally posted by immy21:
Would you really turn it down when you are protected by the law and legally entitled to it.
Please say you would take the moral high ground and ignore it, go on please

The matter should simply not arise. The sale is agreed, the buyer begins to spend money on that basis, the property is off the market.
It's only an issue when EAs start pulling strokes which they only ever do in a booming market and that's the issue. They behave completely differently in a slack and a quick market, There is no consistency. Who benefits by gazumping anyway? If you are consistent you should be advising other people to gazump the gazumper. Where does it all end? Why not go to the wire on a purchase and on the day of the move, with the seller's van waiting to move them to their new gaff just say, 'It's all off unless you'll take 20k less'. What's the difference?

Can we please have a separate thread for this contentious Gazumping subject? I'd like to hear more of Immi's observations. Thank you.

I had a flaky buyer that pulled out on the day of exchange. My second buyer put in an offer i accepted (at this point he said he had an offer accepted on another flat but prefered mine ) He then 'disappeared' for 8 weeks. I am convinced that during this time he was making offers on yet more flats. When he suddenly popped up again he swore blind he offered £500 less than he did.At this point my house was back on the market and just after he did the servay i got an offer 7,500 higher than his. So i accepted it and the guy who messed me about fumed he was going to take me to court. Cant say i felt at all guilty blowing him out of the water.

quote:

Originally posted by MattW:
Can we please have a separate thread for this contentious Gazumping subject? I'd like to hear more of Immi's observations. Thank you.

Quite happy to hear Immy's observations so long as he doesn't mind hearing mine.

Immy??? Are you on holiday?!?

quote:

Originally posted by lost in harrow:
Well when we sold our house, we accepted the first offer at full asking price, and the house was taken off the market. For someone to have then offered us an extra £10k, they would have had to either walked up to our front door to offer without seeing the inside of the property, or the estate agent would have continued to market...

Or.... A buyer who viewed the house prior to you accepting an offer comes back at a later stage to put forward an offer that is higher than the offer already on the table.
But, of course, it has to be the agent's fault....!?!

quote:

Originally posted by Leon:

quote:

Originally posted by lost in harrow:
Well when we sold our house, we accepted the first offer at full asking price, and the house was taken off the market. For someone to have then offered us an extra £10k, they would have had to either walked up to our front door to offer without seeing the inside of the property, or the estate agent would have continued to market...

Or.... A buyer who viewed the house prior to you accepting an offer comes back at a later stage to put forward an offer that is higher than the offer already on the table.
But, of course, it has to be the agent's fault....!?!

Hell no, but that wasn't the situation that Immy was implying. That could happen within a few days of the original offer, but less likely within a few weeks

Immy?

Where are you?

Tell us more - some of us are interested.

Hi

Just to confirm no agreement is binding until contracts have been signed AND exchanged with a deposit paid. In England and Wales as the situation is slightly different in Scotland. Even after that point if one or other of the parties pulls out before the completion date (which is agreed at exchange and written into the contract) there are forfeits (see the small print of the signed contract). For purchasers pulling out this is usually the full 10% deposit (even if they've only paid 5% or less) forfeited to the seller. But obviously the terms of the contract will state if there are any other conditions etc.

Immy is correct - all and any offers must be passed on to the seller. The estate agent then accepts instructions from the seller. Having worked as an EA and as a conveyancer and having bought and sold I can see all sides of the coin!

Notisis, I accept that is the legal situation regarding the purchase of a house. Good EAs usually negotiate a workable method through it that protects buyers and sellers from time-wasters and predators. Effectively they are establishing their own code of conduct through human nature.

The problems begin where estate agents intervene to impress the client, boost their egos or most commonly, make more money. If a buyer is procrastinating an EA should keep all options open. If he insists the market has moved on and encourages a gazumper then he/she should be consistent and find a second gazumper and be explicit about the nature of the buyer, i.e. that they are open to offers.

However even greedy EAs are not stupid enough to ignore where this might end with a coach and horses being driven through current practice and legislation looming. Anyone watching TV or reading this board knows some of the strokes agents pull.
All this can be addressed by Estate Agents having to apply for full accreditation. At the moment the job is full of chancers and spivs which gives good EAs (and there are some) a bad name and a hard time.

Busy start to the week with a bidding war on the probate property. Bidders will pay more for the uncompleted project than it is worth once done. Had two bids at 45k and 65k below asking price though which always makes me laugh. Why would any agent put a property on the market planning to sell it for 65k less? Why make life so hard for themselves.
So many 'fall through's' why? If you don't like it or are unsure DON'T OFFER! people are in love with the idea of bidding but many can not commit grrhhh!
Good stock levels. We always moan about not having enough to sell the reality is we are taking on as much as we always did, just selling it twice as fast.
At home at present but off to do an 8pm viewing work never stops

You are selling twice as fast? Is the market moving then?

sold the probate property at 15k above the asking price that was already steep so desperate were the buyers to get into this estate.
Market is frantic had no time for lunch today. Good stock coming on. I am beginning to think that sellers are getting in quick to beat the HIP's in June.Market will react to these!!!
Been instructed to sell the house I grew up in!
There's emotional attachment for you.

quote:

Originally posted by immy21:
Been instructed to sell the house I grew up in!
There's emotional attachment for you.

Oh dear immy - will your mum have to throw you out?

Joke btw.....

I read yesterday that there are 3 buyers for every property. Surely not, Immy? Does this reflect your experience?

the reality which of course gets in the way of a good storey as we all know is that there are 3 buyers to some properties
Some indeed would beg for 3 viewings over 3 months
But yes we have been frantic since xmas

What part of the country are you in, Immy?

south east London North Kent DD

quote:

Originally posted by immy21:
south east London North Kent DD

Lovely part of the country - i live there too!

had a day yesterday of chasing the valuations we had been on. So many of them are unsure about what they are doing it's funny how there atitude changes once they have what they want from you
I think for the 60 valuations I do every month I take on 25 I lose 15 to other agents and the rest are completely out to waste my time.
So many times I will get the 'will you put that in writing to me' at which point I make my excuses and go. It's people pricing up extensions that is the main problem

quote:

Originally posted by dg1:

quote:

Originally posted by immy21:
south east London North Kent DD

Lovely part of the country - i live there too!

Immy - are the prices rising rapidly in this area still - sold my mid terrace house last jan for £190k and a similar unextended one about 6 doors up has just gone up for sale of £230k (not sold yet admittedly) - i find this increase amazing?

I live in a Feakes and Richards house now (do you know these houses) and these houses seem to have shot up in price again too!

quote:

Originally posted by immy21:
I think for the 60 valuations I do every month I take on 25 I lose 15 to other agents and the rest are completely out to waste my time.
So many times I will get the 'will you put that in writing to me' at which point I make my excuses and go. It's people pricing up extensions that is the main problem

They probably want it in writing because they want something to show other people at parties how much their house is worth!