How long is reasonable for a vendor to find a property to buy?

Blacksheep1979

lower your offer by the difference between renting for 6 months and what the mortgage would be for 6 months (assuming renting is higher) plus all the associated costs of moving twice, fees etc and move into rented.

shirlgirl2004

It took us 2 months to find somewhere and even then it turned out not to be in the location we wanted. We are fortunate as our buyers are cash buyers but are happy to wait as they do want to sell their current home. Even so for the 2 months we were looking we were aware that they might change their minds at any time.

lelole

Hi,

Sorry to hear about this stress you are going through with this, and I do understand your pain, as I am in a similar situation to your first post - 3 weeks in and vendors showing no sign of finding a property...

I do understand your reluctance to threaten to pull out, as you cannot imagine how you will find a place that suits when so little is on the market. However it does sound like your vendors are just messing about, and I do think that for your own sake you need to start to try and gain a little control of this situation. What if your vendors do find somewhere, but in a couple of weeks time, and then the vendors of that house take a few weeks to buy etc. etc. you could be in for a long slog...

Have you spoken to your buyers via your EA to find out what their thoughts on timescales are? We spoke to ours today and found out that our buyers were expecting to complete about a month later than we thought they would want, so we don't feel quite so worried... for the moment...

Once it is starting to get to the point where you need to exchange so as to preserve your sale, I would then go to the vendor's EA and reduce your offer, based on the loss you are making by renting, and also ask to view one of the EA's other properties that vaguely fits the bill to show you are starting to look elswhere.

It may be worth looking through rightmove for property which is STC over the last 6 months or so, just to see if anything fits the bill, so as to reassure yourself that other properties can and do come to market all the time (and someone said about 1 in 3 sales fall through anyway, so they may become available)...

Anyway, best of luck, keep us posted,

Leah x

Lovelyleese

Thanks everyone (well nearly everyone!). Yes, I have already asked but since the situation has worsened I thought I'd see what people now thought.

I do not want to bluff, because I literally have nowhere else to buy. And I do mean nowhere, since there is not one other house for sale in this location which meets our criteria and budget.

I like the idea of reducing our offer by the amount it will cost to rent and store etc. This is a consideration so thanks for that.

I have asked my solicitor to intervene today and they say they will put pressure on the vendor's solicitor.

My concerns are that my buyer (and their buyer) will be getting twitchy about being in for Christmas and also about the looming end of stamp duty holiday on 31st December which will leave them liable for another 1% if things aren't tied up by then. Very real concerns I think.

We will rent if we absolutely have to, BUT there are 5 of us so that's no mean feat. Since our vendors are a family of 3 and since they are causing the hold up I'd really rather it was them that shifted.

Anyway, their agent has said today that they have made an offer of £250,000 on a property with an asking price of £280,000! I won't hold my breath for the outcome of that one!

I will keep you posted and do appreciate the suggestions.

Thanks,
Lisa

bandofbrothers

Hi Lovelyleese ,


I truly hope all turns out for you in the end.

As mentioned in an earlier reply post to you this site is really good for venting and sound advice.

Personally I am a first time seller and was made to wait 17 weeks before my first time buyer just disappeared, after completing everything. Just had the deposit to pay after signing the mortgage paperwork ! They have not been in contact with the ea or their own solicitor, although I do know nothing has happened to them, they are just keeping their heads down for some reason only known to them ! I would suggest that close to £1000 of costs would have been incurred by themselves.

I cant begin tell you how stressed I was over this after chasing the e.a and my own solicitor. I was starting to conjure up all kinds of scenario's and was loosing sleep. Waiting for that phone call is terrible.

The big difference in my situation is that im not in any form of chain. My property is a three bedroom house, which is a 2nd property, which is empty and ready to move into.

Good luck and take care.

Richard_Webster

I have asked my solicitor to intervene today and they say they will put pressure on the vendor's solicitor.

All the solicitors can do is tell the seller's solicitors of your very serious concerns. There is no "legal" step they can take. This question:

Is your solicitor/conveyancer no help in this?

seems to carry the implication that there is wonderful solution that the solicitor can offer. I get clients in this kind of position asking me what I can do, and I have to patiently explain that it takes two to make an agreement and I am not empowered to kneecap the sellers.

You should be seriously looking at other properties - if only to impress on the estate agents your seriousness so they convey a greater sense of urgency to the sellers.

stanleyunwin

Richard_Webster wrote: »

All the solicitors can do is tell the seller's solicitors of your very serious concerns. There is no "legal" step they can take. This question: seems to carry the implication that there is wonderful solution that the solicitor can offer. I get clients in this kind of position asking me what I can do, and I have to patiently explain that it takes two to make an agreement and I am not empowered to kneecap the sellers.

You should be seriously looking at other properties - if only to impress on the estate agents your seriousness so they convey a greater sense of urgency to the sellers.

But what a service that would be!!

Thrugelmir

Lovelyleese wrote: »

I tried to say that we would need an answer by last Monday (4 weeks) but I didn't get anywhere. I can't really threaten much because there simply isn't anything else for us to buy at the moment.

Then you should understand your sellers problem.

If you really like the property stay calm and wait.

Richard_Webster

Although never advised by agents etc people can do it the other way round.

So if your sellers were looking for that special property if they found it they would put in an offer before selling theirs, which might be noted, but not accepted, and then put their place on "reduced for quick sale..."

Yes, you lose money but the buyers know you are going to move because you have found the house you really want. You also have to trust that nobody else makes a better offer.

Of course I appreciate this doesn't help OP much as it is advice for seller and what my wife and I did 28 years ago and we haven't moved since!

Lovelyleese

Ok, the plot thickens...

Apparently the vendors of the house my vendors have offered on (they offered 250,000 and the house is on the market for 280,000) have still not decided whether to accept they offer and now THEY are out looking at houses to see if 250,000 is enough for them to be able to buy what they want!

Allegedly they will have looked at 5 by the end of tomorrow and my vendors' EA will phone me tomorrow. I suspect he won't bother and if he does it will be with the news that there is no news but we shall see...

I do have no choice but to stay calm and wait and we will have to look into renting if and when our buyers start pushing and then I think we will have to pass the cost onto of the 2nd move and the extra cost of renting onto our vendors. Not sure how we go about that though??

Will keep you posted and thanks for supportive comments.

Lisa