Gazumped!
Back to NewsGazumped!
It sounds like a word you may hear in a Roald Dahl, but unfortunately this is not a word of fiction.
Being gazumped during the home buying process is not a position you want to be in. To have found your dream home and had your offer accepted only to find out at a later date that the owner is no longer proceeding with you as they have accepted a higher offer really will take the wind out of your sales and lose all confidence in the home buying process.
If you are gazumped before exchange of contracts have taken place then there is nothing that you can do about it except make a higher offer. The difficultly is that you could end up being gazumped again by the gazumper and this process could go on and on until one of you admits defeat. Whilst this would be great for the seller, it certainly would not be great for the buyer.
In order to try and prevent this from happening you should take the following steps:
· When your offer has been accepted insist the property is taken off the market and no further viewings take place
· Agree a clear and prompt time from with the estate agent and stick to it to show your commitment to buy the property
· Be sure to be in a strong position to proceed, i.e. have your mortgage in place, have the sale of your old property as far advanced as possible
· Push to exchange contracts as soon as possible
· Try to find an estate agent who frowns on this practice
For help with buying your home then please contact Tony Randle or Tony Clark on 01902 429 051.
