How long should I give my buyers before putting my house back up after a survey?

mrmcmc

A survey was done on my house on Tuesday & the buyer was informed on the day issues came back. The mortgage guy told him that they would need to call out workmen etc & a report would be sent out. I told him how he could directly get the information from the surveyor and not have to wait for the report to decide what to do as well as told him what was on it. He said he wanted to wait and then speak to the mortgage guy again (not sure why as he had already told him what to do). Since then I have sent evidence that when I brought the house the same things came up but never had issues, advised him to come and check the house himself, advised him to send out workmen for quotes himself and even though there are no real issues with the house hired someone to come out and resolve 1 of the 2 issues reported (i'm literally paying someone £200 to give me a certificate & guarantee to say there is no issue).

The buyer has not responded to my emails in about 24 hours (usually fast) and I am concerned about losing my new property if they either pull out or carry on taking their time to decide to proceed. How long should I give it before putting my house back up? I feel bad they have paid for the survey etc but time wise I cant afford to wait around as the seller of my new house is keen to get moving.

martindow

You do seem to be expecting a lot very quickly - it's only been a few days. If your buyer's mortgage company wants to go through a certain process that has to be done.

Get your EA to earn their money and speak to everyone in the chain. They will not want a sale to fall through so have an incentive to keep it together and let you know what is happening.

I do think you need to relax a bit. House buying is stressful and rarely goes through without a few delays.

GoldenShadow

Did the buyer get the full report on the day? I had to wait 5 working days for an email of the issues.

If I was your buyer I would be feeling scared off. We were told 'oh you don't need a survey, everything is fine' and then I had the seller telling me the survey was fine because my surveyor told him so, both of which were lies and we subsequently pulled out.

I would give them a bit of space/time and try and catch up via EA on Monday.

mrmcmc

Thanks for your response Martin, I will take that on board. I am just frustrated because I had my survey done the same day which come back with worst issues but I have sorted it and am ready to proceed. It is only recommendations from there estate agents.

GS They have only had the basic report done, I am a genuine person so have provided the surveyors details so they could have found out on Tuesday themselves as I managed to. At first I told them to come over and check, then send workman to check as I am so confident and now even paid someone to check the survey is wrong and if not repair what needs doing and provide evidence to him. I feel like I have done everything I can to re-assure him and provide evidence and tbh to not respond to that is just rudeness.

I will take on board what you have both said though, thank you for your honest feedback.

GoldenShadow

So when you say survey, is it a homebuyers report or a mortgage valuation? I am surprised you managed to find out, I wouldn't have thought the surveying company would tell you unless you paid for it which is unusual (unless you aren't in England?). For our purchase, we paid for a mortgage valuation which was a very, very basic kind of 'survey' saying its worth. Then we paid for a homebuyer's report which was more detailed, but the mortgage valuation one would have affected mortgage offer so it could be more of a battle with the mortgage company and not the buyers. If mortgage co say no they may have no choice etc.

If your buyers are FTB they probably aren't that savvy and will be seeking advice from friends/family.

What kind of things have come up that you think are wrong? Do you know if the valuation came back OK?

PasturesNew

You are being far too impatient, perhaps even 'aggressive' in your approach to this, which could make people fearful of you - if they're of a nervous disposition they might feel they're buying from Housezilla.

Wheels grind slowly. You'd be worse off if you had to start and find a new buyer.... people notice when a house is back on the market and assume there's something wrong with it, so will delay calling/viewing etc.

mrmcmc

Based on what you have all said I will give the buyer until next week. I think a week to decide is fair.

The reason I am being impatient is the area we have had a sale agreed is extremely sought after, houses literally go in under 24 hours (we just got lucky) and the seller is keen to progress so I have done things like paying someone to come out to ease his concerns to keep things moving. Fingers crossed by next week he will have decided :-)

Kynthia

You need to calm down. The survey was only done this week and that is often early on in the buying process. They need to process what the survey says and decide whether to investigate further. There may be the searches to do and queries based on those searches and what you've put in the property information form. Their mortgage offer probably isn't even confirmed yet if the survey was only 3 days ago. There could be another couple of months to go.

You might scare them off if you continue to be so aggressive or pushy. It gives the impression or desperation or that there's something to hide and you hope to rush them so they'll miss it.

kellaree

If I was your buyer and you kept pushing me, I would become incredibly suspicious and want to pull out.

Give them some time to digest the information and make their own decision.

It's pointless putting it back on the market as your next buyer will find out the previous one pulled out due to the survey. Imagine how much worse that sounds...

Rosetinted

Sorry to say, you sound like you're causing more headaches than you believe you're solving. If my seller kept telling me what to do, what to ignore, how to do this and that, I'd politely tell them to back off. If they persisted, I'd wonder why they were being so pushy and what they were trying to hide.

I suggest, like everyone else, that you stop 'advising' (i.e. telling) your buyer what to do and let them make their own decisions in their own time. Also, people have lives and jobs, expecting them to respond within fewer than 24 hours is very demanding, even if they have previously done so.

Brown_Eyed_Girl

If you pop the house back on the market you could end up in the same situation with another buyer, and you'll have lost precious weeks if you are keen to move soon.

My seller wanted to exhange in 4 weeks (but said we could complete a month after that). Sadly the surveyors have been a bit of a pain, well the first one was which meant we had to get a second. But every time we called the mortgage lender about the first one it took my mortgage adviser 2hrs to get through to anyone and then days of waiting with them not doing anything. When we finally got a new surveryor, they had a 3 week wait.

Your buyer could be having all sorts of delays with anyone from the mortgage company, the surveyor, solicitor etc. If they are genuine buyers then any delay will be stressful already, so adding to that with ultimatums could back fire.

Just chat to them, explain. Calm and reassuring is more likely to get you the result you want.