gazumping, is it right or wrong?

arthur_dent_2

I have just been gazumped by another couple and I am not too happy about it. I was wondering what other peoples opinions on this matter are, please?

Redbedhead

Gazumping and Gazundering are both wrong in my opinion. Treat others as you would wish to be treated.

arthur_dent_2

Shameless bump, please people I am really upset that this has happened to me and would like other peoples opininons:)

prudryden

Unfortunately, it is a way of life in all businesses.

Just look at the takeovers on the stock market (Barclays makes a bid for RBS and then Citybank makes a higher bid) or football players.

Doozergirl

If you've literally just had an offer accepted then you can't really blame the vendor for accepting more, however if you have spent money then it's pretty dispicable.

Even if the offer were one that somebody simply couldn't refuse, I think a vendor could at least reimburse their orginal buyer with their costs so far, but if they're greedy enough to leave you in the lurch, they're probably not going to give you anything except short shrift.

arthur_dent_2

We have fortunately not lost any money, but what really annoys me is that we offered to match the asking price and we are also in a really good position to proceed and yet they still went with the other buyer.

CB1979_2

as immoral as it is, would i do it? normally no but YES i would

it all depends on circumstances, people get stupid with house buying, and if they are desperate (ie been looking for ages, very little on the market, etc etc) then gazumping will happen.

if i had found my dream home (not a pokey 1 bed flat) then i would do everything within my power to get that property, selfish possibly but look after number 1!

after your offer was accepted did you get them to take it off the market for 2 weeks whilst you got the survey sorted, etc etc?

or are we talking hours between?

saunaboy

gazumping:

wrong but all you can do is to take every step possible to try & avoid it. Make sure that the place is definitely 100% off the market asap after your offer is accepted & chase up (and check) that the for sale sign is changed. I've been chasing this up for two weeks before - the agent was positive it had been changed but hadn't. We also made it pretty clear to the seller that any messing about with agents & we'd pull out. After we'd put an offer in the seller informed us that there was another couple coming 'that they couldn't cancel'. We phoned the agent & said that the offer was strictly based upon the immediate removal from market & as far as we know the visit was cancelled.

gazundering:

I've been in a very awkward situation here. The first place we looked at we loved & put in an offer. The seller was pretty unreasonable from day 1 & once she'd accepted the offer, there were all sorts of deadlines imposed that meant the sale would have to be really rushed. We found out soon enough that there were only 70yrs left on the lease & the agent (a small local firm) were less than forthcoming with info. I had to pay for the pdf of the lease myself to get the info. We gave the seller an option to extend themselves prior to sale or sell at a reduced price. They pulled out accusuing us of preventing them from moving on and started phoning our solicitors to try & force us to buy. Add to this 2 or 3 nasty phone messages at home from the agent. The place has now been on the market for months with no buyers.

I guess what I'm saying is that if EAs/sellers have stuff to hide, gazundering can be pretty hard to avoid.

pinkshoes

I think people should be allowed to gazump, but they should be made to pay any cost incurred by the people they guzumped. This way the owners get a higher price, and the people who got gazumped, although they lost the house (if they can't equal the bid), they're not out of pocket.

Romani_Ite_Domum

Gazumping is dishonourable.

If you agree on a sale then you should honour that agreement.

arthur_dent_2

CB1979 wrote: »

as immoral as it is, would i do it? normally no but YES i would

it all depends on circumstances, people get stupid with house buying, and if they are desperate (ie been looking for ages, very little on the market, etc etc) then gazumping will happen.

if i had found my dream home (not a pokey 1 bed flat) then i would do everything within my power to get that property, selfish possibly but look after number 1!

after your offer was accepted did you get them to take it off the market for 2 weeks whilst you got the survey sorted, etc etc?

or are we talking hours between?

I am very inexperienced but learning by the day thanks to this forum:)

I didn't realise that once the vendor had accepted an offer they could still take viewings. So like the idiot that I am did not tell them to take it off the market.

We put our offer in on the property on friday and they made the offer after a weekend viewing on monday:(