offer accepted but seller wants to continue marketing property

rexmedorum

We're trying to buy a house as 1st time buyers. Offer of 12k under asking price accepted and the agent asked initially for ID and mortgage in principle. He than demanded solicitor details 'to take it off the market' on Friday afternoon, which we got to him on Monday morning.

I rang up yesterday to see what's going on and now supposedly the seller wants to continue marketing the property until a survey is done 'in case something goes wrong.' I did say I wasn't happy with this and agent promised to speak to the vendor.

I'm new to buying but from what I understand the survey is part of the mortgage application process right? How quickly can one get from application appointment to having the survey done?

This whole business hasn't exactly filled me with confidence and I'm very wary of parting with any money while thy may be holding out for a better offer.

LandyAndy

I don't think it's unreasonable to continue marketing until you have shown some real (financial) commitment to the purchase.

DRP

LandyAndy wrote: »

I don't think it's unreasonable to continue marketing until you have shown some real (financial) commitment to the purchase.

Possibly, but that's not what's being offered (seemingly).

In the OP's situation I wouldn't be particularly happy and I would want clarification - any "commitment" is likely to cost OP serious money.

To be honest it sounds like the vendor is regretting accepting your offer.

HouseBuyer77

I think it's a little unusual to actively market after offer acceptance like this but by no means unknown.

How to proceed at this point depends upon several factors. How active is the market in the area? How much do you like the property? If there's lots of buyers around and its a property you don't want to loose then you'll have to dance to sellers tune to get it. Though given you've got an offer accepted at 12k under asking I'd guess it's not such an active market? In which case pushing back may well work. You could maybe suggest a compromise, they take it off the market and if you don't get a valuation survey booked within 2 weeks say they'll put it back on.

It may be an early indication that the seller is cut-throat and will always be looking for a better deal or it may just mean they're cautious (perhaps they've been burnt in the past) and once you've got some financial commitment they'll be far more cooperative.

I think the time between finishing my mortgage application and having the survey done was less than a week, though this will depend upon the lender and the surveyor. Your seller may well be satisfied once a valuation surveyor has booked an appointment to view the property even if that survey doesn't occur for a couple of weeks.

Daerve

I would agree with the vendor, we changed our for sale board round to sold after accepting an offer only to have the buyer pull out a week later.

I would also keep marketing the property until at least the survey was booked.

Unfortunately not everyone is as good as their word as we have discovered to our detriment.

DRP

Daerve wrote: »

I would agree with the vendor, we changed our for sale board round to sold after accepting an offer only to have the buyer pull out a week later.

I would also keep marketing the property until at least the survey was booked.

Unfortunately not everyone is as good as their word as we have discovered to our detriment.

I would say this is certainly reasonable, but not what the vendor is apparently offering.

Daerve

DRP wrote: »

I would say this is certainly reasonable, but not what the vendor is apparently offering.

That's true, while I'd insist the survey is booked I wouldn't expect the buyer to be shelling money out while other people are still coming to look at my property.

The whole system needs regulating in my opinion, it's far too fast and loose with some of the biggest and most financially important decisions in our lives.

djedga

Sounds like their fingers may have been burned in the past to me.

It also sounds like this has come from the vendors, not the agents and they are (for some reason) super cautious.

It also depends what they mean by "continue to market"

In our current (ongoing) process - on acceptance of offer the property was marked as SSTC and viewings were ceased. But we are not FTB and the chain was closed under us with a FTB ready and able to proceed with an AIP.

Do they intend to continue taking viewings?

SleeplessinScandinavia

As a buyer (in the UK), I would have made my offer on condition that the property is taken off the market, and also subject to survey.

As others have suggested, if the local market is buoyant vendors may decide to accept further viewings - in which case, if that comes to your attention, you need to decide how much you want the property - or whether its better to walk away.

I'm no 'fan' of the system in Sweden, where I presently live - but once an offer is accepted, vendor and buyer generally meet in the estate agent's office (very often the next day) to sign contracts which are binding on both sides.

stator

Another unreasonable vendor, I would walk away. If they haven't taken it off the market then they are likely to cause issues further down the line as it's means they haven't really accepted your offer. A reasonable condition might be that after it is taken off the market you must book the mortgage valuation or survey within a week. I certainly wouldn't be spending money until it's taken off the market.

clarky_cat

I had an offer accepted on property 2 weeks ago, its still on the market but the EA are not accepting any viewings. They advised they only mark them as SSTC once the survey has been done.