How Long To Wait for Seller to Find A Property?

Eve1

Hello all,

How long should a buyer wait for the seller to find another property to move into? The offer was accepted a week ago after a small amount of negotiations however the seller hasnt found anywhere yet. They have said they will keep us posted each week.

Im wondering how long to wait before looking elsewhere? We have no chain so there isnt a huge urgency but also dont want to lose out on a decent period of flat hunting whilst just waiting.....

suki1001

At the bottom of the chain when we bought our house, thought we were going to exchange when we discovered the people 2 places up the chain hadn't even found anywhere to live. It did turn out they were moving into rented and had wanted to make sure all went through ok before they signed up to the tennancy agreement. Fair enough. However poor communication through solicitors etc made it a bit frustrating, it put us back by a month.
I'd say be reasonable, a week isn't very long, give them a couple of weeks if you really want the house. They are making quite a big descision.

Eve1

Thanks Suki - did you start the ball rolling quite quickly though? The offer was accepted but we havent instructed solicitors or anything. The EA has said to wait for the seller to find something first.

Eve1

ie should we just sit on our laurels and wait till they find something.....

hazyjo

It's entirely up to you - but keep the vendors informed! We were buying a house from people who went on to lose the one they're buying. We were told our buyer was happy to hang on but then she pulled out after about 5 or 6 weeks. We were so peed off 'cos we might have considered rented accommodation or something. Those we were buying from messed us around anyway so we'd probably still not have got it.

I'd give somewhere between 2-12 weeks, depending on how perfect the house is and how much of a rush you're in to move. You could ask if they'd consider moving out into rented. Best asking that now at the beginning in case they opt for that now. No point in waiting several weeks first. If it's a flat no, at least you know where you stand.

I had a buyer hang on for nearly a year before! We lost two houses and bought the third. Mind you, he got an absolute bargain as the prices were rising and muggins here was too nice to say the price had increased.

Your decision at the end of the day...

Jx

Eve1

Thanks Hazyjo - i think we will give the seller the benefit of the doubt as he has said he will keep us informed..so id say maybe another two more weeks (which means 3 in total).....fingers crossed!

suki1001

Eve1 wrote: »

ie should we just sit on our laurels and wait till they find something.....

Well as we were all ready to move out, we were pretty peeved off when we found out, however it was more down to poor communication from the men in suits. They did use one of those really cheap solicitors that do everything for £99 or something like that, they got a solicitor for less, everyone else got the headache of having to deal with the £99 solicitor who no-one could ever get in touch with.

I could understand the renting situation, I made it clear it was fine, although I was majorly peed off by the fact they'd used such rubbish solicitors. However, we really, really wanted the house (2nd offer in 2 years), and we were further down the chain, so after moaning proved to be fruitless (the cheap solicitors weren't suddenly going to get off their backsides), we just had to bite our tongues and be patient. Think the ea humoured me by letting me sound off in her office, but there wasn't a lot she could do either.

googler

I've said it before here, but the England & Wales housebuying and selling system could be improved immensely by one small change - a prescribed standard form for offers, in which the buyer states the offer price and an entry date.

The seller accepts the offer price and the entry date. This is the date on which the buyer gets the keys and gets possession of the house. The seller can't vary the entry date once missives are concluded (contracts exchanged), and whilst they can vary it prior to this, it's generally held that any variation of more than a fortnight or so is taking the ****.

tyllwyd

I think this can be a real problem in the current housing market - if there isn't a suitable house on the horizon when you accept an offer, goodness knows how long it might be before one comes onto the market. Being realistic, one week isn't very long in the scheme of things, but I think it would be a good idea for you to put some kind of a time limit on it, so that you and the sellers know where you stand. I'd say maybe tell them that you will wait until the end of May, and at that point you will contact them to review the situation.

We are in a similar situation in that we have accepted an offer without an onward move planned, and our EA is desperately trying to persuade us to go into rented rather than try to add another house to the end of the chain (and raise the potential for the chain to crash and him lose his commission!)

pinkteapot

After a couple of weeks, I would tell the vendor that I was going to keep looking at other properties on the market until the chain is complete. You may well find there's nothing else on the market that you like as much anyway. Or, there may be a house that's just as nice with no onward chain.

If you just sit back and wait they could keep you hanging on for ages. Make it clear you like the house and still want it, but since you want to move you will keep looking at anything new that comes on the market until they are sorted. Also gives you back a bit of a sense of control over the situation.

Think of the reverse situation - a seller might accept an offer from a buyer who still needs to find a buyer for their own house. In this case, you can bet the seller would keep their house on the market in the interim.

I sold my flat in February 2009 and we'd already been looking at houses since about October 2008. It took until April 2010 to find the right house for us (read: find a seller who was priced sensibly given the way the market had fallen) so we were in rented for about 18 months after selling.

Thrugelmir

Eve1 wrote: »

How long should a buyer wait for the seller to find another property to move into? The offer was accepted a week ago after a small amount of negotiations however the seller hasnt found anywhere yet. They have said they will keep us posted each week.

Even when your vendor has found a property. The vendor of that property may well have plans as well and so on. Takes times to build a property chain. Best just to be patient for a while and see how developments unfold. As you've no control over them.

Unless you find a property with vacant possession. You may find yourselves in the same situation by offering on another property.