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

Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Flip

Original poster

We have been gazumped :(

10 replies

Mum8 · 09/12/2014 12:10

We have been gazumped and I am devastated. Luckily we did not perform any searches on the property, but two weeks after accepting our offer on a house we wanted, our offer was gazumped.

I feel very upset and silly me, even cry about it. Now the property market is stagnant being December and I do not know whether we should compromise and broaden our search.

It was our dream home and we have been waiting for put an offer as soon as we had one on ours... Very upset and exhausted.

I look at my little babies and want to look elsewhere and cry, keep thinking they will stay in our tiny home close to a really bad school and I wanted something better for them...

Our second house choice has already an offer on it and DH said he will not do what others did to us, as it is not fair and others will come on the market in January

Devastated and with no hope at the moment to say the least...

Have you ever been gazumped?

OP posts:

DontEvenPoint · 09/12/2014 13:17

Don't feel bad for being upset, moving is very emotional, not only because it's about your home but also because it's all so up in the air until contracts are exchanged. I haven't been gazumped, but I have had buyers pull out, both on my current property and on a previous one, and that led to me not being able to proceed on houses I had set my heart on. It is very upsetting, and infuriating, but on both occasions I have ended up in houses that were just as nice, and I'm sure you will too! There is always hope! You will find somewhere lovely in the new year, try and put it out of your head for Christmas and start afresh in January.

Original poster

Mum8 · 09/12/2014 13:33

Thank you DontEvenPoint! Will try to stay open minded and see what's out there in January... Nice to hear you have found homes you loved as much twice!

OP posts:

HaveToWearHeels · 09/12/2014 15:58

The offer has only been accepted, who is to say the Gazumpers (is that even a word) will proceed. I have seen some ridiculous offers made on properties (we have buy to lets so have no emotional attachment to the property we buy, so just make offers that are financially viable) and then they either pull out because they get cold fee, can't get a mortgage or the survey says it is not worth the offer. Happened to us a few times earlier in the year, 2 out of the 3 came back to us when the sale fell through but we had already found another property (felt very smug).
Best of luck.

Lelivre · 09/12/2014 16:15

My thought was the same as havetowearheels, we thought we had lost out on our dream house only for us to snag it again later on when it fell through. We obviously didn't anticipate this happening and kept looking and offering and very nearly ended up somewhere else, but here we are, we quite recently moved in

RaphaellaTheSpanishWaterDog · 09/12/2014 16:44

We have, a few years back the day before exchange.....in was pre-Internet sites such as RM/Zoopla and we were naive second-time buyers looking for our dream home but hadn't realised the BTL owner had it listed with multiple EAs under the radar. We were totally gutted as we had an accepted an asking price offer on our house from uber-keen FTBs within 24 hours who were keen to get in.....they were even phoning us with houses they thought we might want to buy (all awful, btw!). DS was two and our dream home was a large five-bed house with a huge garden close to a great nursery and our chosen independent school, we were do disappointed and angry.

However, we made the mistake of buying 'on the rebound' and whilst the Victorian four-bed house we found was a very handsome detached (our dream house was a Victorian terrace), it was in a shitty location on a busy road next to traffic lights with double yellows outside....oh, and an indie music venue just round the corner.

We were miserable there from the day we completed and to cap it all, it was a project house requiring loads of work (and cash thrown at it) before we could move on. Five years it took us to get it fixed up, for the market to have moved on so we didn't lose money and for us to find a new dream house.....

Which, when we did find it was waaaaay better than the house we lost...

But it took five years and we were unbearably unhappy with our choice in the interim.

So, a word of caution - don't be bullied into finding an alternative too hastily. As others have said, something better will come along, especially in the New Year - just don't rush into anything you might live to regret!

oranges · 09/12/2014 16:48

we were gazumped twice when trying to move out of our flat on a main road with a baby. It was in 2007 and a sign that the housing market was overheating. We stayed put as we had no choice, and when prices crashed, we could afford a much nicer place than before. So please dont panic or get disheartened, or buy something you cant afford.

WorriedMutha · 09/12/2014 16:59

It is only an offer at the moment and if it falls through they will be back cap in hand. You haven't said if you are selling anything. As others have said, don't be bounced into a snap purchase. It is hard to separate our emotions as houses are homes after all.

Original poster

Mum8 · 09/12/2014 21:20

Thank you all, yes we are selling and have a buyer on our house.

Funnily enough we got a call from EA to let us know the sellers are not selling after all, as they were not approved for a mortgage to the price they wanted. Sad for them, but it made me feel better for the gazumpers and also seeing that we were not going to get our dream home after all, gazumping or not... We did not expect this

OP posts:

Original poster

Mum8 · 09/12/2014 21:21

RaphaellaTheSpanishWaterDog, good point, we will be cautious not to rush into anything...

OP posts:

MrsFlorrick · 09/12/2014 21:53

Don't despair!! Not yet at any rate. Been gazumped twice. Once very recently.

The first time (15 years ago), I didn't actually mind (after much wailing and gnashing of teeth for 48hrs). Wasn't that into the flat in the end. Plus hadn't spent any money on searches or surveys.

Second time. I had spent several thousands on surveys and legals. Almost ready to exchange.
I was pissed off. However found a better and much cheaper house which came on the market literally days after the gazumping happened.

It's not nice. It's a horrible practise. That said its not as common as you might think. Most sellers wouldn't entertain it (because they know how the would feel if it happened to them). Most estate agents don't go around inviting it because they will get a bad reputation.

It's hard to accept initially because it's so unfair. However houses are houses and you will find another one.

Be glad that you hadn't wasted any money on legals or surveys etc.

Flip