gazumping, is it right or wrong?

CB1979_2

Gold_Shogun wrote: »

... For example, my dad is selling his 10-bedsit Georgian letting house in Margate at circa £325k and found a (mortgage) buyer almost instantly ... A few days later, a second (cash) buyer turned up & offered him £350k to gazump, but my dad turned him down flat on the basis that "he'd already shaken hands on the deal"

that's great good on him, but he tried to stick to his principles even though someone in a better position offered him £25k more and could move more quickly! :eek:

now i don't care what anyone says £25k is ALOT of money, so either your dad is loaded or is nuts! lol

personally if that were me, I'd of told my original buyer, sorry they've offered more money AND are a cash buyer, so i'm taking their offer.

but out of interest why did your dad show someone else around though, if he was happy with the original offer?

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pusscat

Both practices are wrong in my opinion - however I can't promise that if someone offered me an extra £25k that I would do the honourable thing - I like to think that I would though!

tom101

A very similar thing happened to us. We had spent 6 long months looking for a house to buy, finally found one that we really liked and had our offer accepted. The house was taken off the market but the next day the estate agent phoned to tell us that a new buyer, who had seen the house prior to us (allegedly) had put in a full asking price cash offer which the owner had accepted. Obviously we were pretty !!!!ed off to say the least. About a month later though the agent called to say that the buyer of the house had been mucking the vendor around so if our offer still stood we could buy, and we did. So to the OP, don't despair but don't stop looking either.

hayleyw1

we had all the serches done on the house we were buying only for the vendor to pull out at the last minute!:mad: it shouldnt be aloud if the vendor pulls out THEY should pay for the fees! in my opinion its WRONG:mad:

angel_eyes_3

arthur_dent wrote: »

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.

If we had 2 offers of the same amount and in the same good position to proceed within a day of each other, I would go with the ones who fell in love with my house and who I felt a connection with.

Our orginal buyers absolutely fell in love with our house and made it clear that it was the one they wanted. When their sale fell through we waited a number of weeks for them to resell, and it was only when our estate agent insisted that we were in danger of losing the house we were buying, that we put ours back on the market.

However I am not a business woman and am entirely too sentimental! I'm not saying that the OP didn't like the house but maybe the other couple had a better rappour (can't spell) with the vendors and were more vocal about how much they liked the house. Alternatively I could be completely wrong and they're related to the estate agent!

DanceInThe_Dark

We sort of gazumped someone on my current house.

My uncle died leaving his house between 6 people, one of whom was me. I wanted the house and my house was up for sale but no buyer and so my uncles house went on the market and found a buyer straight away.
Two weeks later my house sold and we matched the buyers price, bought his searches and survey an the house came to us.

I don't feel bad about it as the house was partly mine in the first place so surely I should have first refusal, also I know he was just a speculator trying to make a quick turnover while I loved the house from the days my grandparents owned it and I used to visit as a small child.
(BTW as a point of interest, I bought the house never having stepped inside for 16 years and my husband hadn't ever stepped beyond on the garden gate! We both love the property even though it is a money pit)

I have been gazumped in the past when I made an offer on a bungalow which was accepted and taken off the market. Three weeks later the agent phoned me to say unknown to them the vendor was still selling with another agent and they hadn't taken it off the market.
Result, we lost the house, and we lost our buyer too!
Interestingly a few weeks later the same agent rang me to say the vendors "new" buyers had withdrawn from the sale and did I want it??
I told them straight that because of this man we had not only lost money with solicitors fees but also lost our buyer and to inform him of this and also say when we do get a buyer we won't go back to him as he was untrustworthy.

wecanhelpu

DanceInThe_Dark wrote: »

We sort of gazumped someone on my current house.

My uncle died leaving his house between 6 people, one of whom was me. I wanted the house and my house was up for sale but no buyer and so my uncles house went on the market and found a buyer straight away.
Two weeks later my house sold and we matched the buyers price, bought his searches and survey an the house came to us.

I don't feel bad about it as the house was partly mine in the first place so surely I should have first refusal, also I know he was just a speculator trying to make a quick turnover while I loved the house from the days my grandparents owned it and I used to visit as a small child.
(BTW as a point of interest, I bought the house never having stepped inside for 16 years and my husband hadn't ever stepped beyond on the garden gate! We both love the property even though it is a money pit)

I have been gazumped in the past when I made an offer on a bungalow which was accepted and taken off the market. Three weeks later the agent phoned me to say unknown to them the vendor was still selling with another agent and they hadn't taken it off the market.
Result, we lost the house, and we lost our buyer too!
Interestingly a few weeks later the same agent rang me to say the vendors "new" buyers had withdrawn from the sale and did I want it??
I told them straight that because of this man we had not only lost money with solicitors fees but also lost our buyer and to inform him of this and also say when we do get a buyer we won't go back to him as he was untrustworthy.

Congratulations for ending up in a dream home.

The first example of gazumping you give though, is not gazumping.

It is a common misconception. If a vendor accepts your offer and at the last minute someone comes in and ups the offer those other buyers are not the gazumpers.

Only the vendor can "gazump".

So you are innocent.

arthur_dent_2

Hi, thanks for all your replies.

We are in a very good position in that we have sold our house private sale to a buyer who we KNOW is good for the deal. Also our current house has about 85% equity so we have not had any problems with getting a mortgage.

Tom we know that it is a genuine offer because I made my mum mystery shop them.

Angel eyes we put in our offer at the time we viewed, we knew the house was for us but we hadn't definately sold ours at the time and it was refused. We put in the same offer again later when we were sure we had sold and it was accepted. Also we then matched the other buyers amount!

Dance in the dark, that is a slightly different case as it is a family home and one as you say that you already part owned.

Gold_Shogun

CB1979 wrote: »

that's great good on him, but he tried to stick to his principles even though someone in a better position offered him £25k more and could move more quickly! :eek:
A) ... My dad's over 80, and has an distinctly "Old School" sense of honour over "A Done Deal".

now i don't care what anyone says £25k is A LOT of money, so either your dad is loaded or is nuts! lol
... He bought the house 40 odd years ago, and it was valued at far more than he envisaged anyway, PLUS ;
C) ... The last 2 of his 7 brothers & sisters died within the last year, so sometimes there are more important things than money at his age (like time).
D) ... See (A) ... He's definitely NOT "Loaded" ... & Many nowadays MIGHT consider him to be "Nuts" as you put it, but I'm NOT one of them.

personally if that were me, I'd of told my original buyer, sorry they've offered more money AND are a cash buyer, so i'm taking their offer.
E) ... See (A) again :rolleyes:
E1) ... Hmmm ... Being considered as "Nuts" (by you) or "A Dishonourable Moneygrabber" (in his own eyes) ... Not exactly a Hard Choice, is it ?? :rolleyes:

but out of interest why did your dad show someone else around though, if he was happy with the original offer?

F) ... He didn't ... The (Cash) buyer was the FIRST person to view on the morning the property was marketed, but didn't make an immediate offer.

G) ... The (mortgage) buyer was the SECOND viewer on the morning the property was marketed ... My dad agreed a deal with him on the spot and immediately took the property off the market on the basis of the Jerk's "Handshake" (See (A) ).

H) ... Total time the property was marketed = +- 4 hours
H1) ... Total Number of Viewers = TWO

I) ... The First (cash) buyer, then phoned up two days later offering the higher amount, and was promptly refused by my dad (If you haven't guessed why yet ---> See (A) ) ... And only came back in AFTER the Tyre-Kicker had dropped out.

Personally I suspect that that my dad's very large house has a much greater value & potential than originally estimated by the Estate Agent, as there are relatively VERY few of similar such properties about these days (especially in such a pretty location) that have not already been ripped to shreds by Property developers ..... But each to his own, so long as my dad is happy, I'm happy.