Cooling off period

Hi everyone,

I wanted to get feedback on our situation.

We went to an auction a couple of weeks ago (we were the last bidders) but the property was passed in. We tried to negotiate and the r/e agent said they'd call us that afternoon to let us know the outcome. He didn't call that afternoon. Next thing I'm checking the internet & see that the house is up for sale! I was a bit shocked & disgusted by the way the r/e agent did that.

Basically the r/e agent called us a few days later (after trying to negotiate a price) saying that the vendor had accepted another offer and asked if we wanted to put more money in for the purchase of the house. Again, a bit shocked the r/e agent called to ask this – isn't that guzumping? Anyway, at that stage we weren't prepared to pay that much. But upon reflection, the property is unique, for the area, as it had 2 houses on 1 block of land and not much "comparative" prices to review.

Now here's the question … the current purchasers cooling off period was finished yesterday. I called the r/e agent today to ask if the contract had been exchanged and he said that the current vendors had asked for an extension of the cooling off period (via solicitors) and that the new cooling off date is next Thursday. If we put in an offer to the vendor, can they accept our offer after accepting the extension of the cooling off period of the current purchaser?

Thanks in advance.