is gazumping illegal these days?

ConfusedofYorkshire

The_White_Horse wrote: »

i don't know why a buyer would be upset with a seller for accepting a better deal? if they have their house on for £250k and I offer £250k and they accept - if another person came along and offered £260k or £265k they would be mad to turn it down. Why turn £15k down??

Because some people have morals.

They will never know that someone wanted to offer 260 because they have asked for no more viewings and for the property to be taken off the market.

To be honest, I wouldn't make my final offer without it being on the condition that it is then closed for viewings and marketing stopped.

Principia_2

The_White_Horse wrote: »

i don't know why a buyer would be upset with a seller for accepting a better deal? if they have their house on for £250k and I offer £250k and they accept - if another person came along and offered £260k or £265k they would be mad to turn it down. Why turn £15k down??

It's not all about the money though is it? If I have a chain set up and one person keeps holding out for higher and higher prices - none of us are going to move and in the end the person buying from them will look for something else.

In fact in a rising market everyone would be continually renegotiating their house prices up and in a falling market everyone would be renegotiating their offers down and no one would ever move.

Also like I said, I want to deal with someone reasonably fair minded when I am selling my house because I want to feel that in the next 3-4 months between offer and exchange, with all the things that can go wrong, my buyer's attitude isn't going to be one of them.

princeofpounds

I think there might be a simpler explanation to all of this.

It's more common in lettings than sales, but leaving 'bait' properties advertised online is not unusual. Keep an attractive property online, wait for people to call you to get the leads, then market them whatever you have.

Or it might be insurance - they might refuse to show people around but want to maintain a list of people to call if a transaction falls through. The vendor may well have accepted an offer (i.e. be in exclusive negotiations in reality) and so not willing to invite gazumpers to a viewing, but you can always make an offer based on the rightmove listing alone if you like!

And sometimes it's not even that clever. It can be a product of laziness. You get paid by getting a new instruction or doing more viewings, not tidying up your online listings. So just leave it up and your billing period will expire and it will go down automatically.

The_White_Horse

so basically, you all feel that it should be exchange of contracts before exchange of contracts.

so, if the buyer agrees to pay £250k and then the lender says, actually, we have looked into your finances and (for whatever reason) we won't lend you the money, or all the money, that buyer should be forced to still buy the property right? No, it will just fall through and the moral seller is shafted.

what a crock.

until contracts are exchanged the seller should be open to all offers. You want it off the market - pay something - give a few grand comfort.

No??? why not???? Because you won't be able to walk away scot free?

hazyjo

Most offers are accepted on the condition the property's removed from the market.

And often not the EA's decision to show anyone else round, it'll be the vendor's. If I accepted an offer, I wouldn't let anyone else view unless the deal fell through.

Jx

DRP

The_White_Horse wrote: »

i don't know why a buyer would be upset with a seller for accepting a better deal? if they have their house on for £250k and I offer £250k and they accept - if another person came along and offered £260k or £265k they would be mad to turn it down. Why turn £15k down??

have a think about it.

SuzieSue

My friend has rung up on the day that a property has gone on RM to be told exactly the same thing (that the property has been sold). He thinks that the EA has sold it to a friend or acquaintance and has put it on RM so that the vendor doesn't suspect anything.

The_White_Horse

i know the person who loses out will be upset or angry - but i don't know why they would be annoyed with the buyer - especially if their offer was less than the asking price.

hazyjo

The_White_Horse wrote: »

so basically, you all feel that it should be exchange of contracts before exchange of contracts.

so, if the buyer agrees to pay £250k and then the lender says, actually, we have looked into your finances and (for whatever reason) we won't lend you the money, or all the money, that buyer should be forced to still buy the property right? No, it will just fall through and the moral seller is shafted.

what a crock.

until contracts are exchanged the seller should be open to all offers. You want it off the market - pay something - give a few grand comfort.

No??? why not???? Because you won't be able to walk away scot free?

Because people spend a lot of money on buying a house.

Are YOU seriously saying that you think it's acceptable to think you're purchasing a house only to be told two months in that the vendors are selling to someone else?

Crazy. It could go on for years - especially in a rising market lol. Average house purchase is three months. Can you imagine the nightmare if every chain risked breaking down a couple of months in cos of a better offer? Would slow the chain down for a start, and ones with several links could end up taking a year to complete.

Ho hum - each to their own anyway, we all have our own opinions.

Jx

spacey2012

Morals + House buying = Fish and Bike