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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to want to throttle the people who outbid us...

13 replies

bubbleymummy · 13/02/2010 08:27

literally hours before we closed the deal on a house!!!

The house is in the power of the courts because the man who owned it is no longer in charge of his affairs. It's been long and drawn out because of this so we started the whole process over three weeks ago. We went in with a low-ish offer because the house needs some work but the estate agent came back after speaking to the courts and told us we would need to go a bit higher because they'd been given a minimum to accept. We offered that and everything was going ahead fine until I got a phonecall on Thursday to say that someone had put a higher offer in. aggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh! We were waiting for the solictor to confirm our offer had been accpted that day! It couldn't be taken off the market until they got back to us. I am so angry - our offer was given last week and if the bloody solictor wasn't so slow the house would have been off the market much sooner! Really not sure what to do now. We can afford to go a bit higher but this has left a really bad taste in my mouth and I don't want to end up in a long drawn out bidding war

OP posts:

activate · 13/02/2010 08:33

go as high as you can afford and then if you don't get it it wasn't meant to be

paddingtonbear1 · 13/02/2010 08:33

oh no! Am for you. Was it your 'dream' home? I can understand why you wouldn't want to be drawn into a bidding war, even if you can go a bit higher. Do you feel the house is worth any more? Is there lots of work to do? You could offer more but then say, this is the max we can go to. I feel your pain, we nearly lost our house at a fairly late stage.

Original poster

bubbleymummy · 13/02/2010 08:40

I don't think the house is our dream home but it will be our first house and it has lots of things that we like and loads of potential. It is below our max budget but it means we can go up to our max budget doing work which will add value so it has nice investment appeal for DH (he loves a bargain!) I worry we'll look back and regret it if we don't keep bidding but I'll also be a bit sickened if we end up paying 10k + extra because the solicitor was so slow! This house has been on the market for aaaaaaaaages and there has been no interest and now at the last minute someone has appeared from nowhere...DH is a bit suspicious and thinks the estate agent is just trying to get a better price for his client by pretending there's another bidder....I think that's probably a bit far fetched but maybe possible?

OP posts:

groundhogs · 13/02/2010 10:37

As disapopointed as you are now OP, I promise you will find a house you love more.

I wept for 3 days when the guy selling his miniscule flat to us (our first) pulled out of the sale.

We then saw a house, a real house, but it was under offer. We left our number, and dragged our heavy hearts back to our tiny rented studio.

Months later when we'd got married and had just returned from our honeymoon, they called and asked if we were still interested, as the previous buyers had split up and pulled out....

Am a strong believer that you don't get houses, they come to you! Have faith OP, you'll find your home and it'll be miles better than this one you just lost.

If you can't afford to go up higher and do the work you need to do, walk away. Anything is possible in this market, there are more buyers than sellers at the moment.

Don't lose heart!

edam · 13/02/2010 10:52

How frustrating. I do feel for you. We were outbid on our first flat and I had fallen in love with it. Phoned up then-dp's Dad in tears and he pointed out to me, very kindly, that we could always offer more! (I was 21, I knew NOTHING about buying flats.) We got it for an extra £2k which felt like a huge amount of money at the time.

But if this one isn't meant to be for you, keep your chin up and remember there will be something else. Counter-offer could be a co-incidence or it could be someone connected with the estate agent fancies it - some firms can be a bit dodgy. Whatever, if you don't want to get into a bidding war, walk away, you'll find another!

skybluewinking · 13/02/2010 10:57

Bubbleymummy,
very disappointing, but to echo groundhogs et al, if it's not meant to be, it's not meant to be etc.
Every house that I have lost over the years has ALWAYS turned out to be a blessing. Sometimes disguised, but every time, I have looked back and thought how lucky I was to have escaped!
Re the Estate Agent, very unlikely that he would do that. Legally all offers have to be put into an offers book, it is illegal to make an offer up, and would not have happened in the Agencies I have worked in.
If you think how much extra the agent gets out of the increased offer, it is not likely that they would jeopardise a sure sale for the sake of a hundred quid or so.Good luck!

BAFE · 13/02/2010 11:15

it's pants isn't it.

Once upon a time, buying a house that needing a lot of work doing on it was a reasonable way of affording a family home.

Now, even houses that need a lot of work done on them seem to sell for the same prices as those houses that don't need any work done on them . I just don't get it.

mintyfresh · 13/02/2010 21:55

You might be pleased one day - like BAFE says the housing market doesn't make sense. There is still a correction yet to come and you might get your dream home for a lot less in the next year or so!

LittlePushka · 13/02/2010 22:14

...just in defence of bloody olicitors,..em,...if the court of protection or a trustee in bankruptcy is involved, then they are obligated by law to accept the higher price, as long as the increase outweighs any additional cost,...whenever that offer is made - the house os not off the market really until contracts are exchanged. So the speed of the solicitors response may not have been desirable but it will have been irrelevant in your case.

..er, that was all...

GochaGocha · 15/02/2010 11:27

I am with your DH. This smells really fishy to me The timing is really suspicious, to say the least, and esp after what happened before. I have a feeling that an offer might conveniently have appeared when your solicitor got to a certain point so may not have been a factor. Can you sniff around and see more evidence this 'offer'?

I know what you are feeling -- it is really sad for you because you have invested your dreams already, but you have to have a cool head in situations where so much money is involved.

We walked away once from a situation v similar and house magically reappeared on market sometime later ... but we had much nicer house by then

Please don't lose heart and be strong if you don't think more money is justified on comparable evidence. You have already increased once, right? If you want a wreck to invest in you will have a lot to choose from as repos and forced sales will unlock a lot of supply -- the current level of prices is sustained by a shortage of houses for sale that surely won't last.

GochaGocha · 15/02/2010 12:02

I am with your DH. This smells really fishy to me The timing is really suspicious, to say the least, and esp after what happened before. Can you sniff around and see more evidence this 'offer'?

I know what you are feeling -- it is really sad for you because you have invested your dreams already, but you have to have a cool head in siutations where so much money is involved.

We had a similar situation where someone took and us to within days of completion and then another offer mysteriously appeared. We called their bluff and walked because we knew what other houses had sold for and the other party's offer would be overpaying, even before we topped it.

House was back on market in a few weeks, but by then we had another place and have been very happy. Never heard whether she sold it for what we offered because that was before nethouseprices dot com!

Please don't lose heart if you don't think price they are asking for is justified. You have already increased once, right? If you want a wreck to invest in you will have a lot to choose from as repos and forced sales will unlock a lot of supply -- the current level of prices is sustained by a shortage of houses for sale that surely won't last.

Original poster

bubbleymummy · 16/02/2010 20:57

Just had to update all of you who replied- you were right! After viewing the house again yesterday I started havinv doubts about the amount of work/time/money involved and we decided not to up our offer. Instead we looked again at a property we saw at christmas that we absolutely adored but was over our budget. There were no offers on it and we knew the couple wanted to move quickly so we put in an offer for our absolute max and today they accepted! yay! Things obviously do happen for a reason! Thanks for all your comments. Fingers crossed all will go ahead with no hiccups!

OP posts:

GochaGocha · 17/02/2010 10:15

How fab for you! Congrats and fingers xx'd while it goes thru!

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