FTB, been waiting for vendor to find a place for 4 months now

lilac_

Hi everyone, a bit of a long read but any advice would be much appreciated 💕
FTB 25 year old female, purchasing in London with boyfriend. Finally after months of searching and offers being rejected, we have an offer on a house accepted but it is not chain free ☹️ Please bare in mind that my BF has been dealing with the EA as I have anxiety, hence posting this...

Vendor was at the house when we viewed so we asked what their situation was. We were under the impression that
A. They were in the last stages of selling a flat in Wales and was dependent on it selling so they could purchase another place.
B. The house we were viewing had no impact on them purchasing another place.
C. Vendors only stayed in this property now and then?

Knowing all this still made us weary as it didn’t make sense that they didn’t need to sell this property in order to purchase another.

We were the first to view the property and knowing how fast properties went, we called up straight after the viewing to put in an offer. Offer was accepted and we said we wanted it taken off the market. Apparently the vendor said as we were the first to view it they thought it would be unfair to accept the other offer they had gotten.

In the early stages, as we are FTB, the EA tried to pressure us into starting paperwork and getting the ball rolling, however we stayed firm and said we agreed with the vendor that we wouldn’t start anything until they had found a place. - EA stopped pressuring us and called weekly to give updates.

Time line:
- Thinking seriously about buying since December 2018
- Ready to buy April/May 2019
- Offer accepted July 2019
- Vendor hadn’t found a place so we did not start anything paperwork until they have. EA calls regularly to tell us they’ve been actively searching, even got our hopes up one day, calling to say “they’ve made an offer, hasn’t been accepted yet, but we’re confident” :mad:
- That offer was not accepted, EA got our hopes up for nothing. :mad:
- Sep 2019 vendor finally has their offer accepted on another property.
- A week later we arrange our mortgage, and valuation by lender try’s to arrange an appointment however EA tells us the vendor won’t be at home that week 🤔 which makes me think they live there part time..
- a couple of days later EA calls to say “good news the Vendor has agreed to sell to you even if they haven’t found a place because they don’t want to mess you around any more” what does that even mean??? We are then informed that the vendors are having second thoughts on the house they have offered on :mad:

So I’m not sure what the situation is. I am a stresshead and worry about everything. I am under the impression that the vendor isn’t actually fully living in the property, and is hiding something. The vendor seems genuine about selling but you never know.. I’d like to say meanwhile we have been viewing other properties but had two rejected offers 💔 so it feels like this property is meant to be, however it has been dragging on!! :mad:

foxy-stoat

Leave your offer on the table but tell the Estate Agent that you are looking at other properties now, be prepared to walk away and find another property.

This is just how the buying and selling works, very stressful and so much can go wrong at any stage until exchange of contracts, then less likely and more costly.

Good luck

ACG

Keep an eye out for other properties.
We are in October, if they do not find anywhere in the next 3 weeks or so, there is every chance you will be in the same position as you are now, come March next year.

No point stressing about something completely outside of your control. Look elsewhere and if something crops up, make an offer. I would not tell the vendors anything (unless it just happens any new property is with the same agent).

Lokolo

It took you 3-4 months to have an offer accepted, and you're getting stressed at the fact the vendor has taken just as long?

As others have said, you can keep waiting, or start looking at other properties. Personally from the sound of you ("stresshead"), it may not be a good idea to start again.

We are getting into winter, when things slow down, so things may not pop up in the market as much.

GDB2222

I would not spend money on mortgage application or survey on that property until after your sellers have done so on the place that they would like to buy.

Also, you must keep looking. These sellers could pull out at any stage.

GDB2222

Oh, and the London market is pretty dead at the moment. Not much is moving.

nik_k

Keep waiting, give it a reasonable amount of time before you pull out (note - reasonable to you may not be the same as reasonable to the rest of the world)

Keep in your mind though that the sellers may well pull out, depending on the success with their purchase. As @foxy-stoat says, many things are possible until exchange of contracts, but thereafter much less likely.

Good luck!

pinkteapot

lilac_ wrote: »

- a couple of days later EA calls to say “good news the Vendor has agreed to sell to you even if they haven’t found a place because they don’t want to mess you around any more” what does that even mean??? We are then informed that the vendors are having second thoughts on the house they have offered on :mad:

The paragraph above is the most important part of your post and it sounds like the people responding above may have missed it as it comes right near the end.

What that means is the vendor is prepared to break the chain - they will go into rented or live with family or whatever. The point is, they will complete on their sale to you before they've bought another house.

In other words - they're changing their mind about the house they were buying but it doesn't matter because you getting theirs is no longer dependent on that purchase.

That was good news! Just keep the pressure on to exchange contracts and look out for them changing their minds.

AdrianC

pinkteapot wrote: »

The paragraph above is the most important part of your post and it sounds like the people responding above may have missed it as it comes right near the end.

What that means is the vendor is prepared to break the chain - they will go into rented or live with family or whatever. The point is, they will complete on their sale to you before they've bought another house.

In other words - they're changing their mind about the house they were buying but it doesn't matter because you getting theirs is no longer dependent on that purchase.

That was good news!

...if they stick to it.

pinkteapot

AdrianC wrote: »

...if they stick to it.

So true that I was just editing my post to add a sentence after that comment. :rotfl:

lilac_

Thank you for this @pinkteapot !
This is what I hoped it means but because I “like” to worry, I was afraid it meant they would continue to sell to us but not move until they found a place?

Is it possible for the vendor to continue with the sale and not move out even after completion? Sorry if this is a stupid question 😅

I think what I need to do is find out if they are actually willing to proceed without finding a place...