Accepting that we may lose money or have to wait a long time

PurpleRainbow

Hi, I think I am in need of a reality check here so I'm hoping that some of you can assist. We have had an offer accepted, our vendors told us that they had found a house but then said no they haven't. They have instructed solicitors and now want us to do likewise and thus incur costs even though we have no idea if they will ever find a house or how long the chain will be. I have a very strong hold on our finances so the thought of even spending £1 that is wasted, much less £800 if they take too long or can't find somewhere and decide not to sell is really affecting me. Any advice on how to get over this would be welcome, because I know that I will have to if I want to ever buy a house. Maybe I'm just reading selectively but it seems like a reasonable percentage of home buyers will lose at least some money in the process so I need to accept the possibility.

Secondly I'm looking for personal experiences, especially from FTB, of how long you had to wait for the chain to complete. In my mind we could be waiting a year or more for them, holding on because I won't accept the loss of the solicitors fees when our lives are effectively on hold so I'd like to see if that is a common experience on here.

There is so much going around our heads at the moment and our discussions are going nowhere but I'm hopeful that if I can address these two points that we might make some progress at last. Thanks!

grifferz

I don't think I would be instructing solicitors until they can confirm in writing that they've had their offer to buy accepted by someone. Why would you commit to their property when another one just as good may come along with vendors who can move quicker?

But I have never bought in a chain before so perhaps my expectations are wrong.

kingstreet

Instruct a solicitor. Tell them to open a file and do nothing until they hear further from you.

Ensure there will be no charge for doing this, should your purchase not proceed.

Do not apply for a mortgage, or instruct a surveyor, until they find somewhere and the chain forms up.

PurpleRainbow

kingstreet wrote: »

Instruct a solicitor. Tell them to open a file and do nothing until they hear further from you.

Ensure there will be no charge for doing this, should your purchase not proceed.

Do not apply for a mortgage, or instruct a surveyor, until they find somewhere and the chain forms up.

I've been told by people who have tried to do this that it didn't work for them, they asked the solicitor not to do anything and they did anyway. Maybe that was a bad solicitor, but that's why I'm cautious.

I seriously do not know how anyone manages to buy a property that is not chain free, it is beyond my levels of comprehension. We did look into buying a chain free house, but unfortunately the ones that were available were in really bad structural states and were tenanted which would have brought with it its own problems. The magic chain free house which won't fall down around my ears and doesn't have tenants in it just doesn't seem to exist where I'm looking.

AlexTheBird

Hi PurpleRainbow,

Don't lose heart - things do have a way of working out in the end and I know it seems super complicated, but it really depends on the situation.

We too at FTB'ers and had a similar situation in that we found a house we loved and had our offer accepted after some negotiating. The vendors had yet to find somewhere and we worried that they might never find a house they wanted to move into. And we also worried about the length of the chain and envisaged hundreds of people being part of it when they did find somewhere.

My advice (and I'm new to this house-buying lark so bear with me) is that you should communicate to the EA that you are very interested in the property, and you are committed to the purchase in that you are prepared to instruct a solicitor to open a file and get your mortgage application started (this can take a few weeks). However, you would like to wait until the chain is complete before you request a survey. That way, you are showing commitment to the buyer, but also protecting yourself with only a little financial outlay.

Do call around a variety of solicitors and talk to them - some are helpful, some are less so. We found that speaking on the phone with them helped to nail down who we wanted to work for us. The most you should have to outlay is £200-ish for search fees, but you are totally within your rights to ask them to hold off doing any work until the chain is complete and they should be fine with this. I think some firms offer a service where if your purchase falls through, you're not liable for any costs? Might be worth looking into?

Buying a property for the first time is a massive waiting game and you have to be utterly patient and as polite as you can face being to the EA - they are in the middle, so if they think you're a good buyer, that can only work in your favour. Communication with all parties seems to be the key - to make sure that everyone is aware of what is going on. Wait til you get to the conveyancing part - that can take months and months!

If you are worried that your seller is likely to keep you waiting for a long time, perhaps tell the EA that you are happy to wait for a certain amount of time - maybe a month? In the meantime, keep any eye on properties coming onto the market. How long has the house you want to buy been for sale? You're in a great position as a FTB and your sellers may not want to lose you, but equally, if they feel there has been a lot of interest, they may keep you waiting.

Good luck, and as I said, don't lose heart. It will happen eventually!

yorkshire_terrier_owner

You asked for personal experiences on how long a chain could take to form up so here's mine:

Accepted offer on my house from a FTB on 4 March.
At that point I hadn't found anywhere but did have a short list of properties I wanted to view on Rightmove. FTB asked, I said I didn't think it would take long to find somewhere but I wasn't about to lose a sale and would go into rented if need be.
5 March - viewed all but one properties in my short list.
6 March - had my offer accepted by vendor of property I decided on. Vendor not even started looking yet, but said, like me, they were not prepared to lose a sale and would move in with daughter if need be.
8 March - hear from vendor of property I am buying - they have had offer accepted on a property with no onward chain - chain is now formed with 3 properties in it. Therefore 5 days to form chain.
12 March surveys on all 3 properties take place.
12 March - 16 April - conveyancing/mortgages etc
17 April - contracts exchanged
19 April - completion.

Less than 7 weeks in total to completion but was down to the following:
All parties kept on top of solicitors
All parties were communicating with each other
All parties were very very motivated.

I have to say when I was viewing properties the vendors that were motivated all said they would get out and break the chain or they had already got somewhere they wanted to offer on. Properties where the vendor said anything different I ran a mile from. That's not to say that vendors can lie, but you have to have a bit of faith and trust in people in the buying process.

Hope that helps.