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Original poster

House sale fell through. What would you do? Is it gazumping?

44 replies

Orcagirl · 02/08/2020 23:10

Hi- timeline of what’s happened:

4 weeks ago Husband and I went to view a house and wanted it. Put our house on market immediately.

Had 4 offers received on ours within first week, accepted one, and put an offer in on house we wanted which was accepted and both houses taken off market. Instructed solicitor.

10 days later our buyer pulled out. Our EA contacted other interested parties but they are both waiting for their houses to sell. The vendor said she would wait for us.

However we received a phone call 6 days later to say the vendor had accepted an offer from another interested party, this was on Thursday.

We are gutted and unsure what to do. No other houses we are interested in as yet- like I said we only wanted to move for this particular house and we were over the moon when a sale was agreed. Plenty of viewers over the weekend and I’m pretty sure we will receive another offer tomorrow and will once again be able to proceed. If we do receive an offer and are once again in a position to proceed, I want to go back with a higher offer. I don’t like the idea of gazumping but that house was perfect for us and our family.

Any advice welcome, Thankyou :-)

OP posts:

ChicCroissant · 03/08/2020 11:30

I don't see any conspiracy here - the buyers that have had their offer accepted may have viewed it before the OP did and made an offer despite the vendors having already accepted the OP's. The OP is planning to do the same thing now, offer on (the same) house that has an offer accepted.

I don't blame the vendors for going with a proceedable offer - they may be in a chain and desperate to get their offer in as well - but I would be wary that even if they accepted a higher, second offer that they might be tempted by another bidder who offered more!

It is a stressful business ...

AdoreTheBeach · 03/08/2020 12:12

Hi OP

We had this happen to us. With what was the dream house for both DH and I. We used to walk past this house every day in way to train when we lived in our little first house. Never thought we could afford it. But 15 years down the line we could when it went up for sale. Put our house on the market just to buy that house. Got a buyer, Solicitors instructed and survey of our house was booked. We were getting quotes for full structural (very old house and had asbestos)

Night before survey, the EA (we were using same EA to sell as was the house we were purchasing) to say he’d just had a call from our buyers surveyor cancelling the survey.

Turns out our buyer simply did this a lot. Offered and backed out. Had been doing it for years

EA introduced new buyers within two days. I write pleading letter to seller. He was sticking with the new buyers because he’s agreed.

Months after we moved where we are (only because it was vacant and our buyer needed to move, we didn’t want to lose them as they were chain free), our dream house sold months after we were in our new house. For less money - all due to the asbestos.

We were so angry with the EA. They introduced these new buyers right away. However, friends did point out to us. EA is working for the seller. They don’t work for the buyer. The EA wants a sale. They don’t care if it’s your dream home. They don’t really care if your house is listed with them too. A sale is a sale.

So don’t feel bad offering more. If you really want that house go ahead and offer more If you REALLY want it, look into bridging loan so you can proceed even if your own house sale takes longer Only way you may secure that specific house

Fiftysixthnamechange · 03/08/2020 12:37

Just be aware that if you offer more, there's nothing to say the other buyer won't offer more too. Then you're stuck in a cycle. This happened to us, fell in love with a house, offered asking price and it was accepted, we had sold our house so no problems there. Out of the blue another couple offered 20k over the asking price, completely gazumped us. Owners of the dream house accepted there offer instead of ours. Turned out the couple that gazumped us couldn't get a mortgage for the asking price +20k and pulled out of the sale. EA called me, begging us to take the house, apologised on behalf of the owners ('they're so sorry, they went with the wrong couple') but we'd offered on a different property by then and I wouldn't have had the house if they'd have given it away, I was enraged by the owners greed.
That house sat on the market for over a year before it finally sold to a developer for 50k less than we offered.
I hope they learnt a very valuable (expensive!) lesson.

Original poster

Orcagirl · 03/08/2020 14:23

Thankyou all for your replies. Lots of good for thought. I don’t trust the vendor’s EA. The other buyer is also listed with the same EA and so they will want to tie up both sales.

We have received a full asking price offer today as I thought we would. Our buyer has sold to a cash buyer through the above EA. I have gone back to the EA and asked them to put forward an increased offer of 310k. Our initial agreed offer was 305k. We viewed the house twice, had a good rapport, and like I said upthread already instructed a solicitor.

I haven’t hear anything back yet. I expect the EA is trying to get the other buyer to increase their offer? I’m on nights at the moment (nurse) and can’t sleep with the nerves of it all.

OP posts:

WombatChocolate · 03/08/2020 15:35

Ooh...stressful.
Hard to see how it will play out - it's hard to compete with a cash buyer. They might feel they can justify dumping the new guys because you were their first buyer......made 'easier' if you offer more.
But you're in a bidding war now. Lots of people on principle don't engage with those, but I guess it's your only option now.

Think also about how strong a buyer you've just obtained. Be ready to big them up to the EA and emphasise hopefully how quickly this can go through and that you won't be slow. Of course, if your buyer is in a big chain, you won't be able to say that....but I'd think it's worth establishing the exact position of your new buyer - is their mortgage sorted, are they needing to sell etc etc.

To be honest, if I were the seller, I'd probably go with the cash buyer - I'd apologise to you as the original and say that the timings just conspired against you, but that having got a cash buyer, I would stick rather than allow a bidding war. But you never know what might happen with this other seller anyway...it can fall through, or it's certainly not unheard of, for so-called cash buyers to suddenly have a property thry need to sell or a mortgage needed.

Try to hold lightly to this....there's so much that can go wrong and lots is beyond your control, so just see this one as an unlikely at the moment.

WombatChocolate · 03/08/2020 15:47

Sorry, just realised the cash buyer you referred to, wasn't the person accepted by the seller you hope accepts you.

Your position is a better now...would be better if the buyer you've just got was a cash buyer, but at least the chain would end 3 below your seller.

You're right though, EAs love to tie up lots of different fees from different sellers together to boost their income. It will be hard to make yourself more attractive to the EA....can you communicate directly with the seller or is that not really viable?

Again, all this issue of who is selling with which EA and therefore which buyer the EA promotes to the seller is beyond your control.

I once bought a flat and found the EA bent over backwards towards me. It was because the flat was tenanted with a tenant organised by the same EA. Not only did the EA stand to get the commission on the sale, but to keep the tenant and the fees I would pay as a landlord, as I was keen to keep the tenant too, and moving EA at that point was just too tricky. So over the years, that property has been a good source of income for the EA. it's those kind of things that you just can't do a lot about and sometimes you find yourself on the side with things in their favour and sometimes you don't.

AdoreTheBeach · 04/08/2020 07:21

Good luck OP. Please come back and let us know how it works out. Hope you get your dream house.

Original poster

Orcagirl · 04/08/2020 15:59

We didn’t get it.

Put our offer in. But the vendor has gone with the other buyer.

I’m feeling so annoyed, they took it off the market for us and said they would wait, we’ve literally found another buyer for ours in a week and they’ve gone with someone else.

The other buyer is with the same EA

OP posts:

Puffthemagicdragongoestobed · 04/08/2020 18:36

Oh no that sucks OP!
We were in your vendors' situation last year in that our buyers' buyer pulled out after three months into the process. Our buyers were desperate for our house, so we decided to give them two weeks to find a new buyer. Two weeks turned into nearly three when we decided to put the house back on the market, and we found new buyers very quickly.
Our previous buyers found another buyer shortly after, but were unable to offer the full asking price unlike our new buyers. We went with the new buyers, as this meant we had more money to spend on our next house.
Also, waiting for nearly three weeks before putting the house back on the market meant we couldn't offer on another house we found in time, before someone else offered.
Ultimately people do what's right for them in the situation. We were nice in that we kept the house off the market for our previous buyers but it didn't really do us any favours.

Original poster

Orcagirl · 04/08/2020 19:20

The gutting thing is we didn’t mess about.

We got a new buyer in a week, and offered 10k over asking price. But the vendor is sticking with the other buyer who offered less. I think the EA must have heavily promoted that chain to her as it is their client also.

So gutted :(

OP posts:

Original poster

Orcagirl · 04/08/2020 22:07

I am tempted to increase our offer again to the maximum we could go to, which would be 315k, 10k over their other offer.

What do you think? Or I am coming off desperate. It’s our dream. Wouldn’t feel half as bad if we hadn’t had a sale agreed just last week. 😞

OP posts:

yellowymellowy · 04/08/2020 22:09

So annoying for you, bad luck.

You never know what is going to happen with housing transactions. I suspect more chains than usual are breaking down now. Hopefully you will find another house that you love even more.

Original poster

Orcagirl · 04/08/2020 23:36

What are people thoughts on going back with yet another higher offer?

Or is it time to walk away.

OP posts:

Ariela · 04/08/2020 23:45

Personally I'd look and see what else is about. Is it worth leafleting similar houses in the same road in case someone is thinking of going on the market?

You may find their new buyers pull out and the EA gets back to you anyway

My0My · 04/08/2020 23:56

We had this going on with a London flat we wanted a few years ago. We kept on being outbid on a flat even though we had nothing to sell and just wanted a tiny mortgage to fill the gap between capital and what we were paying. So pretty good buyers one would have thought. Vendors went with other buyers after we raised our bid 3 times. We still didn’t get it. We set a maximum and that was it.

On the day we completed for another flat I got a call from the agent. Did we want flat 1? Obviously not! They went with more money but the buyer could not get the mortgage required. So the vendor was back at square 1. Too bad really.

Let your sale go through. Move into rented if you have to. One last shot but as a sold buyer with the money in the bank you are in a great position in the future. One last shot won’t hurt anyone though (but you know it’s a bit desperate)!

Original poster

Orcagirl · 04/08/2020 23:59

It’s quite a select house... victorian detached on a main road, the ones on the same road are bigger and one has just sold for 100k more which would be out of our price range.

OP posts:

My0My · 05/08/2020 00:06

Why is there £100k difference? What’s wrong with this one? There’s profit in it for someone.

Original poster

Orcagirl · 05/08/2020 00:09

There’s nothing wrong with it, the houses are all different sizes, all victorian detached, the one that sold for 100k more had another bedroom and a larger garden and was just much bigger in general.

OP posts:

Dolan348 · 28/02/2022 20:45

Assume you didnt get the house in the end? What is your position now - did you find another house you loved? Asking because our transaction fell through 2 days before exchange do to one of the owner's sadly passing away.....

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