To be gutted we’ve lost the house?

[DisneyMadeMeDoIt]

DH and I had been looking for our dream family home. I’m 17+3 and we need to move before baby comes (can’t stay here).

We finally found a horse we both ADORE! Our house has just gone onto the market (we live in a VERY popular area) has lots of interest and 5 cash buyer viewings booked this weekend (houses around here tend to sell within a week).

We had told estate agents for the new house all of this - there was one other interested party who had made a ‘VERY low offer’ and been rejected.

DH and I were going back to view this weekend - with parents and have agreed AIP with mortgage provider...etc.

So as long as we got an offer on ours this weekend (good chance we will) we were fully planning to offer- but we got a call this morning to say the other interested couple have made an increased offer (below asking price) and it’s been accepted.

We are gutted and feel like back to square one. Also a little surprised they didn’t postpone accepting this offer until after our scheduled viewing (they know how keen we are).

Anyway - EA says we can still submit an offer (as we have already viewed) and it will be considered but we can’t view again or show our parents 😒 disappointing

Is it worth holding out any hope for this house?
Is it worth submitting an offer?

We both just feel so deflated now

Sorry but I do hope the sellers don't entertain any other offers. I can't imagine how annoying and upsetting it would be to be gazumped after I had started incurring costs.

Oh OP are you that OP?

Thanks all for advice.

-The offer was accepted today.
-EA advised they believe sellers would still consider an offer from us early next week. This would be within 2-4 working days of the offer being accepted (so unlikely buyers would have wasted any/much money)

Our concern I suppose is more around - will the sellers blow off their current buyers if we make a higher offer and are in as strong on a position?
If they do is that awfully worrying? I do wonder if it happens frequently in the buying/selling world!

In the space of one week she's argued with her DH, posters have told her to leave, she's then complained bitterly about neighbours both sides, secured a mortgage, found a house and advertised hers for sale and booked viewings.

I'm so glad my life isn't this hectic...

Oh OP are you that OP?

We had a seller accept our offer when we hadn't received an offer on our place yet. They were made aware that we were still awaiting an offer on our place and decided to accept it anyway as they hadn't found somewhere yet so weren't in a rush

There will be other houses.

Decide your best offer and make it! We really wanted this house, but we weren’t on the market when we saw it. We rushed our property on, but hadn’t sold when the bidding went to best and final (a lot of people were interested). It was the same scenario as you suggest, so we just put our best offer in - and they accepted it. As we’d hoped, we sold ours a fortnight later - to a couple who didn’t sell theirs for another week, but it all went through and everyone was in their new houses inside 3 months. And this is our dream home, it was totally worth the stress!

Sometimes with honesty and communication, you can pull these things off!

@AdobeWanKenobi

Absolutely not! Just as the people who sold us this house didn’t tell us!

We have been honest that there are students next door- no point in lying but why would we make a point of them being a pain?
If you know students live next door then you know you’re taking a gamble - end of!

Plus the students next door change every year- one bad lot aren’t a ‘long term problem’!

We recently viewed a house next to a main road- the sellers didn’t have to drill into us the traffic noises, or that it would be worse during rush hour...etc. It’s common sense.

People buying here put up with students in exchange for AMAZING location

Around here you can't even get a viewing unless you're under offer.

Quite rightly I think.

Personally I would be very wary of sellers that are willing to gazump buyers. I also would have gone in with an offer earlier. However if I was you and wanted to wait until viewings this weekend and receiving an offer I would ring the EA tomorrow and say: “we are very keen. We have a number of cash buyers viewing on Saturday and are very hopeful of an offer. We are also intending to make an offer as soon as we hold an offer and are trying to calculate the very best offer we can make as really want the house. As it would obviously be a waste of time offering less than the current offer, can you tell me what was accepted and what is the minimum you think would be enough for the sellers to proceed with us.” They might not tell you but it’s surprising how many will. I have always asked about other bids, rejected or not. It also keeps the dialogue open and means you haven’t disappeared and they understand you are keen and engaged.

So polly the people whose offer you accepted (for your house) just have to wait around until you find a house and have an offer accepted for your onward move then?

Presume their buyers have been waiting even longer then, if they did the same.

Honestly, some people will believe anything estate agents say.

@AdobeWanKenobi

Yes, moving house whilst sleep deprived, pregnant and stressed has been a difficult experience for DH and I, but luckily a lot of posters have been really amazingly supportive and helped an awful lot.

Just as I offer advice/support to numerous posters (who also post frequently about ongoing issues).

It hasn’t been a one week process, but a lot of the stress/movement has happened at once.

❤️

DH has mentioned ‘if they blow off these buyers will they just blow us off too?’

I honestly hope they do...

However if I was you and wanted to wait until viewings this weekend and receiving an offer

if this was actually real, I wouldn't wait - what's the point?
I would make an offer whilst being honest about my position, house just put on the market. What do you have to lose?

every person who books a viewing is a "serious buyer" - no one will admit that they are wasting EA time.

@catanddogmake6

Awesome advice thank you!

I did say similar this afternoon ‘We are very keen. We now have multiple cash buyers lined up this weekend (they did seem to like this) and intend to make an offer early next week (if we receive an offer on ours).’

The thing is we said we were very keen when we viewed and asked them to let us know if another offer was made as we intended to make one. They only rang us today to cancel our viewing and tell us an offer had been accepted. I can’t help but think maybe they could have given us a ring when the offer was made (so we could have at least explained about our lined up cash buyers) and sellers could have taken a bit longer to consider the offer on the table (not saying they would but it would have been there decision).

I’m not sure why EA’s say ‘we’ll keep you in the loop if anything changes’ and then just ring you to say ‘oh yeah that’s sold now’ 🤔

I have spent my life buying and selling houses, OP.

So many things come into play here. How quickly do the vendors need to sell?

For a quick sale, I would accept a lower cash offer, rather than a promise of an offer from someone whose house has only just gone on the market (however much they say they are likely to sell it).

If I want to buy, I make sure I'm in a position to proceed immediately.

The process from offer-Completion can be anything from 5 weeks to several months. I am currently in the process of selling one which has been ongoing since July, so we are already three months in without even Exchange. And that is to a cash buyer.

More positively, though... There is no such thing as the 'dream house' or the 'perfect house', OP. Honestly. All houses come with compromises. If you don't get this one, you will get another one that you love just as much, or even more. Just make sure you are in a really good position before you make an offer!

The thing is we said we were very keen when we viewed and asked them to let us know if another offer was made as we intended to make one.

No you didn't. You plan to arrange a second viewing. If you wanted to make an offer, you would have.

nothing wrong in asking for 2 or 3 viewings by all means, but you do accept the risk that someone more keen will buy the property first.

I think the only thing DH and I can do now is see what offers (if any) we get over the weekend and then make the best offer we can early next week.

We ‘could’ put an offer in tomorrow but I honestly don’t believe EA/sellers will take it half as seriously without accepting an offer on our house first.

If it doesn’t come off then it wasn’t meant for us. However, given that we have viewed and spent time/energy investing in this house I don’t think it’s wrong of us to still make an offer. If they turn it down then so be it.

I do feel a little guilty for the current buyers but similar has happened to us in the past- it is part and parcel of the ‘house buying’ industry!

Better to find out now. We were pretty far down the track (sales memo issued etc etc) when we found out the vendor had accepted an offer £80k in excess of ours!

We then upped ours by £100k, but for some reason they went with the other party.

This was 2 years ago and that house is now being advertised for sale at a lower price than they paid. We found another house within days which, actually, we love more, but at the time I was gutted. For that reason, don't gazump the other party!

What's for you, won't go by you, as they say.

They're in the business of flogging their house, OP, not customer service or people pleasing. It's out of your hands because it's not your house, you haven't lost anything. Why not focus instead on selling your apparently completely irresistible house so then you're in a position to proceed with what will surely be cash in hand from all these buyers who are already lined up to buy the home you do have.

So the people who excepted an offer need to move for work. So that’s exactly why they excepted an offer they already have instead of waiting for yours and may or may not come. Also, as a buyer, would you accept waiting for two weeks to find out if your offer was excepted? Or would you rescind it and look for another house? I would.

I do not understand why you seem to think that the sellers owed you anything.

I think the only thing DH and I can do now is see what offers (if any) we get over the weekend and then make the best offer we can early next week.

So you're miffed that the vendor didn't bend over backwards to keep you informed of every step of their plans but it's okay for them to fuck over their current buyer as long as it's to serve your own ends because 'that's how housebuying goes' ? If they're willing to gazump their buyer now, they may well do so to you even further down the line. There's nothing special about you to them, it's a business transaction.

I wouldn’t accept an offer from anyone not in a position to proceed tbh.

I don’t think the sellers owed us anything at all.
I do think our situation could change significantly in the next few days and would like to still be considered (but they say they are still open to any offers from anyone already viewed/with registered interest in the house.

It’s just not a situation I’ve found myself in before. You wouldn’t make a ‘higher’ offer for somebody else’s food shopping and then wheel their trolley off. It would be a case if ‘they bought those items first so it’s theirs’

But the EA today was very clear that sellers will consider further offers made and we are entitled to offer as have already viewed. We love the house and don’t foresee finding something comparable soon. So we are going with the ‘this is just what happens when you’re buying houses’ train of thought