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Original poster

WWYD if you'd sold your house and then someone offered you a lot more money?

139 replies

sweetheart · 14/07/2014 16:54

Dh and I accepted an offer on our house last week, today someone else has put in a considerably higher offer. Morally I feel wrong accepting the higher offer but the house dh and I are moving to needs a lot of work doing to it and then extra money we've been offered would pay for a new kitchen.

OP posts:
Nanny0gg · 14/07/2014 22:13

I don't think it's morally wrong

Of course it is. Someone made an offer which was accepted and it was agreed to take the house off the market. Now the OP is thinking of going back on this.

She shouldn't have been in such a rush to take the first offer if she knew she had further viewings.

OddFodd · 14/07/2014 22:22

Of course it's morally wrong. The OP accepted the offer on the condition she'd take it off the market. She's already reneged on that one though so presumably has no morals.

You should have cancelled the viewings OP. You should never have accepted the offer if you were going to lie. I hate sellers like you tbh (although it's never happened to me, it's vendors/buyers like you that make the whole process really bloody stressful and unpleasant)

cocobongo · 14/07/2014 22:23

glasgowstevenagain that is not quite true. Similar thing happened to me, in that I put an offer on a flat which was accepted and supposedly taken off the market. A few days later, I got informed that they had a subsequent viewing "accidentally" arranged by the estate agent, and the other party put in an increased offer and they then tried to get us into a bidding war.

In the end, the other party pulled out and the flat was put back on the market. I swithered but eventually resubmitted the original bid and got the flat in the end. But it meant the original owners were sitting on two properties for a while, so their wheeling and dealing ended up costing them. Ha!

In Scotland, the contract exchange is made much earlier than in England, once all of the terms are agreed by both parties.

HortenMarket · 14/07/2014 22:42

Well how would you feel, OP, if the vendors of the house you want to buy did the same? At the end of the day, if that would reduce you to tears (and that is what gazumping does to the gazumped party) then I am not sure how you could do it. House selling and buying is a minefield and it is hard to find someone with some decency in the whole process. Estate agents can't advise as they want the highest price. Also I would be worried about the new people reducing their offer further down the line to asking price (or under) when you are in a more difficult time (i.e. a day before exchange). Accepting a higher offer in these circumstances, really, is showing greed. That said, plenty do it. Yes we have been gazumped and I would happily throttle the bitch that did it to us

StandardHeight · 14/07/2014 22:52

Get the most amount of money you can for your house. Morals have gone out of the window where buying and selling property is concerned. Think of yourselves only. Harsh, but take it from one who's learned a tough lesson.

zippey · 14/07/2014 22:52

If we are talking of thousands of pounds, I would say to hell with morals. Its not a done deal till the money has changed hands. The couple buying will get over it, find somewhere else and not be worse off. The people selling will be worse off.

Look after number one!

Bouttimeforwine · 14/07/2014 23:05

We made an offer on a house and it was accepted. Literally two hours later I had a phone call from another agent we were registered with, to say that a new house had just come onto the market. They emailed the details over and it looked perfect. I suspect we would have gone with that one had I heard about it two hours earlier.

We didn't even go to see it. I couldn't bring myself to let down the people who we made a deal with.

Treat others as you wish to be treated.

writtenguarantee · 14/07/2014 23:50

You'd hate it if your vendors turned round to you and said, Oh, yeah, we'll reimburse the cost of your survey, but we've just been offered 10k more so you're out. Even if had only been a week or two.

The English system is just bullshit. Why is it done this way here?

In any case, if it's only been a week and if I was the buyer I would understand. It's not like showing up in a moving van and someone screwing you over. The survey hasn't even been done yet.

All else equal, apologize to the original buyers, take the higher offer.

if it were my friend who did that to me I would totally understand, but that's just me. In fact, if you told me that you lost 40K, for example, because you honoured our agreement, I would feel pretty guilty.

writtenguarantee · 14/07/2014 23:53

although it's never happened to me, it's vendors/buyers like you that make the whole process really bloody stressful and unpleasant

no it's not. it's the stupid system here that makes it unpleasant.

APlaceOnTheCouch · 15/07/2014 00:02

Honour your original agreement.
I had a relative in the same situation. They went for the higher offer. I lost all respect for them.
You have to treat your buyers how you would like to be treated.

Freckletoes · 15/07/2014 00:06

Neighbours of ours had 2 people (A and B) interested in their house. Not quite sure of the dealings but B ended up very disappointed. Sale was proceeding well, neighbour had found new house and had offer accepted.

Then A discovered that work they wanted to do would need planning permission and not fall under permitted development. So they decided that they would drop their offer by a mere £100,000 Shock (house was on for £850,000) only 7 days before supposed completion date! By this time house had been emptied, furniture sold etc as neighbours were massively downsizing.

Neighbours told A where to stick their offer and went back to B. B had been busy and found themselves another lovely house so told neighbours where to stick their house! Whole thing fell apart and the house ended up being leased for a year and is now back on the market.

So be careful that your new offer is secure and they are unlikely to try and pull a fast one before you ditch your original buyer!

Freckletoes · 15/07/2014 00:08

Have to add we were gazumped after paying for a full survey and despite speaking directly to the owners on a couple of occasions. It leaves you mighty pissed off which is quite possibly the understatement of the year!

cricketpitch · 15/07/2014 00:16

Freckletoes - that's a salutary story.

I do think we need to be clearer about what an "offer" actually means though. It can't possibly be a guaranteed commitment as no-one knows all the info at that stage, (your story is a case in point). If a buyer does do all the research prior to making an offer they are usually too late, (and they can't do a survey until the vendor agrees), but it is utter madness to enter binding agreements before all the facts are known.

If we saw it as a two stage process, and the EAs should help make this clear, there would be a lot less angst.

( It happened to us when I was eight months pregnant with first DD. Vendor pulled out on day of exchange at 4pm as they got offered more money. I was devastated so I know emotions run high)

DramaAlpaca · 15/07/2014 00:29

We were gazumped on the house of our dreams once. Like Freckletoes we had paid for the survey & had spoken a couple of times to the owners, who seemed to be lovely. They then accepted a higher offer, despite having agreed to take the house off the market. They told us we could have the house if we matched the new offer, but we refused to get into a bidding war.

We were devasted, particularly so as I was pregnant with DS3 at the time. We managed to buy a similar house close by within a few weeks, but I had to face the Gazumps (as I called the couple who bought the house) in the school playground for the next couple of years - though of course that was probably more awkward for them than for me. This happened almost 20 years ago & it still annoys me when I think about it.

I accept that selling a house is a business deal, but it's really not nice to be on the receiving end of this.

glasgowstevenagain · 15/07/2014 00:39

If a seller did that to me I would weedkiller their lawn.

For starters

SelfconfessedSpoonyFucker · 15/07/2014 04:19

I guess it depends how much your word is worth to you.

I would however make it extremely clear that no matter what the survey says you do not plan to negotiate as you have a much higher offer.

MexicanSpringtime · 15/07/2014 04:48

The idea if honour has been greatly devalued, but is the basic cement of human relations. If you prefer money to honour, go ahead, screw the people you gave your word to, obviously there is lots of support for this idea, but don't complain when you get screwed.

And no, I don't believe in karma, but I do believe that you can't complain when people treat you as you have treated others.

Bluegrass · 15/07/2014 05:51

Ask yourself "Am I a cunt?" And "Does my word actually mean anything?". Act accordingly.

MerdeAlor · 15/07/2014 06:21

what mexicanspringtime and bluegrass said bloody well.

The bloody estate agents are totally complicit in gazumping.

Off the market means off the market.

Surely the EA should say 'No sorry, you can't put in an offer, its off the market and sale is agreed'

KaFayOLay · 15/07/2014 06:33

My bet is they'll do a survey and then drop the price right back down, maybe even lower than asking.

Ask yourself if you would still accept that offer. If you won't/can't then think hard about accepting. You'll be 4 weeks down the line and back at square one, when you could actually be half way to moving had you stuck with the original offer.

How did the original people feel when they were told?

stopprojecting · 15/07/2014 06:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

WilburIsSomePig · 15/07/2014 06:56

Its a shit thing to do.

I had it done to me and refused to do it to our buyers when the situation arose when we were selling.

You were perfectly happy to accept the original offer but now have £ signs in your eyes. Greed is awful and everywhere judging by this thread.

WilburIsSomePig · 15/07/2014 07:00

Merde the estate agents have to tell a vendor if any offer is received on their property, its the vendors who make the decision. Sometimes offers will arrive a week after a viewing when someone else has agreed a sale in the interim.

Badvoc2 · 15/07/2014 07:10

There is name for what you are doing...gazumping.
It's a pretty disposable thing to do.

Badvoc2 · 15/07/2014 07:10

Disposable!?
Dispicable!