Advice please... gazumping

[housingcrisis]

We have arranged to view a house tomorrow. However the estate agent said, the house had an offer accepted on it but they were waiting for the buyers mortgage in principle to come through before taking it off the market, likely to be Saturday. I asked whether there was much point viewing if an offer had already been accepted on it, they said yes.
What does all this mean? Does this mean, if we like the house we would need to make an immediate higher offer to put to the seller and if they accepted, the original offer would be cancelled? Is this what is known as 'gazumping'? I don't feel comfortable doing that... or is that only the case when the house is off the market? It is still listed on rightmove. We are applying for a mortgage in principle regardless. We have already seen a mortgage broker.
It is my first house so we don't have much experience!

The offer has been accepted but it's not off the market, so you're free to still try to outbid them, but will have a limited time period.

I would be concerned that the seller is not trust worthy.

Although I did it. We went to see a house years ago, older lady, we were told there was an offer on it, but not accepted and urged to view. We really questioned it, but the agent was clear, it wasn't an accepted offer and the seller would like us to view. We loved it, made an offer, and the agent says yes, sorry, she's decided to go for the first offer which was lower.

We are clean, well presented, polite professionals. We were really nice about how lovely her house was to her, And I was really pissed off she messed us around like that. I still can't see the point in what she did. Apparently she liked them more than us as they were older and closer to her age range.

Would I do it again, I'm not sure, I'd hesitate really. People can be really odd sometimes.

Bluntness - she was open to offers so she was happy for you to take a look.
She didn’t like you for whatever reason and wanted to go with lower offer.

She didn’t do anything wrong. And didn’t mislead you.

This will be my first house, I rent currently. I am amazed how the house buying market works. I thought a house was for sale, if you wanted it, you paid the asking price and that was that. I was so naive... it was a simpler time.

What Bluntness100 said. I'd proceed carefully. In my case I saw a house and my offer was accepted by the vendor, who then accepted a higher offer at the last minute, a day before the survey was taking place. It was bizarre as my offer was higher than the other person's by a not insignificant sum of money and was higher than the asking price! Sellers can be untrustworthy sometimes.

Sorry, I meant to say a lower offer than mine.

Again, like Bluntness, I felt that we were both well presented professionals, got on well with the vendors, were complimentary about their house etc, but there we go.

Also sometimes things fall through - maybe they want you there just incase something goes wrong with their first buyer.

No, that's not gazumping. That happens when everything has already gone through, and you are literally a few hours away from exchanging contracts and the buyer is told to either cough up more money or you lose the house.

Oh well, we can view it and see what happens. It is a stressful business! We have already made 2 offers on a house (both under asking price but more than fair considering how much needed doing to it and how much other houses sold for nearby) and both rejected. Starting to feel very deflated after the initial excitement when we started looking.

Gazumping is more commonly where someone else offers more money at the eleventh hour. Nothing has technically "gone through" if you haven't exchanged.

When selling a house we accepted an asking price offer from someone who was a cash offer. Another person kept contacting the Estate agent with higher and higher offers which we declined because they still had a house to sell.
It's not just about the amount, it can be about ability to proceed easily.

If You like it, and make an offer op, do so with the condition it comes off the market immediately. Get your offer in principle sorted, this should be quick and relatively painless.

We were in this exact same position many years ago. I asked the Estate Agent what the point of viewing was if an offer had already been accepted - but was still advised to view it.
Turns out both me and my DH loved it. We also put in an offer and then the others upped theirs and so on....
It got ridiculous. We pulled out in the end but not until after surveys and stuff.

So glad we did and we wouldn't view one with an offer on again.
Good Luck - it's a bit of a nightmare, isn't it?

redwoodmazza this is what I think would happen. Where we both up our prices till it goes well over what it is worth. Anyway, I am getting ahead of myself. Better view it first. I hope I hate it!

If you are going to bid lower than asking price then be prepared to walk away. Most good houses in good areas sell at the price they advertised at. Decide what you think you want to to pay and stick to it. Avoid bidding wars. We were gazumped twice and when one of them fell through we were asked if we were still interested! No we weren’t. No longer trusted sellers.

The vendor has only accepted the first offer provisionally because the buyers' mortgage isn't confirmed. This is very sensible.

Therefore, you are free to make an offer if you want the house. Your mortgage might be confirmed sooner than these other buyers? You might offer more than these other buyers? Even if you did that you would not be gazumping because the offer that has been accepted is subject to a suitable mortgage being in place.

Once the vendor has a fully verified and checked offer (their Estate Agent should make sure the buyers actually do have the funds they are offering) and accepts it - that's conventionally when houses are taken off the market for further viewings.

The estate agent said the buyer was having to wait till the end of the tax year before getting the mortgage in principle as she was self employed. I assume they have done the affordability check and it is ready and waiting to go. It does look perfect for us,needs work doing but that is fine.