Gazumped again

[veryfurious]

Hello everyone,

I am so upset. This is the 3rd time we are gazumped as buyer's in last 2 years.

This time it was our dream property. It's one month after offer was accepted. We applied for mortgage and got it approved, gave notice to vacate the flat where we are living and paid half of solicitor's fees.

But what upsets me the most that is that we had developed an emotional connection with the property and already started planning for refurbishment work. I know it might sound silly but I am quite heartbroken.

Seller suddenly thinks the offer was low. It's true that properties in the area have been sold for higher price in last year but this one was on the market for almost a year, and required work. She was happy with the offer until now.

We can't afford to increase it, she is asking for a lot of extra money now.
Not sure it's a negotiation tactic or she really wants that price.

Is there anything we can do at this stage?

Any advice will be appreciated.

Thank you.

I don't think there is anything you can do unfortunately

If you haven't exchanged contracts there is nothing you can do I'm afraid, assuming you are in England or Wales. However, if there isn't another buyer you haven't strictly been gazumped. It may just be an attempt to force you to increase your offer as you suspect. You could call her bluff. Or you could just decide to walk away from it, in which case she will have lost her buyer. But legally you don't have any comeback. Sorry.

Are you trying to get a bargain? Sometimes it’s worth offering a decent amount purely to ensure the seller doesn’t falter.
I’m a solicitor and have seen enough chains fall apart, I offered asking price last time we bought, just to ensure the sellers weren’t likely to be tempted to gazump. Trying to get a real bargain can just mean a lot fo abortive costs when sales fall through.
You could try offering a bit more and see if she’s tempted to stick with you?

Not silly at all to feel heartbroken.

however, if

You can’t afford to offer more, how are you planning renovations? Ultimately if you put in a cheeky offer this was the risk you took. If she’s being cheeky asking for lots more then she runs the risk of losing a committed buyer.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

No, we didn't get a special bargain. The flat next door with better condition went for the same price just 2 weeks ago. Was sold by the same agent. We had earlier enquired about that flat.
This one is very similar (floor, layout, size) but in much worse condition but still very liable.
We made offer on this one. Offer was declined and we were told if seller wants 'x' amount, if we offer this amount, flat will be ours. We offered the 'x' amount and seller accepted it.
Now a month later, she feels the price should be higher because 2 flats in same building went for higher price 6 months ago - one of the flats is newly refurbished to very high standards (I have seen the photos).

We can afford to do some refurbishment, and some will be done next year. But she has increased price by 8%, which is a huge amount. It's in part of London where the prices have gone down significantly in one year.

Upsetting but sounds like she’s unreasonable anyway which might make the process just too difficult. If the property isn’t worth it don’t up your offer, if she’s calling your bluff she’ll back down, if she’s not then someone else can pay over the odds for it. You’ll fall in love with something else.

NeverTwerk, what makes you conclude we made a cheeky offer?

We were quoted an amount seller wanted and we offered exactly that.
Though I agree in a better market, price would have been a bit higher.

No there isn't much you can do apart from refuse to make a higher offer (which you've said you can't afford anyway) - she doesn't sound like she has another offer on the table though so is playing a dangerous game as she is going to lose a good buyer. Horrible position to be in, you have my sympathy.

@veryfurious I just wondered if that was the case because it has happened to you several times now. It must be horrible when it happens, but if a pattern is appearing it is worth questioning what you can do, rather than just being cross.

If you really like it you need to get in touch with her. Tell her if she doesn't exchange contracts in 14 days you'll walk away and she'll lose you as a buyer. It's been on the market for a year. Either she's deluded, a chancer, or she really doesn't want to sell.

Then don't get in touch with her. Make her do all the running.

I second Collaborate. You might lose the purchase, but if she’s been trying to sell for so long she has incentive not to lose the sale.

Alternatively she’s one of those buyers who don’t actually want to sell in reality.

*sellers

I think some firm words with the estate agents are warranted too.

Appalling behaviour by your vendor, and the agent should discourage that kind of shit.

Not gazumped in sense there's actually another buyer on the table then? Just seller being a dick and trying to wrangle more money now you're invested in the property and process. On principle you should tell her to do one and walk away... but agree with collaborate, say no to increase and give her a deadline to respond. If its been on for a year she could have done this multiple times over and actually just not really be prepared to sell although why bother with the whole charade i wouldn't know - where was she supposed to be moving to?

Thanks everyone for your kind replies.

You are right we are not gazumped technically. Seller has changed mind about the price.
We are still hoping we get the property. Seller has now slightly reduced (still much higher than accepted offer) her new price expectation.

Somebody mentioned that we are doing something wrong -
We had offered the price quoted by seller. We were very lucky and got mortgage approval in 2 days, finished everything from our side within 3 weeks, had 25 % deposit.
The only thing we can think is that we are looking for a property in London which is essentially a seller's market even in uncertain times.

For the 1st property seller, insisted on exchanging on a particular day, we requested for next day, we were out of town. She cancelled the deal to everyone's surprise (her property agent, solicitors). We lost over £1000 in fees. Property was listed 6 months later on a lower price.
2nd time, retired couple changed their mind because they were getting a higher deal. They were moving to Thailand, and they were not going to have more income, we understood given their age. We didn't lose any money there.

It gets very disheartening when it happens more than once to you.
This time we had already spent close to £1000 in survey, fees, etc.
We did everything as per seller's demands/requests in terms of price, timelines. We are in early 40 and it's going to be our first property. We are not here to make money. We just want to buy a place in an area we are currently renting and like, and want to make it our home.

Thanks again for your suggestions/ support.

With any deal, you need to be willing to walk away. This is NOT a sellers market - definitely not in London - who told you this? Wandsworth has fallen 15% in the last year.

The vendor is an idiot to do this unless they have another offer on the table.
Walk away!! You have said yourself that this is your dream property - but you were willing to buy two others before you saw this. You will find something else, plus if you play hardball, the vendor might change their mind.

I do sympathise but on the other hand if your offer was really quite low and the sellers were reluctant to accept and then somebody came with a better offer I can see why they accepted it. Unless the seller is just playing games and there are no other buyers and they just want more money. But I don't think I'd be held to ransom like this. Other posters are right you need to walk away unless you think your offer was really unreasonably low.

Thanks Maursh for your post.
Yes, we read about the drop in prices in Wandsworth. I agree it should be buyer's market. But it does not feel so in our area. We live in better side of W9.
Wandsworth and Southwark had a lot of new build projects going on whereas ours is a more or less stable, limited supply neighbourhood. This flat is in over 100 years old very nice mansion block. It was listed for sale for a year.
We have seen price being stagnated from last year or some drop but not sure we can compare with areas with lots of new builds.
The other 2 deals fell through in late 2015/early 2016. It was still a seller's market pre-brexit vote, and we were under pressure to buy given our age, so we made a lot of compromises on those 2 in terms of street, etc.
Our income and savings have risen from that time and this one is a lot better.
We feel seller is being very demanding suddenly as in the same block another flat in much better condition was sold for the same price as our original offer just a month ago. While this one requires work.
We will wait and see. Maybe in next couple of months more will come. Or we need to expand our search area.
Thanks for your reply.

Put the facts strongly to the vendor, via the estate agent...

You made your offer, you increased your offer based on the requirements of the vendor, all of the finance is in place based on this accepted offer.

The other flat is worth more due to:
Updated Bathroom: 10K
Updated Kitchen: 20K
Newly decortated: 10K

If the vendor would wish to negotiate based on the other flat's sold price, then perhaps it would be more appropriate for you to reduce your offer, meeting half way on these costs and reduce your offer by 25K.

However, you are prepared to stand by your offer but unless exchange of contract happens in X timescale, you will walk away.