The experience of buying and selling a home can vary from smooth as silk to pull out your hair exasperating. It sounds like buyers in London are experiencing more of the latter than the former. Billy found an interesting article today about a trend that is reappearing in the London market. English property laws have combined with huge demand for housing and a lack of licensing for real estate agents to create a phenomenon called gazumping. This occurs when a buyer can come in and trump another buyer at any stage during the real estate transaction. In some instances, this is occurring literally days before closing. The pain can be particularly acute for someone who has been gazumped in that the buyer bears the costs and legal fees of the transaction. Buyers will have invested thousands of dollars on a transaction only to have a third party come in with a higher offer at the last minute and snatch the deal away. Gazumping is not a new phenomenon. It has occurred in London during other boom markets. This most recent surge can be attributed to a soaring financial industry and influx of foreign wealth.
There are a couple of things to take out of this article. If you are a frustrated buyer in Maui, take solace in the fact that there are a fair number of English blokes who are worse off than you. While I say that light heartedly, the fact is that buyers are granted a much higher level of protection in Hawaii and the United States in general. A buyer can only be bounced from a contract if they fail to meet their contractual obligations. The presence of a higher offer alone is not grounds for the seller to move to another buyer. If you are a foreign national interested in property in Maui, let us know a little bit about the real estate laws of your own countries. We would be happy to compare it with Hawaii and US laws. Don’t hesitate to ask questions about any aspect of a transaction. Contact us today for additional information on buying or selling Maui Real Estate.
