Buyer pulled out just before exchange

p00hsticks

grayma91 said:

It really, really infuriates me that the individual pulling out is not liable for any of the fees I have incurred as a result of accepting their offer. She has had two months to decide whether the house was too small. 

Bear in mind that the buyer will also have forked out quite a bit of money to get this far in the process, so pulling out isn't likely to be a decision she made lightly. As edddy says, I suspect she may have other reasons for pulling out that she doesn't feel able to disclose.

Thrugelmir

grayma91 said:

She has had two months to decide whether the house was too small. 

Who knows what the truth actually is. 

tweet86

I’m sorry this has happened. Did it take very long to sell originally? If it had a lot of interest back then, it’s likely to have a similar amount now. I’ve found that due to the stamp duty temporary changes lots are trying to buy now. A house near to us wanted a quick sale, so they priced it slightly under which meant they could have a pick of the offers and they chose the most proceed-able person. 

We pulled out of a sale a few months ago. We weren’t too far in (just before survey) but we still felt terrible. We told the agents it was due to money issues, it wasn’t. Our vendors were being very awkward(I’m not saying that it was you being awkward, just that agents might not tell the truth) not returning the agents phone calls, delaying the survey, wouldn’t accept anything less than 1% under the asking price. Our buyer wanted to be in to our property ASAP and threatened to pull out if we didn’t exchange soon. It went on the market again and sold within a week (despite being on the market for 7 months before we offered without any offers). They’ve carried on buying their original purchase. 

Crashy_Time

moneysavinghero said:

Things take the time they will take. Nothing you can do. No guarantee your new buyer wont pull out as well. Only option if you really need a quick sale is one of 'We Buy Any Home' type of operation - but you won't want to touch those guys with a bargepole.

Not really, a price drop could do the trick just as well. Are you sure "too small" isn`t just code for "too much"?

NameUnavailable

Don't blame your ex buyer, blame the system. Write to Boris and demand changes in the house buying process in England/Wales. You could just as easily have changed your mind and let down your buyer, that happens just as much.

I doubt a new buyer/lender will want to rely on someone else's searches so it isn't usual to transfer those, plus - I think - they are actually the buyers property, just as their survey is. You could ask to buy them off them but why fork out money for something that your next buyers will be expecting to pay for anyway?

For a quick sale you could put the place up for auction - proper auction that is, not 'modern method', but you will usually get a lower price that you would expect from sale via agents.

happysellerbuyer

Did you buyer had a survey done. Make sure that your new buyers get invested in the process quickly ( surveys etc. ) 

moneysavinghero

Crashy_Time said:

moneysavinghero said:

Things take the time they will take. Nothing you can do. No guarantee your new buyer wont pull out as well. Only option if you really need a quick sale is one of 'We Buy Any Home' type of operation - but you won't want to touch those guys with a bargepole.

Not really, a price drop could do the trick just as well. Are you sure "too small" isn`t just code for "too much"?

A drop in price might speed up finding someone to buy the house. It would not speed up the conveyancing process though.

iwb100

We had a buyer pull out saying they couldn’t get a mortgage once. Except their broker contacted our estate agent to say they had a mortgage offer for our property. People will say anything. Usually it’s either they’ve found another property they prefer, OR their circumstances have changed, either a promotion means they can afford bigger and better or lost their job etc and can’t afford it. Or they just got cold feet about buying entirely. This latter one is common with first time buyers of a nervy disposition. 

Crashy_Time

iwb100 said:

We had a buyer pull out saying they couldn’t get a mortgage once. Except their broker contacted our estate agent to say they had a mortgage offer for our property. People will say anything. Usually it’s either they’ve found another property they prefer, OR their circumstances have changed, either a promotion means they can afford bigger and better or lost their job etc and can’t afford it. Or they just got cold feet about buying entirely. This latter one is common with first time buyers of a nervy disposition. 

Or they have decided/realised that the house is over-priced and don`t want to come out and say that for whatever reason.

GDB2222

NameUnavailable said:

For a quick sale you could put the place up for auction - proper auction that is, not 'modern method', but you will usually get a lower price that you would expect from sale via agents.

Auction sales are not as quick as all that. You need to sign up around 6 weeks before the sale, so they can get you in the catalogue. And it takes a couple of weeks to go through the signing-up process. The auctions are usually once a month, so you may have to wait for one. It could easily be 2-3 months from deciding to auction your home to the hammer dropping. Then, it's normally another 4 weeks to completion.  And, of course, not all properties in the auction actually sell.