Can you put in an offer if it's already under offer?

[Rooners]

Sorry, I am a complete newb to house hunting.

I haven't got a CLUE what the protocol is so please forgive if I sound completely stupid.

But we've found a house that's under offer and we really, really like it.

Would it be unfair/wrong/unethical to make an offer ourselves?

I am sure I will realise all the answers to this stuff as we go along, but for now, I am relying on you lot and a bunch of estate agents to show me the ropes!

What should we do?

[DameDeepRedBetty]

It's not illegal to make an offer on a house. Between you and your conscience really... Having said, the whole way the housing market runs is so cockeyed you have to be willing to be a nasty person to get what you want sometimes, including gazumping and gazundering.

[PrincessFlirtyPants]

You can put an offer in. It is a bit mean though. Your offer/position would need to be better than the other couples to be considered.

It would be worth discussing the house with the estate agent to see what is possible.

[Rooners]

Oh golly, is that what gazumping is? Oh poo.

The last thing I want is to pinch a property from under someone's nose - if they are nice people who really want it, that is

If they are greedy landlord types who will wreck it for the sake of profit then I am more than happy to

but you can't tell can you.?

I hav fallen in love with it. It is old and lovely and huge enough for me and the children, and you can see the old lady who lived in it on streetview - in the picture - she looks so sweet. I want to love her house for her

[iliketea]

Personally, i think if an offer's been agreed, it's a shitty thing to do.

Obviously, it's not illegal. But how would you feel if you found a house, offer was accepted and you were gazumped? Especially if you'd started the survey for mortgage etc (which you'd still have to pay for even if you didn't get the house).

Plus any ethical estate agent shouldn't be getting a seller to go for another offer once an offers already been agreed. If you really are interested, ask the estate agent to let you know if the sale falls through.

[Rooners]

oh I see.

We are no chain, first time, cash...I suppose if their own chain fell through maybe we could be there waiting? Ok. Good plan - then if it's meant for us it's right.

Thankyou all btw. Such a minefield. I keep asking people IRL stuff and they aren't always allowed to answer iyswim! I must be a right pain.

will call tomorrow. It could be a family, or could be an arbitrary buy to let iyswim.

[Golddigger]

Gazumping means that the offer has been accepted by the seller though.
So, if the offer hasnt been accepted by the seller already, than I dont see a problem?
tbh, not thought about it before.

[Bowlersarm]

Register your interest with the Estate Agent.

Have you even seen inside it? It sounds like you havent'? And if you haven't then I doubt they would let you view it unless something goes wrong with the current buyers.

[Rooners]

Please don't have a go at me. I genuinely did not know the procedure. I wouldn't want to do that to someone. Especially now you mention the survey.

Only, if it is a super low offer they have made, and the old lady's family needs more, then maybe that would be Ok.

What's the difference between UO and sold STC then?

[wetaugust]

Yes, you can offer the same or more.

If the house is still on the market but under offer it probably means that an offer has been made that is under the advertised price and the buyer will accept a higher offer if one is made. Otherwise, if the buyer was happy with the offer, the purchaser could reasonably ask for the house to be taken off the market - i.e. not advertised any more.

When I bought my first house the vendors wanted £26K. They had 2 offers of ynder that amount and the 2 prospective purchasers were in a race to complete first to get the house, knowing that the house would remain on the market and if a higher offer came along the buyer would accept it. They had the option of riaing their offer to the full purchase price to secure the house - but had not done so.

I went in with an offer of the full asking price £26K and he agreed to sell to me and took the house of the market. This was back in 80s.

Being a first time buyer with nothing to sell yourself can make you an attractive buyer. If there were 2 prospective purchasers and one was a first time buyer with finance agreed, the first time buyer would be the one that I would prefer to deal with.

Just be careful that you don't get sucked in to a spiral of the house increasing in price as more than one interest party fights against the other.

[Rooners]

Thankyou for explaining WetAugust (and everyone else!)

That makes more sense.

We could only probably go up to about 5 grand under the asking price - but it is in an old fashioned state (which I love) and I wonder if the offer is at the asking price or much under it.

I will just go and talk to them tomorrow and try and be as honest as possible. And see what happens. There will be other houses if this one doesn't end up working out.

Hopefully they will tell me if the potential buyers are lovely and desperate for the house then I can back off.

[Rooners]

oh that is cool

Thanks ever so much. I hate to tread on toes...I shan't do if I can help it. But if they want a buyer then I'm ready to go.

[specialsubject]

Jesus H Christ. 'greedy landlord types' - yes, of course, there's no way anyone would actually be able to buy a property for rental by WORKING for it, and of course no tenant ever trashed a property or stopped paying the rent leaving the landlords in debt.

doing renovations to a property costs money. How is that 'wrecking it for profit'?

if you have a mortgage you are paying bankers. making money out of property isn't a crime.

if you gazump, be prepared to have it done to you.

[Rooners]

No no no I certainly didn't mean that.

I am talking about ACTUAL horrible landlord people - I have been in rented for long enough to have encountered some proper nasty people who happen to be landlords/

That's all

also known some superb people who happened to be landlords.

Sorry. No offence intended there.

Also - I am talking about people who will utterly destroy it - take out the old windows and put in horrible super cheap kitchen'bathroom etc just for the purposes of profit.

We want to live in it - and keep it nice, and do it carefully and respectfully. Some people would actually wreck it.

So it clearly wasn't the nice landlord types or restorers I was talking about.

I wouldn't want to take it from anyone nice.

But we need a house to live in, not for profit and I do feel that we would be doing the house a favour if we were to buy it instead of someone who would actually ruin it.

I hope that makes more sense.

[noddyholder]

just no

[TheDoctrineOfWho]

Rooners

The EA shouldn't tell you anything about the potential buyer except possibly if they are or aren't in a chain.

I would talk to the EA, let them know your position and that you are interested if anything goes wrong and then see what happens.

When we bought our house, we made a low offer, the vendor agreed to proceed but that they would continue to market until we completed the survey. We thought it was worth the risk but would have been philosophical to have missed out if an offer closer to the asking price had come in.

[Umpire]

I felt unable to top offers. Estate told me at one point what i would need to offer to beat the existing offer. I said hmmm jyst let me know if that arrangement falls through.

I might in your shoes ask how recent the offwr was. Big difference between topping an offer made 3 days ago and 3 weeks a go.

[Flibbertyjibbet]

The ea has a legal obligation to tell the seller if any other offers are made. Unless its actually teken off the market after an offer is accepted, then you are doing nothing wrong by viewing and making an offer.
The buyer will then decide whether to go with a higher offer, or could ask the current buyer if they want to match it, or just stick with the current buyer if the sale process is advanced rather than start again with a new buyer.

But you need to stop being so sentimental about windows etc. Sounds like the house has not been touched for donkeys years. If you do view take someone with you who knows about renovating old properties. The estimates may well have you running to the nearest new build estate

[Golddigger]

I have never really thought or had to think about this before.

But is gazumping wrong?
Surely it is not over till its over, and everything has been signed?

Is it perhaps an English thing that it is bad manners to gazump? Like I said, I have not ever had to be involved in it, so am prepared to be told I have got that wrong.

[TheDoctrineOfWho]

It's bad if the buyer has spent money on a survey etc that is then wasted - it can also mess up whole chains of houses.

But it's not illegal.

[Golddigger]

Ah. I see.

[Bowlersarm]

The whole point is though, that if the sale is proceeding nicely the estate agents won't be wasting their time showing new applicants around. Rooners may be incredibly lucky when she on to the Agents and they may say 'oh yes, the chains looking a bit precarious now so we are about to put it on the market. When can you go and look, Mrs Rooners'.

The chances are the sale is rocking along nicely, and Rooners won't get a viewing.

If Rooners has already seen the property then there is nothing to stop her putting in another offer, and if it is higher the vendor may be tempted, but the agent will not be putting her interest in the best light-they don't care about the windows, they just want their commission in as quickly as possible and will try not to abort a sale which is going through smoothly.

(sorry to talk about you in the third person, Rooners)

[OddFodd]

Surely if the vendor has accepted the offer, its sold stc? Until then, it doesn't mean much and it's not gazumping