Buyers keep pulling out of sale

ethank

Hi. I had this on my old flat. A conversion of a victorian building. I went from estate agent to estate agent. It was not until I went multi-agency that we sold. The last estate agent that we appointed - when he came round, I said why should I go with you. He said "I have no other two bed flats on my books". It sold on the first viewing with him a week later. I thought I should go with the best agency in the area, but if they have 25 two bed flats on their books - are they really going to push yours?

happy35

It is very frustrating, if you are buying a new build is there a possibility you can part exchange?

jackomdj

OldMusicGuy wrote: »

It's frustrating, we have had similar issues. The simple answer is you should not commit to buying anything until you have sold yours (ie exchanged).

OldMusicGuy How do you expect that to work in practice? When you exchange you set a completion date, if at that point you start looking, then do the searches etc, then exchange and at that point the person you are buying from starts looking.... Etc. Or do you think you exchange, start looking, possibly get part way through your purchase, move out into temporary accomodation (because it is now completion day)

Interested to understand how you picture it.

I do think the uk buying process needs to change, but font know how to make it 'fair' on both parties.

Crashy_Time

secondbuyer100 wrote: »

Thanks for your replies.
If it was something about the property that has changed their mind then I wish they would tell me, the agent has phoned her a few times today and each time she has rejected the call.
I bought my flat from new in 2017, it is only 2 and a half years old so there shouldn't be any issues that would have cropped up on a survey. The only thing I can think of is that she didn't like the service charge fees - I was upfront about these from the beginning and they are in line with other flats in the area. Or she had found something else she liked and decided to go for that instead. The builders have said they will keep the plot reserved for a little while, the house will be ready in September though and I can't imagine they will wait until then incase they end up with a finished and empty plot.

How much profit were you expecting to take?

secondbuyer100

Unfortunately part exchange isn't an option as I am using the help to buy scheme on the new plot.
A flat on this development sold for £114,000 2 months ago, and it is exactly the same as mine (layout, floorspace, spec etc). I accepted a lower offer than this on mine - I didn't want to be greedy and was getting what I needed from the lower offer to be able to move on and upsize. It was priced well in comparison to other similar flats in the area which is why I believe I got so many viewings. I could potentially take even less to get a quick sale, but it does seem foolish to sell something for a lot less than what it's really worth. Seems I may be left with that option though if I really want to keep hold of the new plot.
I will have to mull it over and figure out if it's better to wait and try again next year.

RelievedSheff

secondbuyer100 wrote: »

Thanks for your replies.
If it was something about the property that has changed their mind then I wish they would tell me, the agent has phoned her a few times today and each time she has rejected the call.
I bought my flat from new in 2017, it is only 2 and a half years old so there shouldn't be any issues that would have cropped up on a survey. The only thing I can think of is that she didn't like the service charge fees - I was upfront about these from the beginning and they are in line with other flats in the area. Or she had found something else she liked and decided to go for that instead. The builders have said they will keep the plot reserved for a little while, the house will be ready in September though and I can't imagine they will wait until then incase they end up with a finished and empty plot.

The new build we have just bought was an finished and completed house when we reserved it. It was ready to move into almost straight away. The only thing it didn't have in place when we reserved it was the flooring but this was put down the following week.

Our plot wasn't the only one on the development that was completed and ready to go either. We all got decent incentives and discounts for buying ready to move plots and part exchanged and moved in, in under four weeks.

I guess my point is that builders do end up with completed builds on their books so don't panic too much about the September completion date.

Is there any way you can do the purchase without using Help to Buy so that you can use a part exchange scheme instead? We found that this took a lot of stress out of our move and we ended up getting a very fair price for our old home.

pitbull

Unfortunately it seems to be the way at the moment, peoples attitude really does take the biscuit sometimes. Over 25 years I have sold 3 other properties and never experienced the issues I seem to be having with my current sale.

People just looking to see what the market is like before deciding whether to market their own property
Complain about trivial things which are detailed in the listings
People making appointments to view and just not bothering to turn up

It is stressful to say the least.

OldMusicGuy

jackomdj wrote: »

OldMusicGuy How do you expect that to work in practice?

Interested to understand how you picture it.

If buying a new build, don't commit until you have exchanged or are close to exchange. Most developers will move fairly quickly if they know you are very proceedable (assuming you are buying a built property rather than off plan).

If buying existing property, be prepared to go into rental if you cannot tie things up with the sale of yours. Or be prepared to live with friends/family for a while.

If you can't do either of those things, be prepared for stress and heartache along the way.....