Offer accepted - is this frowned upon?

dunroving

Just out of interest, what do people think happens more frequently in the English system - buyer pulling out, or seller?

I'm currently looking to buy in England (and selling, but in Scotland). Someone said about a house I am looking at, "Put in an offer if you are even 90% interested, you can always pull out within the following week if you find somewhere else" (I am doing some pretty intensive hunting, as I have to travel down to England to do an action-packed house-viewing trip). Personally, I'd rather tell a seller that I am definitely interested, have a week of viewings set up, will know for sure within 7 days, please let me know if you have any offers. That seems to open me up for being taken advantage of, but it seems more honest to me.

dunroving

Penguin2017 wrote: »

This the problem then isnt it? I agree you should pull out as soon as you can, but also think this is why the country needs to make the offer and acceptance more formal with penalties..

But till that law comes, do the seller a favour and withdraw so they can restart the process.

I agree it is a problem with the system, but to tighten up, you'd need to require the seller to provide the survey/home valuation (as per the Home Report in Scotland). You simply can't require the buyer to commit in England without a survey and valuation.

victoriavictorious

dunroving wrote: »

I agree it is a problem with the system, but to tighten up, you'd need to require the seller to provide the survey/home valuation (as per the Home Report in Scotland). You simply can't require the buyer to commit in England without a survey and valuation.

I'm pretty sure (perhaps someone can correct me if Im wrong) that the idea of sellers paying for and providing their own survey prior to marketing, had been suggested around the time that the HIPS requirement was about to come into force(?) but it didn't happen in the end, because a buyer could claim that any survey commissioned by a seller could be unfairly biased, and also that a buyer would probably want to commission their own additional survey anyway, making it a pointless waste of time and money for the seller.
After having bought and sold in England a great many times (and once in Europe), I'll never understand - apart from it being a perfect moneyspinner for professional 'middlemen' when transactions fall through - why our system remains so complex and uncertain, when so many countries manage fast, straightforward property transactions where everyone knows exactly where they stand at all times. Granted though, buying and selling overseas often involves much higher costs than here, but that said, probably not that much more than when abortive fees are taken into consideration for transactions that don't make it to completion within our own system, because of parties being allowed to withdraw for any, or no reason at all up to time of exchange..

Slinky

This is almose exactly what happened with us. We made an offer on a house which was rejected as we were outbid. Three weeks later I'm out and the EA phones and says the original buyer was wobbling, were we still interested as the second highest bidder. Yes we were. Before I got home we'd had our offer accepted. Checked the internet, another house a few doors along had come up, different style, larger, garden faced west rather than north. I went and had a look the following day, put in an offer, a few days later it was accepted. My OH hadn't even seen the second one at this point. We had two offers accepted for a few days. The following weekend we went and looked at both of them and withdrew from the first purchase.

I certainly didn't feel guilty, the vendor of the first property for one thing, picked somebody else before us! It was still all in the early stages where nobody had spent any money.

victoriavictorious

Slinky wrote: »

This is almose exactly what happened with us. We made an offer on a house which was rejected as we were outbid. Three weeks later I'm out and the EA phones and says the original buyer was wobbling, were we still interested as the second highest bidder. Yes we were. Before I got home we'd had our offer accepted. Checked the internet, another house a few doors along had come up, different style, larger, garden faced west rather than north. I went and had a look the following day, put in an offer, a few days later it was accepted. My OH hadn't even seen the second one at this point. We had two offers accepted for a few days. The following weekend we went and looked at both of them and withdrew from the first purchase.

I certainly didn't feel guilty, the vendor of the first property for one thing, picked somebody else before us! It was still all in the early stages where nobody had spent any money.

And neither *should* you have felt guilty, imo in such a situation.
On the contrary, I'd say it was decent of you to give the first seller a second chance. I guess many would disagree with me on this, but if I even got a sniff of a seller messing me about, I'd not want to deal with them; there's always another property out there. I would just think there was a pretty even chance of being gazumped further down the line, if someone came along and made a higher offer after I had made a financial committment to the purchase.

However, its a different matter entirely when people pull out willy nilly for no good reason just because they can. It causes untold stress and upset. If you're not sure, don't offer.

Grenage

Reverse your roles and see how you'd feel; it's as simple as that.

csgohan4

Grenage wrote: »

Reverse your roles and see how you'd feel; it's as simple as that.

Nothing personal, it's business

Smodlet

Until the law changes in England, buyers and sellers are at liberty to terminate a transaction at any point until exchange. This is the law and, as with any other law, one can complain it is not fair until the cows come home; it changes nothing.

As for getting "a reputation" with estate agents, have you read other posts on this forum? All EAs care about is money. You could offer on a dozen properties in a month and they would still be there with their tongues hanging out, salivating at the thought of their commission.

This is not to say you might not acquire a "reputation" locally (think Fakelook/whatever social mediocrity) but realistically, if someone is desperate to sell a house, they will entertain any and all viewers, be they timewasters or not. Life is harsh and seldom more so than within the property market.

Penguin2017

totally agree, why cant the seller have the searches and survey done and validated with a solicitor and the buyer can only make the offer if he as mortgage in principle... then you can move along really quickly even assuming buyer wants to do a fresh higher level survey and the mortgage process

SkintF

How did the viewing go OP?