Have to Sell before Buying Now?!

Ozzuk

user5000 wrote: »

As I think I have said several times already. This is how it always used to be! If the buyer submitting the offer still hadn't sold their own property after several months then clearly you can just withdraw. Or that is how it was in the past. Obviously you wouldn't hang around for 2 years!

You missed one key point... the 'in my opinion' bit.

Because, in 'my' opinion it hasn't always been like that. I've probably bought and sold at least 10 times over the past 16 years and its always been the situation for me that I couldn't proceed without a firm offer on my house. Sure I could have an offer accepted in principle but as I wouldn't be in a position to move it wasn't formally accepted. Saying that - it did happen once, but this was down to very understanding vendors, they allowed a delay of a few months and in the end I had to arrange alternate finance or lose the property.

I'm guessing you've been very lucky and had very understanding vendors who were in no rush.

pinkshoes

As someone who sold recently, then there is NO WAY I would take my house off the market if the person making the offer hadn't sold theirs. I wouldn't know how long I would be waiting for, nor could they possibly know how much their budget was if they hadn't got an offer agreed.

If you haven't sold, there is nothing to stop your offering, but your offer isn't as strong as someone who is chain free, a cash buyer, or someone with an offer on their property.

We offered £340k on a property we really wanted before we had a buyer for ours, but the vendor accepted £330k from someone who had sold theirs. Annoyingly we had an almost asking price offer accepted on ours two days later, but that's life!

AdrianC

Look, it's very simple. Think of it from the other side...

Your house is for sale. Let's say somebody comes to view it today, says they love it, and here's an asking-price offer. Great. Then they tell you that they just need to sell their house first... and it's one of umpteen similar places on the market, none of which are shifting very fast.

Would YOU take your place off the market for them, and be happy to wait for them to find a buyer? Of course you wouldn't.

So why expect somebody else to do the same for you?

Annie1960

user5000 wrote: »

Things have changed.

Things have not changed. It has always been the case that someone who is in a position to proceed will have their offer accepted over someone who is not. Perhaps your experience in this area is limited.

Car1980

I've accepted two offers in two weeks. Both withdrew their offers within 3 days.

Even once you've accepted an offer and got solicitors involved do not do anything until the buyer has done their mortgage valuation on your property.

Fully expect any offer to fall at the first couple of hurdles and do not trust anybody.

mrginge

It changed officially on 17th Feb 2009, under the EU regulation 8754/2008.

shortchanged_2

Unfortunately this is a symptom of a broken market. Because housing is overpriced FTB'ers are not a part of the chain as they should be thus the whole chain system is broken resulting in the problem highlighted by the OP.

The current government have tried various schemes to 'assist' ftb'ers (ahem....prop up the market) with limited and waning success. We'll have to wait and see the outcome of the latest scheme ISA deposits.

Jhoney_2

user5000 wrote: »

In the past, the first thing that would be agreed when you submitted an offer, was that - regardless of whether you had sold your own house or not (but dependent of a Mortgage in principal and deposit) - the seller withdrew it from the market. That has always been the situation as far as I know.

It was not like that for me (mid nineties & noughties), but to try and look at your point regarding process, things have changed a lot in general and with financial processes even more so - that's big a part of the change.

More relevant though is the housing market.

Once upon a time, people bought a home for life. Now we move/buy for work, bigger, better, cheaper,lifestyle, income,pension supplementing and because we can!

Then there's population growth, people living longer and those 2.4 kids that grow up and need their own nests too! In short, demand has increased and thus prices, but also competition.

Those days (and the want/need to adhere to those customs - and to whatever extent they existed nationally) are long gone. The EAs merely follow the money.

Houses stay on the market in case an out of towner, cash buyer,property developer etc comes along. Nothing is done on a promise and price rises in recent years make that a less viable proposition.

The only thing that we have from those days is that it still takes the best part of a lifetime for the thing to complete, despite technology.:)

AdrianC

Jhoney wrote: »

Once upon a time, people bought a home for life.

Did they? When was that? Not in the last half century...

My parents bought their first house in Leicestershire in the mid '60s. Five years later they moved to Sheffield. Ten years later they moved to Derbyshire.

Jhoney_2

AdrianC wrote: »

Did they? When was that? Not in the last half century...

My parents bought their first house in Leicestershire in the mid '60s. Five years later they moved to Sheffield. Ten years later they moved to Derbyshire.

Once upon a time....

Those days (and the want/need to adhere to those customs - and to whatever extent they existed nationally) are long gone.