Do some people make offers just for kicks?

[owlsinthedaylight]

Part rant, part serious question.

We are selling a building plot. We have now had two buyers in a row that seem to have just lost interest in the process. Each time it got to a couple weeks of weeks before completion and they stopped communicating with their own solicitor.

I could totally understand if they changed their minds and withdrew the offer.

I could kind of understand if they stopped communicating with our solicitor. Although surely still easier for them to just tell us they were no longer interested.

But for two in a row to start ghosting their own solicitor… what is going on? Is it a weird coincidence or is this “a thing” for some reason?

Odd, yes. I wonder if they are actually known to each other (ie the same people with more than one business) and softening your expectations on price..
Assuming you have the names of both I would be studying directorship historical information.

I've had this with my flat in London. Three buyers have fallen through. One was a first time buyer who I think realised that they were over-stretching themselves and pulled out - annoying but fair enough. The other one quite literally ghosted us, and the third one just sort of hovered around for a few months, popping up every few weeks to ask a question and then not communicating for weeks afterwards. It was infuriating. They finally pulled the plug the week before Christmas and I genuinely don't think they ever had any intention of ever proceeding with a sale.

Wondering if this behaviour is becoming A Thing. If it is, the question is how to get estate agents put some boundaries in place to limit the damage.

My flat is back on the market now and we have had masses of interest as we hAve priced realistically and it's got quite an unusual layout (in a good way). But I am a bit anxious as an "offer" today doesn't seem to mean the same as I assumed it did in the past. It's like you are just throwing your hat into the ring and doesn't necessarily mean you actually want the property.

Anyway, rant over... I hope everything works out with your sale in the end, OP.

@DrySherry thats a really good point! I had thought of something like that individually but not them working together. I’ll do some research.

@Olinguita that really sucks! I hope it works out for you soon. I don’t understand what people get out of that, and presumably they still have to pay their solicitor. It wastes so much time. I wouldn’t mind if it was a quick process but it’s not.