Is your house up for sale? Beware!

[grumpystaffordguy]

Having agreed the sale of our house at the start of the year our buyers pulled out with a couple of days to go just before funds were due to be exchanged.
They claim they have seen a house they would rather buy instead and had an offer accepted. When pushed they admitted to the estate agent that since placing the offer and agreeing to buy our house they have still continued to look on rightmove and view other houses.

This has caused a great deal of upset and obviously had financial implications for us and we have lost the house we were supposed to buy and the children's place at the local school. Some people are so selfish it beggars belief.

So if you are currently selling your home and have recently had an offer from a middle aged couple (unmarried) that are claiming to be chain free you may want to double check its not these people as they are obviously scumbags and not to be trusted.

If someone thinks they may be at risk from these individuals send me a message and I will confirm the identity of them.

 

[Helen Goff]

I Feel for you. Having just moved myself and loosing 3month to a couple who said had nothing sell who turned out to have 2 houses to sell before they could buy ours.

Look on the bright side

It will have cost them money to. (Sols,survay,+) so i doubt they will be doing it again. And turns out we did a better deal with new purchasers and found a much nicer house ourselves.

 

[John Marwood]

"Agreement of sale" is really only a notice of interest in England

I feel your pain

 

[grumpystaffordguy]

I Feel for you. Having just moved myself and loosing 3month to a couple who said had nothing sell who turned out to have 2 houses to sell before they could buy ours.

Look on the bright side

It will have cost them money to. (Sols,survay,+) so i doubt they will be doing it again. And turns out we did a better deal with new purchasers and found a much nicer house ourselves.

This couple both had a house to sell each last year. Then just the one left to sell when they agreed to buy ours.....

 

[flossietoo]

We had an even odder issue with people who wanted to buy our house.

The couple viewed during a special 'drop by' day organised for all the proerties for sale through our agent. People didnt have to make an appointment or leave any details, they could just drive round the area with a map of homes for sale, dropping in if they liked the look of somewhere.

This couple had somewhere to sell which wasn't even on the market. However they were so determined to move into our house that they asked us to take it off the market and move out within a fortnight to enable them to live there, with a vague indication that they would buy it at such time when their own house sold.

So well would this plan have suited them that they were dumbfounded when we didn't agree. The man kept phoning several times a day to increase the pressure. In the end it got so bad that I stopped answering my phone and asked the agents to say we'd gone abroad.

 

[John Marwood]

Are you back?

 

[hop]

Its a very competitive market at the moment with is very hot in the South East and the ripple is now spreading out.

I know someone who have lost out on 4 purchases in the past 10 months. Each time he nears completion the vendor has stated that the market has moved and asked him for more money. The most recent time this happened was around 2 weeks when they said they wanted another 30k.
Gazumping is also rearing it's head a lot at the moment. My friend was saying these 4 deals which have fallen through have cost him around 10k in legal fees and surveys, he's not a happy chap.

 

[tek-monkey]

I know 2 people that were allegedly gazumped back in the very early 2000s, both properties were almost at completion when they suddenly had another buyer willing to offer more. In both cases my friends backed out, and in both cases the houses were back on the market immediately following my friends refusal to go back in at the previously agreed price when the new buyer suddenly disappeared.

Obviously it is a big problem, but I'm sure in a proportion of cases it is fabricated.

 

[andy w]

Have been keeping tabs on the house availability recently. Rightmove lists 449 houses with 2 bedrooms or more for sale in the whole of Stafford.

 

[peggy]

We had a couple arrange to view a house we were selling. We shipped out the kids to grandparents, moved out all the bulky items that come with babys-prams, high chairs ets. The viewing went ahead with the couple seeming keen. Some weeks later it transpired that these people were friends of friends and during summer months they spend most weekends driving into the countryside to view houses as a past time, with no intention to buy. Sad gits!

 

[flossietoo]

We had one couple who started 'making out' on our stairs. Another man sat cross-legged on the floor of the conservatory and began meditating. In neither case did we know when was a good time to interrupt. Both times I had to stop my husband fetching a bucket of water.

My personal low point came when I dashed into the bathroom to clean the sink before a viewing appointment, only to get stuck in there. The lovely man from next door (a builder) had to come round and remove the door to get me out.

Given that I didn't want to move in the first place, I found the whole process a total nightmare.

 

[Glam]

We had a couple arrange to view a house we were selling. We shipped out the kids to grandparents, moved out all the bulky items that come with babys-prams, high chairs ets. The viewing went ahead with the couple seeming keen. Some weeks later it transpired that these people were friends of friends and during summer months they spend most weekends driving into the countryside to view houses as a past time, with no intention to buy. Sad gits!

Many moons ago, when we lived in Mr Marwood country (Doxey). We had a couple come to view our house. They spent their time doing exactly the same. Cheaper than going the pictures, the girl in Kirkham-Nicholsons said.

 

[Withnail]

I know someone who considers a weekend well spent by visiting show homes on these interminable housing estates, posing as a buyer, to see how they are internally decorated. She rather assumes that she will thus be 'with' the zeitgeist of internal decor.

It really does take all sorts.

 

[John Marwood]

In the olden days estate agents actually gave you the keys to empty houses so you could view on your own

Certainly saved on hotel bills.

Premier Inns should be grateful for stricter rules

 

[That-Crazy-Rat-Lady]

Agents such as Bridgfords ask to see proof that you have a mortgage in principle before you view their properties, which is great to cut out time wasters, however it put me off viewing some houses as they demanded we have an hour long appointment beforehand, I think just to try and sell me crap....

 

[Yalla]

Bridgfords like to sell mortgages - we bought a house through them once and already had a mortgage but they insisted that we had the mortgage interview too and said that they shouldn't really accept our offer until we had been through it. It was a hard sell and they tried to convince us to change mortgages which we didn't!

 

[United57]

Ask them to show you how they comply with the law when selling financial services. Then ask them would they mind you recording the meeting !

 

[That-Crazy-Rat-Lady]

I took my mortgage in principle from HSBC in to Bridgfords and they refused it, and said it wasn't one???
And that I should sit down with them and take up their offer!
I had to get the bank to ring them directly and put them in place!
Wasted a hell of a lot of time and worry!

 

[flossietoo]

My friend bought a house which was for sale with Bridgefords. I tried to persuade her to refuse to give them detailed financial information because if they knew how much cash she could get her hands on, then that would weaken her position when it came to making a "This is as much as I can afford, take it or I walk away" offer. Unfortunately she wasn't in a place in her life where she felt able to stand up to them. She wouldn't even let me ring Bridgefords, pretending to be her, to tell them not to be so blooming impertinent.

 

[John Marwood]

Does a polaroid of a carrier bag full of fivers count?