Probate sale help

peppapig14

Just viewed a property through an estate agent who says it's actually through a probate company. They said if we make an offer and it's accepted the price will be advertised on rightmove and another offer could be accepted from someone else.
They also said the probate company would lie the sale to go through within 6 weeks. We would need to provide them with an aip, deposit details, instruct solicitors and have a survey done asap. That all seems fine, however they then said that the property would still be advised and they have ro advise that a higher could he accepted right up untill competition.
Is that correct? I don't want to spend money on solicker fees, searches, survey etc for someone to offer higher 5 weeks down the line?
Any advise/experience would be appreciated

G_M

Yes thats right.

Thy have legal duty to get the best price. If they failed to do so, eg by not continuing to advertise, or by ignoring a higher offer, they could be held liable by the Beneficiaries of the Will for the lost money.

Same with repossession sales.

It's a risk you must decide to take... or not.

Best advice is to get to Exchange asap.

glentoran99

all of the above can happen with any property, nothing is binding until exchange

betsie

Yes this happened to us with a repossession we bought. Went through fine and once you exchange it!!!8217;s binding. That!!!8217;s why they like to get the process completed as quickly as possible.

getmore4less

A bigger issue can be the motivation of the beneficiaries

A lot can go wrong

Best price does not mean higher.

AdrianC

peppapig14 wrote: »

Is that correct? I don't want to spend money on solicker fees, searches, survey etc for someone to offer higher 5 weeks down the line?

No different to any other sale, in that nothing is legally finalised until contracts are exchanged. The only difference is that the vendor are up-front about being open to gazumping.

It's just the same as if you were buying a repo. They have a legal duty to maximise the return from the sale.

peppapig14

Thanks for the replies
I understand u can be gazumped at any time, however the risk seems to be extremely higher in a probate sale. Not sure if it's worth taking the risk and potentially losing a few thousand pound on solicitor, survey etc if it does happen, or just take a chance and go for it

Slinky

Depends how much you're prepared to gamble to get this particular house.

steampowered

It is true that you are more likely to get gazumped than in a regular sale.

But, it is also true that regular sales often fall through due to the chain collapsing or the seller being unable to find a property to move into. That shouldn't happen in a probate sale.

So it is swings and roundabouts. Personally I would go for it and would try to exchange ASAP.

Davesnave

If I didn't like a house enough to gamble on being gazumped, I'd carry on looking.

Thrugelmir

peppapig14 wrote: »

however the risk seems to be extremely higher in a probate sale.

Only if you've offered well below true market value. No one is going to outbid you only to result in overpaying for the property.