We've accepted buyers offer - all ok, but someone now offering to pay higher - what would you do?

[DomesticBlobess]

We had a dilemma - have agreed to sell our house - happy with the price etc and are at the having surveys done stage.

Estate agent has called and said he has someone who really loves the house and would be prepared to pay asking price (which is a good few grand higher than price agreed already).

Well what would you do - we know what we are going to do - but just wonder what others would do :-

1. stick with the original buyers, they have paid for survey etc and everything is progressing

2. go with higher offer and take the extra cash...

I would stick with your current buyers - imagine how heart broken you would be if you were in their boat & gazumped. You were happy with their offer originally. Good luck

Who is in a better position to move quickly? That might influence my decision but, otherwise, I'd stick with original buyers.

We would stick with current buyers.

I would be tempted to take the higher offer if they were proceedable and I could afford to wait longer. I know it does not sound like the honourable thing to do but at the end of the day, how much difference would the extra money make to you?

Did your original buyers get you to lower your price? If yes, I would tend to go with the higher offer.

I would stick with current buyers, given that everything was proceeding well. If they had been dragging their feet or messing me around then I'd be more likely to switch.

Stick with current buyers, what goes around comes around n all that.

If your sale fell through you have a back up, but hopefully it won't.

I would stick with current buyers, and have done. On the superstitious grounds that if I fucked my buyers around, it would probably come back to bite me.

Suspect the rational thing to do would be to find out what position the new buyers were in, whether they had the money in place, had sold their place, etc. etc. etc.

I'd stick with the original buyers, particularly if it's got to the survey stage. You must've been happy with their offer in the first place to accept it...being gazumped is horrid horrid horrid and it'd fuck up your karma no end if you did it

i would at least mention the higher offer to the current buyers, lots of people at the moment are getting to the point of exchange and then suddenly lowering their offer, feeling that the vedor will take it as they might not get another buyer. letting them know another offer is on the table will encourage them to move quickly without trying to get more off the price.

that's a good idea Nancy- also then they'll know how kind and nice you are

I'd give the current buyers the opportunity to meet the higher price. If they couldn't, i'd go with the higher offer. Dog eat dog...

Great replies - we have decided to stick with the original buyers as we are happy with what we have agreed - was expecting to drop 10% from the asking price and we have agreed a much better deal than that. Seems majority would have done the same.

Very tempting to chase more money but deciding factor for us was that I would be absolutely gutted if our purchase fell through - and would feel wretched doing that to some one else. Also changing buyers would put us back time wise too - but that was a secondary consideration.

That said, will make sure that our buyers know that there is someone else very keen particularly if they start getting picky over the survey...

Yes, I was going to add make your current buyers VERY aware that you will accept no bull!

Personally, cos I'm hard-nosed, I would have explored the better offer at least.

We sold a house in Oz in Jan. The first offer was at asking price (v. unusual!) BUT came with many strings attached so the wannabe buyer was effectively offering to pay more for us to wear more risk- fair enough. But we actually went for a lower, more cast iron offer as a) we needed to sell the house in 6 months to avoid CGT and b) we were scared the Oz market might collapse or become as jittery as the one here!

Well done for sticking to your word and really nice to see how many other mumsnetters would have done the same. Do let your current buyers know.

Good on you Domestic! We were gazumped recently and it really is horrible, had lots of tears and sleepless nights and we are still in a real mess because of it. By comparison when we bought our current house, the sellers got a higher offer and refused it (told us about it only after they'd already said no) and we still regularly bless them for being so lovely and sticking to their word.

This is one of those things where dh and I would argue. He would want to take the extra money, whereas I would feel all moral and not want to upset the current buyers. I just know how I would feel if someone did it to me.

tbh I would be inclined to be suspicious of an aledged new offer. Given you'd already accepted an offer, I presume you weren't still showing the house? So where would this new buyer have come from?

Given that house price rises have been in the news this week, I would be inclined to think that perhaps the agent was trying to get you to remarket in order to gain a higher price and thus increase his commission .

I agree with wannabe - we were warned by our estate agent after we had accepted an offer and a higher one came along that sometimes people do this in order to get a viewing, as obviously the agent can't show the house if it's under offer.

They then get their viewing and withdraw their asking price offer and offer something else, or don't offer at all.

It's a nasty trick. Well done for sticking to your word with your original buyers.

agree with wannabee

The circumstances could have been bit like WhatFreshHellisThis says - the second "buyers" hadn't seen the property so probably said about paying the asking price to get through the door - absolutely no guarantee that they would still be interested or offer the asking price afterwards.

As we decided to stick to our agreement with original buyers - decided we wouldn't even give second people a viewing.

Have a fixed price deal with the estate agent - so they wouldn't care either way really as long as the house sells so believe they are being above board and just keeping me informed of the conversations they've had.

The estate agents are legally bound to tell you of any interest in your property, so they are doing their duty - but as you say, if the people offering haven't seen the place, you're definitely wise to stick with your buyers.

I have been there. I stuck with the original buyers, but made sure that they knew I had done so. We had a pretty straightforward sale (other than their totally clueless solicitor) as a result!