Vendors demands - considering pulling out

paddy's_mum

So the EA isn't listening, the EA pictures are awful, their solicitor has gone off on holiday not leaving a deputy to keep the project moving along and your vendor is being a plonker. Some things simply aren't meant to be.

My father had a saying whenever one of his family felt as you do, facing disappointment and worrying that they were about to lose out on something special. He used to say (about touring caravans, a nice car, a cute little puppy, an appealing potential boyfriend, a house you fell in love with etc) "they made thousands of 'em" and I have discovered that to be true.

Good luck but feel only about the vendors situation as they have felt about yours!

KatieDee

paddy's_mum wrote: »

So the EA isn't listening, the EA pictures are awful, their solicitor has gone off on holiday not leaving a deputy to keep the project moving along and your vendor is being a plonker. Some things simply aren't meant to be.

My father had a saying whenever one of his family felt as you do, facing disappointment and worrying that they were about to lose out on something special. He used to say (about touring caravans, a nice car, a cute little puppy, an appealing potential boyfriend, a house you fell in love with etc) "they made thousands of 'em" and I have discovered that to be true.

Good luck but feel only about the vendors situation as they have felt about yours!

Pretty much I should also add the original case handler from the EA has gone on long term leave, so we now have the assistant manager who is lovely but a bit wishy washy. I understand he works for them though, so ultimately I don't trust them as far as I can throw them.

After another email from the EA, we just bit the bullet and explained how much this incident has put us off and advised that we will be taking the weekend to consider our options. Their solicitor isn't back until Tuesday so we can't progress anything until then regardless.

I feel incredibly anxious but part of me is starting to accept the idea that perhaps this purchase wasn't meant to be. It isn't worth going against all of your instincts just to complete on a property that you're likely to regret in some way. We'll take the weekend and see how we get on

Ps - your father was a very smart man - I was chuckling at his saying. I might call mine for a bit of "tough love" as he has the same way with words :rotfl:

tlc678910

Is it possible that it is actually the estate agent stirring the pot because they want the sale to make end of year targets or get a bonus. Perhaps arrange that further viewing and chat directly to the vendor to see what is going on from the horses mouth.
Tlc

KatieDee

tlc678910 wrote: »

Is it possible that it is actually the estate agent stirring the pot because they want the sale to make end of year targets or get a bonus. Perhaps arrange that further viewing and chat directly to the vendor to see what is going on from the horses mouth.
Tlc

I did consider this actually! The only problem with doing this is that it could get awkward if it really is the vendor making the demands.

diggingdude

KatieDee I admire your attitude towards all this. The owner of the property I'm buying is trying to do the same to me. Today they suggested a need to exchange next week and also now want money for the conservatory blinds.

I am still awaiting lots of the information from their side. I asked about viewing another property the estate agent had advertised to reinforce I won't play the game. Waiting for them to find an appointment time for me, which hopefully means they are worried they won't be getting their commission next month.
I am fortunate that this is a head over heart purchase, I won't be gutted if falls through but I can't do any more my end to make it happen. Good luck with it I hope you get the right outcome

greenbee

KatieDee wrote: »

Lucky! We thought ours was going to be simple (vendor moved out, property empty, no issues, no chain for us) but last minute things just seem to have exploded!



Our EA has done exactly the same thing. Phone call after phone call asking for updates on our side, asking if searches had been requested, what was outstanding. After we gave almost daily updates only to be asked about the searches again, I called him and said we were completely up to date and it was in fact the vendor causing the delay.

He apologised, spoke to them and then came to say nothing was going to happen this week as the vendors solicitor was on holiday!

I explained this was fine and he started asking about completion dates. I reminded him that we'd already agreed April with both the vendor and the EA - which is when everything started to go wrong. :mad:

If the EA is part of the problem, just tell them that all correspondence should be via your solicitor and ignore phone calls and emails from them. I did this and it made my life a LOT easier (same problem - vendors wanting to complete quickly but their solicitors holding things up). The EA was a lot less willing to keep chasing my solicitor for updates, particularly as they knew it was the vendors' solicitor who was the problem.

It's never a bad thing to have a chance to review whether you are making the right decision. Take the emotion out of it, and consider the other houses given that you're not too far down the process. The fact that you're reconsidering should give both EA and vendor a wakeup call, and whether you buy this one or another one, keep both EA and vendor at arm's length and deal with everything through your solicitor.

Thrugelmir

greenbee wrote: »

If the EA is part of the problem, just tell them that all correspondence should be via your solicitor and ignore phone calls and emails from them.

Once it's at the stage of "legals" that's who the EA should be speaking to, the solicitors. Neither the vendor nor the buyer are going to know the precise position at any given point in time.

If you want to stretch the time out, say nothing. Simply take your time to respond to matters, A day here, a day there. The time will soon slip past. Everybody has their own agenda to suit their own convenience.

franklee

KatieDee wrote: »

The difference between the price we paid and the asking price of the alternative property (identical house more or less, with a much bigger garden and finished to a high standard) is about £25k, so not to be sniffed at. This is roughly what we budgeted for doing up the first house but would have been funded via loans/interest free credit cards most likely, which might be more interest than your average mortgage.

It's hard to put £25k in context without knowing the ballpark overall price. £25k on a £150K house is a lot, but on a £500K house it's smallish beer.

However I would be really tempted by the much bigger garden if there were no other drawbacks. For identical houses I would also factor in which way the garden faces (do you want sun or shade), parking, proximity of the neighbours, views out front and back windows.

The internal decor wouldn't much bother me either way although if you do not like the higher standard one doing something like ripping out the kitchen would hurt.

So I would go for which is the better plot as that is the thing you cannot change.

Good luck, hope to hear what you decide.


PS: The 25K may even go down a bit if you can get something off the asking price

KatieDee

So we went to view two houses last night, liked both but loved one of them. It has just gone on the market for offers over £205,000 and the vendor has found a house they want to offer on.

We're now debating what to do about putting an offer in. Vendor said he wanted to leave the house up a few days to see the interest but has already had three viewings from two days ago since it went up.

I have always put lower offers in but I think this house is worth it. Not sure whether to hold back enthusiasm either or whether to be straight up honest.

Mrs36

If you love it and think it is worth it I would be straight up (I say that as someone who cannot bear to pay asking price!)

Do you like it more than the original house?