Ok, so who else has been "gazundered"?

slopemaster

SavingSteve wrote: »

Well even if you go through an agent it will be someone you've met as you will be home when you show them around, no? (unless property is empty of course)

I'm buying but altho I'd seen the property 3 times, the seller was never at home. Thats true of most I've seen - either empty, or owner out at work when I view. But I think actually shaking hands and agreeing to buy/sell would put a psychological barrier there for some at least. It would for me.

slopemaster

I hope you get a buyer, QTpie

QTPie

SavingSteve wrote: »

Well even if you go through an agent it will be someone you've met as you will be home when you show them around, no? (unless property is empty of course)

No, I habe never met the buyers - the agent showed them around both viewings. I want people to be able to judge the house on it's own merits and not on what they think of me...

I have been shown properties by the owners or with them present and I don't like it: I can feel their expectations etc. I am trying to buy a house for us and not someone else's lifestyle...

QT

QTPie

slopemaster wrote: »

I'm buying but altho I'd seen the property 3 times, the seller was never at home. Thats true of most I've seen - either empty, or owner out at work when I view. But I think actually shaking hands and agreeing to buy/sell would put a psychological barrier there for some at least. It would for me.

Hhhmmm, you could be right... but I assume that "people of itegrity" are "people of integrity".

I just wouldn't want people to meet me and make assumptions - which people do. I like the house to speak for itself and it REALLY does that well.

(ok, I am a completely normal human being - I don't have two heads and blue skin or anything! - but an older couple or a family might be put off by a young woman selling this house).

Thank you very much slopemaster . I hope that the whole property market finds a bit more stability and integrity - buying/selling houses should be a joy and not so painful. People should be able to "move on" without hinderance. The property market is too much about money and not enough about "home" anymore - blown out of all proportion...

QT

SavingSteve

QTPie wrote: »

No, I habe never met the buyers - the agent showed them around both viewings. I want people to be able to judge the house on it's own merits and not on what they think of me...

I have been shown properties by the owners or with them present and I don't like it: I can feel their expectations etc. I am trying to buy a house for us and not someone else's lifestyle...

QT

Interesting, that's a lot of 'long walks' whenever a viewing is happening!

QTPie

SavingSteve wrote: »

Interesting, that's a lot of 'long walks' whenever a viewing is happening!

Gym sessions - keeps me fit :j

QT

tommy75

QTPie im sure you had red mist when the buyer gazundered but what if the market continues to fall (Does it look like its going to stop any time soon?) and in 6 months your house is worth around 300k. What will your opinion be on the cheeky buyer? As I said, you still have not lost as the house your buying has dropped aswell, you just don't have the extra from selling now.

Cidersid wrote: »

ok, OH and me are looking a house thats been on market for 18 months, it started at 325k and has worked it's way down to 225K now...long and short of it we have to move and we really like this house and want it!

i have a huge deposit of about 150k should i put a cheeky offer of 175 in to test the water?? reading on here i should be embarrassed by this but i aint!! maybe i should put a lower one in???;) my wife is embarrassed by 175k thinks we should offer MORE!!! blooming women!!! then again it's my money she's spending!!!

i know it's a buyers market out there!!

325k being around peak 18 months ago. dropped to 225k now, thats quite a big drop & more than the 16% from last year (official figures, not reality) but if you don't feel your first offer embarrasses you then its probably too high in a falling market. If you wait a few months, doesn't it look like 175k is nearer what it will be worth anyway in the summer? It might be a good idea to test the water now and wait for the phone call in the next couple of months. I guess it depends on how much you want that house and your personnal circumstances. Im looking at houses priced around 150k to 170k that have been sat on rightmove for over a year with the intenton of bidding around or just under 100k. Theres 16% from last year and 15%+ this year to come off at least in my opinion so even 100k may be a little over the mark at the moment, so im waiting for now. I do not want to be held in massive debt for 20+ years with high interest rates (only have 10% deposit atm). I want houses to be affordable to everybody and be able to take the family on holiday more than once every 15 years.

sorry OP off topic reply.

QTPie

tommy75 wrote: »

QTPie im sure you had red mist when the buyer gazundered but what if the market continues to fall (Does it look like its going to stop any time soon?) and in 6 months your house is worth around 300k. What will your opinion be on the cheeky buyer? As I said, you still have not lost as the house your buying has dropped aswell, you just don't have the extra from selling now.

That is it, if I had the faith that I could buy in the market that I sell in, I honestly wouldn't mind. BUT I am not seeing ANY movement in the houses I like (they are just sitting on the market at "late 2007 and then some" prices or being withdrawn). I would HUGELY risk selling and then not being able to find anything to buy (until the market comes back up and we can't afford the rising prices).

If my house is worth 300k in 6 months then - unless we see some settlement in the market and i can have confidence that i will be able to buy in the same market - then we will just have to let out our house and find another way... (like rent or buy without selling - the later could be tough, but if the market is near bottom, not our of the question....).

Don't apologise for taking OT - interesting conversations can come off of OT posts

QT

silvercar

Our first set of buyers on our last move seemed slightly dodgy (!) We agreed a price and then they asked if they could pay some of it off the books as he had a lot of cash in his business. That made me a bit suspicious of their future moves. My solicitor informed them, before they spent money on legals or a survey, that he had been instructed not to pass on any gazundering offers as the sellers (us) had dictated from the outset that they wouldn't be accepted and they (we) didn't want to hear them.

They ended up pulling out because the chain got caught in a delay and school place offers had come out before exchange. It turned out they were so serious about buying our place that they had used our address for their school application, unfortunately unsuccessfully.

themanbearpig

On the topic of stopping the practise of "gazundering", I cannot be done unless there is a new act of parliment (statute law), or a new precendent that fundamentally changes the way contracts are formed, which will not happen imo!

If you view a purchase of a house as simply as a formation of a contract, then guzundering is simply a counter-offer before any contract has formed. Only if consideration is given after the first offer (ie a deposit), will that offer be binding. So to change this basic principle, would be difficult unless there were to be a new specific law prohibiting this, but it will have many more disadvantages over the advantage of eliminating gazundering.

I personally don't find guzundering or the inverse of it, to be particulally immoral. Its the right of anyone entering into a contract to make a counter-offer, and tbh, im suprised that it isn't done more often.
I will definatly "try it on" when I eventually buy property, as it could save me money. I wouldn't really care whether the other party is happy or not, as really they are perfectly entitled to decline. I well timed counter-offer is just a very good tactic to use for the buyer to get a better deal.