Stuck in a chain and looking elsewhere

Insitu1987

Hi everyone,

We are first time buyers and found our perfect home at the beginning of October, put in an offer and it was accepted. Since then we have been stuck in a chain - our sellers have found somewhere but their sellers can't find anywhere to buy. We have been very patient and want this house very much (very committed buyers and it is with a heavy heart that I am thinking of looking elsewhere!) we check in every other week and there has been no movement at all. The estate agents say our sellers are looking at alternatives but it took them 6 months to find their place and they already lost out on one buyer in that time (we are the second to make an offer on their house).

My question is - the estate agent our sellers have listed their house with have advertised a house we would really like to look at! But obviously I don't want them to think if we go look at this house that we are not totally committed to buying their house, if the chain was to complete tomorrow then happy days we would be over the moon, but I am being realistic and it's quite likely their sellers could take their house off the market completely if they simply can't find anything.If something else comes on the market equally as good at a decent price and better situation we would be silly not to look? I just don't want to put ourselves in an awkward situation. Would the estate agent be obliged to tell their customers that their buyers are interested in another of their advertised houses? Or are they only obliged to say anything if we decide to pull out?

Many thanks in advance

AnotherJoe

Why worry about what they think?

You could miss out on a better house due to groundless fears, why would they jeopardise by dumping you for someone else in a worse position, eg no solicitors in place, searches done, mortgage arranged? (or wherever you are in the process)?

Whilst there is no danger of the chain completing there's no point them doing anything drastic like dumping you. And whose to say that they might also get a better offer in the meantime whist they wait, you'd feel a bit more than peeved if they dumped you in 3 months time with a higher offer that came in whilst they were waiting.

They also must surely realise you cant wait forever, so just get on and arrange a viewing, if news does get round to them maybe it will encourage them to look elsewhere as well instead of you both being beholden to the timewasters at the top of the chain.

kinger101

Is the other house you're interested in advertised as "No Chain"? Otherwise, it might just be out of the frying pan an into the fire. Either way, EAs are used to chains collapsing before complete because someone takes forever.

AnotherJoe

Can OP proceed with both? Can you have a mortgage offer on two properties at the same time?
If so, buy whichever one exchanges first.

kinger101

Not sure about that one....a broker will probably know. Would likely involve almost two sets of legal fees though. If it was a different agent, they could at least hold off an all legals until the first chain completes.

Insitu1987

Thank you for your replies. We have instructed a solicitor and they have banked an initial amount ready to do searches and other such things but have not spent a penny on our prospective buy yet until chain is complete so that money could potentially be used for any property if we pull out of this one. To be honest we haven't actually asked the question wether our sellers or theirs would be willing to move into rented but maybe it's worth asking - I'm of the opinion the holder uppers must have viewed everything on the market at their budget in 3 months and must just be hopefully waiting for the perfect property to come on the market - very frustrating.

I was also thinking about offering on another property and basically seeing which one is ready to move first if we liked them equally but not sure how moral or doable that actually is! I also thought maybe ringing the agents and just asking about the other properties situation might give them a nudge in the right direction - I'm sure our sellers wouldn't want to lose another buyer. They did have a lot of interest in their property though and got a couple of offers but ours was preferable to them as we are FTBs and others were in a chain. So I whilst I think they would want to keep us as buyers I also think they would quite easily get another offer on theirs so it's a tricky one!

kinger101

You've been wise to not incur expenses before the chain has completed. Many rush in.

People rarely move into rented to break the chain. Moving once is bad enough. No harm is asking, but don't fall for the "we'll consider it if there's no progress in a month" line.

IMO, offering on two properties is no less dubious than placing your house on the market and then leaving others hanging for several months because you haven't got a clue what you want, or can't accept life's about compromise. It's the Goldilocks types that should move into rented while they figure it out.

At the very least, I'd be looking out for places with no chain which you might like better. I did personally after dealing a similar person who had a vague notion of moving to another county they knew nothing about. Glad I'm did. Otherwise land registry data tells me I'd have been waiting another 7 months.