Length of time to form a complete chain

LB_000

My partner and I are FTBs and have had an offer accepted on a house at the beginning of last month. The vendors of the house have now found a property to move to - the vendor of that house now needs to find a place to buy which may or may not complete the chain. We aren't particularly in a rush to move as we are 1 month into a 6 month lease, however I am wondering how long it could potentially take for a complete chain to be formed. 

I'm curious to hear other people's experience on the longest time you've waited for a chain to form. 

kinger101

The short answer is anywhere between 5 minutes and never.  At one extreme, the vendor might decide now they're proceedable to make an offer on a property they previously looked at.  Offer gets accepted, and chain completed.  At the other, the vendor might not find anywhere they like and call the whole thing off after stringing you along for several months.

Always worth knowing someone's motivation for selling.  Expanding family needing more space is good.  Retiring couple with a vague notion of moving to an area far away they know nothing about isn't so good.

blue_max_3

Don't spend any money and keep looking is my advice at this point. 

eddddy

blue_max_3 said:

Don't spend any money and keep looking is my advice at this point. 

Why keep looking? Do mean look for a property with no onward chain? That's likely to be a small pool of properties.

It sounds like the OP's current vendor has had an offer accepted - so one link in the onward chain is in place. If the OP finds another property to offer on, it's likely that the onward chain will be starting from scratch - so that would be a step n the wrong direction.

blue_max_3

eddddy said:

Why keep looking? Do mean look for a property with no onward chain? That's likely to be a small pool of properties.

It sounds like the OP's current vendor has had an offer accepted - so one link in the onward chain is in place. If the OP finds another property to offer on, it's likely that the onward chain will be starting from scratch - so that would be a step n the wrong direction.

They may well find another, where they are the last link required in a chain. Although there may well be ex-landlords offering properties up in the coming months.
It doesn't hurt to keep looking while they see if this one unfolds.

Tiglet2

Most people looking to move will have some idea of what they are looking for and the area they are looking in.  While it is obviously necessary to have found a buyer before they can offer on something, hopefully they have been looking and have already "shortlisted" some properties to view/offer on.  If they haven't even started looking because they waited to find a buyer, then the formation of a complete chain is going to take some time......

sanquar

They may well find another, where they are the last link required in a chain. Although there may well be ex-landlords offering properties up in the coming months.

It doesn't hurt to keep looking while they see if this one unfolds.

Oh really,  what makes you say this?

LordDC

I was a FTB 2 years ago, there were 4 houses (including mine in the chain), the chain took around 2 months to form. It then took around 8 months from initial offer acceptance to completion on what should have been a fairly simple transaction. 1 house in the middle of the chain was responsible for the majority of the eternity 6 month gap to exchange.

Chilli6

I can't comment on the length of a chain to form as I've only had very short ones, however from experience I've learnt there is no way to predict the time line once the chain is all complete. When I bought a new build as a ftb it took about 6 weeks from offer to completion so was quick and easy. 
Then my previous sale was just me and the buyer, of a 9 year old house. I thought it would be quick however it took 5 months due to the searches throwing up all sorts about the land it was built on!
I'm now buying an empty house with no chain my end so in theory I'd like to think I could be completed in 8 weeks but who knows what will come up! 

blue_max_3

sanquar said:

They may well find another, where they are the last link required in a chain. Although there may well be ex-landlords offering properties up in the coming months.

It doesn't hurt to keep looking while they see if this one unfolds.

Oh really,  what makes you say this?

The tax advantages of having a buy to let property have been eroded over the years. The government are actively hostile to this sector now. In a rising market, the value increase could make all the difference. However, in a depression, especially with the precarious nature of the rental income due to the pandemic, things look less appealing. And if you have numerous and are highly leveraged, non paying tenants can cause financial meltdown.
I've seen a few that have come onto the market recently. You can often see them with 'to let' boards outside on google streetview.

LB_000

Thanks for everyone's comments. 

I was quite prepared the actual house sale could take a while to go through but I hadn't thought about how long the chain would take to form. @Tiglet2 your comment summarises my current issue pretty well - I don't know if the lady two links up from us has anywhere in mind already or has only recently started looking. It must be difficult for sellers trying to time selling a property and finding one they want to move to.

I know the family we are buying from are keen to move and they are actually friendly with the lady they are buying from so I am hoping that works in our favour. Both my partner and I and our vendors have quite a specific area we want to live in so, although I check daily, I can't see much else that it suitable coming up on the market. I think we'll be sticking it out for a while longer and hoping for the best.

@LordDC thanks for your reply - I was particularity interested in hearing any anecdotes. If anyone else has any more I'd be keen to hear them (not sure if they'll help me directly but I suppose I find it reassuring listening to other people's stories).