First Time Buyer, offer agreed but seller has no property yet

breakit

We are first time buyers so I am after some advice on the buying process.

We have found a property we like and agreed a price with the seller. They have our in principle agreement and so I have asked for them to take it off the market.

The property which the seller was interested in has gone so he does not have a place to move to at the moment. He is looking but has not found anywhere.

Should I be proceeding with my full mortgage application, engaging a solicitor etc immediately, or should I only be getting everybody involved at a point where the seller also has somewhere to move onto. I want to appear willing but I am wary that rushing too far ahead could cost us fees, should the seller just decide to pull out and stay where they are.

If the seller doesn't find anywhere in the next week or so, then I assume I could propose to them that we proceed with our purchase but set a date for them to move out by - regardless if that is to a rented property or somewhere else?

Advice welcome please. Thanks

s_glover

Definitely don't spend any money until the chain is complete and by a complete chain I don't just mean your vendor finding somewhere as there may be a further chains upwards from there.

You need to decide how long you are prepared to wait for your vendor to find a house. That would depend on how quickly you need / want to move and how much you want the property.

You can always approach the vendor and ask if they would be willing to move into rented if they haven't found anywhere by a set date but be prepared that they may not be willing to make this move. Of course they then risk loosing you as a buyer if you find somewhere else in the meantime.

jbondo

We are in a similar position as you Breakit. We are FTB, found a property at the start of March, put an offer in had it accepted etc. We've pretty much got everything sorted/organised & just waiting for exchange of contracts. We have got our Mortgage offer in place too so just waiting for our sellers to find their own place.

It is frustrating for us, we are waiting for them to find a property etc. We found out a few weeks ago they nearly found a property but were outbid so back to square 1 again. We've just been chasing the estate agent for regular updates & that's the only thing we can do so far.

As for asking if they will move into rented accommodation, it's something I may consider asking if it takes too long for them to find something. I don't mind waiting a reasonable amount of time (a few months), but if were talking more than 6 months then I think it'll be time to look elsewhere!

s_glover

jkility wrote: »

We are in a similar position as you Breakit. We are FTB, found a property at the start of March, put an offer in had it accepted etc. We've pretty much got everything sorted/organised & just waiting for exchange of contracts. We have got our Mortgage offer in place too so just waiting for our sellers to find their own place.

It is frustrating for us, we are waiting for them to find a property etc. We found out a few weeks ago they nearly found a property but were outbid so back to square 1 again. We've just been chasing the estate agent for regular updates & that's the only thing we can do so far.

As for asking if they will move into rented accommodation, it's something I may consider asking if it takes too long for them to find something. I don't mind waiting a reasonable amount of time (a few months), but if were talking more than 6 months then I think it'll be time to look elsewhere!

jkility if you have everything in place and just awaiting exchange of contracts you are in a very different place to the OP, who has only just had an offer accepted.

You have taken quite a risk getting to this stage, presumably paying fees for solicitors, searches, surveys etc when the chain is not complete. I would sincerely advise the OP against this approach. You could be facing a long wait for your vendor to find a house and then you may have to wait even longer if their vendor needs to find somewhere!

Wait until the chain is complete.

hazyjo

jkility wrote: »

We are in a similar position as you Breakit. We are FTB, found a property at the start of March, put an offer in had it accepted etc. We've pretty much got everything sorted/organised & just waiting for exchange of contracts. We have got our Mortgage offer in place too so just waiting for our sellers to find their own place.

In their shoes, I'd not rent. I would withdraw my house from the market and try again another time.


Not sure why you've organised everything up to exchange. Might be money, time and emotion down the drain... Average time to buy is 3 months from offer to completion. Much longer, and you risk your mortgage offer expiring which is prob 6 months from when issued.


Good luck. Agree with above - OP, don't start anything until the chain is complete.

Slinky

A week! You're giving them a week to find somewhere? How long did you take to find this house?



We were looking for 2 years before we found the one we bought, but we weren't selling anything to be able to buy.


Show some patience, you're going to need it in abundance when buying a house.

00ec25

hazyjo wrote: »

In their shoes, I'd not rent. I would withdraw my house from the market and try again another time.


Not sure why you've organised everything up to exchange. Might be money, time and emotion down the drain... Average time to buy is 3 months from offer to completion. Much longer, and you risk your mortgage offer expiring which is prob 6 months from when issued.


Good luck. Agree with above - OP, don't start anything until the chain is complete.

seconded.

exactly what a vendor did to me, they promised they would rent , then the place they were buying fell through and the offer to rent vanished. 6 weeks later they took their property off the market. Meantime the house 2 doors down came on to the market and was sold before my vendor pulled out. Thankfully I lost nothing other than the time and costs of viewing it - the comments from their EA when they pulled out are unprintable given i was a cash buyer ready to move instantly.

don't spend on fees until the chain is complete