Gazumping...

beccad

Developer or not, I'm firmly of the opinion that what goes around comes around... We've got a sale going through at the moment (us selling our flat) and we were in a position to consider other offers after we'd accepted (four viewers, and three offers within 10 days!) but we didn't because we'd accepted an offer and that was the end of it, and took the flat off the market, against the advice of our estate agent.

To the OP, why aren't you in a position to rent?

overandout_2

The golden rule:

What goes around comes around.....
Do to others what you would want them to do to you

Sphynx

I am not a great fan of those sayings to be honest. I don't see much evidence of what goes around comes around, and I also don't want to hear 'if it's meant to be it will be...'. Load of rubbish.

beccad, we need to keep our mortgage rate really and in order to do that we need to port our mortgage straight from one property to another.

beccad

Makes sense

Good luck with it all then. I mean you wouldn't be considering this course of action, presumably, if there was something available on the market... When you need somewhere to live, you've got to do something about it!

Slinky

About 10 years ago my friend gazumped somebody. They had been looking for ages in a particular part of a town, but hadn't driven down this last street as nothing ever comes up for sale there. At a party they mentioned to one of their friends they were looking, and she told them about a house her mother had the key for as the owner was in a nursing home miles away and it was being sold to fund her care home fees. It already had an offer on it. The agent refused to let my friend see it, but she was able to look round because her friend's mother let her in with the key.

My friend persisted with the agent, who told her she 'wasn't being very nice' - well as far as she was concerned she was very happy to offer £15K more than the price which had been accepted, so she was being 'very nice' to the old lady. My friend had never seen this property being marketed despite the fact she'd been actively looking; she was told by her friend's mother it had been up for sale for months and according the agent there had been no interest so the price had been dropped considerably.

We came to the conclusion there was a dodgy deal being done between the estate agent and one of their friends or a developer. It was easy to rip off this old lady and keep her in the dark about what was happening so she was being taken advantage of.

It's not always cut and dried that the gazumped person is the loser.

dander

You say you don't feel bad about it and you don't believe "what goes around comes around" etc, but you start a thread here asking other people what they think and you are trying to convince yourself that it will only be a developer that you gazump, who won't mind as much. I think you do care more than you want to admit!

Have you even made your gazumping offer on this house? Viewed it? If not, don't count your chickens anyway. A lot of sellers won't want to get involved in gazumping anyway, and it's not all about price anyway - if they've got a cash buyer with no chain, they may well prefer to stick with that security rather than mess around with you and your mortgage and your chain.

8RRJ

It's a sad fact that a lack of property creates a market where people start gazumping.

Having a mortgage that you need to port across is not really an excuse - most lenders will charge a penalty and then refund this to you so long as you take the mortgage from them again with 6 months.

If you need a high mortgage, your strategy will probably come undone when the surveyor comes out and declares that you have paid over the odds for the property you are now buying and the lender concequently restricts the loan.

I'd move into rented, putting yourself in the best possible position (chain free), get your finances all ready to go and then pounce when a good property comes up, rather than paying a premium. It's what I have done on my last couple of moves and has worked well for me.

Sphynx

Thanks dander, I was bothered about it to start with but I have become less so from reading this thread I am well aware it is a long shot but as the property is empty and we have a first time buyer it's hardly the longest of chains. I suspect the property has been inherited as it is in a run down state and surely those inheriting are entitled to make the best money they can on a property??

I doubt very much we would be paying over the odds. The property was priced low due to no dg etc, but is on a huge corner plot and is a 70's build so unlikely to throw up any problems.

8RRJ noone is giving trackers at 1% above the base rate anymore, I want to hang onto mine. Plus I would have to rent in the school area and there is nothing there to rent either...

8RRJ

Sphynx, if you sell up and repay, then you can usually 're-start' your mortgage on the same deal, so long as it is within 6 months. Call your lender, check that it is portable and then ask if they will permit a gap between paying off the old mortgage and taking out the new one. If they will, away you go....

oh, subject to some rental places coming up of course. Good luck regardless.

Sphynx

Thanks 8RRJ I will check that later, very useful information much appreciated.