When would you consider pulling out from a purchase?

joanars

Hello,

We are first time buyers and I really need experienced advice here.

Our offer on a house was accepted on 20th August and as we have instructed solicitors immediately, we are currently 11 weeks into the sale/purchase process. Although we are not in a rush, we are now getting to the point where we might consider pulling out.

Throughout the whole process, we have always made sure that when our solicitor asked for stuff we had it back to our solicitors within a couple of days or even on the same day. We were always on top of all the paperwork unlike the vendor's solicitors who always delayed everything. We had to wait for weeks and weeks for the seller's paperwork to be forwarded to our solicitors.

We got to the point where the estate agent was chasing our solicitors asking why is it taking us so long, not realising that we were all ready with everything necessary and just sitting here waiting for the vendor's solicitors to submit their information. Just to mention - both sides are chain free.

Now we are at the point where we have finally received and signed the contract documentation (and already submitted it to our solicitors as usual!). Apparently, the vendor (an elderly lady) is still looking for an apartment to rent that meets her requirements. Last week, when we went over to see the property again, we spoke with the estate agent, and they were hoping to find her suitable home by the end of this week (I highly doubt this will happen!). The vendor also advised that she has an operation scheduled for end of November and she will not be able to move her hand for 6 weeks post operation. I assume what she was trying to say was that we might have to wait for her to recover before she decide to move?

Anyway, she lost her husband back in June this year and although we are very sympathetic and don't want to put any pressure on her (she has been living in this property for 42 years), ultimately we want to exchange and have specific completion date before Christmas (completion doesn't need to happen before Christmas tho).

However, this is now looking more and more unlikely to happen.
Our solicitors have raised a few queries with the vendor's solictiors, and one of the queries was for the deceased husband to be removed from the deed. Can someone please let me know how long does this process take? And at what point would you consider withdrawing the offer to buy? We love the house, but we are not ready to wait another 3-4 months for this to be over.

Do you think that our current time frame is reasonable for chain free deal? - Both sides are chain free. Do you think we are rushing too much? Any advice would be much appreciated.:beer:

Cakeguts

The last house we bought was us not needing a mortgage and the property was vacant. Took 5 months to buy it. No chain, no mortgage.



You are expecting too much. Buying a house takes a long time it isn't instant.


If you are not prepared to wait another 3 or 4 months then buying a house isn't for you and you need to stick to renting.

SensibleSarah

Buying my first house (no chain) took just under 6 months from offer accepted date (memorable as it was my birthday) to completion. It was incredibly frustrating and I'd genuinely forgotten what the house looked like inside in the interim. I was doing it on a shoestring so couldn't afford to back out once I'd paid for surveys etc, despite being tempted a few times due to the snails pace and cheeky vendors.

Be patient if you love the house - it will be worth the wait

Wyndham

It can be easy, or it can take time. A good solicitor will spot things that need to be sorted, and taking the deceased husband's name off the deed seems like one of those, and is the right thing to do. Sorry, don't know how long that might take.

Also, if she's just lost her husband, we assume her husband of many years (?) then to be honest she's doing amazingly well to be selling at all. Please try to be patient and kind - death of a long term spouse is one of the most significant life events you can have. Buying and selling a home is also quite far up the list.

What it comes down to is this. Do you love the house and feel sure it's one you want to buy? Or do you think you will find something similar that you will love as much or more? Be aware that if you do, you have no guarantee that there won't be any issues with it which will also need sorting.

Have a chat with your solicitor, and maybe the estate agent. Say you'd like to move before Christmas and ask them if they think it's possible. Also remember that Christmas is an artificial boundary - would it really matter if it were, say, mid January instead?

Good luck!

Rambosmum

You are expecting too much.


Our current house was offer accepted 8th April, moved in 7th September. We were already quite far down the road with our sale so it wasn't us or our buyers holding things up.
Our very first house was just us and the vendors and took from early August to 27th November. I remember it felt like ages, it was 15 weeks, which is pretty average.


Buying houses takes time.


You are FTB. I assume you have somewhere to live? Aren't at risk of being homeless and aren't at risk of losing the sale of your house. It's really unlikely you'll move quicker on another house and there's no chance you'll be in before Christmas if you pull out.


How much do you like the house?


To answer your question, we pulled out of a purchase after 7 weeks as the seller hadn't registered it with the land registry, had lost the title papers and so we couldn't get an absolute title, which is a nightmare with mortgages.

-taff

If you don't want to wait, then don't wait. No one can say how long she's going to be in there, she doesn't sound like she's in much of a hurry to move.
Tell the EA that unless you exchange/complete by whatever date you want, the deal is off.
To be honest though, you will come out of this worse off since you've already spent the money to get things done.

Thrugelmir

joanars wrote: »

Apparently, the vendor (an elderly lady) is still looking for an apartment to rent that meets her requirements. Last week, when we went over to see the property again, we spoke with the estate agent, and they were hoping to find her suitable home by the end of this week (I highly doubt this will happen!).

Your will face the same challenge in any property chain you end up in. Events will be dictated by others, i.e. utside your control. Many houses only come up for sale once in a lifetime. Your decision as to whether to start at square one again.

paddy's_mum

Poor old lady. Lost her husband, facing surgery on her own, having to leave a much loved long time home ....

joanars

As previously mentioned, we are first time buyers, so not very experienced.
Any experienced advice from people that have already been ''there' is very much appreciated, thank you!

We are prepared to wait, no rush at all. The vendor is a lovely lady and we don't want to put any pressure on her purely because of the fact that she's just lost her husband and is having to sell the house where she spent most of her life in. But on the other hand, we want to know how long is too long, and when would be appropriate to start putting a pressure on our/their solicitors. Possibly after the 6th month mark (if we even get there!) we might sit down and think about it more seriously.

We love the house, but because we've lost on quite a few nice houses before this one, we are not getting emotionally attached until exchange of contracts, if you know what I mean...what I mean is that we love the house but we are not afraid to lose it. That's why I want to know if we are rushing too much because although it won't be the end of the world, we don't want to lose the house because of being too inexperienced and impatient. And I think we are!

hb2

We accepted an offer on our house in September/October (don't remember exactly) of last year, found somewhere for us to buy very quickly but still weren't in the new place until the end of April this year. The delay was with our vendors finding somewhere they liked and then generally not getting on with things (the day we were supposed to be exchanging contracts we discovered that they hadn't even signed theirs and were not answering their phones).

We were lucky that our (first time) buyers liked our house enough to sit out the process. It was terribly frustrating, and we very nearly decided to forget the whole thing and stay where we were when we were on the final straight, but it was worth it in the end.

No-one can tell you when 'enough is enough' but you run the risk of this kind of thing happening with any property purchase. However, given the '6 weeks post-op' information you were given, I sincerely doubt you are going to be moved this side of Christmas!

AnotherJoe

I would say start looking at other properties. There's no point pulling out yet until you've got somewhere else to go to, and at that point you can take a view on which you prefer. But it does appear as if your seller doesn't have anywhere to go to and therefore may not end up moving at all, its a common problem elderly people leave it too late to move and then it all gets too much. Just the thought of clearing the house out can be enough when the reality strikes. After all, she wont be moving furniture herself, she'll have movers so not being able to use her hand for 6 weeks sounds more like an excuse to put the decision date back than anything else. (even if she is fooling herself it may not be deliberate)



On another point, I dont know what the obsession is people seem to have with moving in at Christmas, the last thing you want is to find a problem that needs a tradesperson over the Christmas holidays ! Forget Christmas and expect to move in the new year earliest. If it happens.