"No upward chain" - is this good or bad?

gelato_cat

Hi all

I'm a FTB currently looking to buy with my bf. We are selling his flat, but are to some extent chain-free as we are not relying on the proceeds of the flat to fund the deposit on a house. Having said that, we don't want to be stuck with his flat for a long time, so the sooner we sell it the better.

We have seen a few houses on Rightmove which state that they have no onward chain - I assumed that this was a good thing for us as there are fewer parties involved who could break/disrupt the chain. However, what are the possible reasons why there might not be a chain?

I can think of the following:

• owner wants to get rid quickly as they can't afford it any more and/or house is about to be repossessed
• owner has died and house needs to be sold
• owner has already bought another place
• owner is selling to rent

I guess I had assumed that "no upward chain" meant that the owner would want to move quickly and wanted shot of the place, so we can get a bargain by offering a low amount on a no-chain house. However, having thought about it, I'm now thinking that in some cases it would actually be the opposite, ie the owner is already happily living somewhere else and are willing to (or even need to) hold out for a certain price and the only real advantage is the short chain=fewer problems thing.

I'd like some food for thought please, so when we're looking we can make informed considerations on the no-chain ones. Obviously we'd be looking to glean as much info as poss from the estate agents, but I think it's also obvious that I'm not too clued up on the possible scenarios.

Any thoughts from those with experience of these things?

TIA

Suze

Running_Horse

Every case will be different.

In our case we thought it was good until finding out they were having a messy divorce with the husband uncontactable to sign documents. But I would rather not deal with a long chain.

Could even be they have met someone and can take their time for a decent offer.

You need to ask.

Kynthia

They could be emigrating / have emigrated? Or it could be someone selling their rental property?

Either reason could mean their eager to sell or happy to wait for a good offer. It depends on their personal circumstances.

Nenen

Could be someone in a similar position to yourselves or someone emigrating or an elderly person moving into sheltered housing or with relatives.

or

They could be buying a new build... and already have a holding deposit on with the builder. This happened to sellers above us and we thought it was a good thing until the building was delayed by almost 6 months and the vendors refused to exchange and move in with parents (as they had previously promised they would do prior to us having searches/survery etc done)! New builds tend to come with exchange/completion dates under the control of the builder.

We were also told (by another vendor) that there was no onward chain becuase they were going to move out and rent but they later changed their minds (again after we had already spent out a lot of money) and everything was held up while the chain above them completed.

Sorry to sound so cynical but bitter experience has taught me that, unless the property is already empty, I wouldn't trust anyone who said there was no onward chain and I would just assume it might well turn into a chain until proved otherwise!

tessie_bear

:rolleyes: assume nowt when buying a house we have bought 2 one with a chain one with no chain and both were quite stressful...best of luck

franklee

Not forgetting:

Owner is selling a holiday home or a second home.
Owner is moving back in with parents/girlfriend/boyfriend.
Owner is selling a BTL.
Owner is emigrating.
Owner is getting married/divorced.
Owner is relocating due to job change and their employer is paying them to relocate.
Owner is selling a refurb, a property purchased to do up and sell a La Beeney.
Or it's a newbuild, or extended or split up into semis or flats.
Or was purchased by a builder as a part exchange from someone who brought a newbuild.
Or is a repossession being sold by the lender's agents..

gelato_cat

Thanks all - I feel a bit better equipped now! Of course every situation is different but at least I have more questions to ask when deciding whether or not to view, offer etc.

Suze