Ever been offered a bag of cash....?

Stevie_Palimo

A friend of mine sold a btl property and was given around 7000 in cash to keep it below a certain value and they said it was the mortgage amount they could gain, He did not complain and took the cash from them and the sale went through smoothly.

In the OP's situation this is about different cultures and the way that things are done as they do vary from one culture to another, I doubt there was anything sinister about and just people desperate to get the property.

wwl

DavidF wrote: »

Laughing at the suggestion that OP was acting out of morals when later in the thread seller stated that they would/may have moved on the offer if it had been significantly higher.

Who said anything about morals ? It was mostly about avoiding hassle and risking losing the current buyer ( which we'd struggled to find) for what amounted to less than a 2% increase.

DavidF

wwl wrote: »

Who said anything about morals ? It was mostly about avoiding hassle and risking losing the current buyer ( which we'd struggled to find) for what amounted to less than a 2% increase.

You didn't lol It was another who said that. I was just merely pointing out that this wasn't the case here. Sorry if I have made it sound bad, didn't mean for it to come across that way. Like I also said a mate of mine done it many years ago and was successful - he was also a cash ready buyer at that time so that helped his position...but yes you have to trust the buyer.
As for the morals of it...at the moment it's legal and that's just the way it is....I do prefer the scottish system but im sure many do not, At least the government are finally making noises about doing something about it here is a link from just the other day where they mention this very thing - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3580077/Could-gazumping-outlawed-Ministers-plan-shake-protect-thousands-suffer-disappointment-expense-sales-falling-through.html

Around £270m is wasted on legal fees annually for failed house purchases

That's a lot of unhappy buyers, probably followed by a lot of unhappy solicitors if this goes through lol.

Mossfarr

Stevie_Palimo wrote: »

In the OP's situation this is about different cultures and the way that things are done as they do vary from one culture to another, I doubt there was anything sinister about and just people desperate to get the property.

I agree with this completely, my brother sold his house to an Asian couple a few years ago. A few days after completion they phoned and said they had changed their minds and didn't want the house after all.
They were extremely shocked when my brother explained that the UK system did not allow them to just change their mind and expect the vendor to 'take it back'.
I thought it was hilarious :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

moneyistooshorttomention

I wouldnt want the Scottish system personally for the rest of Britain - as buyers must forever be wondering if they have offered just enough to ensure they are the buyers that are accepted.

I think bidding needs to be open and transparent - as we have it currently in the rest of Britain and then buyers can see whats what clearly. But - to just modify the system to ensure that once one of the bids has been firmly accepted - then thats that and the seller cant change their mind if someone subsequently tries to gazump.

Open/transparent bidding wars - during which no-one has yet been accepted is fair enough imo and both the buyers interested in my last house knew what the other would-be buyer had offered at any given point in that "bidding war" and then I accepted one of them and that was that = bidding war over and that buyer had my acceptance and their sale proceeded according to plan.

vacheron

Stevie_Palimo wrote: »

A friend of mine sold a btl property and was given around 7000 in cash to keep it below a certain value and they said it was the mortgage amount they could gain, He did not complain and took the cash from them and the sale went through smoothly.

In the OP's situation this is about different cultures and the way that things are done as they do vary from one culture to another, I doubt there was anything sinister about and just people desperate to get the property.

Was that mortgage amount around £250K by any chance?

I had a whole load of elaborate schemes in my head to get my price down under 250K when I was buying (and the buyer was willing too).

In the end chose to play it straight and stomach the stamp duty, however when a country has such unfair and illogical rules whereby getting the price reduced by just 1p saves 75 MILLION PERCENT of that amount in tax, is it any wonder people are encouraged to think outside the box!

Brock_and_Roll

my late father was a bit old skool - if he liked a property/business and wanted to buy it, he would agree a price, shake hands and give the vendor £10k or so in cash as an "incentive" not to muck him around. As far as I know, no one ever went back on the deal and pocketed the cash!

Stevie_Palimo

vacheron wrote: »

Was that mortgage amount around £250K by any chance?

I had a whole load of elaborate schemes in my head to get my price down under 250K when I was buying (and the buyer was willing too).

In the end chose to play it straight and stomach the stamp duty, however when a country has such unfair and illogical rules whereby getting the price reduced by just 1p saves 75 MILLION PERCENT of that amount in tax, is it any wonder people are encouraged to think outside the box!

No it was a lot cheaper and the house was up for around 110k.