What should I do? Chain may not complete

Greenwellies_2

OK, I've 'sold' my house to a FTB. Not yet exchanged.
Seen a property, had offer accepted but the sellers still do not want to exchange solicitors details.
Sellers of that property have had an offer excepted.

I've had a call from my agent to say that she's concerned having spoken to the agent of the people at the top of the chain, they're in no hurry to move and will not be rushed into finding a property.

My agent has said look for a different property, problem being there is NOTHING else out there we want, and around here property asking prices have shot up. Anything with a sensible asking price is instantly under offer. (not that we like them anyway)

I'm thinking this is just EA hype, trying to get the deal complete.
My rationale for this is that my buyers are at their limit buying my house, they've had to find 5k from somewhere else to make the offer I've accepted. They've paid out for survey and the ball is rolling with solicitors. If they pull out now the property asking prices are higher, so they're unlikely to get anything like my home for the same price. (so I feel that I have them over a barrel, for want of a better phrase).

If I find a different property, then I could be in the same situation, waiting for the chain to form and it could be longer / shorter, who knows.

What should I do? Am I naive about my buyers prospects? Should I tell the vendors of the place I'm 'buying' to find somewhere else??

At the end of the day it's me any my buyers who will have lost out financially up to this point

Sorry for the long post!

TIA

GW

pawpurrs

Pretty suprised that property prices have shot up in your area!
I think either you or your vendors should break the chain,and go in to rented so that the sale can progress.

Greenwellies_2

It does make me laugh in my area (property prices)
A complete dump was on for 190, then 175 and now it's gone back up to 180! Albeit that one hasn't sold, but homes that were 210/ 225 are now 250+
I guess that's what the spring brings

GW

QTPie

Greenwellies, what area do you live in?

I live in a very desirable city in the South West and property prices are still falling. Yes, you get the occassional "silly person" who decides to raise their price (but those REALLY are rare here) and a few new to the market who price "aspirationally" (including the house I like - priced at about 5% over peak prices :rolleyes: ), but MOST are still falling. In th epast week or two I have actually seen a lot that have dropped their prices: around here MOST sellers seem to be being sensible - they see this Spring for what it is (an "opportunity to sell now" rather than "the start of an upwards trend again")

As Pawpurrs said, the answer is to break the chain: either just above you (and rent) or see if you can encourage those immediately above you to break the chain above them.

Breaking the chain takes [EMAIL="b@lls"]b@lls[/EMAIL] in an "uncertain" market, though. We sold our house to rent (under offer in Feb, completed a month ago) and I think it was the right choice (wouldn't have done it any other way, if I could avoid it - hate chains). If you are worried that this isn't just a "bounce" - and you could have accepted an offer in the "trough" of the market - then you are in trouble... and if you go into rented - as prices rise - then the gap between you and buying again starts to get bigger and bigger.

Personally I think it IS a bounce and prices will continue to drop a bit before stagnating for some time... BUT that is personal opinion and the risk that we are taking. You need to work out what you are happy with.

Good luck
QT

Greenwellies_2

We've spoken about moving into rented. OH doesn't want to shift our stuff twice (which I can understand) and thinks that if we get off the property ladder we might not get back on, maybe we'll have trouble getting a mortgage etc, and renting will no doubt be more expensive than our current mortgage.
On top of that we have cats.

The other possibility is that we could rent with the intention of helping our chain, but the sellers may never find, so I'll be left with no-where to move to?

I really am begining to have second thoughts, but every day living here is making me more determined to move to a nicer area.

Thanks

GW

QTPie

Difficult and I understand you OH's concerns... You need to see (and have "faith in") the way ahead - if you can't see going into rented as working out, then it could potentially be very risky (and wrong for you).

You need to work out what is right for you and do it.

Have you tried asking your sellers to break the chain above them? Presumably that would be the most ideal solution for you at the moment.

QT

Greenwellies wrote: »

We've spoken about moving into rented. OH doesn't want to shift our stuff twice (which I can understand) and thinks that if we get off the property ladder we might not get back on, maybe we'll have trouble getting a mortgage etc, and renting will no doubt be more expensive than our current mortgage.
On top of that we have cats.

The other possibility is that we could rent with the intention of helping our chain, but the sellers may never find, so I'll be left with no-where to move to?

I really am begining to have second thoughts, but every day living here is making me more determined to move to a nicer area.

Thanks

GW

4Chickens

Greenwellies

I was in exactly the same position as you back in March.

Our buyer is a FTB, we had an offer accepted on the house we wanted, they found a house and had their offer accepted and then the numpty at the end of the chain couldn't find anywhere to buy.

So this is what happened:
1st I told my buyers that no matter what, we would complete by middle of June.
2nd Told the people that I was buying from, that if they didn't break the chain then I would.
3rd Viewed another house, the people were relocating and said they were happy to be at the end of the chain.
4th Withdrew my offer on the first property and had offer accepted on second propery.

Fingers crossed, we exchange contracts this week and complete on 29 May.
The moral of the story is that we were not willing to risk losing our buyer under any circumstances, even if that meant going into rented. FTBers do not grow on trees.
Give them an ultimatum, because beleive me they don't want to lose their buyer (you).
The first house we picked went back on the market for £5k less and is still on the market now.
Be ruthless

everlastingspirit

Hi Greenwellies.

Im an ex-estate/letting agent so i have seen and experienced you dilemma many a time!

The most important thing is to make sure you & your agent are keeping everyone in the chain aware of what is gonig on. If they are gonig nowhere & don't know why and that is when they are most likely to pull out. If you let them know what is going on and that is it not your fault then they are a lot more likely to wait and get everything in place with the solicitors so that as soon as the top is ready you can exchange contracts and set a completion date asap.

That said i would keep the chain as it is and not let the people your buying from know your looking at other properties. The less they know re: that the better. If they suspect you may pull out they might decide to put their property on the market again.

Other options to look at are moving into rented on a temporary basis to keep the interest of you buyer, remember that a mortgage offer has an expiration date! Some combined selling/letting agents will often be able to offer a vendor who is willing to break a chain a short term rental. The standard period is a 6 months shorthold tenancy agreement however soemtimes they will be willing to do a 3 month or rolling month contract if one of their properties isnt letting quickly. Only thing with that is be prepared to allow people in ever so often for vieiwings for when you move out.... but is your selling your hosue you will probably be used to that

If you have any more questins ill be happy to advise!!!

Ben

4Chickens

About renting

You can get 6 month leases. You will be in rented for 3 months and then be ready to buy again because the process from start to finish on average is 3 months I think (hope, wish) and you will be the FTB and be in the strongest position. Anyway, as far as your cats are concerned, you could offer extra deposit to cover carpet cleaning if necessary. One of my work mates relocated from South Africa to here and brought her dog. Her landlandy accepted extra deposit. She didn't need it in the end though as my work mate bought the property in end.
I can remember being twitchy as hell about losing my buyer and I am only twitching slighty less now. Keep us all updated on what you decide to do because I am sure other people will be along with the same dilemma.

Greenwellies_2

Thanks everyone.

Aplogies, firstly for the lenght of this, and secondly because I am trying to write this while in work, inbetween calls; so it may not be very well written

I've sounded out someone at work who has a place to rent available now, but it's not in a nice area etc. But it's a possibility. (not sure on cost etc, cross that bridge if we come to it)
I'm still wondering whether it's just pressure from my agents as I've only just had a letter from their solicitor via my solicitor asking for proof of boiler being fitted by corgi registered person etc. Planning permission for a 1970's extension.....

I'm completely relocating from London. Here, as I mentioned before, there are some buyers for well priced homes, so I feel 'confident' that I'd get a buyer, if I do lose my buyer. But having read this, I realise that my FTB is a good thing.

If my buyer isn't happy with the pace of things, and do want me to look elsewhere, then surely I could end up in the same situation in a few months?

everlastingspirit- thanks for the offer.
cindiedunkley - The problem I feel if I follow your '4 step plan', is that there are no other homes out there that we like. We like a home with character, off the beaten track preferably, within reason distance of a mainline station for getiing back into london for work....... it's not impossible as we have found that home, although there is no off street parking, no garage, a north facing garden.... all the things that we have compromised.

QTpie - Maybe our homes are in different price brackets?? I do know that it is one agent who is putting up their prices on properties that are still on the market, even though they are dumps! Other than that, homes here are either 180-200 or 245+ there is nothing in the middle. When something comes on at 220, it's snapped up immediately.

Sorry I will catch up with this a bit later, but need to do some work for a minute!

Thanks

GW

4Chickens

Greenwellies

Ask yourself these questions:

Are you willing to risk losing your buyers? If not then give them some reasurance.
Ask your vendors if they are willing to break the chain. If they are, bingo, if they are not then either you have to break the chain or proceed with the sale/purchase chain that has no end in sight at the moment.
One thing that we considered was moving in with relatives for 2-4 weeks. This is effectively breaking the chain but allows your sale to go through quicker. You can pick the chain back up again once your sale is completed. I have to say it wasn't viable for us because we have 2 cats and dog and we would have had to live apart. Also we would have lost our mortgage deal and with OH being self-employed it would be impossible to get the same deal again (we have ported our mortgage).
BTW when did you accept the offer on your place? You could still have a couple of weeks shuffling room yet.
Let me know how you get on. It's nail biting stuff ain't it.