Making an offer on a house already under offer

[bettyboo4]

We’re first time buyers with no chain and viewed a house in last year that is our dream house but because of my fiancés work and family/life issues we had to hold off the buying process for a few months.

The house had been on the market for over 5 months before going under offer 2 weeks ago. Shoot me but we called yesterday to put in an offer for the full asking price, cheeky I know and I do feel bad but alls fair in love and property until contracts are exchanged any why shoulder the owner get the best possible price for their property. Not something I would have done on just any house but for us personally this house ticks every single box and more and I genuinely know if we don’t get it we won’t get close to this again.

The house price is higher than most in the area because of the street it’s on and has less/ smaller rooms than other houses that are cheaper in the area (but perfect for us). I assume that’s why it was so hard for them to sell given the price. The owner told us they had an offer on the table for 10k under the asking price and given it was on the market for so long I assume (only assume but they might be wrong) they’ve had to accept a lower offer.

The estate agent sounded shocked and said this doesn’t usually happen but also sounded surprised we was putting in an offer for the full asking price. What’s the likelihood they will accept given we have no chain and potentially a higher offer? Waiting for a call back from the estate agents today after them putting our offer to the owner 😬🤞🏼

Yes, good point. OP would be better to own that she is selfish and doesn’t care, rather than try to excuse and justify her appalling behaviour.

The agent works for the seller and has to put forward all offers. The agent is not at fault here.

Morally reprehensible, and that's it.

Congrats @bettyboo4

We did a similar thing (in fact offered over asking price) and have been in the house now for eleven years!

I do understand and admire those with higher moral principles than mine. But in a legal and financial transaction like that (and board games!) my morals are limited to following the rules, taking advantage of them where they're in my favour and being prepared for others to do the same.

Sure, because life and other people's situations are exactly like board games. The self-entitlement of people has reached very scary levels nowadays.

Gazumping is legal unfortunately. I just hope the people who have put the original offer in have not laid out over a £1000 for surveys etc.

I agree. It’s becoming a race to the bottom as people feel justified in behaving badly themselves if they have been treated badly. It seems to be a badge of honour to be selfish and self centred for some people.

Yes, that's the scariest bit. They are proud of it. They are so totally blind it's unnerving.

I don't think that there's anything wrong with this. Buying a house is a big deal, and here's nothing wrong with putting in your best offer at any point of he process.

Hi Haven, not so much proud as not uncomfortable! I guess the difference is that some people don't regard themselves as behaving badly. My view (and I know that it's a very much a minority one) is that selling and buying things from strangers is purely transactional and rules-based, and that there are no moral obligations beyond sticking to the rules.

(And anyway outside of the rules how do you decide what is and isn't an appropriate way to conduct the transaction? I've noticed different people do have different moral expectations with house buying. Yours might not line up with the other people involved, in which case you're back to a feeling that someone is getting an unfair advantage.)

I asked for advice not validation. We are completely new to buying and assumed this was just one of those potentials before contracts exchanged 🤷🏻‍♀️ Given that I’m immoral, compassionless one (based on knowing nothing about me other than I just offered the actual asking price for our dream home) I’ve never actually wished bad karma on anyone let alone a stranger on the internet.

What advice exactly were you looking for?

You did seem kinda gleeful/righteous that you would be ousting the previous purchasers ("they should have offered a fair price" type phrasing) and people are reacting to this.

I don't have a huge problem with what you did, and it was up to the owner to accept the higher offer or not, but you have yourself said the house was priced more than others nearby. So the "asking price" may well be excessive, and I hope that the valuation for mortgage isn't an issue for you

Well, there's a moral dimension to many transactions in life, including buying & selling property. Whether you're a FTB and whether this is the legendary 'dream home' in your mind many people will think you haven't behaved with much honour in this case. Others will think it's fair game, tough shit etc and I know which sort of person I'd rather associate with. Each to their own.

If one can't see what's beyond rules (other people's lives), I certainly cannot help you. And I deeply feel for you.
I'm not even talking specifics. Expectations may vary from individual to individual as you say, but I struggle to think that wasting time and money would count as 'quite okay' for anyone, regardless of their moral grounds.
Unfortunately, though, some people only realise this when it happens to them first hand. And, somehow, instead of learning a valuable lesson, they get even worse. Go figure.

Yep, totally agree with this.

I think that society would break down (maybe it is?) if people thought their behaviour was acceptable as long as it didn’t break any rules. That is quite a low bar to aspire to meet IMO.

You said "alls fair in love and property until contracts are exchanged". I simply said that you wouldn't think it so fair if something fucks up your purchase at some point before exchange.

As for saying they should have offered a fair price, they clearly did as the vendors accepted it.

Let’s face it mumsnet is know for being the most awfully judgmental place for anything in the least bit “controversial”. I deleted my previous account as apparently putting a newborn baby in pink was also a little too controversial for you beautiful people as my daughter shouldn't be subject to social pressures such as her gender 🫠 I shouldn’t have posted but @napantanpants I wouldn’t choose to associate with anyone who judges strangers as harshly as you lovely bunch.

You understand that Mumsnet is made up of tens of thousands of posters and chances are that none of those individuals who commented on your baby's clothes have also commented on this thread, right?

Realising you’ve behaved poorly sitting a little bit uncomfortably OP?

It depends, if the buyer has already spent money and it's obvious the sale is going through I wouldn't accept a higher offer because people have been known to do that and then at the last minute just before exchange knock the price down again.
The stress of that happening isn't worth it if they already have a good buyer and I don't think I would trust someone who put in a larger offer at the last minute like that
I think you should just ask them to consider you if the sale falls through.

Maybe OP can wait until just before exchange and then reduce their offer to that of the other purchaser?
It’s not against the “rules” after all and they could easily justify it to themselves that the sellers were obviously happy with the lower offer as they accepted it.

It's not really the done thing. It's a moral decision you made OP.
The house was sold fair and square. You've potentially just snatched someone else dream home instead of chalking it up to missing out this time and waiting for another one to come on the market, because there is always another one.

Let's hope it doesn't come back to bite you because I'm not sure how youd feel if you were on the other side of the story