Gazumped on day of exchange!

phoebe1989seb

Same thing happened to us on our dream house a few years ago, so I totally feel your pain OP.

It was the days before we had access to RM/Internet etc (1992 IIRC) and we had been unaware that the vendor who didn't live at the house had it advertised with several different EAs in various locations. We were cash buyers too, thanks to a healthy input from my dad, but it made no difference :mad: We were totally gutted as it really was an amazing house, and curiously because it was a project and in an awful state, it had previously languished on the market for several months.

Please don't end up doing what we did OP - we bought another, less suitable house *on the rebound* so-to-speak, and deeply regretted it as we spent a very unhappy five years there till a much better dream house came along

Annoyingly the person that gazumped us did very little to the house and retained it as a buy-to-let, so to this day it has never been renovated properly.....

I do hope in your case karma prevails for the gazumper and that you go on to find somewhere much much nicer

Prothet_of_Doom

Goldiegirl wrote: »

With any luck the person who put in the higher offer is a waster and PITA, who won't be able to get a mortgage.

Then in a few months time, the vendor will come crawling back to you, and you can tell them to stick the house where the sun don't shine.

Beat them at thier own game. Offer £30K more now, and find a way of stringing it out for 4 weeks, (need to apply for extra mortgage, extra survey, whilst you find and bid on another house)

Or better, get a mate to offer £30K more and string them out for 10 weeks.

SnooksNJ

bloolagoon wrote: »

How on earth can they sleep at nights.

I am a bit of a believer that things happen for a reason, perhaps your next house will be your dream house.

If the vendors lack morals then you can only imagine the problems you may have encountered once moved in if they hid things and were dishonest.

Because they are sociopaths and as much as it sucks now it will be better not buying a house from people who have no conscience.

moneyistooshorttomention

What a little b***** of a vendor:mad:

Sorry to hear this and can well understand you feel gutted.

Personally, as vendor I would rather feel (as I do) that "Well, I've played it right down the line straight by the book. So I can pat myself on the back for that" and would be feeling more than a little nervous (if I were your B of a vendor) that I might be in for a bit of "comeback" on what they've done. They would certainly deserve it...

There was a bidding war in the end on my place but, having chosen the "winner" of that...then its been straight through to Exchange. They won...so they got it... I know that my buyer is a local person who will be using it as a home to live in and has apparently "fallen in love" with the place (no accounting for taste......) so there ya' go. I can sleep easy at night. I bet your vendor wont be able to.

rpc

dominoman wrote: »

To lose it on the actual day of exchange is so so hard. I am now homeless in 4 weeks too, as we've given notice on our rental flat and it has been re-let.

Expect to have to find somewhere else, but try the landlord and lay on the sob story.

You shouldn't have given notice before exchange, this sort of thing is exactly why. Don't be tempted to overstay - if you don't give up possession you can be liable for double rent!

dotdash79 wrote: »

Why did the agent phone other people before the expiry of the deadline?

Because the agent works for the seller and has no morals. Seems daft to me - 15k doesn't affect their commission much and now they won't get it as quickly!

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

Prothet_of_Doom wrote: »

Or better, get a mate to offer £30K more and string them out for 10 weeks.

I couldn't possibly agree with this, but I LOL'd. :rotfl:

ILW

I think if I was the vendor and turned down the higher offer, I would spend years thinking about what I could have done with an extra £15,000. It is a lot of money.

Dan-Dan

ILW wrote: »

I think if I was the vendor and turned down the higher offer, I would spend years thinking about what I could have done with an extra £15,000. It is a lot of money.

It is , but if you were in their shoes , what kind of gurantee`s would you be looking for to ensure you dont get shafted at exchange?

moneyistooshorttomention

...and, in the end, you "cant take it with you" (extra money that is...).

We all have our own individual take on just what price its worth paying to get some extra money and sometimes the "price" is too high.

Obviously, personally a smile would break out on my face if someone said they were going to give me a "no strings" amount of £15,000. I'd be out celebrating at getting that amount for nothing....but then, on the other hand, I think gazumping and the likely comeback for that somewhere along the line would mean deciding that the "price is too high to pay".

I'd rather live easy personally with everyone congratulating me on having chosen exactly the right buyer for my current house and having got it through in the end.

Maybe the clue lies in picking not just the house of choice to buy, but trying to find out anything possible about the vendors attitude to money. I know I weighed-up my own vendors' attitude to money (and suspect I wasn't far wrong in the event - as in I thought they would "try it" for a little bit and then accept that if I monitored them carefully for anything further...and that's exactly what happened). An eye was kept on developments and questions were asked and anger expressed at any inappropriate change to website listings. If anyone had weighed me up, the clue would have been there in asking how my worklife went prior to retirement (at which point it would have emerged that employers were never able to "buy or browbeat me" try as they might...and I would do what I decided regardless of bouquets or brickbats). That would have given the clue that money isn't the only motivating factor and I think might be one way to view vendors' likely intentions regarding whether they will or wont stick to a deal.

I would definitely say "Weigh up the vendor...as well as their house" and plan accordingly.

Strapped

10-1 the new buyer renegotiates that figure back down again.

If you really love the house and can find it in you not to batter the vendor, then I'd pop round and ask to discuss the fact that you are all ready to go, and a guaranteed purchaser. If you really, really love it then throwing a little extra £££s their way may help (not £15k obviously but an extra £1k or so can be easily amended by your solicitor without redoing all the paperwork).