Pressure to exchange on purchase before sale

Jhoney_2

No! no! no!

Unfortunately, said pressure is having no effect on the lenders down the line - sorry.

TBagpuss

caughtinthemiddle wrote: »

Thanks, all. This was my gut feeling, but it's nice to be reassured by the weight of many voices.

I suppose I should have asked not 'is this normal' but rather 'is this reasonable'? - if we're ready to exchange then actually it's quite reasonable to expect it - as long as the completion date can be agreed upon. But that's where we'll have a problem, because I can't confirm the completion date until I'm also ready to exchange on my sale!

It isn't reasonable. You are not ready to exchange, because the chain is not ready. You can only exchange when you are all ready, not when only part of the chain is ready, which is what your sellers are trying to push you to do.

mclaren32

Remember that the vendor won't be able to find anyone else that could exchange "now", if you are due to exchange on your sale in a few weeks then it would be very hard for them to another buyer to exchange at market value in that time frame either.

greenbee

Tell the EA and seller that all correspondence should be via your solicitor - this is best practice, and the fact that they are trying to bypass the solicitor suggests that they know what they are doing is wrong.

And if they query the fact you said you might be able to exchange early, say you misunderstood and you don't have a penny in the bank to pay a deposit with.

DandelionPatrol

greenbee wrote: »

Tell the EA and seller that all correspondence should be via your solicitor - this is best practice, and the fact that they are trying to bypass the solicitor suggests that they know what they are doing is wrong...

Nothing wrong with direct contact, provided that both parties are mature. What is required is only to listen to requests and not to commit to anything before taking advice.

greenbee wrote: »

... And if they query the fact you said you might be able to exchange early, say you misunderstood and you don't have a penny in the bank to pay a deposit with.

??? Why a limp excuse rather than the truth? Say you did not understand the implications and you have taken advice which is not to proceed.

Hoploz

caughtinthemiddle wrote: »

Actually it came from the estate agent first, and when I didn't believe him and said I wasn't keen (I thought he was just after his commission) the seller contacted me directly asking me if it was possible to exchange sooner. I then had a further conversation with the estate agent that began 'so you will have had an email this morning....'

So I'm pretty sure no one has misunderstood anything, I'm only worried about the implications for myself, as I know this estate agent is working for the seller and not for me.

Sorry to hear that yours fell through - what was the misunderstanding?

The misunderstanding was over dates. He had a date in mind for completion, which I'd said a few weeks before could work. Time went on, the date approached, his sale was not ready. He pushed and pushed us to exchange and complete the same day, which we were not prepared to do. It was all so horrible, he accused me of being a liar, was hammering on our door at all hours, accused us of avoiding him (we happened to be bathing the baby upstairs on that occasion and hadn't heard the door - frankly who wouldn't avoid him behaving like this anyway?!). Because of the pressure we had removals pencilled in - they needed to start packing us that afternoon to move two days later - He then pulled out on the brink of exchange. It was annoying as the delay was with his own buyer, we were ready!

Eventually we found out his sale didn't go through on the day he wanted (as we knew it wouldn't!) but a few days later.

We luckily managed to re-finance and buy our new place without selling. Which worked brilliantly as we re-wired the house without having to live there - a very messy job! We re-sold for 5k more, which paid for the double mortgage payment and it completed 6 weeks later. We never even met the eventual buyer, but the name of the man who pulled out is ingrained in my brain now, 8 years later.

cloo

Everyone always says that further up the line must exchange this minute, often inventing some nonsense reason. I'd generally ignore anything agents say, as they'll do anything to get a sale through, and just leave your solicitor to it and go on what they say. We had the thumbscrews on us from the agent at the top of the chain, but the 'reason' given was ludicrous and of course, when we spoke to our solicitor, she said our vendor's solicitor was aware of no such pressure!

Annie1960

Just tell them you have a linked transaction, and need to exchange and complete on both at the same time. Don't give in to any pressure.

pinkteapot

Just to add yet another identical answer - don't do it if you're dependent on your sale to fund your purchase.

Just get the EA you're buying through to explain to your client that you can't exchange without exchanging on your purchase. As per standard practice, the whole chain will exchange at once. The EA knows it was a ridiculous request - they preferably wouldn't even have bothered you with it if they know there's a chain below you!

caughtinthemiddle

Update: exchange has still not taken place, and in fact my buyers have caused a delay. Very frustrating.

I keep holding on to the notion that my seller would be foolish to find another buyer when we're so close to exchanging now... but that's what I said on 29th June when I first posted (we were 'two weeks away' then, and now I find myself saying the same thing).

Here's hoping I don't lose my potential new house - I just hope she remains rational and sticks with it, and doesn't drop me out of spite. I'm sure that happens. But I still think I'm her best bet for a sale, aren't I?

Thank goodness I didn't exchange early as I would have been placing myself at the mercy of these buyers of mine, who seem a little changeable....