Gazumping - WWYD?

[oranga]

I'm selling my house and had accepted an offer last week. Yesterday I got an offer from a cash buyer of £35K over the accepted offer. What the heck do I do? This would be a significant sum to turn down and I'm a single parent. Morally I feel like I should turn it down however it would make a large difference to my finances. What on earth do I do?

And I bet your "cash buyer" will drop there offer just before exchange by a huge amount. I have seen this happen so many times.

Morally I couldn't do it, but it's up to you and if you are prepared that you may get stitched up just before exchange.

unless your in an area where property is in extremely high demand or have a really unique property (land etc) be very careful.
some cash buyers so this and then pull out, which then means you have lost your genuine buyer.
or the cash buyer might try and reduce the offer at the last minute, giving you no option but to take less.
in some cases the cash buyer also ends up not being a cash buyer.
i hate gazumping. we had it happen to us alot when we were looking, but mainly because we were after land and so were many other people so they were willing to splash the cash.

Yes, many of the houses around here went to 'cash; buyers that right at the last minute reduced their offers or became non cash buyers.

Has your EA seen proof of funds in their account? That is the first step but, even then, they may not actually be cash buyers willing to part with it! Tread carefully.

First and foremost ask for proof of funds and completion timescales

Demand proof of funds and what their plans are in terms of moving ie whether they have found a new property / need to sell theirs first. A lot of cash buyers offer over the odds when they know they have problems selling their property or will need time to clear their stuff & as a single mum you need to decide whether you have the time or energy to deal with all of that.

And I bet your "cash buyer" will drop there offer just before exchange by a huge amount

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I would never sell a house to a cash buyer.
They are notorious for being flaky and a pain in the arse..

I'm a cash buyer, and just got gazumped on a dream property. Being a cash buyer meant that I put everything that I had on it and could not offer anymore and lost it by £7500.

It's made me very ill and just get suicidal thoughts about it, as lost all hope.

That being said, £35,000 is alot of money. Probably would ask for a non refundable deposit, if you were to accept it, which the solicitors will sort out for you.

Ask your solicitor whats the quickest timeline a solicitor can process the purchase of your home.

If there are no impediments to the transfer of ownership ask them for a good faith non-refundable 35k payment for you to take it off the market for the X month(s) +one month.

They have 1 week to do survey's before signing the contract and transferring the money to your solicitors client account.

Provided the sale goes through on time the payment is offset against sale. 1/2k is deducted per week of delay.

If they have their ducks in a row and are cash buyers ready to act they will agree in principle to sign.

It’s only been a week since you accepted the offer??? I think that makes it a very different moral picture. Your other buyers will only suffer some disappointment and are not very far down the process at all. Ask for proof of funds and tell them it needs to go through as asap.

Thanks to all for replies. I've decided against it, and going forward with the original offer. I've directed the cash buyer to my estate agent with his offer. Let's hope both my sale and purchase go through smoothly