Sale has fallen through. A few questions, please.

lfc321

dfh wrote: »

Like the poster above I expect prices will have fallen 50 percent by Christmas.It is going to be a bleak christmas.

I do wonder about people on here sometimes. The average cost of a house in the UK today is £160,000. Are you seriously suggesting that in the next 4 months the average house price is going to drop to £80,000?

Or do you mean a top to bottom fall of 50% by Dec '09? Even if the latter, not many economists would agree.

Dinah93

I do think prices will resume a downward wobble, but only by maybe 3-4% by Christmas, which is usual for the time of the year anyway. As a buyer I would also worry that it had come back on due to dodgy survey results, otherwise it wouldn't bother me.

DVardysShadow

lwt2006 wrote: »

I'm gutted, as it looks as though this is going to happen to us.

Can I ask- how easy/difficult was it to find another buyer?

As easy as finding the first

What message does it send out to buyers, to see a house that had previously sold (STC) come back on the market?

That there was an overoptimistic buyer, most likely. It is far less offputting than the house you know has been on the market for 9 months with no interest. If it is wildly overpriced it sends out a message that it sits somewhere somewhere on a spectrum between able to sustain the price or the owners being open to negotiation.

We had a great offer. What are the chances of this happening again?

As good as before.

I could cry when I think of how much money we've spent to get this far. We will still have to pay solicitors and probably won't get money back from letting agents (we were going to rent).

Don't cry about it, budget for it - and don't commit to renting a place until your buyer is ready to exchange.

BritRael

lwt2006 wrote: »

I did wonder about the price. We thought we were so lucky last time. It's not fair that some people in a chain are so inconsiderate...

I know what you mean, and its a very frustrating time for you. But it can happen when the prices are going in the other direction; a few years ago when prices were going up by the day, a couple of friends of mine were near to completing on their dream home, when the agent told them the vendors had pulled out. My mate phoned the vendor to ask what was happening and was told that they "have decided not to sell after all".
The following week it was on the market for an extra 40k. :rolleyes:

lwt2006

Thank you so much everybody who has taken the time to respond to my post. I am starting to feel more positive.

We are officially back on the market and now have to put away all of the (packed) boxes that were in the front room, ready to go.

Luckily, it was nothing to do with our house, but the people at the bottom (knock on effect).

Our survey just mentioned flat roof at end of useful life. Nothing else of significance.

We didn't commit to rent, but had to pay admin fee to credit check etc. As the letting agent has not yet done all of the things that this fee covers, I am hoping for some refund.

lwt2006

BritRael - that is awful to hear about your friends. 40K :eek:

Archlever

lwt2006 wrote: »

What message does it send out to buyers, to see a house that had previously sold (STC) come back on the market?

I am sory to hear about your sale. The house we are completing on tomorrow was sold STC twice before we put an offer in. As long as your house has no major problems on survey and is attractively priced, it shouldnt put buyers off.

All the best.

BritRael

lwt2006 wrote: »

BritRael - that is awful to hear about your friends. 40K :eek:

They were livid! They had made good friends with the vendors and paid several visits to the house (I say 'house' - it sounded more like Southfork! ). Apart from losing the property, they were also clearly lied to which is not nice. But I suppose this a very similar technique to gazumping.
Another annoying thing was that they were living near Southampton at the time, but the new house was in Norfolk! :rolleyes:

DVardysShadow

SueSueSue wrote: »

Are prices going to fall?

The recent rises seem to be due to a lack of supply rather than increased demand and this looks likely to continue for a while

Or in the alternative, they are due to a shift in market activity away from FTB houses due to more stringent mortgage requirements, with comparatively more activity at the higher end of the market.