Pushy buyers or hassling estate agent?

beefturnmail

I put our house on the market at the end of Jan, thinking that it would take a couple of months to find a buyer, but was fortunate enough to have someone offering asking price within a couple of weeks.   As this was sooner then I expected, we haven't found anywhere to buy ourselves yet - I explained that we would need time to find somewhere when accepting the offer.   Since then, estate agent has been pushing us on finding somewhere to buy - have we apppointed solicitors (we have now), buyer wants an update, buyer wants to know if we're leaving cupboards and white goods etc. (which I said we won't know until we've found somewhere) - Is this usual tactics from the EA trying to push the sale through, or do I have pushy buyers?   We accepted the offer 2 weeks ago.

foxy-stoat

I would think that the buyers want to know how long they are going to have to wait for you to find somewhere and start your searches, I wouldnt say they are pushy, just want regular updates.

Estate Agent wont be able to push the sale through if you have nowhere to buy.

Cupboards and white goods wont really amount to much, few hundred pounds so if you dont know then just say no they are not included at this stage, you may want to hold off completing the fixtures and fittings form until you know for sure.

sal_III

Could be either or both, does it matter? If anything you should be happy to have an eager buyer.

Chances are they have a chain below them looking to move forward, did you ask about that?

Flugelhorn

I would get on with your hunt very quickly, you might well lose your buyer if you don't .

I am always a bit wary when people are vague about where they are moving to or haven't found anywhere yet,  tends to put me off as I think the vendors might change their minds if they can't find somewhere

sal_III

Flugelhorn said:

I would get on with your hunt very quickly, you might well lose your buyer if you don't .

I am always a bit wary when people are vague about where they are moving to or haven't found anywhere yet,  tends to put me off as I think the vendors might change their minds if they can't find somewhere

Given the fact that most EAs won't let you put in an offer without an offer for your current property, it's a bit unreasonable to expect the vendor to have found their next property in 2 weeks.

Flugelhorn

sal_III said:

Flugelhorn said:

I would get on with your hunt very quickly, you might well lose your buyer if you don't .

I am always a bit wary when people are vague about where they are moving to or haven't found anywhere yet,  tends to put me off as I think the vendors might change their minds if they can't find somewhere

Given the fact that most EAs won't let you put in an offer without an offer for your current property, it's a bit unreasonable to expect the vendor to have found their next property in 2 weeks.

Fair enough - thinking about it I only tend to go for places where there is no onward chain etc 

SallyDucati

sal_III said:

Flugelhorn said:

I would get on with your hunt very quickly, you might well lose your buyer if you don't .

I am always a bit wary when people are vague about where they are moving to or haven't found anywhere yet,  tends to put me off as I think the vendors might change their minds if they can't find somewhere

Given the fact that most EAs won't let you put in an offer without an offer for your current property, it's a bit unreasonable to expect the vendor to have found their next property in 2 weeks.

When I was selling a couple of years ago I didn't start looking until I had a buyer for this very reason.  Kept an eye on Rightmove etc. but didn't go viewing in case I fell in love with a house but couldn't offer.

OP - Agree it is probably a bit of both EA (wanting the commission sooner rather than later) and buyer.  Just let them know you are actively looking.  

beefturnmail

thanks - i've replied to say we've been looking both weekends since they offered 

Thrugelmir

Pushy buyers. Though EA might well contact you on a weekly basis just to keep up todate with events. 

Skiddaw1

SallyDucati said:

sal_III said:

Flugelhorn said:

I would get on with your hunt very quickly, you might well lose your buyer if you don't .

I am always a bit wary when people are vague about where they are moving to or haven't found anywhere yet,  tends to put me off as I think the vendors might change their minds if they can't find somewhere

Given the fact that most EAs won't let you put in an offer without an offer for your current property, it's a bit unreasonable to expect the vendor to have found their next property in 2 weeks.

When I was selling a couple of years ago I didn't start looking until I had a buyer for this very reason.  Kept an eye on Rightmove etc. but didn't go viewing in case I fell in love with a house but couldn't offer.

OP - Agree it is probably a bit of both EA (wanting the commission sooner rather than later) and buyer.  Just let them know you are actively looking.  

Same here. We did have a long-list of houses we were interested in. Once we knew we had a buyer lined up we whittled list down to a short-list and arranged viewings on all of them. Luckily, current house was one of them. Even so, it was around 3-4 weeks before we had our offer accepted, etc. I think 2 weeks is definitely over-ambitious.