Offer accepted on a repossessed property now EA says there are higher offers!

Katieprecious

Hi All

Two weeks ago I had my offer accepted on a repossession property, my mortgage is in place and ready to go with the valuation paid for and I have set up my file with the solicitors. I've received a call today from the EA to tell me they've now had two other offers higher than mine for the property and that I and the other interested parties have until midday tomorrow to give our final offer.

After reading other posts I'm pretty worried that this could be the EA's way of increasing my offer and there aren't actually other interested parties and they just want to squeeze as much as possible out of me! But as there is no way to know this its the decision of if I'm brave enough to risk it. Have any of you been in this situation?

Also I was wondering as they have said this will be the final offer does this mean the person with the highest offer wont have to go against other offers again? Or could we end up back in the same position where someone can swoop in and offer more again?? Surely final offers should mean FINAL offers.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

anewman

It's called Gazumping, and is a sad reflection of the poor ineffective laws used in England and Wales and greedy property market. Try the reverse called Gazundering http://www.firsthomebuyer.co.uk/th-master.php?file=gazunder.xml in future and get your own back, they won't like it but oh how they like it when they do it in their favour.

Cannon_Fodder

The owner, presumably the lender, can choose when they think they've got close enough to what is needed.

Yes, the EA would be obliged to re-advertise an offer, if the Lender was still fishing for a bit more. But if they have enough to avoid pursuing the mortgage-holder for a shortfall, they will start to set a deadline. More time incurs more fees, lost interest, arrears etc.

This could be a cheeky EA. Or it could be true, that after your offer it was advertised and people came forward to outbid you.

An offer from a buyer in a better position will sometimes beat a higher offer from a buyer in a worse position.

Stick to your guns, unless you are desperate for *that* house.

BeccaBell

A reposession stays on the market until you exchange as the bank have a duty to the previous owner to get the most money they can. They will also look at everyones position -if people are chain free, cash buyers etc.
I agree final SHOULD mean final but I doubt that is the case. When you buy a repo you basically give up the right to argue with the sellers over anything.

Milliewilly

Katieprecious wrote: »

Hi All

Two weeks ago I had my offer accepted on a repossession property, my mortgage is in place and ready to go with the valuation paid for and I have set up my file with the solicitors. I've received a call today from the EA to tell me they've now had two other offers higher than mine for the property and that I and the other interested parties have until midday tomorrow to give our final offer.

After reading other posts I'm pretty worried that this could be the EA's way of increasing my offer and there aren't actually other interested parties and they just want to squeeze as much as possible out of me! But as there is no way to know this its the decision of if I'm brave enough to risk it. Have any of you been in this situation?

Also I was wondering as they have said this will be the final offer does this mean the person with the highest offer wont have to go against other offers again? Or could we end up back in the same position where someone can swoop in and offer more again?? Surely final offers should mean FINAL offers.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

Sounds like your offer wasn't quite high enough even though it was accepted. This would pan out with you being outbid by two others too. This is the risk with repo's - nothing's fixed until exchange (but this is true with a normal purchase too). I am buying a repo at the moment and I have to exchange in 14 days from offer acceptance. I take it the valuation hasn't been done?

Running_Horse

anewman wrote: »

It's called Gazumping

Normally yes, but not really for a repossession.

There is a duty to ensure the maximum amount is raised to pay off the lender, and hopefully give a few quid to the poor sap who lost their home and probably everything that matters to them in life.

Anyone who buys a repossession knows (or should know) it works slightly differently. Anyone who shops in Lidl as opposed to Waitrose knows the customer service and quality is not quite the same.

Katieprecious

No luckily the valuation hasn't been done, so we haven't been charged that yet, the EA has said they will hold this off until we know whether I'll be buying the property or not.

I begrudge increasing my offer knowing that my previous offer was accepted! But I suppose thats just the way it goes and I'll be stressed all the way up until the signing of the contracts date if it gets that far!

ik1

Having looked at a repo property recently, a 3 bed detached which needed lots of work on the market for 190k by the local agent. So I was interested at this was normally a semi price but I knew the reason for low price was to attract lots of interest.

In under 2 weeks over 100 people saw the property and EA was just not giving the right vibes first telling that offers were below asking then a next day offers were coming in at 210-220 and he had about 10-15 people seriously interested. Kept cancelling my appointments and generally poor comms from the EA and kept informing me the price is going through the roof blah blah. Property got taken off and given to a new agent who dimissed the old EA as fraud as they allegedly agreed some money under the table as the property should have been marketed at higher price apparently at 240k...from 190 to 240. At this point got a little peed off and got the assett management company's number from the old EA and after speaking to them and relaying my concerns they didn't really care obviously as long as they got the money.

Bottom line is that I find the whole property buying/selling a bit of a joke with gazumping, gazundering and dodgy EA's makes the whole experience of buying a home stressful and potential to lose money if you miss out mid point....just my brief experience of buying a repo!!:mad:

Milliewilly

Running_Horse wrote: »

Normally yes, but not really for a repossession.

There is a duty to ensure the maximum amount is raised to pay off the lender, and hopefully give a few quid to the poor sap who lost their home and probably everything that matters to them in life.

Anyone who buys a repossession knows (or should know) it works slightly differently. Anyone who shops in Lidl as opposed to Waitrose knows the customer service and quality is not quite the same.

Or the ones who deliberately commit cashback mortgage fraud and never pay.... not all repo's are poor families who have been booted out.

Running_Horse

I make no moral differentiation between types of repossessed home owners. There is a legal duty to get the best possible price. If the OP does not want to pay the best price, someone else will.

anewman

Running_Horse wrote: »

If the OP does not want to pay the best price, someone else will.

But how often do they try it on and you see it still advertised next month because you were in fact the only person offering a worthwhile amount of money for it? There's too much greed in the property market and being an estate agent is nearly as morally bankrupt a profession as being a banker. A property is only worth what someone wants to pay for it. Artificial pointless pitting people against imaginary buyers and people stretching themselves too far is what causes the repossessions in the first place. If people weren't bullied into making silly high offers then the housing market would be more accessible to first time buyers.

The solution is Gazundering!