Wait for the dream house or move on?

Bookworm_Baker

My partner and I are in a bit of a dilemma about which house to potentially choose, so I am curious for opinions. 

We had an offer accepted on our dream house in mid-July and we are still at square 1 with our vendor trying to find somewhere to move to. 
- Initially vendor was moving into a new build and asked for a 28-day exchange so we got the mortgage, solicitors work, surveys etc in place. We had sold our place STC and didn't want our buyer holding things up so we pushed to complete on our house and moved in with family - him with his mum and me with mine, due to space constraints. 
- Late Aug vendors found an issue with their onward purchase and pulled out, but immediately had an offer accepted on another place and seemed keen to progress.
- Last week they found an issue with this 2nd onward purchase and pulled out again. 
- Yesterday AM they told us they're pulling out altogether and not selling the house
- This morning they said they've got more viewings lined up for this weekend and will let us know how they get on. 

We are now worried that even if they get an offer accepted on this 3rd house, they may pull out further down the line, or it may have a long chain. We don't know if they have genuinely found big problems with the first two houses, or are just not serious enough about moving/are too picky. 
At our end we've been ready to talk dates since late August, and Covid-19 brings added challenges, as the current restrictions mean my partner and I can't even see each other properly, having out of our home and in with separate family members - which we only did because the vendors were so keen to progress asap and we thought it would only be for a couple of weeks (and I can now see we were naive here!)
Additionally our mortgage offer expires in January and rates have gone up since we first applied, so if we need to get another offer it could cost us an extra £200 a month for the same mortgage. And worst case scenario, if there is a long chain or the vendor pulls out and starts again (again), we may even end up missing the stamp duty holiday, which will cost us over £10k!

Another house has come up - we don't love it as much as the first one, but we can't really fault it and it's got everything we need. Asking price is £25k cheaper and the vendors are moving into a new build and have already picked their extras such as flooring, kitchen counters etc, so we know they are progressing. The EA has also told us these vendors are in a hurry to find a buyer or they will lose their new build. 

I know no-one can choose for us, but any words of advice?

pinkteapot

I wouldn't go for the one you don't love as much, but I would keep looking as I'm not convinced your first one will ever go through.

Unfortunately at this point any new house you go for could easily not complete until after your mortgage offer expires... Mortgage offers can sometimes be extended for a month or two - it's well worth asking. With the not-so-good house, although vendors have chosen extras that's normally done fairly early in the new-build process, so their new house could still be months away, and new-builds are often delayed from the initial date. 

Suseka97

I feel your pain.. and by the sounds of it your current vendors are quite likely to withdraw from the market.   That's their right of course, I guess they haven't found that 'dream house' themselves.  

As for the new build, don't settle for something simply because you are close to the end of your mortgage offer (which can hopefully be extended).  If not the dream house, you should look for something that feels the same, if not better and don't just settle for something that 'will do'.  This is a big decision and you don't want to move in and soon after wish you had hung out for that next 'dream' property.

We've found our dream house but our vendors don't seem to be putting a lot of effort into finding their new home - they keep telling us they are committed, but I'm not convinced.  As it stands it looks as if we'll miss the SDLT freeze anyway, which like you will cost us IRO £10k.  

babyblade41

when looking at properties my first port of call is location first, then it has to accommodate us and the animals so for us outside space is very important.

After that then not particularly bothered as pretty much everything is changeable or doable 

bec820

Hi
The first house sounds very similar to an experience that we had. I decided that it was our dream house and continued to wait for them. After 12 months when they were finally ready to move we could no longer get a mortgage due to my husband becoming self employed and not having enough pay slips etc. We were told that in 3 months we could get a mortgage but they weren't prepared to wait for us (don't forget we had been waiting 12 months for them)
We lost the house and solicitor fees. 
My husband wanted to find another house all along as he thought they were messing us about but I was holding onto the dream home which we never got. 
So really I would say go for the 2nd house