House at Sale Agreed?

sij2211

Myself and my partner are first time buyers and recently attempted to purchase a house through Co-Ownership. We went to a Mortgage advisor at One Stop Mortgage Shop and followed all his guidance. Just as we are about to send in all the required forms to Co-Ownership, we received a call from the (very angry) estate agent, wanting to pull out of the sale as "it is taking too long" and he is going with a lower (cash) offer.

Can they really do this? I didn't think a house could be bought and paid for within 1 month??

Beachview_2

Sounds like a repossession?

Old_Git

not really up to the agent to make that decision .Its up to whoever is selling .

sij2211

The agent said he had advised the seller to go with the lower buyer. I'm wondering if it's all a bluff, or if we've just been gazuumped or whatever you call it. It seems SO unfair and ridiculous.

jtk174

Until both parties have signed a contract, anything can happen and frequently does!

You could try talking directly with the owner. Most sellers would be prepared to get the most they can for a property. Although it depends on their circumstances.

I certainly have talked directly to the owner on several occasions, with some success.

sij2211

Yeah I thought that myself but because it's through an estate agent I don't know who the owner is. I asked the E.A if i could speak to the owner but was given a firm no.

Joanygq

We recently sold a property to someone going thought co-ownership and we were advised it could be a very long process.

My sis in law also recently purchased using co-ownership and hers was very quick but she bought a vacant repossession so we assume that's why it was quick.

We were lead to believe that the co ownership company like to do extra surveys/ further investigation and generally annoy the solicitors.

But we held in there and 5 months later all was signed.

It could be that your vendor wanted a quick sale and was advised the same by their e.a or mortgage advisor.

Good luck, you'll find the perfect place soon I'm sure.

sij2211

I think you're spot on Joanygq.

I suspect it was a quick sale pushed by the E.A. We were upfront about the fact we would be purchasing through Co-Ownership, and it's well known this can take some time. I'm just so angry they accepted our offer as Sale Agreed and let it get this far and have now pulled it away.

Probably have to accept it's just a hard lesson to be learned.

Ticked

First house we tried to buy went to sale agreed then the seller pulled it off the market, no reason given but we suspect we weren't of the same religion. Second house, agent kept saying there was another bid and we would have to raise ours. There wasn't, when we walked away the other bids disappeared and the house went back down to the original asking price. Third time lucky! Agent refused our bids for spurious reasons, turned out there was a preferred bidder, preferred because the agent would be getting the sale of his house but wasn't getting our sale. I went to the seller personally, they were livid, pulled the house from the agent and sold to us. One good thing out of it all, we did find an honest and ethical estate agent when selling our first house, he has been super over the years. Unfortunately now deceased and very much missed.
Don't be afraid to talk to the seller, worked for us!

warmhands.coldheart

Moral of the stories... there are still a lot of Estate Agents who are still unethical, unscrupulous, money grabbing scumbags..... bit like bankers really !!!

nonnatus

Agreed. You know the address of the Property! Pop a hand-written letter through the door explaining your situation and requesting they clarify the situation? It may be THEY don't know what the EA is up to either!

(On the other hand, maybe they DO and you're being "played" - but I'd want to know for sure!)