Buyer pulled out on day of exchange

NameUnavailable

Investor buyers are always a big risk as they will simply divert their attention to a 'better' investment if one comes along or have problems diverting funds to exchange. I was strung along by such a buyer for about 9 months before I finally had enough (it was always going to exchange by the end of the month, then some hitch would delay things, so it would be the next month etc.).

Boxing day is the busiest on Rightmove but it's too late now to change the asking price. See what interest you get after the holiday and stress that you can/want to move quickly to meet the stamp duty deadline as that may influence prospective buyers too.

GDB2222

If you want any chance of getting this all through before 31 March, I'd suggest throwing everything at it. £250k is a good price to list at. 

powerful_Rogue

Have you considered remortgaging on a Let To Buy on your current house? This would release the funds for your deposit and get rid of a lot of the rush as you sell.

This is what we did.

blue_max_3

I am sure there are many buyers who want to try and take advantage of the stamp duty holiday and it is in their interests to rush it through. It's actually a good time to find a buyer I think.

GDB2222

blue_max_3 said:

I am sure there are many buyers who want to try and take advantage of the stamp duty holiday and it is in their interests to rush it through. It's actually a good time to find a buyer I think.

You'll be lucky to complete before 31 March.

never_again_123

We are in a similar boat to you in some ways. Accepted offer at the beginning of August (not an investor) and have been through all the conveyancing ever since which has been super stressful (initial exchange date should have been end of Oct!) Bottom of the chain pulled out officially on Tuesday last week which was devastating, but not a total shock in all honesty. We put our house straight back on (after checking that our vendors would wait at least a little while) & accepted an offer from a cash buyer with no chain (also not an investor) by Thursday afternoon who insists they can complete before the end of March. It does seem too good to be true as I'm typing it out admittedly, but we're keeping everything crossed. What more have we got to lose in at least trying 🤷🏻‍♀️ Our purchase and further up the chain are all totally ready to exchange and complete. If this falls apart again, our vendors will have to re-market themselves and we'll try again in the Spring I guess. Don't lose hope!

tink_1983

Thankyou all. I think unless we find a quick buyer and they can buy the local searches from the guy that let us down we will need to factor stamp duty in. 
It's a kick in the gut as this has been going on since August but nothing we can do to force the situation.

tink_1983

never_again_123 said:

We are in a similar boat to you in some ways. Accepted offer at the beginning of August (not an investor) and have been through all the conveyancing ever since which has been super stressful (initial exchange date should have been end of Oct!) Bottom of the chain pulled out officially on Tuesday last week which was devastating, but not a total shock in all honesty. We put our house straight back on (after checking that our vendors would wait at least a little while) & accepted an offer from a cash buyer with no chain (also not an investor) by Thursday afternoon who insists they can complete before the end of March. It does seem too good to be true as I'm typing it out admittedly, but we're keeping everything crossed. What more have we got to lose in at least trying 🤷🏻‍♀️ Our purchase and further up the chain are all totally ready to exchange and complete. If this falls apart again, our vendors will have to re-market themselves and we'll try again in the Spring I guess. Don't lose hope!

Good luck to you! Hopefully itll all work out. 
We are living surrounded by packed belongings as we thought we would be moving soon! I was very naive unfortunately 

tink_1983

GDB2222 said:

blue_max_3 said:

I am sure there are many buyers who want to try and take advantage of the stamp duty holiday and it is in their interests to rush it through. It's actually a good time to find a buyer I think.

You'll be lucky to complete before 31 March.

I agree. Itll be a miracle to complete before march 31st now

p00hsticks

blue_max_3 said:

I am sure there are many buyers who want to try and take advantage of the stamp duty holiday and it is in their interests to rush it through.

Unless they don't need a mortgage, can do their own conveyancing and are prepared to do without searches, survey etc the buyer themselves doesn't really have that much influence on timescales though - they are reliant on how fast the lenders, solicitors, local authorities etc can move, and they are generally now very busy for the exact same reasons.