Seller pulls out- the Xmas race is over.

chardhouse

Well for a while I was part of the race to be in by Xmas.
We had our offer accepted on the 11th of September and waited 9 weeks for the vendor to find a property she liked.
After our survey flagged up about 3k of essential repairs- firewall and damp proofing, with the property being under valued by the same amount, we approached the EA and seeing what the vendor wished to do (with a view to renegotiation I guess- maybe a 50/50 split of costs)
She pulled out!! No negotiation, not willing for us to arrange quotes, nothing.
Apparantly she "doesn't want anymore strangers in the house!" Well if you're selling love you better expect a few viewings and a surveyor at least. Stupid cow.
The EA aren't re-marketing so she has obviously changed her mind.
THIS IS WRONG!! This is what the law needs to change.

What an absolute waste of 3 months of my life. 3 months that could have been spent dealing with a serious vendor.
My mortgage application has about 3 months to run- if that expires before we find anywhere else thats £1300 down the pan.
I know I'm not the first but it is a bitter pill to swallow when you have been so patient and undemanding.
What a BS system we have in this country.

lynzpower

What a BS system we have in this country.

Agreed

What a joke.

So sorry to hear about that mate.

silvercar

we could sense our sellers were "fragile" and not very keen on selling. We decided not to approach them about splitting costs on survey items, just in case they pulled out or went with other alleged buyers. Luckily they came through and did sell but there was one point when I thought they really were going to take their house off the market.

hopefully the sellers pack will at least mean that sellers will be serious enough about selling to spend some money upfront.

Poppycat

Oh this is horrid, if it was me I would feel absolutely devastated.

Something needs doing because the whole process of buying is not only stressful but costly. Sellers shouldn't be allowed to get away with pulling at a whim

wigglygiggly

Thats awful!!!!! I agree, something needs to be done - there must be so many people out of pocket by situations similar to yours.

I have a nagging feeling this is going to happen to us. When we viewed the property we were told that the sellers had somewhere else to go - ie renting and going their seperate ways. Then after our offer had been accepted we were told that the sellers were actually buying another house and were almost finished, just waiting for us!!! Then a week later we are told they had pulled out of the house they were going to buy!!! I have no idea what is going on now and don't trust the EA to tell us the truth. I have a feeling that the sellers may pull out and we will lose our money too.

peterbaker

I DO sympathise. Happened to me once.

But I don't believe the law needs changing. The lesson you have learned the hard way (and I learned years ago - people haven't changed much in this regard) is fourfold:

1) There is no deal until exchange of contracts
2) Paying out a survey fee has no guarantee of return whatsoever. Its a cost of looking just like the petrol in your car.
3) 3 months and no exchange is a complete waste of your time unless you understand the risk.
4) ALWAYS doubt an estate agent's motives in telling you what they've just said!

Personally I have bought and sold 6 and 5 homes respectively of many types. I have found it is much less hassle to put myself in a position in which to "pounce" on a deal where the chain is either already in place, very short, or non-existent where my funding plans are ready to use, and where the whole deal is based on agreed timescales right from the first handshake. The first two weeks after that will show you if anyone is swinging the lead, and if they are, then poke everyone to find out who is serious, and walk away if they are not.

Human nature being what it is, you can't expect a lethargic seller who hasn't found the selling process enjoyable, or found the property they want, for any reason, to be forced into a contract, and you can't ban lethargic sellers from the market. Afterall, I am sure you'd tempt even a sloth to move if you threw enough money at them, and you might still get a bargain!

Pebbles on the beach, fish in the sea, plenty more...

pawpurrs

Sorry to hear that, would you have stuck with the house if they hadnt been prepared to renegotiate?

Good luck with the next deal.

potnoodle_2

the house we bought was valued by surveyor at 233k with it being 235k once rewiring etc done, we paid 240k for it as it went to a bit of a bidding war. we didnt question the price being undervalued as it was the only one i wanted and we will be staying there a long time hopefully anyway.

chardhouse

Thanks for your responses guys.
Our situation was one where we couldn't afford to get the work done ourselves. We had over extended our budget by 3k and borrowed off family to get the initial offer accepted- 163k for a Vic terrace in good decorative order when I felt that 160 was top whack. A few doors down had gone for 150k a few months earlier- doesn't mean everything but is an indicator.
We wanted CH installed so were looking at a big spend to get gas in and a plumber.
All that piled together meant around 170k being ploughed into the property which was WAY over what we could afford.
I suspect the vendor doesn't really want to move at the end of the day.

The comments about the survey being akin to putting petrol in a car are backside-wipe if you don't mind me saying.
I wouldn't fill a stranger's car with petrol or get their car MOT'd for them before I bought it from them.
The cost of looking is spending the time driving around countless properties, hours of talking to agent's, brokers, solicitors, homeowners, builders, MoneySavers. Then getting the mortgage and all that entails.
A survey is a requirement of the lender- it has to be done, and done for every property if mortgages are involved.
We chose to have a full structural- our choice and a calculated risk. It would highlight every fault of our potential home however small so that we could rectify it over the years.
The essential repairs however should at least be talked about- this was our first indirect correspondence with the vendor since our offer in Sept. We had made no quirky requests. This procedure was fairly standard I believe- maybe the EA blew it.

Survey costs could maybe be split between vendor and buyer or just the vendor (like an MOT) with the surveyor still being accountable for an x month period.

Whatever. My beef is with this stupid vendor. The system just allows it.
If it was illegal I may not be as out of pocket but I'd still feel totally let down and cheesed off.
If she didn't want to renegotiate she should have said so and let the situation play out. The fact that she pulled out in the space of a 5 min call tells me she got cold feet and would possibly have pulled out further down the line anyway.
The only small bonus is that I held back on the searches cheque when I got the survey as I had a suspicion- £140 saved!

Anyway.
See you all when it starts again in the Spring maybe.
Peter- you are right. Pebbles, fish etc. And I have learnt so much- not so much that it can't happen again bit I've still learnt.

(Trudges off into the muddy distance.....):(

benood

I wouldn't give up on this purchase completely Chardhouse, OK your seller is a bit jumpy and a massive pain but presumably she had good reasons to want to move in the first place so come the spring she might have changed her mind. She probably needs to find a house she likes enough - felt the one she was moving to was not right and was looking for an excuse to pull out.

Try to leave it positive with her just in case the opportunity represents - your experience shows that it helps to try and build up a rapport with your vendor/buyer so they know you enough to not want to do the wrong thing - if you can of course - if they refuse to have any direct communications with you then they're people to avoid - I say that from bitter experience.

In the end you'll get what you want and it will doubtless be better. Good luck

Mrs_Optimist

Really sorry to hear of your bad news. It is a bitter pill to swallow.

Maybe (maybe it has already been done) a thread should be started with tips on how to push a sale/purchase through quickly to completion so there is little chance of it going belly up. I know that doesn't really apply to this scenario but there are a lot of horror stories on these boards and maybe we can learn from someone elses experience.

For example, I have been advised by a very good solicitor friend that you should wait to receive the contract from the vendors solicitor BEFORE arranging a survey. This shows how serious the vendor is and stops you wasting money that could be avoided. Don't know if this would help anyone but you never know.