Deal Fallen through...such a stupid system.
Discussion
With such a small search area have you considered putting a 'wanted' ad in any of the local publications? Here in Dorset we have the Blackmore Vale and I'm guessing something similar will be around. Just a simple "4 Bed house wanted for a private buyer in the XYZ areas upto £X, ready to proceed, contact 07894123456". Quite a few people are considering moving but don't want the hassle of estate agents etc, and for £30-50 there's not much to loose.
That may well work but you will pay a premium. We did the same with leaflet drops, got a good response but the "sellers" wanted silly money (well over any agent valuations).
If someone knows you want something they won't give it away.
The way I see it is you either have to stump up more cash or sit tight & wait. I went with the first option, to date nothing else has come on the market in the area so I'd still be sat waiting.(I got sick of "wasting" my life waiting to move having already lost about £40k thanks to chains collapsing when people pull out at exchange!!).
If someone knows you want something they won't give it away.
The way I see it is you either have to stump up more cash or sit tight & wait. I went with the first option, to date nothing else has come on the market in the area so I'd still be sat waiting.(I got sick of "wasting" my life waiting to move having already lost about £40k thanks to chains collapsing when people pull out at exchange!!).
Dave_ST220 said:
A deal is a deal once contracts are exchanged, you are then legally obliged to purchase the property. However the reality is even then things can go tits up & try chasing someone for money who then claims they have none!
Yes, chasing someone who has no money for failure to complete would be a waste of time but remember that it would be the same someone who put down a 10% deposit which is £30K ish in this case so at least you'd have that and wouldn't be out of pocket.Ah! The world is simple when you are 25....an agent values the house at X and so you very cleverly bid X-y and feel outraged that someone else bids X+ y.....a house or car or stamp collection is worth what it's worth. Don't blame the other guys who can afford more than you and need/ want it more than you. The system per se might be flawed in your experience but in reality all it does is allow the property to trade at its worth at any one point in time. Might be cheaper next time, might be more. Prices are not static. In the past we paid cash up front to get London houses off the market. Didn't want to and loathe some vendor but we got what we as a family needed.
russy01 said:
scenario8 said:
I must have forgotten a time when a stamp duty holiday period was halted and then re-instated. Without sounding too pompous, I don't have much delaings at that kind of value. When did that happen exactly?
(It sounds like you had a problem with politicians during that period mostly. Surely you can understand the logic behind the solicitors' actions?).
I was 21 and it was my first house, so only £175k. It was all the way back in early 2010. I understand why they do it, but it certainly didn't help me, it would have really helped me and 20 yr old GF at the time who were desperately saving to make it work. Nowadays it seems like first time buyers get deposits chucked at them by the gov, all we wanted was £1750 stamp duty back!(It sounds like you had a problem with politicians during that period mostly. Surely you can understand the logic behind the solicitors' actions?).
As for the solicitor, yes I agree why they did it but it was handled very badly. We had a mortgage offer sorted and were ready to go at Full asking price. They then had one phone call from a local builders firm who wanted to buy it to sell on who offered £2k more, they didn't even go in and prove they had the funds. So the solicitors made no attempt to contact the guy and just gave them 6 weeks hoping this chap would come back - he didn't.
Jobbo said:
russy01 said:
scenario8 said:
I must have forgotten a time when a stamp duty holiday period was halted and then re-instated. Without sounding too pompous, I don't have much delaings at that kind of value. When did that happen exactly?
(It sounds like you had a problem with politicians during that period mostly. Surely you can understand the logic behind the solicitors' actions?).
I was 21 and it was my first house, so only £175k. It was all the way back in early 2010. I understand why they do it, but it certainly didn't help me, it would have really helped me and 20 yr old GF at the time who were desperately saving to make it work. Nowadays it seems like first time buyers get deposits chucked at them by the gov, all we wanted was £1750 stamp duty back!(It sounds like you had a problem with politicians during that period mostly. Surely you can understand the logic behind the solicitors' actions?).
As for the solicitor, yes I agree why they did it but it was handled very badly. We had a mortgage offer sorted and were ready to go at Full asking price. They then had one phone call from a local builders firm who wanted to buy it to sell on who offered £2k more, they didn't even go in and prove they had the funds. So the solicitors made no attempt to contact the guy and just gave them 6 weeks hoping this chap would come back - he didn't.
Im not lying, changes occured and I lost out - not the end of the world, but still annoying.
Bolebroke said:
Ah! The world is simple when you are 25....an agent values the house at X and so you very cleverly bid X-y and feel outraged that someone else bids X+ y.....a house or car or stamp collection is worth what it's worth. Don't blame the other guys who can afford more than you and need/ want it more than you. The system per se might be flawed in your experience but in reality all it does is allow the property to trade at its worth at any one point in time. Might be cheaper next time, might be more. Prices are not static. In the past we paid cash up front to get London houses off the market. Didn't want to and loathe some vendor but we got what we as a family needed.
Sorry I'm so young and naive! You're obviously a very wise man (you even use algebra 
)....what other life lessons can you teach me sirIf you actually read the OP Im not bitter at the other buyer - if hes got more money to spend on the house, then good on him. But in reality if I wanted the house more I could raise enough cash within a few weeks to buy half the house again - BUT that's not my point.
What im pissed about is how everything can be all go one second and then dead in the water the next. It seems daft that you can have a deal, start paying money to action the deal and then some clown can come along and s
t all over it. Whilst its sounds silly and old-fashioned I am most disappointed about the vendors attitude towards the deal. Whilst I fully understand most people would do the same in his position (i.e take the extra 6-8grand) I still find it sad. As far as I was concerned we had a deal, we shook in his garden and nearly stayed for dinner! Call it naive but I thought that an increased offer of less than 1.5% would be ignored considering the ball was rolling.
I wasnt too surprised when he said he wanted me to match this new offer, but what really disappointed me was when he made it clear that he wanted my counter offer to start a bidding war with this new buyer, as he believed this other chap had pretty much unlimited funds.
As I said previously, its bit of a pointless thread and was only started to vent a bit of anger!
KTF said:
Did you not get it taken off the market as a condition of accepting your offer?
Would have made no difference pal. The chap viewed outside of the agency, literally knocked on the door and got shown round. He then left it a couple weeks and randomly called the estate agent last week and placed the offer. The estate agent decided that it was only fair to pass the offer on even though the sale was agreed. Edited by russy01 on Wednesday 23 April 10:34
russy01 said:
The minimum level was raised to 175k. So any purchase under 175k didnt have to pay - we put the deal through at £174,950 so would have been ok. Then for a few month period this went back down to 125k or whatever it was before going back to 175k I think it was.
Im not lying, changes occured and I lost out - not the end of the world, but still annoying.
Ah, your reference to 2010 threw me - the basic SDLT threshold was raised to £175k for a year from 3 September 2008. So if you were expecting to complete before 3 September 2009 originally then you were unlucky. First time buyers' relief introduced in March 2010 may well have applied to you, so that was an unlucky window to complete.Im not lying, changes occured and I lost out - not the end of the world, but still annoying.
russy01 said:
If you actually read the OP Im not bitter at the other buyer - if hes got more money to spend on the house, then good on him. But in reality if I wanted the house more I could raise enough cash within a few weeks to buy half the house again - BUT that's not my point.
In which case I'd read my post again. You don't know this would turn into a bidding war. If it's taken a year to find the right house it seems silly to lose it over what in houses is a small amount on cash.russy01 said:
What im pissed about is how everything can be all go one second and then dead in the water the next. It seems daft that you can have a deal, start paying money to action the deal and then some clown can come along and st all over it.
& as mentioned in this thread the same can happen to the vendor on exchange day, when you consider exchange & completion can happen on the same day that's pretty stty! Some in this thread are even suggesting you do the same!To me it seems you should be upping your offer, reading over everything you have stated.
Don't worry about £300 (unfortunate but all part of the game) - look at the bigger picture. I would match the offer i.e. add 10k more or nearabouts. Then look for another property in the meantime. If they come back or the other person tries to knock them down (how reliable is his offer?) then you can go forwards with higher offer or reduce your offer.
Just to add, I got gazumped on a previous place - did regret not going a bit more to secure the property - guess I didn't want it enough but the amount was even less than your situation and it's funny how you can so attached to an 'agreed price' .. SDLT & estate agent fees was tens of times more!
Just to add, I got gazumped on a previous place - did regret not going a bit more to secure the property - guess I didn't want it enough but the amount was even less than your situation and it's funny how you can so attached to an 'agreed price' .. SDLT & estate agent fees was tens of times more!
Edited by fido on Wednesday 23 April 10:54
Dave_ST220 said:
russy01 said:
If you actually read the OP Im not bitter at the other buyer - if hes got more money to spend on the house, then good on him. But in reality if I wanted the house more I could raise enough cash within a few weeks to buy half the house again - BUT that's not my point.
In which case I'd read my post again. You don't know this would turn into a bidding war. If it's taken a year to find the right house it seems silly to lose it over what in houses is a small amount on cash.russy01 said:
What im pissed about is how everything can be all go one second and then dead in the water the next. It seems daft that you can have a deal, start paying money to action the deal and then some clown can come along and st all over it.
& as mentioned in this thread the same can happen to the vendor on exchange day, when you consider exchange & completion can happen on the same day that's pretty stty! Some in this thread are even suggesting you do the same!To me it seems you should be upping your offer, reading over everything you have stated.
Good luck with it. I've been there, in fact your situation is pretty much what I went through (only I lost fees TWICE!!). IMO ring the agent, or better still drop in, face to face much better. Ask what this other persons situation is, have they seen proof of funds or formal mortgage offer? Push your case, you've already started the process, how far off searches are you? If you've done them & really do end up losing the house try & sell the searches to the new buyer!! Actually did that but I was the one buying them as a party dropped out on exchange day!! Needless to say we still lost that house as our buyer dropped out weeks later! It's all hassle but sometimes it's better to concentrate on getting the house first & if they don't come up often......
Russy, there are ways to lessen the risk of this happening and ensure you are not out of pocket if it does.
See here: http://www.home.co.uk/guides/buying/gazumping.htm
See here: http://www.home.co.uk/guides/buying/gazumping.htm
russy01 said:
Would have made no difference pal. The chap viewed outside of the agency, literally knocked on the door and got shown round. He then left it a couple weeks and randomly called the estate agent last week and placed the offer. The estate agent decided that it was only fair to pass the offer on even though the sale was agreed.
I didn't think the agent could do this if the property was 'off the market' with no more viewings, etc.I realise that the agent has to pass offers on to the vendor but only if it is still 'for sale'?
I might be wrong though.
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