Accepted offer on my house... but now I've got another viewing?

penguingirl

Does your first buyer definitely have a mortgage agreed? I'd be wary of him having only just scraped the money together. But if he has and is willing to book a survey (should be in the next 10-14 days) then I'd stick with him and explain to the second buyers that you want to honour the current offer, but will let them know if it falls through- that way you come across as not being a untrustworthy seller if the worst does happen.

lessonlearned

J_i_m wrote: »

I think gazumping/gazundering is a horrible concept.


And if this other buyer is so ready to gazump what's to say they aren't likely to mess about?

.

I think the whole concept of playing off one buyer against another is utterly repugnant.

There do seem to be some very unethical people around. Whatever happened to a handshake and a "gentleman's agreement".

Quite apart from the morals and ethics of the matter I would not trust a potential buyer who was prepared to gazump someone else. Not someone I would want to risk doing business with.

And I would never enter into a contract race - far too expensive if it all falls through.

There's always another house.

lessonlearned

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I've just made a mental Note to Self not to allow any further offers from a buyer once they reach my own personal mental deadline of 4 weeks from their first offer and that I think I am being quite generous to allow them that long to Play an Offer Game with me. So I reckon I had better say at around Day 21 to anyone still playing that game that they won't be allowed to continue offering after Day 28 and the price they have offered for my house at that date is IT and I will judge that price as to whether it is or isn't acceptable to me and I won't be taking any further offers from them after that.

http://www.frugal-living-freedom.com/
Hi Money - I seem to be following you around the board (hope you are still enjoying your new found freedom).

I know that you intend to market your property soon and I've noticed that on quite a few of your posts you are making "mental notes to self" trying to cover a number of possible scenarios.

As a property professional with over 30 years experience may I give you a piece of advice. I think you in danger of "over-thinking" all this and making life very complicated for yourself.

My advice is just play it straight, be ethical in your dealings and you'll come out fine.

I move house tomorrow. I sold my house in 3 weeks flat, for 7% less than the asking price with approx £1000 of "extras" to sweeten the deal.

My buyer is chuffed to bits and I got my quick sale at a price I was happy with.

Win-win - which is always the preferred outcome in any negotiations or business dealings. Both parties need to be happy with the deal. You do not want a scenario where the "winner takes it all" and the other party feels aggrieved or "shafted".

I say the same to the OP. Don't try to be clever and play games. In my experience it's the "clever", devious ones - buyers and sellers alike - who come unstuck, who lose sales and who end up wasting a lot of time, effort and money on aborted sales.

I am a skilled and very successful negotiator (sorry that sounds rather big headed). However, it took me a long time to learn those skills, a lot of training and experience.

I'm afraid there are a lot of amateur "Armchair EA's" on these boards who have no experience or knowledge and who give some very dodgy and counter productive advice.

If your negotiating skills are not up to scratch and you want the best deal, leave it to your EA to do the work. That's what they are paid for.

Just edited to say sorry about the link at the top to another site. I don't know how I did that and don't know how to undo it.

lessonlearned

emmita wrote: »

I

I would recommend that you say to these other buyers that the house has been sold STC and that if they are interested you will keep their details.

In a slow market keep buyers as your friend.

Good luck.

This is by far and away the best way forward, ethical, honest and fair.

And often very successful. I always advised my clients to take this approach.

Often buyer no 1 needs to withdraw from the purchase. This way buyer no 2 may well step into the breach.

Try to play one buyer off against another and you risk losing both buyers. I believe that if that does happen then you've got your just deserts for behaving shabbily.

Better_Days

OP - do you trust your EA?
The reason I ask is that as other posters have pointed out it is not all about money. You can ask your EA their view about both the potential buyers. If you have an experienced EA they should be able to find out the material facts in a short period of time so that you can make an informed decision. Your EA can also advise you if you ask, although of course you don't have to take their advice.

Don't forget that even if your second potential buyers offer more, they may try and knock you down for something trivial on the survey or just prior to exchange. There is certainly something to be said for trying to gauge whether either of the buyers have potential to mess around on price.

With regards to taking the house off the market, my EA advised that this should be done once an offer has been accepted, buyer has booked a survey and instructed a solicitor. This seemed reasonable to me having in the past had a 'buyer' who had put an offer in on our property as a 'back up' if their other purchase fell through.

On the sale of a previous house I refused a good offer from a neighbour because I simply didn't trust him not to try and drop the price just prior to exchange (or indeed to try and physically intimidate us).

jonahinoz

Whatever happened to a handshake and a "gentleman's agreement".
Hi,

We agreed to sell our 3-bed semi in Caterham for £9,000 (it was 1972 ... the original gazumping period) to somebody who lived nearby, in a 2-bed but needed 3 beds.

We felt he was taking his time, but we kept to our agreement. We later learned that the two month delay had enabled him to sell his house for £11,000. Lesson learned. We now put a time limit on how long we will wait, or similar.

Of course, a gentleman's handshake can be over-ruled by his bank, if he has to borrow money.

602

Thrugelmir

I would give the EA a wide berth if I was either potential buyer once the deal is done. Not the way to conduct business.

lessonlearned

jonahinoz wrote: »

Whatever happened to a handshake and a "gentleman's agreement".
Hi,

We agreed to sell our 3-bed semi in Caterham for £9,000 (it was 1972 ... the original gazumping period) to somebody who lived nearby, in a 2-bed but needed 3 beds.

We felt he was taking his time, but we kept to our agreement. We later learned that the two month delay had enabled him to sell his house for £11,000. Lesson learned. We now put a time limit on how long we will wait, or similar.

Of course, a gentleman's handshake can be over-ruled by his bank, if he has to borrow money.

602

Ah there's the rub. Not everyone acts with honour.;)

However, I am a great believer in karma. What goes around comes around and all that. Throughout my property career time and time again I found that when people behaved badly it usually came back to bite them on the bum.;)

They invariably got their comeuppance in the end.

And yes I think a time limit is perfectly acceptable, in fact I think it's crucial. The longer a sale is allowed to drift the more likely it is to fail.

1 in 3 sales fail and this is largely because they are allowed to languish for too long. A good EA will progress the sale and keep things moving along. I monitored all of mine very closely, stepping in wherever necessary and nipping problems in the bud.

Re your comment about the bank manager - it is a very foolish buyer who hasn't worked out their finances first - although of course there are plenty of unrealistic and unprepared buyers around. :rotfl:

Hopefully a decent EA would do a bit if information gathering first to ascertain that funds are in place before passing on an offer. Of course buyers have been known to be a tad economical with the truth. However, there's not a lot you can do when people lie through their teeth. You do learn with time and experience when a situation doesn't "feel right", you develop a very good second sense about who is messing about and who is genuine.

And of course an offer is always subject to survey, no institution will lend money without one. A poor survey will affect how much money the lenders are prepared to cough up. The buyer can of course chose to make up the difference with their own funds if the bank will not furnish the entire loan. That rarely happens of course but it is perfectly legal, if the buyer really wants the house and can afford to make up the shortfall.

jason.parker.86

Well guys the plot thickens. I had my viewing today, she come with her parents and basically offered me the full asking price their and then. They are going to submit a 5% deposit to my solicitors and they have their mortgage and deposit in place. Don't think I can turn my nose down to an extra £5,000.

Ivana_Tinkle

You're very brave to admit that!

You do owe it to your original buyer to tell them ASAP, in the hope that they won't have paid out any money yet. If your agent has any sense, they'll concoct some story about how this new buyer actually viewed the house ages ago but only became proceedable this week when they sold their flat/inherited money/got divorced/got an end-of-year bonus/won the lottery. At least that way there's a vague possibility your original buyer won't be so angry they tell you to get knotted if this sale falls though.