"Best and Final" Offer Accepted - Then Gazumped

moneyistooshorttomention

mrsmchapman wrote: »

I had an interested party (a man) after I'd accepted my current offer, they knew of the offer but were insisted on wanting to view. My ea called me and said it was completely upto me what I did, I however chose not to go ahead with the viewing and honoured my accepted deal (currently going through) as I would like to think this is what other would do with myself (although I know that's not always the case) the man in question did say he respected by reply and should any problems occur could he be the first we called.

I think that's a fair position to take. I would say its acceptable to show a viewer around subsequent to accepting an offer - provided the viewer is told at the outset that you have already accepted an offer and they are looking round your house just in case the buyer lets you down. So, providing they accept that the house looks like its "gone", then they will have first refusal should the original buyer let me down for any reason.

SnooksNJ

sophieev wrote: »

I would imagine it is. Gazundering is equally morally repugnant.

This was the worst thing I have ever seen on reality TV.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-property-chain/4od#2927010

moneyistooshorttomention

SnooksNJ wrote: »

This was the worst thing I have ever seen on reality TV.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-property-chain/4od#2927010

:eek: That was not reassuring at all - so good to be warned that there are people like that around. I felt sorry for the middle link on the chain and, for a change, for developers. As for Mr B****d - yikes! I think, though, that possibly the people who caused all this trouble all round were Mr and Mrs Inefficient and Clueless (ie the ones at the top of chain - who hadnt had the nous to make sure they had all that listed building/planning consent paperwork ready to hand at the outset).

I'm planning on taking any chance I can get to meet my vendor anyway - but am wondering now whether I should meet my viewers of my house so I can suss them out personally. I could see looking at Mr B*****d that that is precisely what he is and seeing him personally and hearing the type of job he has would have put me off agreeing to take him on as buyer for any property I had and I would have kept looking for one - as he has just got that air about him somehow just on one quick glance at him.

It's worth checking out a vendor carefully as well to see if they come over as being as vague as Mr & Mrs Clueless. I cant help thinking Mr & Mrs Decent in the middle wouldnt have been let down by Mr B*****d if Mr and Mrs Clueless hadnt held up the process so much with their inefficiency.

lessonlearned

I remember that programme.

There is a lot to be said for meeting the various parties face to face - it does make it easier to assess someone's character. You really can't beat your own intuition. If you hear that little voice whispering to you then you should listen to it. It's rarely wrong.

Always go with your gut feel.

I also agree with the sentiment that the best deals are sometimes the ones you walk away from. There is always another one waiting in the wings.

Just walk away and put it down to experience.

If you do go for another property then insist that it is taken off the market pronto. You could pay a small non-refundable deposit - just like you pay a reservation fee on a new build - to demonstrate your own good intent and to lesson the risk of this happening again.

In fact - if I ruled the world:D then I would introduce the non-refundable deposit or reservation fee with an offer as a matter of proceedure. Just a smallish amount of say £500. This would be taken off the final account. It could be refundable in certain genuine circumstances ie if the survey was dire or if there was a very real reason for cancelling ie serious illness/redundancy etc.

It would help put paid to the double dealing and shady shenanigans that go on. An awful lot of people think it's perfectly ok to play fast and loose and play dirty.

I refuse to get down in the gutter with people like this and play their dirty games.

I have in the past, on one of my own private sales, had a purchaser try to gazump another purchaser and I told them no in no uncertain terms. I said they could have first refusal if the original deal fell through.

If I was gazundered I would walk away. I wouldn't care if I had incurred costs - it's a matter of strong principle for me.

A deal is a deal and I refuse to do business with anyone who tries to renage on a deal. Quite apart from the repugnance I feel towards them such behaviour makes me distrust them and I'm not prepared to risk getting my fingers burnt.

In my career as an EA not once did I encourage a Vendor to accept a gazumper, nor did I ever advise or encourage a purchaser to try it. In fact I have actively discouraged them doing so.

On the odd occasion that I have been unsuccessful in making my clients play fair I have been disgusted by their greed and shabby behaviour.

Despite what some of you may think most EA's hate it when a Client behaves badly in this fashion.

As someone has rightly pointed out - quite apart from the moral repugnance we feel, we don't like wasting time by having to revisit a sale and go through all the offer proceedure again.

Wasting time costs money. Any extra commission that might be payable is negligible and is gobbled up by costs anyway.

An EA would much prefer to be spending their time on brokering the next deal rather than rehashing one that is already done and dusted.

moneyistooshorttomention

lessonlearned wrote: »

In fact - if I ruled the world:D then I would introduce the non-refundable deposit or reservation fee with an offer as a matter of proceedure. Just a smallish amount of say £500. This would be taken off the final account. It could be refundable in certain genuine circumstances ie if the survey was dire or if there was a very real reason for cancelling ie serious illness/redundancy etc.



If I was gazundered I would walk away. I wouldn't care if I had incurred costs - it's a matter of strong principle for me.

I've often wondered why there isnt some sort of financial "Statement of Intent" programmed into the housebuying system - a small non-refundable amount - and £500 sounds about right to me. It's enough that it should deter people from making offers on a whim (at least at the lower price end of the market - £500 would be just a "peck in the purse" to someone in the £half million upwards price bracket - but it would register as hurting to someone whose affordability level was, say, under £250k house price level).

I'd certainly be prepared to hand over £500 as evidence of my Intent as soon as I have got an offer given and accepted either way and its an amount that would hurt if I lost it.

With you on gazundering too - and decision already made personally to say "on your bike" to anyone that tries it.

BroncoBill

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I've often wondered why there isnt some sort of financial "Statement of Intent" programmed into the housebuying system - a small non-refundable amount - and £500 sounds about right to me. It's enough that it should deter people from making offers on a whim (at least at the lower price end of the market - £500 would be just a "peck in the purse" to someone in the £half million upwards price bracket - but it would register as hurting to someone whose affordability level was, say, under £250k house price level).

I'd certainly be prepared to hand over £500 as evidence of my Intent as soon as I have got an offer given and accepted either way and its an amount that would hurt if I lost it.

With you on gazundering too - and decision already made personally to say "on your bike" to anyone that tries it.

A good idea. Who gets the £500? EA or Vendor or shared or Charity? The vendor is the one who has been "messed about" methinks?

lessonlearned

The purchaser would pay the £500. Let's call it a Reservation Fee for now for ease of reference.

If the sale was successful the £500 would come off the final statement. It would not be lost because it would not be an extra payment - just a "payment on account".

In the event of the purchaser cancelling for no valid reason then the £500 would be paid to the Vendor to reimburse them for costs incurred on their abortive next purchase or rental.

There could be safeguards so that a purchaser could be protected if the reasons for cancellation were serious and genuine. For example a truly awful and unexpected survey result, death of a family member, serious illness or redundancy, that kind of thing.

A reservation fee would deter frivolous cancellations, gazumping and all manner of underhand dealing.

I agree that for properties costing millions then £500 is nothing, but if you have that kind of money then you are unlikely to have your finances damaged when deals fall through.

I do think that for ordinary mortals with more modest budgets then a figure of £500 would be realistic and fair.

I do think our system needs overhauling and some protective measures putting in place.

Vote for me:rotfl::rotfl: I'll put it on my manifesto.;)

sophieev

Yes. There has to be a better way of doing this.

Thing is we have faced similar problems (not the same) with a few vendors. We have always been honest and straight up with people. What has become very clear is that this really has not helped us. In fact it has actively hindered us.

Sooner or later you come to start thinking "if we can't beat them, join them". I have not quite got there yet. It just isn't in my character to be dishonest about these things. But it is rather sad that I am even contemplating this sort of behaviour.

motherofstudents

I remember the property chain programme and have just watched it all again. I thought Mr Smarmy FTB was going to do something like that. My sypathy was with the middle couple and to some extent the developer who seemed to bend over backwards to accommodate the wishes of fussy Mr &Mrs We Don't Know Our Property's Listed. Can only hope and believe in karma that when Mr FTB comes to sell his apartment he will receive the same treatment, I doubt it somehow.