Gazumped!

Real Estate agent is required to pass on ALL offers made on property to seller. What usually then happens is a mini auction between the parties until one party gives up, It sucks, its immoral IMHO, and Im sorry this happened to you. Though a more common story than is immediately apparent.

Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd said :

Bluenomi said :

Why is it the agent’s fault? Blame the seller, they accepted the higher offer, it’s the agents duty to pass on all offers to them.

It’s leagl and the reason why you never assume you’ve got the house until the contract is signed.

i think we can all agree that real estate agenhts are scum of the land, right up there with criminal defense lawyers and parking inspectors.

Ummm… the first two blood sucking bottom dwelling species I can agree with but I take offence at naming parking inspectors as scum. Without them, those of us who can and do park legally and sensibly wouldn’t be able to. So, I rate parking inspectors close to god in stature, unless of course they are the lowlife scumsucking whore’s progeny who used to book me before I started to read parking signs and my watch.

Until contracts are signed anyone can jump in.

That said, some agents turn late comers away. This happened with a house I recently purchased; offered the seller a rate around 15K less than the asking price .. waited the standard time to exchange and after all was done and we were moving in, the agent told me that someone who she/he called a ‘time-waster’, was on her case about offering a higher price. The agent basically told me the newcomer wasn’t worth their salt, full of wind and would cause more trouble for the seller than was worth so told them to jump.

I think it depends on the seller and how quickly they want to sell and the agent – how ethical they are and how much they can be bothered dealing with multiple parties all trying to scrap the barrell the best they can. Other agents I’ve dealt with are vultures, they’ll nail you to a corner, trying everthing to get you to agree and sign while trying to influence others to jump in.

Bluenomi said :

Why is it the agent’s fault? Blame the seller, they accepted the higher offer, it’s the agents duty to pass on all offers to them.

It’s leagl and the reason why you never assume you’ve got the house until the contract is signed.

i think we can all agree that real estate agenhts are scum of the land, right up there with criminal defense lawyers and parking inspectors.

Bad luck, but there is no contract until you have signed on the dotted line. If you were selling, and someone offered you a higher price when you had no guarantee of a sale, would you refuse?

One advantage of auctions is that you cannot be gazumped. Other than that, until the vendor has a signed contract in their hand, the property is still on the market. People promise that they want to buy, but don’t follow through for whatever reason. Quite simply, if you want to buy, turn up with a deposit and sign a contract asap.

That’s the way it goes.

You’ve got to appreciate that there are also cases of buyers making offers then withdrawing for no reason before the deposit is paid so it works both ways.

Why is it the agent’s fault? Blame the seller, they accepted the higher offer, it’s the agents duty to pass on all offers to them.

It’s leagl and the reason why you never assume you’ve got the house until the contract is signed.

Greed! Greed! Greed! Pure and simple. Oh and another way to push those pesky house prices up again.

That happened to us late last year. We went down to the solicitor to sign contracts, and it turned out the seller had signed with someone else the day before. It ended up costing us $300 in legal fees for the failed sale.

I wrote, but never quite got around to sending a letter to the Real Estate Institute of the ACT asking them to investigate the agent because based on the calls our solicitor made to their solicitor, I think the agent (who was a young bloke) told us bare-faced lies about his role in the process, i.e. he was involved but suggested the seller had attempted to break the contract with the agent and gone behind his back. Not true according to the solicitor.

I really regret not sending the letter now… the REIACT have a code of conduct, and I felt the agent breached the following clauses:

Fair Conduct
2.7 A member must act fairly and honestly and to the best of his or her knowledge and ability with all parties in a transaction.
2.7.1 A member must not mislead or deceive any parties in negotiations or a transaction.

Gazumping may be legal, but it certainly is not ethical – we did everything we should have – we kept in contact, acted quickly, and were ready to sign well before the required date – and it still ended up costing us $300 with nothing to show for it. For the rest of the house-hunting process, we automatically ruled out any house which was listed with that agency.

Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd said :

ahhh, i was told wrong information then.

Well there’s a surprise.

Sucks that the OP got beaten, but until there is a contract, the property is fair game.