House sold but haven't found somewhere to buy...

needhelp1_2

Hi,

We sold our house to a lovely couple in early May. At that time we were convinced that we would find somewhere to buy relatively quickly, however, that has not been the case.

After viewing many many houses, and even making some offers (rejected, and couldn't go over stamp duty) we still haven't found anything. We are now worried we will lose our buyer. They have already had their mortgage valuation and further survey done and are first-time buyers so not in a particular hurry.

Unfortunately we cannot just proceed with the sale and move in rented accomodation as we would lose our extremely low mortgage rate (two years left on deal) and would be forced onto a rate as high as 7.0% for the whole of the new mortgage. We can't afford that, so it just isn't an option. Also we really don't want to be forced into buying somewhere just because we are out of time.

So, what I am really asking is how long do you think our buyer will give us to find somewhere before walking away? Assuming of course that we can't find somewhere chain free it could be many months before the sale finally goes through. Will we have to pay their survey and valuation costs if the sale falls through (worst case senario)?

Any comments gratefully appreciated.

Thanks

Skyler

Have you been back to your buyer and explained the situation? It maybe that they aren't in a hurry which will give you more time.

Also I thought that some mortgages would allow a few months inbetween selling and purchasing to keep the current mortgage deal?

As a buyer I'd appreciate it more if the seller contacted us and let us know the situation first rather than if we were kept hanging on.

HTH

needhelp1_2

Hi Skyler,

Yes, we have kept our buyers up to date via the agent. They are ok with the situation at present but I'm not sure how long they are really prepared to wait. They really do like the house though so that will help.

I will check into the mortgage interest rate suggestion, thanks!

PasturesNew

Their mortgage offer will have a limited amount of time before they have to start again.

They're probably close to being fed up and looking at other houses already.

TimDJ

As a first time buyer our vendor couldn't find anything they liked for 6 months. As we'd agreed a fixed price to buy and were renting and the house prices were going up we didn't really mind how long they took.

As a second time buyer our vendors again couldn't find anything that they liked. As house prices were falling and we'd agreed a fixed price to buy we pulled out after a couple of months and got a much bigger house for the same money from someone in a position to move. We could have renegotiated but we didn't want to lose our own buyer.

Thrugelmir

needhelp1 wrote: »

Hi,

We sold our house to a lovely couple in early May. At that time we were convinced that we would find somewhere to buy relatively quickly, however, that has not been the case.

After viewing many many houses, and even making some offers (rejected, and couldn't go over stamp duty) we still haven't found anything. We are now worried we will lose our buyer. They have already had their mortgage valuation and further survey done and are first-time buyers so not in a particular hurry.

Unfortunately we cannot just proceed with the sale and move in rented accomodation as we would lose our extremely low mortgage rate (two years left on deal) and would be forced onto a rate as high as 7.0% for the whole of the new mortgage. We can't afford that, so it just isn't an option. Also we really don't want to be forced into buying somewhere just because we are out of time.

So, what I am really asking is how long do you think our buyer will give us to find somewhere before walking away? Assuming of course that we can't find somewhere chain free it could be many months before the sale finally goes through. Will we have to pay their survey and valuation costs if the sale falls through (worst case senario)?

Any comments gratefully appreciated.

Thanks

The market may well fall further yet. So your buyer could either revise their offer or may find an alternative property.

chickmug

There has recently been a buyer on this board saying they were getting fed up waiting for thier seller to find somewhere. Spooky if it was your buyer?

mustang1

You sound like you're keeping your buyer updated which, as a FTB, I would appreciate. Everybody is different. Your buyer may be relaxed and give you a bit more time but as people have said, prices may fall, the buyer may revise their offer or may go elsewhere.

You should also double check how long your buyer's mortgage offer is valid for. My mortgage offer is only valid for 3 months (issued in early May) so I would be feeling very nervous if I was your buyer.

Cozworth806

Why aren't you considering renting?

needhelp1_2

Thanks for all the comments.

I have just been reassured by my agent that my buyers are still happy to wait a bit longer. Their offer is valid for a good few weeks yet and I am hopeful we will have found somewhere by then.

There are no similar houses (to ours) for sale in my area. The market has completely dried up and prices have been rising the last couple of months not falling. I am confident we could easily find another buyer if necessary but I really don't want to lose our current buyers as they are lovely people and they love the house. It would be terrible to do that to them.

Fingers crossed something will turn up soon.

Will let you know...

stormCat99

I would say that you are incredibly lucky to have found a buyer, and whilst ideally you want to do the sale/purchase all in one go, you really need to be realistic and get on with the sale, moving into rented if necessary.

We are in the exact same position so I can fully appreciate your dilemma, in that unless we complete the sale/purchase together, we will lose the ability to port our extremely low mortgage rate. We decided to spend one week looking at properties, and if we didn't find anything we would move into rented so as not to jeopardise the sale (even though that would have meant losing the good mortgage rate).

Very luckily for us, we found a property and things are going ok so far. However, even now, if something went wrong and our purchase fell through or got delayed, we would definitely proceed with our sale regardless as it would be madness to risk it for any reason, especially in the current market.

No matter what they have said, I suspect that your buyers will be at best feeling uneasy about the delay, and could well find something elsewhere whilst you're trying to sort out your next move