Accepting an offer

Boogo

I’ve had an offer today from a buyer who says they won’t be in a position to complete until the end of the year because they need the money from HTB ISA. If I accept the offer what could the pitfalls potentially be? I’ve not found my next property yet so I’m not in a major rush but I don’t want to accept an offer now take the property off the market for it all to fall through later in the year.  Cheers! 

MovingForwards

You answered your own question.

yksi

What's in it for you? Probably nothing. So why accept it?
If they really want your property they'll still want it at the end of the year IF it hasn't found a faster buyer first...

NinjaTune

You could find your dream property tomorrow.  You'd then be tied into an arrangement that may or may not happen in 4 months' time and lose the property you want in the interim.

Personally, I'd tell them that you will keep their offer on the table but continue to market the property as they are not in a position to proceed.

DRP

There’s no advantage to it, and neither party is bound to the proposed deal anyway. 

I’d only ever accept an offer from a proceedable buyer. Otherwise it is all just theoretical.

misterben2013

yksi said:

What's in it for you? Probably nothing. So why accept it?
If they really want your property they'll still want it at the end of the year IF it hasn't found a faster buyer first...

NinjaTune said:

You could find your dream property tomorrow.  You'd then be tied into an arrangement that may or may not happen in 4 months' time and lose the property you want in the interim.

Personally, I'd tell them that you will keep their offer on the table but continue to market the property as they are not in a position to proceed.

DRP said:

There’s no advantage to it, and neither party is bound to the proposed deal anyway. 

I’d only ever accept an offer from a proceedable buyer. Otherwise it is all just theoretical.

Would asking for conveyancing etc ASAP be some kind of assurance the buyer is committed though? I.e - spend some money before the ISA funds are available?

Boogo

Thank you for your help. I suppose what’s making me consider it is that’s the potential buyer is very nice and selling my property is causing me a lot of anxiety so I just want it to be over! I very much understand the advice though, did wonder if I could ask them if we could you start conveyancing process now (the theory being If they are investing money in the process they would be less likely to pull out but own that wouldn’t help if I find my ideal property tomorrow).

yksi

I get the theory behind the idea, but I'm not so sure about starting the conveyancing. It might show he's serious right now, but things change. Your very nice buyer will not hesitate to throw his conveyancing money away if he finds a nicer home that's 5k cheaper.

It's a nice person, but he's not a personal friend. He will feel he owes you nothing if it's in his interests not to proceed - no matter how much inconvenience or money it costs you when it falls through.

Slithery

Boogo said:

I suppose what’s making me consider it is that’s the potential buyer is very nice

Irrelevant. It's a business transaction, nothing more.

hazyjo

No, don't get them to start conveyancing etc. That's pointless as the OP may pull out if they don't find anywhere, and who knows how long the chain above will take to form. Wait until the chain is complete.

If they'll pay asking price or close to it, they might be worth hanging on to as it'll probably take 3 months anyway.

It really depends on whether that means they can start in a month or so, or whether they need to wait until the end of the year for the money and then start the process which is more likely to be March ish for completion.

NameUnavailable

You can provisionally accept their offer but on the basis that you will still keep your home on the market in case you find a home you want to purchase and that you will potentially accept other offers if you find a place you want to buy and need to move more quickly than this purchaser can.

This purchaser may be interested but a) can they actually afford to buy your house and b) who knows what might happen with them between now and when they say they'll be able to proceed.