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Original poster

Guzumped : wwyd

36 replies

mum2015 · 15/05/2018 10:13

We offered on a house, everything was going fine from our side, conveyencing setup, mortgage arranged and suddenly someone who has viewed property has come back with higher offer and owner accepted it. Cant believe someone in their right mind would do that in this market!

Shall i increase our offer, even though i think we have offered fair price at first place and by increasing offer we would be in negative equity for a while or just give up and focus on making my current place work for us by extension? What would you do?

OP posts:
JenBarber · 15/05/2018 10:16

I'd walk away. Fuck that.

If you offer higher then someone else might offer higher. Where will it end?

Sit back and let karma deal with it.

wowfudge · 15/05/2018 10:16

Walk away and look for somewhere else, after having made the point about your commitment to the purchase at the originally agreed price. Think about what your response will be if the greedy seller's sale falls through and they come back to you.

Is it really so clean cut that you either buy this house or extend your existing one?

Original poster
mum2015 · 15/05/2018 10:26

you either buy this house or extend your existing one - i could look at buying something else but it is hard to find something else which would work better for us than either current place extended or that particular house.

OP posts:
babyboyHarrison · 15/05/2018 11:48

In this situation I walked away. House purchases take time and I lost any trust I had in the vendor. I didn't want them to benefiting any more because if their dishonourable behaviour.

sausagedogsmakechipolatas · 15/05/2018 11:59

If your valuation survey has already been done, there’s no guarantee your lender would approve the extra amount.

I wouldn’t increase your offer, but I would be asking why the vendor has conducted viewings after accepting your offer. That’s really not on unless they specified that the property would remain on the market.

Furano · 15/05/2018 12:01

I would be asking why the vendor has conducted viewings after accepting your offer

Why? There is nothing legally binding until you exchange. It might 'not be on' but they can legally do what they wish.

Stay and extend OP and enjoy not handing over stamp duty :-)

Bobbybobbins · 15/05/2018 12:08

I would definitely walk away

Original poster
mum2015 · 15/05/2018 12:14

They could accept higher offer legally, cant do anything about it.
Cant decide what to do Sad

OP posts:
MinaPaws · 15/05/2018 12:15

@Furano - it can be, and often is a condition of the offer that the house is withdrawn from the market if the offer is accepted. It's expensive to start proceedings to buy a house. If the buyer had made withdrawal from the market a condition of the offer, they might have grounds to pass on survey costs to the vendor for breach of agreement.

TeresasGreen · 15/05/2018 12:19

It has to depend on how much you want the house. In your situation we ended up paying much more than we really felt the house was worth on paper, because to us (lots of reasons) we knew were just would not find another house as suitable. 5 years down the line, there honestly hasn't been another house as good for us within that same budget, so it was actually a good call (for us).

PrettyLovely · 15/05/2018 12:19

I would walk away, You cant trust them, So many sales are falling through I wouldnt be surprised if you heard back from them.
Although hopefully by then you would have found somewhere better and can say no thanks Grin

Els1e · 15/05/2018 12:21

I’d walk away. Get plans and prices for an extension, as well as check to see if any other houses are worth looking at. I definitely would not start getting into a bidding war.

TammySwansonTwo · 15/05/2018 12:24

Ordinarily I wouldn’t pay more than a property is worth at the time of purchase but there are exceptions - do you have unusual criteria that are essential and would be hard to find elsewhere? Could you add value, do you intend to stay long term etc? My sister recently paid over the odds for a property but it’s in London, very desirable and there’s no chance they’ll want to move in decades but probably not ever. In the long term I have no doubt they’ll make money on it.

jellycat1 · 15/05/2018 12:24

That's very interesting - and shit for you. I thought that particular practice had all but died. Obviously not. Or the pressure of a weak market has revived it. Most EAs I've dealt with refuse to do stuff like that. Could they have viewed before you put your offer in? Either way it doesn't matter - upshot is the same. They'd accepted your offer and should definitely honour that. When I've sold property I've always had offers and buyers presented to me with quite a bit of detail. When I sold my last flat I chose a lower offer but 'better' buyer - on paper of course. Ie track record with the EA, local ties, Cash buyer etc. You sound like a solid buyer because your heart is in it and you are rightly pissed off about this - and even now still considering offering. I wonder if the EA sold you properly. Or maybe the other buyer is cash/ chain free? Either way a crap situation.

DramaAlpaca · 15/05/2018 12:30

My sympathies. This happened to us a good few years ago now. I was gutted, I was eight months pregnant and we were desperate to move. Bastards. We told them to stuff it, we weren't getting into a bidding war, and walked away. It's a shitty thing to do.

Anyway, it worked out in the end. We found a nicer house at a better price quite quickly. Hope it all works out for you too.

Original poster
mum2015 · 15/05/2018 12:36

More inclined to walk away now. Still thinking

OP posts:
PatchworkElmer · 15/05/2018 12:45

Walk away. You can’t tryst the vendors now.

This happened to my Aunt- offer accepted and everything progressing, then vendors accepted a higher offer. Aunt devastated but found something else. Then the vendors made contact and said that their new sale had fallen though, and they’d like to sell to her again. She said no, because she didn’t want to let down her new vendors. Haha.

Mildura · 15/05/2018 12:50

I would be asking why the vendor has conducted viewings after accepting your offer.

It may be that the offer is from someone who viewed the property before the OP had their offer accepted.

Ariela · 15/05/2018 12:52

I'd go back to the vendors and say you were hoping to exchange within (days) and complete by (weeks) so if it all falls apart you may still be in a position to complete ASAP, but in the meantime you'll be looking.

glenthebattleostrich · 15/05/2018 12:56

I'd walk away, the trust is gone.

And send them a glitterbomb.

sausagedogsmakechipolatas · 15/05/2018 12:57

When we made our offer we made it explicitly clear that it was made o condition the property was taken off the market - no further viewings or offers entertained from previous viewers. I wasn’t going to pay for a survey and mortgage application until those conditions were met.

namechangedtoday15 · 15/05/2018 13:07

There are quite a few EAs who will only take properties off the market once the survey is scheduled / taking place. Did you make it a condition of your offer that it would be taken off the market?

As everyone has said, it really depends. We were "played" by the EA for this house, they said our offer had been accepted and house was off the market. Funnily enough Hmm once it was off the market, another offer came in - hmm. We had the submit 'best and final' offers - we went up about £5k.

At the time though, the house was everything we wanted - location, potential and they simply didn't come on the market very often (at a price we could afford). We knew prices were rising and if we didn't get this house, similar houses would soon be out of our reach.

8 years on, it's the best decision we made although still despise EAs for their lack of transparency

TrinaN · 15/05/2018 13:13

It depends on how much you want the house. If you are desperate for the house and are willing to stretch to it then you could.

If you like the house but would be happy staying where you are or finding something else then I would walk away.

I can understand why an owner would take more money, especially if you are in early stages, but it is mean. If you put the price up beat the new offer, there is nothing to stop that person coming back with another offer and pushing the price even higher.

If the seller has done this to you once, they are clearly more interested in the money and so are more likely to do it to you again and you could find the seller pulling out further along if that person comes back with a better offer.

If you love the house, can't imagine living anywhere else and could cope stretching yourself then go for it, but otherwise cut your losses and find another house with a better seller.

Original poster
mum2015 · 15/05/2018 13:38

Thanks a lot for all posts. After thinking through everything, we decided to walk away.

OP posts:
Original poster
mum2015 · 15/05/2018 13:42

At the time of original price negotiation, if seller had refused our offer, we could have offered higher than the original offer(which I still think is fair price as I have done my homework), just because house was suitable for our family, but now after the loss of trust, I didnt want to pay more.

OP posts: