What to do after being gazumped?

SephirothX

Cakeguts wrote: »

A semi detached in the same area with roughly the same amount of accommodation will fetch more than an end of terrace. It is the terrace bit that reduces the value of an end of terrace. Semi detached sounds better than terraced even if it is an end.

That's what I would say too, but it doesn't seem to be the case on this estate. House prices are all over the place to be honest. I mean I just found a comparable one to the house I'm buying (except with a garage you won't get a car in) sold for £153k in December 2014 and prices have obviously increased since then.

I think the reason is that the estate is less than 10 years old and as I'm sure you know new builds depreciate in value immediately, and half the estate was built when house prices were naturally falling in 2007-08 and the rest when it was starting to recover 2010-12. As such people don't really know their true value so they're selling for whatever people will pay. I guess you could say that about all houses but on new estates you have a lot of comparable properties with no modifications done whereas it's harder to compare on an old estate where houses may have had new windows, extensions etc.

You could also argue that a 4 year old house has depreciated less than a 9 year old house as things like appliances, boilers and flooring is newer.

getmore4less wrote: »

Have I missed why this previous buyer had to give up/pull out?

whatever the motivation (EA, vendor need more money, real offer...) the vendor still has to weigh up further delays.

whats the story on their onward chain.


big estate plenty of properties seems they are first home type and if around the 4y there will be plenty of movers.

if you can keep saving and were not stretched your options as the spring sellers put their properties up for sale might find something better.

I don't think it was a previous buyer that fell through any more, estate agent said they had viewed a few weeks before me and decided to put an offer in because they have now sold their own house and it's progressing.

Yeah most of the houses on this estate do seem to be aimed at first time buyers, although they are some of the most expensive properties in the town because almost everything else is ex council house or victorian terraces so anyone deciding to move would be moving to a new town.

getmore4less wrote: »

tough call did you have any estimated time line for exchange/completion?

I have no idea now. They told me there was no upward chain from the property they were planning to buy, but that fell through due to a bad survey so they're now buying something else. I should really find this out tomorrow because I was hoping for a quick sale.

forum_posts

Do you know which fixture and fittings the vendor is going to take, if any? You may be interested in something they are taking, light fittings etc, and want them to leave behind as you have increased your original accepted offer.

Post the link to the property or postcode and the knowledgeable people on this forum can do some research for you. You, and forum members, can remove the link/postcode/information after receiving replies from fellow forum members to protect your privacy.

Cakeguts

Houses on new estates have different prices because they have different plots and are in different places on the plots. Here is an example. There is an estate that I know of where the houses are about 15 years old. Most of the houses have their own driveways but there are some in odd corners where they only have a private parking space at the bottom of the garden. Those houses with parking at the bottom of the garden fetch less than those with driveways.

So what you want to look out for to do comparisons is what is behind a garden, access to parking, size of garden, size of plot, and is it overlooked by a block of flats or a row of taller houses. All things being equal a semi will always fetch more than a terraced in the same area.

Thrugelmir

nubbins wrote: »

Sounds like they got their mate to put in a sneaky offer if you ask me.

Why bother accepting the offer in the first place?

SephirothX

forum_posts wrote: »

Do you know which fixture and fittings the vendor is going to take, if any? You may be interested in something they are taking, light fittings etc, and want them to leave behind as you have increased your original accepted offer.

Post the link to the property or postcode and the knowledgeable people on this forum can do some research for you. You, and forum members, can remove the link/postcode/information after receiving replies from fellow forum members to protect your privacy.

They are leaving the fridge as that was part of my original offer, plus all fixtures as standard. I asked if they would leave the washing machine since I was paying £5k more and they refused.

I would rather not post the link to the property on the forum, I mean I could remove it later but who knows who might quote it! I'd be happy to PM it to anyone who wants to see it though.

Cakeguts wrote: »

Houses on new estates have different prices because they have different plots and are in different places on the plots. Here is an example. There is an estate that I know of where the houses are about 15 years old. Most of the houses have their own driveways but there are some in odd corners where they only have a private parking space at the bottom of the garden. Those houses with parking at the bottom of the garden fetch less than those with driveways.

So what you want to look out for to do comparisons is what is behind a garden, access to parking, size of garden, size of plot, and is it overlooked by a block of flats or a row of taller houses. All things being equal a semi will always fetch more than a terraced in the same area.

Yeah that is a decent point, certainly all plots on this estate are different and I had been wondering why houses on the same streets were selling for different prices when they were originally built (can check all this on Zoopla). The way they built this area is crazy, I mean on some streets you have detached houses worth £200k about five feet from the end of terrace in the same row! Btw your example doesn't seem to be there.

In terms of parking, there's a driveway at the front but parking a second car/visitor would be tricky. It's a cul-de-sac but there are bays for visitors shared between all houses.

On the other side, the side of terrace is part of the garden so no through route and there's no houses over looking it - it over looks some others and has a half decent view from the upper floors (it's a town house). In my opinion the view is worth something but a lot of houses in the estate have a view.

sparky130a

Unless i've missed something...

State your original offer stands, let them contact you if they wish and start looking elsewhere..

Not difficult.

Arguing over white goods is ridiculous at this stage. You're only two weeks in! Hell, i wouldn't even clasifiy it as Gazumping!

forum_posts

If you suspect a friend of the vendor has put in an offer to the estate agent to impress on you to improve your previously accepted offer, why don't have a friend do the same. Then you will have the measure of the vendor and his/her tactics.

SephirothX

I drove around the estate tonight and saw a for sale sign for a property I hadn't seen online. Looks like it was on the market in May of last year. It is listed the same price as this one and comes with a garage, a study room, and a kitchen big enough to fit a dining table. Admittedly the master bedroom isn't as nice as it is on the second floor with the sloped roof and doesn't have a balcony.

I wonder what is up with that one. Either a sale has been dragging on for 7-8 months or it was taken off the market but the for sale sign left. Right Move lists it as removed rather than sold. I may enquire with the estate agent to see what its status actually is.

forum_posts

Sometimes people are having relationship difficulties and want to break up and sell the house and then decide to make a go of it again, I know it was like that with the house I bought several years ago.

getmore4less

How long are you planning to stay in this place?

Sometimes it is better to consider resale/improvement opportunities over features you want rather than need.

I would never buy a place with only one parking space again even if single.

we have an award winning estate in our town everything is close together and many with 1 space have 2 cars so the roads are full of cars.


How big are these places I was thinking 2 bed starter homes but I would not want one of those over 3 floors.