Purchase fell through, should we continue with sale?

pinkteapot

It's a fair point re calling your buyer's bluff. Is there anything else on the market for you right now? If so, you could tell your buyers they'll have to wait for your new sale. If they pull out, they'll have to start over elsewhere anyway. If you lose your buyer, how hard is it to re-sell your house - how long did it take to get a buyer the first time? 

The last house that we sold went to someone in exactly your position. Their vendor pulled out the day before exchange. Their buyer was desperate to get into their place. They viewed everything on the market advertised with no onward chain (we were relocating and going into rented) and chose ours, on the basis we complete within five weeks. We couldn't do that, but we did complete in something like 7-8 weeks. Their buyer didn't pull out.

I do remember thinking though that I probably would have gone into rented in their position, rather than panic-buy a house! But if there happens to be something that's right for you then it's worth a try. 

GDB2222

Nobody here has asked the most important question, namely what are house prices doing in your area? If they are going up, you should not really be voluntarily getting out of the market. 

The second most important question, which has been touched on above, is how much new property is coming to the market? And how competitive is the market? You would need to be 100% confident that you can quickly and easily find a house to buy. Otherwise, you could be living with your family for an awfully long time. 

bsmith147

Thanks all!

We had 20 viewings booked within a day of our house being up and multiple offers, sold day 1. Our house is a renovated 3 bed in a desirable area so confident it would sell again quickly.

On the flip side, it seems there are very few properties going on the market and we’ve seen nothing at all we’d even want to view.

Suppose we will have to weigh up both sides of this and just go with the best of a bad situation. 

GDB2222

bsmith147 said:

Thanks all!

We had 20 viewings booked within a day of our house being up and multiple offers, sold day 1. Our house is a renovated 3 bed in a desirable area so confident it would sell again quickly.

On the flip side, it seems there are very few properties going on the market and we’ve seen nothing at all we’d even want to view.

Suppose we will have to weigh up both sides of this and just go with the best of a bad situation. 

Can I help you with the moral side of this:

You have acted with the best of intentions throughout this process. It's not your fault your seller backed out at the last moment.

Your goal, throughout, was to move home, not to become homeless.

When you agreed to sell, you did not envisage the present situation arising. 

In short, you have no moral obligation to make yourself homeless in order to suit your buyers.

If you feel sorry for your buyers, then I suggest you pay some, or all, of their fees. Your attitude might depend on how much of your expenditure your sellers reimbursed. (I'm guessing none?) 


As you can't find anything suitable to buy, I personally think you would probably be bonkers to sell - but that depends on whether prices are rising or falling, and how you view a prolonged stay with family. 

Ally_E.

Have a look at other mortgages, you might find that if you have to pay early repayment charge and change providers, you could get a better rate. We worked out if anything happens and we need to break the chain and can't buy another property in time, our ERC will the same amount as us getting a new mortgage with a different provider with lower interest rate. So the ERC would the same amount as the money we'd save with new mortgage in 2 years.

Thrugelmir

Your buyers could potentially double bluff you. They say "yes we'll wait".  While you are looking for a new property. So are they. Possibly they'll already been looking and booked viewings of properties of interest. Hence the short time window. 

PollyWollyDoodle

I sold my house in April, but couldn’t find anything to buy.   I didn’t want to lose my buyer or go through remarketing the property, so I decided to move out and rent. The sale is due to complete next month.  

In fact I found the house I want just two weeks ago and I’m hoping to complete it before the end of September. Yes I will incur costs of storage, temporary accommodation and so on, but being so close to exchange put me in a very good position, there were other offers but they preferred mine. If you can bear it, you’ll be in a much better bargaining position being chain free; I would go ahead with the sale in your shoes. Only you can decide. 

mark55man

I would sell I think - the stamp duty holiday created a surge, and while things might not go down, I do think prices are not likely to surge further in the few months it will take you to find another.

lookstraightahead

Just as an aside, there are millions of people in the U.K. who rent and live in 'temporary' accommodation who are just fine. 

It's just a bit of adaptation for a short period of time.

Its a difficult decision op, but either way you will manage.