Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

To ask for your stories of overinflated house sales falling through?

27 replies

sunnybeachtime · 16/08/2019 20:09

Feeling spiteful

Just lost out on a house we really wanted. Was 315k (under our budget), old and in needs of lots of updating but we loved it. Lots of interest, went to bloody best and final offers.

We agonised and eventually put forward 341k. Which, to be honest, it inst worth, as the done up (extension, loft conversion, nice throughout) houses on the same road go for about 370-380. But we loved it

Had the call that we didn't get it, but the agent said they 'might be in touch' later on. Meaning, I suppose, that they suspect the sale will fall through as the house isn't worth what it's gone for.

I don't want the bloody house any more and am looking at others, but looking to hear of some karma stories of greedy vendors losing out on money in the end!

disclaimer yes, I know everyones entitled to sell their house to who they want for what they want, but I'm pissed off, OK? Let me have this

OP posts:

Kyriesmum1 · 16/08/2019 20:24

We found a lovely house we fell in love with but we were waiting to go on the market. We offered full asking price on condition that they took theirs off the market for 4 weeks while we put ours in market and wait for viewings. They agreed.

Just over a week later we get a call from EA... the sellers have sold to another couple through a different EA so would no longer be accepting our offer!

Very angry but then found THE house. It's amazing 4 massive reception rooms, summer house, workshop, study five double bedrooms... you get it it's amazing!! Hoping to complete in 6 weeks!!

Anyway couple of weeks ago get a call from EA. The house we wanted first (which is no longer fit for us as adopting a baby and need the extra bedroom) has had their sale fall through and the sellers wondered if we are still interested!!! Absolutely not and it's still on the market 😂😂 shouldn't have shit on us then and we'd be completing on theirs in 6 weeks instead, live a bit of karma!!

Original poster

sunnybeachtime · 16/08/2019 20:27

Yep, that's the stuff

Congratulations on your new house and adoption!

OP posts:

TraffordTansy · 16/08/2019 20:52

We lost out on a house, we were outbid. A couple of weeks later we found a better house. A few weeks after that the estate agent called to offer us first refusal on the first house, the offer had fallen through.

We'd gone off the house by then and bought house two which we love.

The first house eventually sold for less than we'd originally offered 🤷🏻‍♀️.

MyFartWillGoOn · 16/08/2019 21:11

We fell in love with a house that was within walking distance of an area that had big development plans-better transport links, new shops, pedestrianised zone-loads of things that would bring it out of its 80s funk!

The house was on at 450 and we offered 455. Accepted and all good!!

However, when it came to valuation for mortgage purposes, they valued it at no more than 410! We then did a bit of research and realised house prices in that area were c420max. We had just got totally carried away with the house and hadn't done the usual checks.

Anyway asked EA why such a high price and the vendor said it was because of all the development-transport would be better etc etc. We were a bit aghast and challenged that she was trying to realise the value of all the work before it had actually happened!

We suggested splitting the difference at 430. Nope, vendor not interested and wanted 455 offered

We walked away and found a beautiful house. This was 2014 just before a slump in the market again. Zoopla says it sold in 2015 for 380.

We are still smug!

ethelfleda · 16/08/2019 21:14

YANBU OP
Similar thing has happened to us twice this year.
I was devastated after we lot the first one, but the second one was better. I wasn’t as gutted at losing out on that one as I’m philosophical- I reckon there is an even better one waiting for us.

Youngandfree · 16/08/2019 21:20

We offered cash (5k off asking) for a house and they said yes, then they called back a week later saying they had an offer of full Asking price (not cash) did we want to offer more. We said no as it was cash that was it! So we gave them a week to decide. They went with the other offer. 4 months later the EA rang and said the offer had fallen through did we want to go back to our original offer...we said no thank you. We finally found something else but a year later the EA rang me AGAIN stating that the vendors needed to sell and were willing to sell for less than we offered originally if we were still interested!! Obviously our answer was no! Imagine if they had just not been so greedy in the first place 🤷‍♀️

Hecateh · 16/08/2019 21:21

From the other side. I had an offer from people I knew loved the house and were genuine but didn't yet have their house on the market.
The day their house went on the market I got another lower offer from someone who had already sold, they reluctantly matched the original offer - but it was clear they were pushing their upper limit price wise. I was pushed to accept this offer but said I would wait a week to give the first people chance. They sold to someone in a position to go ahead within 4 days - and they are downsizing and will have a large sum left over.

They came again today to measure up - they still love it. I know I have made the right decision.

AskMeHow · 16/08/2019 21:25

Similar here. We were ftbs, went to go and see a house owned by a church that the nuns lived in. The nuns were lovely and the house well maintained but so old fashioned inside. They were asking a huge amount of money for the area, so much so that I don't think a fully modernised house would have sold for that. Anyway, we put an offer in. It looked cheeky but it was realistic, if not slightly generous. They turned it down. We offered again, turned down. We looked elsewhere and bought a lovely place instead. Two years later the first house finally sells (I checked on Zoopla) for less than we offered the first time. Ha!

UterusUterusGhali · 16/08/2019 21:30

From a million years ago: late 80's/early 90's.
Step mum was an EA.
A cantankerous old boy wanted to sell his house for >£200k. That was A LOT of money back then. Step mum said it'd never sell for that, but he insisted and made her life a misery for months and months. Nobody would touch it for that price, but reasonable offers were made.
Then the prices all crashed and he ended up selling it after a year or so for half what he'd asked in the first place.

GobletOfIre · 16/08/2019 21:40

We saw a house that my husband loved and I liked. A bidding war erupted and we were outbid by an enormous amount by a cash buyer.

We then found an amazing house, much bigger and a better location. Just as we were about to exchange, the original house’s estate agent said we could have it if we matched the better offer. Pointed out we couldn’t afford it and had found a nicer house and fuck off.

They then came back and said we could have it for what we offered as the cash buyer was taking too long. We realised they were trying to use us as a stick with the cash buyer and would probably screw us over and we would lose out on a chance with both houses.

They called again on our moving day to say the cash buyer had dropped out. DH took the call in our new, bigger, cheaper and nicer house.

Original poster

sunnybeachtime · 16/08/2019 21:42

Thanks, these are just what I wanted to hear 👍

I think selling ‘best and final’ offers style invites this sort of thing. We wouldn’t have bid more, and if someone bid a couple of thousand more we would have backed off. Then the top bidder would have been assured that they only paid a couple of grand over what it is worth (i.e. what someone is willing to pay.)

If we had got it at the inflated price without knowing what other people had offered, I bet I’d be panicking now and looking for ways to drop 15k off in case we’d massively overpaid.

We are selling a house at the moment, and it certainly is food for thought!

OP posts:

Mummyshark2018 · 16/08/2019 21:56

About 13 years ago dh and I offered asking price £249,999 on a house (just under higher stamp duty). We loved the house and were the first to offer. After a few days they rejected it and accepted an offer for £253k. We aren't willing to up our offer as with stamp duty would've been more than £260. We had sold my dp (at the time) house so were in a good position. About 2 months later we had a call from EA to ask if we were still interested as buyers had pulled out. I had great pleasure in telling them to do one! We had already offered on another house which was much better and a bit cheaper in a better area. Still here now! So glad we didn't get the first house. Now that we know the city we know that the area was pretty rough!

Foxyloxy1plus1 · 16/08/2019 22:21

We were hoping to buy a flat for dd. We offered the asking price on one in the preferred area and heard nothing for ages and were then told our offer hadn’t been accepted.

A few weeks later the EA rang to ask if we were still interested. We weren’t because we’d found somewhere else. It transpired that the EA had ‘kept’ the flat for a mate of his. The mate then lost his job, so no mortgage, no deposit, no sale. Ha!

Powerbunting · 16/08/2019 22:37

Whilst we were looking around a house, that we had fallen for the EA got a call to basically kick us out as it had sold. The vendors wanted a quck sale apparently.

We hadn't sold our yet - wasnt even on the market to be fair. Was going on that week. So I saw their point. We looked a riskier bet. But the EA was terribly rude about it. Implied we were time wasters.

I was willing to pay full asking for this house. They accepted 20k below. And when ours went up for sale we doomed in 48 hours. Completed in 7 weeks (god knows how) and their "quick sale" took 8 months to finally complete.

Still. I have my forever home now. That needs far fewer walls knocking down to make it a sensible layout

Singletomingle · 16/08/2019 22:45

Over the years I made offers on 3 houses all rejected as too low, all 3 eventually sold for less than I offered.

ethelfleda · 16/08/2019 23:01

Thanks for starting this thread OP. It has cheered me up too

movingontosomethingnew · 16/08/2019 23:04

I offered 30K over the home report. My offer was rejected and it sold for 10K more than what we offered.

We then found better house for us that didn't need much doing to it and got it and moved in not long ago.

EA of first house phoned us to ask us to split the difference between the offers and we could get the house. No thanks.

PamelaTodd · 16/08/2019 23:34

We were in a bidding war, and not entirely convinced that there actually was another bidder. Once it went beyond our reach we were gutted, but decided that it wasn’t meant to be, and that there must be another house for us out there. So we headed off on holiday. This was the early days of mobiles and the EA didn’t have our numbers.
Got back and the EA had been frantically trying to get in touch because the mysterious other bidder had pulled out. Wanted to know if we were still interested. Tbh we were a bit jaded. We’d allowed ourselves to get over invested and then managed to let it go with all the disappointment of that. Just wasn’t ready for any more rides on the emotional roller coaster. So we, half heartedly bid the amount that the buyer had originally accepted before the bidding war began. It was accepted straight away.
Lovely, lovely house, now full to the brim of kids clutter happy memories

AJPTaylor · 17/08/2019 05:12

Honestly "what's for you won't pass you by" is the phrase.
We offered on a house. On at 420. Next door had sold for 400. Next door was immaculate, replacement kitchen. This one was 15 years old but had never had any maintenance to it. We went up to 395 And you would have thought that we had spat at him. We bought a nicer, smaller home in a much better location and catchment ( this was one you probably would have squeezed in on distance.) A year later he sold it having redecorate and replaced the kitchen for 395.
We could not be happier in our house. And our dd would not have got into the school from that address cos they changed the rules!

thatmustbenigelwiththebrie · 17/08/2019 05:56

Loads of houses went to best and final when we were looking. I always looked up what they went for and all of them went for well over what they were worth. People get swept up. They will regret it later and you've had a lucky escape!

pinkstripeycat · 17/08/2019 06:57

When looking for my first house (20yr ago) I found a property across the lane from a bowls club and there was a huge field next to the house so no nextdoor neighbours, lovely and quiet. It was bids only and the manager of the bowls club held them for the EA. He opened all the bids so he could submit the best and m he got the house. He did it up beautifully inside and out. I bought a tiny bungalow which backed on to a nature reserve but still felt disappointed about the house. A while after a housing estate was built on land next door to house and bowls club manager sold at a loss. Bowls club was knocked down and even more houses built. I moved from bungalow but can see it from current house so still live near the nature reserve and all I can hear is birds singing

FYC · 17/08/2019 07:49

Moving to a new area we put in an offer on a house. It was on at £180k, but hadn’t been updated since the 70s. That price was what a fully done up house of that type was worth.

We offered £160k, knowing we’d probably need to spend £20k on it to make it liveable. They refused. We went up to £170k (which would have limited what we could do with it). They weren’t interested and insisted it was worth the full asking. No one lived there anymore.

We walked away and bought something cheaper that needed no work.

Five years on and we were looking at moving and the house is still on the market. We checked and it was still the same sellers. They had reduced to £155k and still no interest.

When we bought our next home we viewed this really quirky property that I liked but was a bit impractical. Kitchen upstairs, bedroom in a tower, that sort of thing. It was on at £225k which was as much as we could afford, survey came back saying it was worth less and that the chimney needed rebuilding (costing about £20k). We asked for a reduction in the price, they refused and were pretty nasty about it.

We walked away and found the most amazing house. Two years later that other house is still on the market at £195k. I’m so glad we didn’t buy it. The location was awful, it would have cost us a fortune and dropped in value.

I’m so glad we didn’t get what we thought we wanted

queenkettricken · 17/08/2019 07:57

lkjhvdfrt · 17/08/2019 08:11

I had this once a long time ago. I offered 200, they refused. It sold for 164. I never understood why they didn't come back to me.

OrangeGirl1 · 17/08/2019 08:30

A house came on for sale for £325k - which is quite a good price for the size in the area. We were told the owners needed a quick sale as their previous buyer dropped out at the last minute , and they were in danger of losing the house they wanted to buy. We went to see it, it definitely needed updating but we decided to offer the asking price.

They turned around and said they actually wanted £333 , and they only put the price up for £325 in order to get viewings and interest. Another buyer also offered the asking price, and the sellers basically wanted a bidding war.

We said we weren't interested in that case, and so did the other buyer. Turns out the house was on the market for 2 more months before finding a buyer - and it sold for £322.

Flip

1 2