Buyer getting restless - advice

MaryNB

RecoveringAndy said:

You've got yourself into this situation.

The number of times I've heard the "We'll move into temporary accommodation" line from sellers is crazy. Almost without exception, they never follow through with this.

She made it clear that she wouldn't wait indefinitely before you accepted her offer. Either make good on your commitment to move out and break the chain or give her a date and hope that she's not going to pull out in the meantime.

If I've learnt anything from being on this forum it's to never believe the line "We'll move into temporary accommodation". Very easy to say, harder to do, very easy to back track on.

badger09

When we put our 'marmite' house on the market end of July last year we said we would move into rental. Had planned to move out of area to the coast, so rental was ideal. Sold fairly quickly to committed buyers with complete chain. COVID restrictions (& our age both 70+ & health issues) meant moving out of area difficult/impossible. Instead, found suitable local property immediately & purchase progressed quicker than sale, so all ok. Then vendor pulled out  - twice.

Having committed to rental, we started looking. Nothing suitable locally for less than 12 months, and even then, landlords reluctant to accept us. Found new purchase very quickly & started investigating Airb&b - not ideal with scheduled December/Jan completion. Decided purchase would probably complete in weeks rather than months, so looked at hotel accommodation. Fortunately friend offered us lifeline of furnished bungalow, albeit in Wales, 75 miles away. 

We could have asked our buyers to wait a further 4 weeks and I know they would have, BUT we don't know what people below would have done.

It was very expensive & incredibly stressful having to move twice, put stuff in storage, cope with 2 countries' COVID restrictions, live in someone else's home etc etc BUT we had said we would do it and we honoured that.

Just wanted to emphasise, it isn't always an easy option for vendor, no matter how committed they are.

Good luck

MysteryMe

The fact is, unless she can move her own stuff she's not going to get a removal van between now and the end of June and neither can the OP to get their stuff into storage.

MysteryMe

The other thing is that according to the OP they told the buyer they would go into rented if nothing in the pipeline or buying a new build. There obviously is something in the pipeline so OP is not reneging on anything in any case. 

Lavendyr

We bought recently - advertised as "no chain". We were told the family would go into rented accommodation if need be to meet our deadline (which was the original SDLT deadline of 31 March). They did. Despite being in their own purchase at the time.

There are good people out there and this DOES happen. We completed mid-March and are settled in our beautiful home.

ucl1986

Most likely the buyer is bluffing. Them walking away won't make their property purchase happen any quicker. 

arrows123

Lavendyr said:

We bought recently - advertised as "no chain". We were told the family would go into rented accommodation if need be to meet our deadline (which was the original SDLT deadline of 31 March). They did. Despite being in their own purchase at the time.

There are good people out there and this DOES happen. We completed mid-March and are settled in our beautiful home.

I know someone who was supposed to complete and move today and their seller pulled out at 5pm yesterday. They are part of a chain but have decided to sell anyway and have moved in today to stay with family until they figure out what to do. To echo the above there are good people out there. 

trakky14

We are in the same position but haven't found anything...house we.wanted fell through. Ours has been waiting 3 months and technically now ready to complete. We've been honest throughout and told her we can't find anything, nothing on the market, we've gone to final bids and offered significantly over the asking prices but still lost out. We've had enough ourselves now and if she pulls out wevw decided to stay put! Horrid situation but she just has to wait unfortunately 

lookstraightahead

People aren't going to just wait. They will pull out. Mortgage offers run out, people can't afford to just wait.

If a vendor wants the luxury of staying put until they're quite ready, then they need to chose a buyer who quite literally can fund it. That means not necessarily taking the highest offer. 

It's all going to have to come out in the wash. This manic porridge pot of pretend money that buyers apparently have will come to an end, and vendors will have to make some choices. Maybe not move and not sell if they can't find a rental or are unhappy about breaking the chain.

Sone people are just happy to have other people put themselves out, but can't possibly put themselves out! 

PollyWollyDoodle

Having made the decision to move and gone through the marketing process, I don’t want to let my buyers down and I don’t want to go through it all again; I wouldn’t have offered to move out if I wasn’t prepared to go through with it. 

I agreed a sale in April, and as soon as my buyers have had their survey in a couple of weeks I’m going to start looking for rental accommodation. I am self-employed, fit and active, and I don’t have any children. Even so, I am dreading the thought of moving twice and it’s going to cost me a significant amount of money.  It isn’t an easy option.