Gazumped in 30 minutes!

High_Roller_2

Hi all,

I had an offer for a flat accepted today - it was my fourth offer and I offered the vendor what they needed to clear their mortgage (£196k) on the condition that it was removed from the market and all viewings were cancelled. The EA phoned me to say my offer had been accepted, which left me delighted.

Within half an hour (26mins to be precise) I received a call saying there had been a higher offer (£198k) and the seller had now accepted this, and that an offer of £200k from me would be enough to get it. :mad:

Thankfully 196 was already a push for me so I said "Thanks, but no thanks. Let me know if this buyer drops out"

Is it common for EAs to:
1) make up offers to increase the price they obtain for the seller?
2) phone interested parties to inform them that another offer has been accepted?

I had no idea buying a house would be so stressful! The estate agents in question is House Network (nationwide and internet based).

terrierlady

welcome to the real world there are some agents that are good and honest but few and far between, perhaps the offer came in same time as yours to another negotiator and they didnt speak to each other, can happen in a busy office but perhaps you hit the nail on the head with your comments who knows? lets see what everyone thinks.

cuthbert_the_octopus

I thought House Network was when you sold the house yourself ?!?!?

Enfieldian

1) Possible but unlikely. Agents would not risk agreeing a sale to a genuine buyer, especially in this market. The difference in fees they would earn would be negligible

2) Fine in theory but it is down to the buyer or prospective buyer to register their interest, not to make an offer just because someone else has.

This used to happen a lot, even on properties that had been on the market for a while, more than one offer coming in on the same day or at the same time.

At least you were given a chance to increase your offer.

A smart agent will be looking for another property for you to buy, you can only sell each one once.....

High_Roller_2

Thanks for the comments.

I should have made myself clear on point 2... the EA told me that's what he did, called another person who had a previous offer rejected to tell them that my offer had been accepted and gave them the chance to top mine.

I'm a FTB so don't know the process, but is this the sort of thing I need to expect?

Regarding HouseNetwork, the vendor has to show potential buyers around themselves but otherwise I think they're a fairly standard EA (just without any personal contact)

ciano125

There's no need to be getting into bidding wars in this market. You might have offered too much anyway if they needed that much to clear their mortgage, you don't know, they might have only put 15% down when they bought it.

Move on, you'll get a better deal later in the year.

ad44downey

High_Roller wrote: »

Is it common for EAs to:
1) make up offers to increase the price they obtain for the seller?
).

Yes, it's in their job description.

Blacksheep1979

If they come back tell them your offer has just dropped 2k

brit1234

I wouldn't worry, all those green shoots are dying, we will have big price falls for the second half of the year, especially in flats

You will get a better property for cheaper, just watch this space.

hethmar

High Roller Im with the others here - theres no need to get into a bidding war in this climate. Just hang on a while, another property will come along for you.

High_Roller_2

Blacksheep1979 wrote: »

If they come back tell them your offer has just dropped 2k

Blacksheep, I like your thinking! I'll definitely do that if the sale falls through