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Original poster

Unexpectedly gutted - missed out on house

27 replies

CaptainWentworth · 12/02/2020 15:23

We’ve been thinking about moving for a while, from our terraced house with no garden but in an excellent location, to somewhere with more space, a garden and a driveway, which we probably can’t afford locally.

We loved the first house we viewed, in November, but wanted to see a few more for comparison; I also had a few reservations as it was quite a long way out of the city and would have meant some lifestyle changes (although hopefully good ones). We have finally put our house on the market this week, which we didn’t want to do too soon as generally they sell within a week or two on our street. We had a second viewing of the first house, plus another one, lined up for Saturday, hoping to be in a position to offer shortly.

However the agent called just now to say they have accepted an offer from someone else - I wasn’t expecting to feel so gutted, but I really do. It’s been on the market since September so I thought we had plenty of time- I feel I’ve been really naive.

If we do get an offer on our house soon (it was circulated to agent’s list of buyers this week, not on open market yet and we have 5 viewings set up) what would the etiquette be for offering ourselves in the hope that it’s more than the first people offered? Is that just not the done thing?

I don’t know what to do, and if we do get offers on our house with nowhere to go to I will feel so pressured

OP posts:

Original poster

CaptainWentworth · 12/02/2020 15:25

Just to say we initially tried to set up a second viewing of ‘the’ house in December but the vendors couldn’t accommodate and then Christmas kind of got in the way, and I had to patch up some paintwork before we could market our house, which took me 2-3 weeks with toddler DD... oh I’ve done this all wrong!

OP posts:

AGreatUsername · 12/02/2020 15:34

Making an offer once they’ve accepted another is called gazumping. And while not illegal it is frowned upon, and a practice I personally hate. I’d be devastated to have an offer accepted and start planning only to have someone snatch the house from under me. Not to mention they may have started conveyancing and be left hundreds out of pocket.

Fingers crossed something you love equally as much comes on soon for you. More and more is coming on now as we approach spring so I’m sure you’ll find something.

Original poster

CaptainWentworth · 12/02/2020 15:48

I thought that might be the case. Never bought and sold before - this was our first house - so feel I don’t really know what I am doing.

Tempted to take our house off the market to be honest.

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AGreatUsername · 12/02/2020 15:58

We are hopefully on the way to exchange, but I am constantly worried about it falling through and there is nothing alternative we’d consider right now. It’s very stressful. Even more so having to worry about both sides falling through (we also haven’t sold before, but we have FTB buying ours and we are buying an empty house so a thankfully short chain), I haven’t slept for months! If (god forbid) our purchase fell through I would still be sellinb but asking our buyers to give a little time, as I’m 100% sure we want to move from this house, or more accurately, area. If you’re not totally sure about wanting to move then you’ve got a decision to make. Good luck!

Original poster

CaptainWentworth · 12/02/2020 16:07

We (well, I) love the area - great schools, lots of facilities nearby, excellent public transport - but DH doesn’t like being so near the city centre and we are both fed up with not having any parking and wrangling DD and associated equipment up the road and into the car. Also we only have a small yard instead of a garden and we are really feeling that now we have DD, and we often have relatives to stay but have only one bathroom which causes problems too.

I don’t realistically want to to stay in our current house but we can’t afford to get the space we want in our suburb unless we buy something that’s been untouched for 40 years, and neither of us have the energy for that sort of project (we did a lot to current house). Also the larger houses near us don’t come up for sale very often and when they do they are snapped up very quickly. I don’t mind not being in city but I’m worried about lack of childcare options somewhere more rural.

Mainly I’m still feeling gutted and stupid for not moving more quickly. The market seemed so slow locally until very very recently.

OP posts:

Aureum · 12/02/2020 16:12

If I wanted a house I’d make an offer. It’s perfectly feasible that you wouldn’t know someone else had made an offer, and it’s very early in the process so they won’t have invested in it yet. It may be that you’re willing to pay more or in a better position to proceed than the other people. Maybe it’s not “nice” but who cares, you don’t even know these people and you don’t owe them any favours.

Elouera · 12/02/2020 16:18

I'd be annoyed too! I'm utterly fed up with agents! We booked 3 days ahead to see a house today (2hr drive away). Got a call thismorning from agent to say its been sold. I'm surprised, because we might have offered more!

Mildura · 12/02/2020 16:24

@Elouera
It's not the agent who makes the decision to accept an offer or not, it's the property owner.

nocluewhattodoo · 12/02/2020 16:31

I'd gazump, they would probably have done the same to you! I always think it's good to register your interest with an offer even if they reject it, because the other buyers may fall through and then you are top of the list for the sellers.

Elouera · 12/02/2020 16:32

@Mildura- yes, that is a fair point.

Twice now we have made an offer (different real estate companies), then when we've called the following day as heard nothing, got told that the agent was 'off sick'. They've never got back to us, and when we call again, get informed that the house was sold when the agent was 'off sick'. Just seems like a common excuse to now allow us a counter offer.

Original poster

CaptainWentworth · 13/02/2020 09:42

Right, we’re not taking our house off the market - if we get an offer it would put us in the best position to pounce on the next property we find that we like. I’m still really sad that we missed out but I guess it means it wasn’t meant to be for us.

I still don’t really feel I know what I’m doing though. We have a mortgage agreement in principle from the bank; at what stage do we a) need to actually apply for the mortgage (there are no worries about it being accepted) and b) engage a solicitor?

OP posts:

Mildura · 13/02/2020 12:03

a) you can only apply when you've found a house you wish to purchase, and had your offer accepted, as you'll need to put the address on the application form.

b) a good idea to have a solicitor lined up who you wish to use. But don't instruct them to proceed with any work until such time as your offer has been accepted, terms have been agreed and the chain above is complete.

averythinline · 13/02/2020 13:45

I would tell the agent you are interested in house 1 and for how much, sales don't go through for all sorts of reasons...

Onemorecrisp · 13/02/2020 13:49

Offer on the house you want

Mildura · 13/02/2020 14:02

The OP still hasn't got an offer on their own property tho, so any offer they put forward is fairly meaningless, at this stage.

Itscoldouthere · 13/02/2020 14:35

If you want to be taken seriously in an area where houses sell quickly then you need to be under offer on your house or you will loose out.
We are half way through selling our current house and had lots of viewing and 3 offers but at the end of the day you agree to sell to the person who is able to proceed who offers you the best price.
It’s very unlikely someone would accept a higher price from a guzumper unless they already had doubts about their buyers. Most sellers would just consider accepting another offer if they thought the current sale was going to fall through.
Sales often do fall though so it may be with telling the estate agent that you are still interested in the property, then if it does fall through they will let you know.

ChicCroissant · 13/02/2020 14:43

The OP is not a proceedable buyer - has not sold her own house nor does she have a mortgage, that's not going to put her at the front of the queue unfortunately!

OP, I would keep an eye on property that is coming on the market so that when you accept an offer on your own you will be able to offer on another one quickly.

I hope the viewings that you have booked go well and you find a buyer for yours quickly.

Cohle · 13/02/2020 14:51

So you'd viewed the house once in November and had done nothing about it since? It's February now!

I'm sorry, but I really do think you needed to move a lot quicker if you were genuinely interested in the house.

Of course you shouldn't try and gazump the successful bidders. Think how gutted you currently feel, and imagine how much worse you'd feel to lose the house after having an offer accepted and quite reasonably getting excited about your new home.

CeibaTree · 13/02/2020 15:02

I think it's quite unusual to go for 3 viewings (especially if the first one was three months ago) before you make an offer. So next time you'll know to be much quicker :)

Original poster

CaptainWentworth · 13/02/2020 15:33

It would have been 2 viewings, and we did try to do a second viewing before Christmas but the vendor put us off as she wanted to recover from an overseas trip. We have a non sleeping 15 month old so it’s taken me since Christmas to sort our house out and do a bit of painting to get it ready to put on the market. We know it will sell very quickly as several other houses on our street (terrace) have sold within a week recently, so we wanted to be sure where we wanted to go before putting it on the market.

I accept we probably could have managed things better but I’ve never done this before! (bought and sold). Hopefully we will have a buyer in a few days, so then will be in a good position.

However I’m still confused about mortgages- one PP said we can’t apply for one until we have an offer accepted, and the someone else says we are not in a good position as we don’t have a mortgage- which is it?

OP posts:

Original poster

CaptainWentworth · 13/02/2020 15:35

And their agent basically put us off because we weren’t on the market yet (fair enough) but he knew we were very interested and wanted to see it again - I had told him I wanted to do a second viewing as soon as we were in a position to offer

OP posts:

Original poster

CaptainWentworth · 13/02/2020 15:39

I mean it’s all fair enough- clearly the buyers are in a better position to move forward than we are. I’m just upset that I was stupid enough to think the house would still be there when we were ready, as it’d been on the market a while.

OP posts:

Mildura · 13/02/2020 15:43

I can say with absolute certainty that you cannot submit a full mortgage application until you have an address for the property you wish to buy.

I do not know exactly what @ChicCroissant means when she says you don't have a mortgage.

ChicCroissant · 13/02/2020 15:54

The agreement in principle that you have will be good for showing to EA when you make an offer, the formal mortgage is on a specific property so you won't have that at the offer stage - the AIP is what you'll need there and you already have that, I think?

You'll find EA (and probably vendors as well tbh) will take you a lot more seriously now your own house is on the market, even more so when you have an offer and are a proceedable buyer!

I live in the SW and property still seems to be selling fast down here too, although I know that's not true everywhere. OP, it seems a bit of a contradiction to say that you waited to view the other house because the market was slow, yet you expect your own house to sell within a week

Good luck with the other house that you are viewing at the weekend as well btw - it is a stressful business and I hope it goes smoothly for you from here.

Original poster

CaptainWentworth · 13/02/2020 16:14

The market where we live moves quickly because it’s in a very desirable suburb of the main city in the region; the house we wanted is more expensive and also out in the sticks and generally houses in that price bracket and location have been hanging around for a year or more.

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