Should we have moved faster?

AppleCore

I had my eye on a house for about 3 weeks, viewed it and loved it.

My partner and I put our house on the market a just under 2 weeks ago and were given some friendly advice by our EA not to put any offers in until we had an offer on our place.

Well today we got an offer but also found out our dream house had had an offer accepted on it It was taken of the market this morning, how annoying is that! I called the EA in case we still had a chance but they said that the full asking price had been offered and we can't afford to go over that.

We're both devastated that we got so close and are now regretting that we took our EA's advice and wish we'd just put an offer in.

Should we have just put an offer in and not waited?

Grimbal

Hi AppleCore. Frustrating as it may be to hear, I don't think that you putting an offer in before you were under offer yourselves would have achieved anything. In all liklihood, they would not have accepted your offer as you were unable to proceed.

Once you are under offer yourselves with a firm chain in place, you're in a great position to go around all of the EAs to be their first call when they get instructions of a property that they know you'll love !

payless

His advice was correct in that even if you had put in an offer they would not of taken it seriously until your chain was complete. I would have just said let the selling agents know of your interest in menatime.

AppleCore

Thanks Grimba and payless, as painful as it seems its good to know we did the right thing!

The couple who put the offer in on our house are FTBs, how long does it normally take to complete these days? I'm a bit concerned that there's nothing on the market at all at the moment that appeals to us and would like to know how long we have to find somewhere.

Grimbal

that's ok - it's just I'm trying to sell at the moment too & have experienced both sides of the coin as it were. I've been made an offer from a couple that weren't under offer themselves, and I've also seen properties that I love come & go. We just have to trust fate/karma/god(s) that the right property to buy comes up just as we have sold !

fingers crossed for both of us !
Liz
x

Grimbal

AppleCore wrote: »

how long does it normally take to complete these days? I'm a bit concerned that there's nothing on the market at all at the moment that appeals to us and would like to know how long we have to find somewhere.

difficult question to answer that one!! I've bought three times now & they've all taken very different times to complete!

Fire_Fox

AppleCore wrote: »

I had my eye on a house for about 3 weeks, viewed it and loved it.

My partner and I put our house on the market a just under 2 weeks ago and were given some friendly advice by our EA not to put any offers in until we had an offer on our place.

Well today we got an offer but also found out our dream house had had an offer accepted on it It was taken of the market this morning, how annoying is that! I called the EA in case we still had a chance but they said that the full asking price had been offered and we can't afford to go over that.

We're both devastated that we got so close and are now regretting that we took our EA's advice and wish we'd just put an offer in.

Should we have just put an offer in and not waited?

In this market it's pretty pointless to even view houses when you are not in a proceedable position. Every vendor wants a serious buyer, you are not that (wo)man until you have a firm offer and your finances in place.

PasturesNew

You did the right thing - the owners of the house you wanted might not have accepted any offer until you sold anyway ... best thing you can do is progress your sale and wait to see if your dream house becomes available again ... a LOT do. You can probably get it cheaper too as you'd be a quick sale and they'd be gutted at the first falling through.

Cresswe

As annoying as it is you did the right thing. They probably wouldn't have accepted even if you had as you still had your own to sell. You never know it may not go through anyway. I'd ask the EA to keep your details if anything happens with it.

Catherine_Johnson_2

AppleCore wrote: »

Thanks Grimba and payless, as painful as it seems its good to know we did the right thing!

The couple who put the offer in on our house are FTBs, how long does it normally take to complete these days? I'm a bit concerned that there's nothing on the market at all at the moment that appeals to us and would like to know how long we have to find somewhere.

Our agent told us the average time till completion was 12 weeks and ours ended up being almost exactly that.

LittleMissAspie

Grimbal wrote: »

Once you are under offer yourselves with a firm chain in place, you're in a great position to go around all of the EAs to be their first call when they get instructions of a property that they know you'll love !

I really don't understand how this works in practice. FTB puts offer in and then 2TB starts looking for a house. Maybe it takes a month to get an offer accepted. Then 3TB is allowed to start looking for a house, assume another month until offer accepted. Then 4TB is allowed to start looking and again takes a month. This means the FTB has been waiting 3 months before the chain is even complete and conveyancing work can start.

And as someone who took 7 months to find a house we liked enough to buy and get our offer accepted, I just don't see how you can make your buyer wait that long!

PS: We are ready to exchange after 4 weeks but need to find out what the rest of the chain is up to.