AIBU to (technically) gazump someone?

[WaitedForGodot]

long time lurker, first time poster

Went to view a house at the weekend that we loved - we've got a 13 month old ds and another on the way, and we're looking for a nice family home to live in for the next 20 or so years (with any luck). We're in the London commuter belt, so there's not exactly a glut of lovely family homes at a price we can afford. This one ticked virtually all the boxes, and was on at a great price as the seller had had a previous sale fall through and wanted a quick sale to avoid losing the house they were buying.

Rang the agent this morning to tell them we loved the house and arranged to do a second viewing tomorrow. Next thing we heard was at 3pm when we got a phone call to say that they'd received several offers, accepted one at asking price and were cancelling our second viewing.

We were pretty sold on the house in, and would just have been making absolutely certain it was right with the second viewing. And we reckon it's definitely worth over asking price (which was £50k less than it had been priced at when it sold the first time). So we came back and offered £10k over asking price, and are waiting to hear what comes out of that.

Anyway, I rang my mum to give her an update on what was going on (she's been following all our househunting via RightMove), and her immediate response was 'it doesn't seem right for you to make an offer after they've accepted one from someone else, how would you feel if that happened to you?'

AIBU to feel like we're not doing anything that wrong here? If the agent had kept us in the loop, we'd have made an offer before someone else's had been accepted, and given it's the same day it's not like they'll have shelled out for any surveys or anything.

or should we just lump it and accept that we're dirty gazumpers willing to snatch a house from under someone else's nose?

Oh really feel for you. It is cut throat and up to the seller at the end of the day.

No chain, unfortunately can make a big difference. It was what got us our house in a competitive market. But anything can happen. Make it clear to the EA that you are gutted and loved the house. Don't hold out too much hope, but ask them to keep you updated on the progress and to think of you if anything happens. Buyers do sometimes pull out or have mortgage issues, other delays etc. If you have a buyer for your house and if that buyer has no chain then it puts you in almost as good position. Going back to a previously interested party saves them a lot of effort than re-marketing.

Good luck!

When we bought our house last year we had no chain (quarters into a house of our own) and although we made the first offer, we know that two higher offers were turned down because we had no chain and were buying in cash. The vendor missed an extra £20k for it which made me but I suppose he thought it was worth it to minimise the stress potential.

Bad luck OP.
I'd agree with pp being chain free is king in a competitive market. We live in a very desirable area where few houses come up of the size/type we wanted so after losing out on two houses to chain free buyers we sold and moved into rented for 6 months. It cost us more and was disruptive in the short term but we were front of the queue when the right house came up and now are very happy in our "forever home" 😊 Which I might add is loads better than the two we lost out on!

Personally I don't think you did anything wrong. It definitely sounds like in your case the EA wasn't doing their job very well. As pp's have mentioned, it's a pretty cutthroat market out there and the system allows you to do that.

Sorry it didn't end up going your way, but that's the seller's right to choose to sell to whomever they like.

I also find the chain selling hard to comprehend. In New Zealand (where I am) you put in an offer in writing, it is accepted, you pay a deposit, and then later (days or weeks) you have "settlement" when money and keys change hands.

OR you can put in a "Conditional offer" which may require your own house to sell etc, BUT there is usually a clause in that contract where if the seller gets a higher offer, you have 2/3 days to finalise your sale or the seller can accept the other offer. That would suck, but it's the nature of the industry. Nothing is final until it's signed, sealed and delivered.

But what do you do when you are selling a property Midnite? You will be moving and most likely buying another thus creating a chain. The system you describe is equally baffling to me. Where do people move to if there is no chain?

You put your house on the market and start house hunting. Someone makes an offer on your house, you accept and sign a contract, and decide on a settlement date (usually 30, 60 or 90 days, although I've done a 10 once). You choose the house you want to buy, sign a contract and set the settlement date on that house, usually on the same day.

In some cases, you can sign a contract 'subject to sale' which means you have x number of days (usually 14) to get a signed contract on your own house or back out of the contract. This is becoming a lot more rare because houses are selling fast and the market is moving quickly.

There's also bridging finance, which means you can own two properties for a while. I usually allow a week between settling on one property and moving into the next so that I can clean properly and move things over gradually. Otherwise your solicitor will schedule both settlements on the same day and time so you can move.

I did it to get the house I wanted, think of our future and the fact that this is the house you want your kids to grow up in. Gazzump away.

We gazumped someone. They were £25k under asking price and dragging their heels, we saw the house online, fell in love, offered £5k under asking price and had the money in the bank having already sold ours. Completed our sale in 4 weeks from offer to move in date. Other buyers were still pissing about arranging surveys 6 weeks after offer (we managed to get a full structural survey done 5 days after offer). You snooze you lose. And we love our house.

Our vendors used some of the extra money to repay the other buyers their solicitors and survey fees so they weren't out of pocket.
Happened to us earlier in the process when we hadn't sold our house yet, all's fair in love and house buying.

I think bidding wars are common in SE. The estate agent selling our home prides itself on that being it's selling technique.

One near me (also SE) is obsessed with doing open house viewings then sealed bids. We went to look at one of them when we were buying and it just seemed ridiculous: it was a fucking 90s Barrett Box on the outskirts of a pretty shit commuter town, but they were determined to market it and act as if they were selling some rare and precious jewel.

Sorry to hear that OP, but given the seller's position - ie needing a quick sale - he was always going to choose someone chain free (probably explains why he was so quick to jump at the other offer in the first place rather than following up with you)

Hope something comes along soon

Oh and BTW I don't think it's gazumping if you viewed before the other offer was accepted and it's the same day/other buyer hasn't shelled out for anything yet.