Waiting for our vendors to find somewhere

PurpleRainbow

We have now been waiting over 10 weeks for our vendors to find somewhere and I'm wondering is anyone in a similar position or indeed has been waiting longer? The EA keeps telling me that they really want to sell to us and have been viewing loads of properties but they're not willing to consider moving into rented and seem to have become complacent in thinking that we will wait around forever.

I want to view some other properties, but there's literally nothing in our price range that meets our requirements and isn't about to fall down. Also this EA has a monopoly on all the decent houses (above our budget) in the area and I don't know if they'll let us view any of their other houses whilst our offer remains on the table. We also really want to buy before the government scheme inflates house prices because we fear that we'll constantly be playing catchup to the market rate of the decent houses if we don't.

Not quite sure what I'm looking for... advice on how to stay sane, anecdotal evidence that suggests that my vendors might still find a place even though we've been waiting 10 weeks maybe. Or perhaps if there are enough of us here, I will have inadvertently started a "complain about slow vendors" thread!

pawsies

If you say there is nothing in your price range in that area, then presumably the vendor has a similar budget (i.e. your money) and presumably cannot find much either- if they are wanting to live in the same area- do you know this?

Hold out for a little longer, but also look around online through your estate agents to see other properties and hope something comes on the market. I suppose you could give an ultimatum of say a month for them to make an offer on a property, I don't think it would go down well though!

jackomdj

Tell the EAs that,although you don't really want to, you feel you have to continue looking as you have waited 10 weeks already. Say you don't want to withdraw your offer and you genuinely hope the vendors find somewhere quickly.

We did this when the house we had offered on was in a similar position to you. As it turned out, the house two doors away came own into our price bracket, we offered and pulled out of the original one (EAs phoned up that day to say they had amazingly found somewhere), anyway we stuck with the new one (loved it so much more) and the people from the original property are still there!

ognum

OP Youare being walked on by the vendors unless you agreed to this. Move on, find somewhere else!

xlollx

I am in exactly the same situation as you. Put the offer in on a house 3 months ago. Vendor doesn't seem motivated to move, only viewing a few properties and only looking in a certain area. Everytime I phone the EA they give the same spiel "she does want to move blah blah blah". We even got to the point where the vendor blocked our survey because she said "she wasn't ready to move".

We thought the same as you, nothing would come up in that area for the same amount of money and in that condition. I was looking everyday at new properties and nothing matched.

3 months later and a property has gone on the market across the road from this one, needs work but is £11,000 cheaper and has more potential.

You can try phoning up estate agent and asking for a completion date. It just depends how much you love this property. Something new will come along. The advise I have been given is the longer a vendor takes, the less motivated they become to want to move. House prices are also increasing for FTB entry level homes and when she does find a house she might even ask for a higher amount of money.

My advise would be to start looking at other properties and not expect this one to go through to exchange.

thelem

How far through the process are you?

If you've done your survey and searches and are ready to exchange then it's easier to negioate on dates as there's something firm to ask for - i.e. exchange of contracts, and a completion date (because you can't cheaply change the completion date after exchange). You could try saying your offer will reduce if you don't exchange to complete by a certain date, as you will incur additional rental costs.

If you've just had your offer accepted but gone no further, then they can promise the world and deliver nothing - but so can you. Leave the offer in and keep pressuring the EA for a date, but at the same time assume the sale has fallen through and actively look at other properties with an open mind. Yes, the next one you look at might have a smaller garden or be on a busy road, but doesn't it have lovely period features and a great kitchen (or whatever you're after).

hjd

We had a vendor who was looking unsuccessfully for ages, and also making unrealistically low offers which were being rejected. Last straw for us came when he wanted us to put in writing that we would wait for him to find a house, no time limit.
We looked again and found a house which was considerably cheaper and much less dated. We bought that one, and the original house is still on the market (must have been on for more than 18 months now.)

mrsmchapman

I've been here, after 3 months wait and the sellers tossing between various places to live they finally had an offer accepted, 3 weeks after this date they told us they weren't sure they wanted to move in the end. We had exchanged To on Our property which they knew so we could secure the sale, it was the final straw and we pulled out and found a better home and cheaper to. We had an offer accepted on the new place May 15 th and solicitor is saying no reason why we can't complete end of this month!

They need a nudge, maybe start looking around and make them aware your looking around.

PurpleRainbow

Thanks for the input everyone. To answer a few questions, the vendors are looking in an area where I know there to be a greater number of properties available. It's not far from here, but the market is distinctly different.

We have not instructed solicitors yet, the EA wanted us to do so but I refused (good decision, that was.).

We want to continue looking but unless we up our budget by £20k there isn't really much we can see, which makes this all the more frustrating. We can borrow well in excess of what we're aiming to at the moment, but I fear that this will leave us vulnerable to interest rate rises or if one of us loses employment.

Whoever said that house buying was stressful was not lying!

JennyW_2

wow, that is a long time to wait, but unfortuantely if there is nothing else for you to look at and understandably you don't want to increase your budget, then it sounds as if you have no choice but to wait it out

Dont stretch yourself, you obviously know your limit. Just keep your eyes out as properties come onto the market every day so you never know.

It's a shame they wont consider moving into rented. If I'd been keeping my buyer waiting for 10 weeks, it would be the least I could do to make sure I kept you!

pops5588

We were worried that we were entering into a situation like this. Vendor wanted to hold off until he had a serious buyer until he even started looking seriously at houses. We managed to get a good price accepted because we are FTBs and have no property to sell and said we wouldn't push him and would move at his pace.

OH was getting a bit concerned but we pressed ahead anyway. I think that instructing solicitors and getting all our bits and pieces sorted showed the vendor that we were serious about buying, so he got serious about it too. Fortunately he found a property last week which leaves no chain which is fab.

Also he did say he would move into rented if the worst came to the worst.

It is a shame how much it seems to be a game of chance and luck with these things.