Page 3 | Schadenfreude ...greedy seller lost their buyer after gazumping me

Atethehalloweenchocs · 14/04/2023 10:36

I offered on my current house, buying from the children of the couple who had owned it. A few days after they accepted my offer, I got a call from the EA saying they had received another offer and could I increase mine. I told them I had been clear I was not going to be in a bidding war, and was disappointed that they had given me a verbal ok then changed their minds. Lacks integrity I think. We really need to have a system more like the Scottish one.

Whatthediddlyfeck · 14/04/2023 10:38

DoTrollsShitInTheThreads · 13/04/2023 22:12

I'm enjoying this thread. Our system for conveyancing in the UK really needs updating to stop some of these awful tactics.

It’s the ENGLISH system, not UK. The Scottish property system doesn’t allow this to happen.

Im loving reading these tales, especially when people get a better property in the long run, some things are just meant

Osina · 14/04/2023 10:41

Excellent thread!

We placed an offer, accepted, the sellers then became quite odd (sending me rude texts, saying things wouldn’t be included when the listing said they would be etc.). They were also dragging their feet with the paperwork etc. It felt ‘off’ to us but we were FTBers in a sellers’ market so we hung on in there. After a few months of this they decided to pull out, we were gutted. A couple of months later we saw they put it back on the market… they eventually sold it for £6.5k less than we were going to pay.

Osina · 14/04/2023 10:42

Osina · 14/04/2023 10:41

Excellent thread!

We placed an offer, accepted, the sellers then became quite odd (sending me rude texts, saying things wouldn’t be included when the listing said they would be etc.). They were also dragging their feet with the paperwork etc. It felt ‘off’ to us but we were FTBers in a sellers’ market so we hung on in there. After a few months of this they decided to pull out, we were gutted. A couple of months later we saw they put it back on the market… they eventually sold it for £6.5k less than we were going to pay.

Oh and we ended up down the road from that house in a much bigger/better house with a bigger garden, which we love!

exLtEveDallas · 14/04/2023 10:49

Before we bought the house we are now in, we offered £5k under asking for another house in the area. The sellers said no, and a couple of weeks later actually put up the price by another £15k which took it completely out of our price range.

We shrugged, kept looking and eventually bought our house for the asking price, which was now 10k less than the first house.

Th original house stayed on the market for 2 years and never sold. I noticed a couple of months ago that it’s back on again for the original price as it now has a factory on the field behind it, and a housing estate to the side. I am VERY glad they didn’t accept our offer.

Mynewname2023 · 14/04/2023 11:02

We were buying a house last year when the market was crazy. Offered on one with Purple Bricks and the seller kept messaging to ask for higher and higher offers saying she’d accept then suddenly she had new buyers interested. We’d already offered over asking price several times so we pulled out. The market changed soon after and her buyers pulled out, it went back on sale and didn’t sell for ages. She kept reducing it and it went for £30k less 🤣 greedy cow.
In the mean time, we got a house we liked better for less money.

SophieIsHereToday · 14/04/2023 11:06

Greenfairydust · 13/04/2023 19:35

Just that really....

I had put a very reasonable offer before Christmas on a house that had been on the market for a while. It was accepted.

The agents were horrible to deal with but things proceeded and I was told no more viewings would take place.

4 weeks later out of the blue I got a call that the owner had accepted another, much higher offer and I was heartbroken.

Well, today I saw that the house is back on the market and the owners has reduced the asking price by more than 15K as the sale fell though.

I just could not help but be pleased that the owner got what they deserve for being greedy/lacking integrity.

Anyone else got messed around by sellers only to see them get what they deserved in return?

This happened to us too. We offered them 5% over their asking price as a counter, 5k more than the gazumpper. We were rejected because the other buyer was a cash buyer and so more reliable and they were happy with the extra money from the second buyer.

Funny they were happy with the extra money and 'security' but then it fell through

LemonPledge555 · 14/04/2023 11:19

We offered on a house in the next town along. It’s more well thought of than the town we are in now. House was lovely. Was marketed as offers over £X (Scotland), was a buyers market at the time. Woman selling was at pains to tell us how she wasn’t looking to be massively greedy and just wanted to sell. We offered £X and good timeframe, so nothing over and above, but this was the home report value - we were also renting and v flexible, so was a good offer. We’d already sold etc. She turned us down, so clearly was looking for more. We got the house we’re currently in, much less fancy town but a lot cheaper and a lot bigger. I looked up the house about 6 months later. It had only just gone through and from memory she got about £1k more than we’d offered, which was less than 0.5% above her offers over. Muppet.

Inanun2 · 14/04/2023 11:25

Gazumping has gone on for ever. Over 30 years ago my parents offered and were proceeding on a dream house and DM told a very good family friend who in turn mentioned to her own mother who gazumped my parents and we lost the house. The friendship was never the same after that, it was very sad.
consequently when I moved a few years ago I told no one where were going until exchange as I have never forgotten the upset it caused.

Inanun2 · 14/04/2023 11:30

I should add the subsequently moved to a different wonderful house so maybe it happened for a reason, but strained a close friendship that never really recovered.

anon90210 · 14/04/2023 11:36

We viewed a beautiful house, viewed it twice and seller was so lovely with our kids, showing them which rooms could be theirs, where her kids and grandkids play, toys she would leave behind for us so we put an offer in as she told us she would love to sell to us. We were surprised when our offer was not accepted because a cash buyer offered lower amount than us but seller wanted to move quickly and cash buyer would be quicker.

We found a different house near that one, put an offer in and moved in 7 weeks later. It took another 6 months for the other seller to complete. She did approach us because it was taking so long but we were moving stuff into our new house when we got a call to ask if we could move quicker than her cash and that she would love to sell the house to us after all at the the price we offered.

So much for that cash buyer being quicker than us, she got less money (14k) and it took 8 months started to finish.

I was so disappointed when she refused our offer after saying how she would love to sell to us, discussed numbers with us and offered what she was looking for, showed my kids the rooms, discussed toys she was leaving etc.

So not a gazumped story but the seller would have accepted our offer if we were still looking for a property. We were very lucky that after the solicitor emailed us to say offer unsuccessful, the estate agent phoned us with a house just coming onto the market.

caringcarer · 14/04/2023 11:48

My son had the opposite. He was a FTB. He went to see so many houses and kept putting offers in at full asking price, then EA rang asking for his final offer so he raised it a bit but each time he missed out. Then he was chatting to an older man at a local deli and told him he was having a hard time buying a house and told what had been happening. The older man said he was just about to list his house as wanted to move closer to adult DD. My son said he'd be interested in viewing. The man said come back to look now if you want so DH did. My son loved it. They agreed a price there and then so no EA involved. Man passed half of the expected EA fee on to my son. It took ages to go through and the market was rapidly rising all the time. A house 2 doors away went on the market for £25k more and snapped up very quickly. DS's solicitors were very slow and he was terrified The man might ask for a higher offer but the man said no we made a deal. My son got an amazing little house and a while after completion he found out the house a couple of doors away sold for £30k more than his. Some people still have integrity.

stayathomegardener · 14/04/2023 18:11

Selling the family home of 60 years in 2021 because our D Mother needed to go into care.

Neighbours on either side made the highest offers but thanks to Ring Doorbells I could hear them planning to reduce said offers one with a boundary dispute and the other side with a damaged retaining wall.

Took great pleasure in going with an unconnected offer £20k lower, explaining the situation to the buyers and suggesting they carried on the existing insurance policy in case either neighbour pursued a claim.

Often pleases me to think when the sold price came up on Zoopla recently how puzzled they would be that we chose a lower offer.

Also the DH of the new buyers could be a tough cookie so not as easily bullied as our poor Mum was in her 90's.

MariaDeVelty · 15/04/2023 01:55

LemonPledge555 · 14/04/2023 11:19

We offered on a house in the next town along. It’s more well thought of than the town we are in now. House was lovely. Was marketed as offers over £X (Scotland), was a buyers market at the time. Woman selling was at pains to tell us how she wasn’t looking to be massively greedy and just wanted to sell. We offered £X and good timeframe, so nothing over and above, but this was the home report value - we were also renting and v flexible, so was a good offer. We’d already sold etc. She turned us down, so clearly was looking for more. We got the house we’re currently in, much less fancy town but a lot cheaper and a lot bigger. I looked up the house about 6 months later. It had only just gone through and from memory she got about £1k more than we’d offered, which was less than 0.5% above her offers over. Muppet.

I understand your perspective but that £1k really depends on her circumstances.

Firstly, if myself, you or her saved 1k on a holiday that would be a massive don't of money. It just isn't on the scale of a house but £1000 is a sizable amount to earn.

Secondly, if the house was worth £300k (guessing), but she had a mortgage of £260k. Then her investment is £40k. £1k back is about a 2.2% return. Now that is small still but not a bad return.

If she didn't struggle to see it at this price, meeting she did the right thing

mondaytosunday · 15/04/2023 02:45

Sure. In the 1980s I bought a flat off a guy who was a sports presenter on TV (now does main news, though not for terrestrial tv).
First time I turned on the heat the boiler made a god awful noise snd the neighbours upstairs ran down and told me to turn it off and that the guy knew it was broken. Cost me £££. He also tried to remove the gas fire and the fitted shelving in the kitchen (this told to me by neighbours as they had let the movers in). Sadly no consequences for him other than the fact I told everyone I knew who he was.
I also was gazumped, only for sellers to come back to me a few weeks later. I had already committed elsewhere.
Another seller pulled out a couple days before exchanging, deciding not to sell. I'd met them twice too. Then a year later they put it back on and sold for less than my offer.

BonnieLisbon · 15/04/2023 02:48

Yanbu. Even though this isn't the AIBU board you are not unreasonable to feel like that. Do you think they'll ask if you are interested? Would you say no?

BonnieLisbon · 15/04/2023 02:50

Ignore my question I see you've answered it

ASGIRC · 15/04/2023 04:18

Where Im from (and where I bought my flat), after your offer is accepted, you sign a contract, which says you commit to buying that property, save for the bank not giving you a mortgage or something like that, and the seller commits to selling you and only you the house.
You usually pay a 10% deposit on signing this contract, which is non refundable if the buyer pulls out for any reason that isnt stated on the contract, and if the seller pulls out they have to refund DOUBLE the money.

Its not law, or anything, just common practice, and almost everyone does it, and more often than not within 2 weeks of the offer being accepted.

No gazumping there!

I was lucky when I put my offer in, in that with certain legal issues the seller had, then pandemic happening, we didnt sign this contract until 7 months later, but everything was fine and the sellers didnt change their minds!

LemonPledge555 · 15/04/2023 09:08

MariaDeVelty · 15/04/2023 01:55

I understand your perspective but that £1k really depends on her circumstances.

Firstly, if myself, you or her saved 1k on a holiday that would be a massive don't of money. It just isn't on the scale of a house but £1000 is a sizable amount to earn.

Secondly, if the house was worth £300k (guessing), but she had a mortgage of £260k. Then her investment is £40k. £1k back is about a 2.2% return. Now that is small still but not a bad return.

If she didn't struggle to see it at this price, meeting she did the right thing

Show quote history

She made a big deal about not looking for loads over asking, I seem to remember her using phrasing along the lines of “I’m not greedy”. If she’d not said that, we would likely have gone £1-2k over. We offered, she turned down the offer and then she went to close (she must have had notes of interest to go to close) but it stayed on the market - that would tend to happen if no offers at all, or if offers were in line with what we offered/under valuation. Market was low at the time. And it stayed on for months after, in a desirable town where it should have shifted pretty quickly. For me the length of time she had to continue marketing and paying the mortgage surely outweigh taking an offer (of valuation) when it was on the table? To me that is not struggling to see the price. If she wanted £1k more, market it for more. The reality is I believe she wanted £5-10k more. She would have been making a significant profit on the house from what she purchased for, despite the market being low. In that town, low means getting for valuation rather than achieving a silly offer over valuation. Either way, I’m glad we didn’t buy that house 🤷🏼‍♀️ but I hadn’t considered the other side of the mortgage in terms of realising profits etc.

Barbecuebeans · 15/04/2023 09:31

dig135 · 14/04/2023 08:33

Of course you're not! You're not running a charity or a housing association. You want the best possible return on your sale. End of. It's not being greedy or unfair.

I confess I've also gazumped someone. We had made an offer on a near derelict house and the seller wanted three weeks to consider our offer. At 5pm on the last day, they received and accepted a higher offer.

We'd missed out and been messed around on several houses over the three years we'd been house-hunting. The next day, we increased our offer and she accepted.

Is that morally wrong? Quite possibly although the other buyer hadn't incurred any costs at that point as it was only 24 hours later.

That's not gazumping in my view. Gazumping is when you do it at the eleventh hour and when someone is already invested in the property, has paid out on surveys and solicitors' fees etc. That's greedy and lacks integrity. It's okay to accept a higher offer at the initial buying stage.

dig135 · 15/04/2023 09:51

Barbecue beans fair enough. I always felt a bit guilty for my gazumping as the vendor had accepted the other offer and we came back with a higher offer.

It's such a frustrating process at times. We'd offered on another house and there was another bidder so we kept having to increase our bid. Fair enough, that's the EA doing their job. Eventually the other bidder pulled out and we were told another £25k (on top of the £100k we'd gone up already) would seal the deal (reluctant seller). It didn't and they wanted another £25k. No doubt it would have gone on and on.

I think they eventually sold the house a couple of years later when they finally came to terms with having to sell it. It came back on the market recently and I realised it wasn't nearly as nice as I'd remembered it when I had another tour. Sometimes it's good to have a reality check about the 'house that gets away'.

Barbecuebeans · 15/04/2023 11:21

dig135 · 15/04/2023 09:51

Barbecue beans fair enough. I always felt a bit guilty for my gazumping as the vendor had accepted the other offer and we came back with a higher offer.

It's such a frustrating process at times. We'd offered on another house and there was another bidder so we kept having to increase our bid. Fair enough, that's the EA doing their job. Eventually the other bidder pulled out and we were told another £25k (on top of the £100k we'd gone up already) would seal the deal (reluctant seller). It didn't and they wanted another £25k. No doubt it would have gone on and on.

I think they eventually sold the house a couple of years later when they finally came to terms with having to sell it. It came back on the market recently and I realised it wasn't nearly as nice as I'd remembered it when I had another tour. Sometimes it's good to have a reality check about the 'house that gets away'.

Yes I do think you can get carried away with getting that particular house and then find it wasn't all that and you could actually do better elsewhere.

CrashyTime · 25/08/2023 15:23

Mynewname2023 · 14/04/2023 11:02

We were buying a house last year when the market was crazy. Offered on one with Purple Bricks and the seller kept messaging to ask for higher and higher offers saying she’d accept then suddenly she had new buyers interested. We’d already offered over asking price several times so we pulled out. The market changed soon after and her buyers pulled out, it went back on sale and didn’t sell for ages. She kept reducing it and it went for £30k less 🤣 greedy cow.
In the mean time, we got a house we liked better for less money.

Sounds like a total chancer who deserved to lose money.