grr so fed up ;(

Milliewilly

jhe wrote: »

hope he gets the answers you are entitled to. it certainly was a rollercoaster with us as well. a bit of a nightmare from start to finish. i cant understand the logic if the vendors have chose to go with the other buyer so close to exchange.

Beause the new party's offer is much higher??

jhe

could possibly be a much higher offer, who knows apart from the ea.surely its not unreasonable for an explanation from the ea.
although its mentioned throughout the buying process about final offers, no such thing existed in my case,if the ea have recieved a higher offer it should be mentioned to the original buyer, if the vendors are to get the best possible offers, the buyers should at least be able to be given the chance to increase their offer.{we felt under pressure through various communication with ea to keep increasing our offer we refused and still completed eventually}

wendy16

Well after Hubby's trip to the EA's who were really quite unhelpful and carried on conversations amongst themselves about other properties he eventually managed to find out that the other couples higher offer was 2k above ours and that they would be completing at the end of December.

They asked us to increase but we declined, tbh we think that they had been quietly doing a deal with the other couple behind our backs and the phonecall about the problems with completion dates was a waste of time because the repossession company had already decided to go with the other couple no matter what we had done.

I suppose the only thing we can do is put this down to experience and that the repossession company have to get the best deal but all the same we have lost nearly £2.5k in surveys, solicitors, mortgage fees etc and so this will have a knock on effect with any offers we place on other houses or whether we pull out from our sale.

We think the EA's treatment of us has been extremely bad and to send a 2 line letter with no explantation or even an apology is a pretty bad show we didn't even receive a phonecall from them and so feel pretty let down.

goldbyron

Thats terrible for you. Out of interest were you getting a good deal on the place? Also I wonder if the EA's had a 'friend' who pipped your offer...

wendy16

The house was on for 149k we offered 142k that was why we didn't want to up our offer, it does seem that the EA's have been slightly underhanded and we acted far too honestly for our own good.

The only thing that is keeping us going is that our dream house could be just around the corner, and I might get a decent nights sleep for the first time in a month and that I don't have to worry about answering the phone everytime it rings

Milliewilly

wendy16 wrote: »

Well after Hubby's trip to the EA's who were really quite unhelpful and carried on conversations amongst themselves about other properties he eventually managed to find out that the other couples higher offer was 2k above ours and that they would be completing at the end of December.

They asked us to increase but we declined, tbh we think that they had been quietly doing a deal with the other couple behind our backs and the phonecall about the problems with completion dates was a waste of time because the repossession company had already decided to go with the other couple no matter what we had done.

I suppose the only thing we can do is put this down to experience and that the repossession company have to get the best deal but all the same we have lost nearly £2.5k in surveys, solicitors, mortgage fees etc and so this will have a knock on effect with any offers we place on other houses or whether we pull out from our sale.

We think the EA's treatment of us has been extremely bad and to send a 2 line letter with no explantation or even an apology is a pretty bad show we didn't even receive a phonecall from them and so feel pretty let down.

Try not to take it personally it is just a business transaction by the repo company, they have never met you its purely a numbers thing for them.

Don't take this the wrong way but the EA don't actually owe you an apology as they haven't done anything wrong by telling you your purchase is no longer proceeding and realistically there was only ever one reason why (being outbid). They have given you the chance to up your offer (they have even told you the other figure which they normally never do!) and you have decided not to. They are also acting for the Repo company so don't have to personally ring you, a letter is perfectly reasonable. Repo's are up for grabs until exchange there's always the risk you could be pipped at the last minute.

There is always another property to buy, it might not seem like it now but there will be. The other party can always get outbid too before end december.

Obviously you have the costs to swallow but perhaps you can do a deal with your solicitor providing you use them on your next purchase and transfer your mortgage offer to the next house?

cottager

I worked at an EAs for 25 yrs, but not for the past 12 so I'm not up with changes in protocol or the law since, but Milliewilly's right: in my day we were never, ever allowed to tell a prospective buyer what someone else had offered. Different matter if vendors took it upon themselves to do so.

Repos were usually frustrating for buyers (and believe me, also for the EA), and it doesn't sound like much has changed. They just go at the pace they go when a lender and their solicitors are involved, with no apparent sense of hurry-up. I've had more recent secondhand experience of it, as my niece has just bought one, and it dragged on and on. Several times she was under the impression she would be exchanging and completing 'in the next week', but it didn't happen.

The final delay, according to the other side, was publishing a notice of the proposed sale (and the price?) in the press, and giving a period in which anyone else could come along with a better offer. This rang bells... I seem to remember it being a requirement with repo sales, as the lender is obliged to obtain the best possible price.

An EA only carries out the lender's instructions, as they must with any vendor. The price is clearly the overriding factor for the lender, since a sale won't now go through till at least a month after it would have done if they'd stuck with you. They might still change horses again if yet another buyer with a better offer comes along. It's hard, but that's the reality. There's a lot to be said for the Scottish system in my view.

The property for you will be out there, and I'm just sorry you've had this bad experience. Good luck.

sjcollett

i can't help but notice you say you are going to be 2.5k out of pocket and seem very upset about losing this house. if it's really only about increasing your offer by 2k - have you actually considered this? Don't worry about the ifs, whats and maybes - it's what you can do that matters!

wendy16

We did consider increasing to match the other couples offer, but we don't really want to get into a bidding war and were a bit worried that we could get right up to exchange of contracts again and they could come back with a better offer that we would possibly have to match again.

We haven't got a massive budget and so every price increase squeezes a bit more out of the pot for potential work that we may have to do the property, we always had a figure in mind that was the highest we would go to and it is very close so we decided to walk. Yes it was our perfect house but we live in hope that something else will be around the corner.

Milliewilly

If you do still want the house and can go another £2K then why not? There is always the chance the other party won't up their offer and even matching theirs puts you in the driving seat as you can exchange much quicker.