Offer Accepted, but how long to wait?

agh100

Hi
My girlfriend and I had an offer accepted on a flat in London around a month ago. However the vendors are still out looking for somewhere to move to, with no success so far. After speaking to the estate agents today it seems although they are looking they havent viewed many properties and when they do see somewhere on the internet buy the time they phone up about it the property has already gone.
The estate agent was kind of hinting that we should be thinking about looking at other properties on the market.
What do you think? How long is reasonable to wait for the vendors to find a property?
We are happy to wait, just worried that vendor wont be able to find what they want and could end up deciding not to move and then were back at square one!
We have the vendors phone number, do you think its worth us phoning them to put a little bit or pressure on them and ensure they are doing everything they can to find a property?
Thanks

cattie

There aren't many properties on the market at the moment in some area's & it seems this is the cause of the delay in your vendor's finding something suitable.

I think if I were you & I really wanted this flat I'd hang on as things are bound to improve as spring gets closer. You could set a time frame for the vendor's, say give them 6 weeks to find somewhere suitable then if nothing has come up for them, give up on the flat & find somewhere else.

It wouldn't hurt to give them a call to tell them that you are really keen on their flat but would like an indication of how long you may possibly have to wait & try to sound them out as to what they will do if they don't find something suitable quite soon. Would they be willing to go into rented for instance if they are keen to sell?

Or you could do as the estate agent suggests & look around for somewhere else, but still keeping you offer on this flat. Then if you find an alternate flat you like you withdraw your offer in favour of the new one. The estate agent must have some doubts about the couple's commitment to sell if he is suggesting you look at other properties.

bs0u0128

why not ask if the vendor would be prepared to go into rented to ensure your sale goes through?

if not, then you could say you wish to exchange in x weeks, with a view to complete after an agreed period, on a mutually agreed date, and if they say yes, you can proceed, and if not, then maybe say ok, but we will be looking at other properties whilst you look, but the offer will remain on the table until such a time as either side moves forward, or your situation changes (u find somewhere nicer).

they might not realise how long theyre taking, since theres time for searches and surveys, but i would go through the agent first, then as it gets more progressed, maybe write to the vendor, as a call could seem pushy, and if they cannot find somewhere they may think to pull out.

agh100

ok thanks for you advice.
I would doubt that they would move themselves and their family into rented accomodation. It's definately a sellers market in this area, if we did have to withdraw our offer it probably wouldn't take too long to find another buyer.

The thing that concerns me is the estate agent saying, they find properties on the internet but buy the time they phone up about them they have already gone. I know from our experience that you have to be really quick and onto the estate agents every week about new properties on the market, otherwise other people will always get to the properties first. I just want to ensure the vendors are doing all they can to find somewhere!!

BaldySmurf

I feel your frustration as we're in a similar position!

We accepted an offer on our flat last Sunday (4th Feb) and had an offer accepted on a house on the 7th Feb - the vendors are retiring and moving west and have yet to find anywhere. It's still very early days so we're going to need to be patient (however difficult it is!).

We're holding off on the survey until they've found somewhere - the last thing we want is to spend out approx £500 to have it all wasted by them pulling out.

Nenen

Of course it might all be bone fide and go ahead soon but it sounds as if your gut feeling is that something is not quite right. Personally I'd be a little bit wary that the vendors aren't doing their best to find somewhere and then in another couple of months might either decide:


a) they don't want to move after all (if prices are rising in your area then in the time you have wasted waiting for them then prices will have gone up)

b) by the time they do find somewhere they will know just how much you are wanting their house and so will try and put the price up after you have spent a lot of time (and possibly money on surveys, searches etc).

I have learnt from bitter experience not to trust anyone in house buying/selling as we have been stitched up by people not being honest several times now. If even their EA sounds wary I'd definitely do what Cattie suggested earlier.
Good luck