No gazumping

From what I remember, the home buying process in the UK is fraught with unknowns and uncertainties. It’s really not a process at all. More like a gamble, on a series of blindly optimistic decisions.
You make a verbal offer, and hope the seller lets you know what they think at some point. Once you've agreed a price you start doing your due diligence, spending money on surveys and hoping you don’t find out the property isn’t scheduled to be knocked down to make room for a new stadium anytime soon. You have an ‘inspection’ and hope the inspector will spot any major structural faults – which is a bit of a punt given they can’t really get into the nooks and crannies since you don’t own the house yet. All of this time you are hoping no-one comes along with a better offer and ‘gazumps’ you. Eventually you exchange contracts, and complete the sale, and pick up the keys hoping the place still looks like it did when you last saw it. It might not. They might have removed all the window locks, or left a pile of builders rubble in the back garden (both of these things have happened to friends of mine).

Here in the lovely nanny state of California, you make your offer in writing and with an expiry date. Once the seller has accepted the offer, they can’t accept one from anyone else – even a higher one. You go ‘into escrow’ which it turns out is not a physical place but just a really complicated bank account. You agree a schedule to complete the purchase with contingencies – like, securing a loan or getting a good inspection report. One by one you release those contingencies, having secured a loan or got that inspection report. And then you close. And the house is just as you expected. There is no gazumping!