Sold to a FTB, but no survey....

Financial_Savvy

We sold to a FTB a few weeks, and still no survey. EA can't tell my much either, they don't seem to be able to get hold of him. The rest of the chain and again very nervous that he won't be able to get a mortgage or will pull out.

Could we either:

1. Put the house on the market until the survey has been booked?
2. Ask him to lodge a desposit with the EA?

Chris2685

I don't think there is anything stopping you putting it back on the market and taking further offers if you can't get in touch with him. Especially if a survey hasn't been arranged yet.

I am in a similar situation, from the buyer end. Put in an offer about 3 or 4 weeks ago but haven't been able to arrange a survey yet due to other people being slow to act... However, I have kept in touch with the EA and let them know what is going on every step of the way, so far they have been accommodating!

If your buyer hasn't even got in touch with you/EA after 3 weeks and you can't contact him, I think it is time to think about putting it back onto the market really.

leftieM

Your buyer hasn't got a mortgage yet and is probably doing the rounds of all the lenders trying to raise finance. Best to keep marketing the house in case they don't get a mortgage.
If it's any consolation, the people that bought our house took 2 (or was it three) months to reappear with a mortgage offer. We continued to do viewings until they returned with the offer. They had stopped returning calls from the EA and we thought they had gone.

planemad

Do you mean survey or valuation as both are different.

Maybe they are not getting a survey done as this is at the purchasers discretion.

If they are getting a mortgage a valuation will be done by the mortgage company this can be by the means of them physically instructing a valuer to inspect the inside of the property.

Some mortgage companies do valuations on line and by driving by without the need for access to the property.

bubblesmoney

it is worth considering asking ur solicitor to discuss directly with vendors solicitor about what is happening. EAs like the ones i am dealing with in my purchase sometimes can be total !!!!!!. i had told the EA that wont proceed with purchase unless the property was off the market, initialy EA said will be marketted till contract but i refused to go ahead, then the EA agreed to pull it off the market. but another EA was also marketting the property i asked for that to stop as well if i was to go ahead, but they said they didnt have any control over what the other EA did. i told them that they represented the vendor to me and it was their duty to inform vendor what i wanted if i was to proceed further but the idiots at that EA agency just wouldnt budge and looks like they didnt even inform the vendor. so there was a standoff for 3weeks or more. i almost gave up and was looking at other properties till vendors solicitor got in touch with my solicitor and then my solicitor after discusions with me informed vendors solicitor what i wanted and the vendor complied in 2 hours and my solicitor informed me that it was the EA being difficult and stupid. if not for the EA i wouldnt have cancelled my mortgage appointment 3 weeks ago and probably would have moved in by now after purchase. my bank agreed the mortgage in 3 days and arranged the survey as well, all the delays of more than 3 weeks were due to the numpties at the EA being difficult and not even conveying information between me and vendor. wonder why this agency is popular in this region, atleast i know i wont sell the same property again with this EA ever even in my nightmares. i will inform the same to the EAs head office about how crap their local branch is.

about 4w ago same EA was trying to force me to use their financial advisor/ mortgage advisor to see if i can afford property even before accepting my offer and pestering me to use their advisor for getting mortgage. atleast thats the story they fed me. the same EA wanted copies of my savings etc apart from bank account statements etc!!! all this inspite of having shown them mortgage approval in principle from 2 banks (one of which was nearly 3 times the purchase price), they still wanted proof of funds for deposit amount and even after i showed them proof of deposit for 60% (and more) of deposit amount the jerks at the EA wanted copies of the same. i blew my fuse then and refused to provide copies of all my finances, they even refused to accpet my offer of getting a letter from my solicitor confirming my ability to pay and were still insisting on copies of my finances for offer to be accepted. i asked them to get lost at this point. then 4-5 days later they got back to me that offer accepted and didnt mention anything more of copies of my finances. both my mortgage advisor at bank and solicitor were shocked to hear why the EA wanted copies of my finances and said they shouldnt need to have those things. wonder how such jerks prosper/survive even in such difficult times in housing market.

so if it is something similar in ur case and EA is just not getting in touch with buyer and feeding u wrong stories like happened in my case. then it might get things moving or atleast u can be better informed about what is happening if ur solicitor got in touch with buyers solicitor. u will have the vendors solicitors details in the offer acceptance letter sent by EA to buyer, guess u will be getting a copy as well. see if this option of bypassing the EA helps u get better info about what is happening at the buyers end of things

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax

It's not unusual to leave a house on the market until a valuation has been carried out.

GDB2222

I can never understand why people would take their house off the market until contracts are exchanged.

Chris2685

It's a sign of good faith. I wouldn't feel comfortable proceeding with spending loads of money on surveys and solicitors fees if a house was still on the market, and could be pulled away if a higher offer was made to the seller. That would just leave me with £1000's out of pocket!

bubblesmoney

GDB2222 wrote: »

I can never understand why people would take their house off the market until contracts are exchanged.

i wouldnt spend on solicitor and surveys etc if the house wasnt pulled off the market and then be told at the end that they were accepting another offer. the seller doesnt have to humour my conditions but then i wouldnt be proceeding on that purchase if they didnt comply with my conditions. if they are aware of any problems in searches then they should inform me in advance. if there arent any problems then that shouldnt affect valuation. either way if all things are fine then both will be happy. if there is a problem with the searches then it will affect decision by any buyer so better to be upfront with it in the 1st place.

when i do come to sell, i will do the searches and mention on advert that buyer can have copies. hopefully that will speed up process. buyer will be free to duplicate the efforts if they so wish.

if a buyer is serious about the purchase then i dont see the harm in humoring any conditions that wont adversely affect the seller. if the valuation did come different, then the same will likely happen with future buyers as well and will affect their decisions as well.

GDB2222

I've sold lots of houses and never taken them off the market to suit a buyer. I am happy to commit to the buyer, ie I promise not to accept a higher bid during a specific period. I would even agree to a lockout agreement. However, it's always in the seller's interests to have at least 2 competing buyers.

Chris2685

Maybe so, but this is a buyers market. Do you really want to upset the one person who has made an offer after your house has been on the market for 6 months?