Sorry to hear Ruth. Hope it goes wrong for them, what goes round, comes round etc.

When i was buying my current mudhut as Dibble describes Northern residences, we were just about to exchange when i got a phone call to say, they had a higher offer, match it or forget it.

My instant reaction was BLIND RAGE, good job i was 150 miles away when i got the call, as we had been looking for ages and knew this was the one i matched the offer. The sellers moved in with parents whilst waiting a month for their next house. They came round to collect some post that hadn't been redirected and told us in a most irate manner how the people they were buying off had put the price up (by exactly the amount they stuffed us for) at the last minute.

I just p1ssed myself.

Oh and why do you need to go outside to use the computer, and go back in for wine, isn't it a bit cold. MAD woman!

Ruth Im sorry to you have been let down like this, we went through the same thing during the early 90s the couple we eere buying from pulled out 10 minuites before exchange of contracts!! we spent 18 months living with annttes dad were gazuped twice had 2 sellers pull out at the last moment. We ended up in a house with a new roof but no floors. but that house is now our home and we never dreamed that we would own such a nice place. good things can come out of bad, keep looking and stay positive

dave

ps the system in this country sucks. I reckon all the legal fees etc cost us well over 5000 pounds in 1991/3 which was a sizable chunk of our earnings at that time

by which stage, I'll be safely ensconced in some other house, which I may well love as much, and it's their loss.

B*ll*cks to 'em

Just popping indoors to open some more red wine!

Ruth, That's the attitude. Enough red wine will solve anything. Good luck with the hunt.

Rgds, Rob

I'd just like somone to come and look at my house:(

post a picture up here then we can all look at it. :D

Pessimistic or what, but as I am dealing with the diposal of my poor old uncles (recently deceased) house (We have had a lucky beak with a cash buyer, no estate agents) and all I am doing is waiting for the inevitable call to say they are pulling out.

Stressful, I'd say so.

Rgds, Rob

That's really bad luck Ruth.

Bizarrely, although first time buyers have it tough when it comes to saving for a deposit and getting a mortgage together, once that's sorted they hold the whip hand, 'cos they know that the lack of complication they offer to the seller will have people falling over themselves to keep them sweet.

Did you hear on the radio the other day that first time buyers have now started 'underzumping'? Come in with an offer that's initially higher, wait until one or two days before exchange of contract, then drop their offer by quite a few thousand quid. What's the seller gonna do? Accept it or start the long process all over again and lose the house they're buying as well.

I couldn't operate like that, but then 'integrity' seems to be a very old fashioned attribute doesn't it.

It's been said many times before, but the Scottish system is the way to go. I find the 'offers over the guide price' system they use a bit weird, cos that's just like a lottery with people offering something like 30% over the listed price in some cases , but the notion that once you've accepted an offer you are legally bound by it (I think you can get out but it costs an arm and a leg), well, that's spot on!

"underzumping" has been around for years, usually excercised by a party that are pivotal in a chain .....

75% of the time it fails though ........

nature of the beast in England and Wales ... I'm surprised no ones blamed the estate agent yet ........

In a similar situation it took my family nearly a year to actually complete the sale.

Goes without saying mate :lol: