Offer accepted but vendor won't move until found a property

gmh

Hi all,

I'm a FTB so I just wanted a bit of advice on how long I should wait for the vendor to find a property.

A bit of backstory: my partner and I put an offer on a house (asking price) that was accepted. The bank valuation said that the house was worth £5k less, but the vendor says he needs asking price in order to be able to afford a new property. We are really in love with the house so we are borrowing this money from parents. In return, we asked that the vendor compromise and give us a timeline for when we can think about moving into the property, which he has refused to do.

The estate agent told us that the last person who had an offer on the property waited 10 months before pulling out, as the vendor refused to even consider moving/starting solicitors process until he found a property.

Now, normally time wouldn't be an issue...but I am employed on a contract (PhD stipend to make things more complicated) and we were lucky at all that anyone would lend us the money. I need to have a certain amount of time left on my contract to purchase a house, and if I wait 6 months and the mortgage offer runs out, I won't just be unable to purchase his house, but any house at all due to the time left on my contract.

He didn't seem to care that the last buyer pulled out (although he didn't have asking price) and I am under the impression that he doesn't care if we pull out. Has anyone been in a similar situation? Is it unreasonable to ask for a timeline? I completely understand that people want to feel secure about finding a property to move into - but the last person waiting 10 months for
him to find a property PLUS the amount of time the house was on the market is filling me with dread

In short: how long do I wait for this guy to find a property? And is there any smart ways of negotiating?

eddddy

Perhaps the best plan is to leave your offer on the table, but continue to look at other properties.

If you find another property you like at some point, review the situation with this property, and decide which one to move forward with.

goodwithsaving

You shouldn't have started with applications etc until the chain was complete, this advice is all over this forum. Some people don't want the hassle of renting etc and so won't move if they don't find a house but can't move until the have an offer on theirs. A chain is most often built bottom up.


You can negotiate but if he won't budge, he won't budge. I wouldn't be straying from bank valuation in the current market either.


Good luck though, I hope you manage to live in the house you wish for. Keep looking, sometimes a better property will come up while you wait and the purchase will sail through.

Soot2006

Leave your offer on the table but don't stop looking for other houses. Keep an eye on the market!


We're starting the process of selling our house but currently there is nothing on the market we're interested in. We love our house, we don't HAVE to move, we WANT to move to have more space ... So we certainly wouldn't move for anything less than the perfect house for us, and we certainly wouldn't entertain renting as unlikely we'd find what we wanted as a rental either and then we'd lose security too. So if your vendor is in a similar position as us, it's just bad luck, really


It's my big fear! That either we'll have a buyer on the line for ages, but no house to move to ... or we'll find the perfect house and no buyer for ours. Duh.

Thrugelmir

gmh wrote: »

In short: how long do I wait for this guy to find a property? And is there any smart ways of negotiating?

Not just your vendor. There's possibly the party above them in the chain to consider, and so on and so on. A chain needs to be built. Being bottom of the chain can be extremely frustrating. You'll need patience. As may take take some considerable time.

middleclassbutpoor

I would walk away personally.

You are paying 5k more than it's worth - does your lender know you are borrowing more money? Will that affect your ability to borrow what you need?

In your shoes, as you clearly like the property to pay £5k more than its worth, I would go back and say if they can't find anywhere within the next 2 weeks, you are not paying more than the valuation.

If they can't move without full asking - they can't move and should look for another borrower who doesn't need a mortgage.

If they need to move and haven't found after 2 weeks, then they will need to borrow the additional money to allow them to do it or negotiate the 5k from the asking price or look for a house that is lower in price.

It's not your responsibility to take on the financial shortfall if they can't negotiate a discount of the property they are buying. As they haven't even found a property - how is the reason we need that to afford our new house even relevant/logical - do they know what price the house will be that they have yet to find?

You should continue looking and expect to move on as I can imagine this going nowhere. If by chance they do find somewhere then all it takes is for them to adopt a similar position and you are screwed again. Bearing in mind a chain can take 3-4-5-6 months or longer - you don't have the freedom/luxury to be hanging around.

Sorry to say but they are extracting the urine and taking advantage of your naivety and goodwill.

If i haven't made it clear already, find a better seller.

Anyone who puts their property on the market and is not motivated to sell when a buyer is found within a reasonable time, is wasting everyone's time. If you need to move for a reason which cannot be met from current property stock, you should be prepared to break chain if you put on the market and cannot find within a couple of weeks of having an offer accepted.

Expecting a buyer to wait an indefinite amount of time whilst a 'unicorn' property comes up is madness.

csgohan4

I would walk, if their not bothered to sell the house and buy another one in a timely manner why should you?

Sibz

Your OIP from your lender has an expiry date - after that you get another credit search etc. Having to provide all the documents again with up to date ones

You should have put a completion date on your offer maybe?
Who knows whats going on with your vendor.

Like others have said - I would keep looking.

kinger101

I was going to say look for other places that are advertised as no chain, and if you find one, pull out of this one, letting the vendor know. But having read this.....

gmh wrote: »

The estate agent told us that the last person who had an offer on the property waited 10 months before pulling out

I'd pull out without letting the vendor know. They are clearly dreamers who have zero chance of finding their goldilocks home unless they win the lottery.

Cakeguts

It looks as if you aren't going to be able to buy this house eventually because the vendor isn't really that interested in selling. If he was he would be working with you and he isn't plus he doesn't mind if buyers pull out. He is probably looking for the perfect house which doesn't exist.



Might be a good idea so to withdraw the offer now that you know that he won't help you out and look for a different property being sold by someone who is serious about selling.

MysteryMe

I agree that sadly it looks like this house will be a non starter. I would not waste further time or money on it.

I usually call for patience but the vendor seems to not have a great desire to move from what you've posted.