Subscribe Feed (RSS)Gazunderers beware
July 27th, 2009 by Karelia | Filed under London Property Buyers Agents, Property Market News.Musings of a London Property Buyers Agent
A disgruntled Leicester Estate Agent has placed an ad in a local newspaper, warning vendors and other agents of the underhand tactics of an investment purchaser, who tried to gazunder by dropping his offer at the last minute which meant a chain of three purchases fell apart.
According to Estate Agent Today, the advert reads: €œWe have had 3 house sales fall through this week due to the actions of SFS Investments of Barkby Road, Leicester. Be Warned!!!€
Michael Wolfe, a partner of Leicester Premier Estate Agents said, €œI was so upset for our vendors when these clients reduced their prices, effectively pulling out of the sale.
€œOne of the clients has just had a baby, another one is heavily pregnant, and the other was already distressed at selling the family home following the death of her father.
€œThese €˜purchasers€™ are so emotionally detached from the buying process that they have no regard. They quite blatantly strung along these clients to the point where they had packed their belongings and were ready to move.€
He also criticised HIPs, adding, €œAs these particular clients have an in-house conveyancing arm and with HIPs putting the onus to provide all legal documentation on to the property owner, they are able to walk away from the transaction without having incurred a single penny in expense.”
We’ve seen a great deal in the press recently about the North South divide in respect of the recovery of the property market with reports that it’s still grim up North for anyone involved in property, but certainly in the South East, there seems to be less gazundering these days. The market changed markedly between March and May of this year and after a slow start, as predicted, buyers are piling in concerned that they missed the bottom of the market.
From our perspective as London Property Buyers Agents, while there is so little stock around, gazumping is more likely to happen than gazundering, particularly when buyers have negotiated a good deal and then can’t proceed quickly. The moral of the story is get organised. Send in a surveyor quickly, stick to your word and make sure the vendor sticks to theirs. If it all goes pear-shaped, you could always name and shame!
Tags: London Buyer's Agents, London Property Buyers Agent, London Property Buyers Agents
