Slow house sale process and no information forthcoming - re-market? Change EA?

Drawingaline

Get on the phone to the EA and say you need an update on your buyers position within 24/48hrs to enable you to decide if you wish to put the house back on the market.

It reads like the buyers haven't had a mortgage offer and it's been 14weeks is this correct? Ours took 7 weeks, and we hung on for three months waiting for our first buyer to sort theirs out, but in the end it didn't happen and we had to remarket.

Pendrive

Tiglet2 said:

You do seem to be fixated on the EA, but of course you and your buyer are paying for conveyancing solicitors to do the legal work, so they are the only parties to actually know what stage you are at. 

The EA, in reality, is not involved with the legal process and after finding a buyer for a property, their role is largely over.  EAs do have sales progressors', but of course they can only pass on any information they are given by the solicitor in good faith.  They don't see any paperwork and solicitors generally do not like EAs contacting them every day requesting updates.   

You can't speak to the buyer's solicitor, but you can speak to your own.  Ask your solicitor to explain what they are waiting for, before they can move to the next step.

Thanks Tiglet - we know what we are waiting for - news following a mortgage survey carried out more than 7 weeks ago now. This is why the EA is being asked to contact the buyers - whom they found in the first instance, of course, and checked the financial credentials of at that point - to find out what the situation is in regard to a mortgage offer. There is no reason to feel the buyers should not be able to provide an update of some kind at this stage, even if it is that they are still waiting to hear from the mortgage company, and are contacting them in turn to ask. I'm hearing absolutely nothing at all back on this, however. Their solicitor is carrying out searches, though; but seem to be quite slow with those - an earlier email from them gave a date of a couple of weeks ago when all of those were due to have been completed. The solicitor also merely says they are waiting themselves to hear about the mortgage survey outcome from the buyers.

I don't see the problem you have with myself as vendor asking the EA to contact the buyers and ask about this. Nor why you think it represents being 'fixated'! 

Pendrive

Drawingaline said:

Get on the phone to the EA and say you need an update on your buyers position within 24/48hrs to enable you to decide if you wish to put the house back on the market.

It reads like the buyers haven't had a mortgage offer and it's been 14weeks is this correct? Ours took 7 weeks, and we hung on for three months waiting for our first buyer to sort theirs out, but in the end it didn't happen and we had to remarket.

It has been around 14 weeks since the buyers' offer was accepted, and over 7 weeks since their mortgage survey was carried out. The question of what point one moves to remarketing the property in the absence of much communication at all on the mortgage survey / offer is probably the one I'm looking to answer at the moment. The buyers' solicitor has been carrying out searches, it seems.

Pendrive

NameUnavailable said:

The EA is there to find you a buyer, which they've done. The process is now in the hands of conveyancers/solicitors so whilst the EA can chase/push to help move things along they can't actually do anything else.

You should be chasing your solicitor for confirmation that the mortgage offer has been agreed etc.

If they can't get any concrete answers then your other option is to put the place back on the market and tell your existing buyers they can still proceed if they want to but they need to exchange before another buyer comes along!

The EA has a sales progression arm. The buyers' solicitor have told my solicitor they are awaiting news of mortgage outcome themselves. The EA found the buyers in the first place, and presumably checked their financial position and credentials at that time. It seems far from unreasonable to be asking the EA what is going on, at this point.

Yes - the question of whether and when to put the house back on the market is the question I'm considering at the moment. Part of that consideration is that the buyers' solicitors have been carrying out searches; and I assume someone is going to have to provide a comment of some kind fairly soon on how things stand at present.

Tiglet2

Pendrive said:

Tiglet2 said:

You do seem to be fixated on the EA, but of course you and your buyer are paying for conveyancing solicitors to do the legal work, so they are the only parties to actually know what stage you are at. 

The EA, in reality, is not involved with the legal process and after finding a buyer for a property, their role is largely over.  EAs do have sales progressors', but of course they can only pass on any information they are given by the solicitor in good faith.  They don't see any paperwork and solicitors generally do not like EAs contacting them every day requesting updates.   

You can't speak to the buyer's solicitor, but you can speak to your own.  Ask your solicitor to explain what they are waiting for, before they can move to the next step.

I don't see the problem you have with myself as vendor asking the EA to contact the buyers and ask about this. Nor why you think it represents being 'fixated'! 

If you read your opening post, it is mostly about your concern about getting information from the EA, which was why I said 'fixated'.  Ultimately, the EA is the carrier pigeon.  It is the solicitor who has the facts, but you are not their client.  The EA can only phone the buyer and buyer's solicitor to try and get some information from them and pass it on to you.  I don't have a 'problem' with you as a vendor asking the EA about this, why would I?  However, when the buyer viewed the property, they may have had an offer 'in principle' but now they have to go through the full application.  The mortgage lender will have only done a valuation survey on your property.  They are only concerned that the property is worth what they are willing to lend.  If the buyers are borrowing the maximum amount of money and have a low deposit, then the loan to value becomes important to the lender.  The valuation must match the sale price, otherwise the lender may ask their client to top up a shortfall.  It does seem like it's taking a long time, but of course the lender may be asking for all sorts of paperwork from the buyer, which they might be struggling to provide.  Obviously they are not likely to tell you if this is case, other than the generic responses you already have.

martindow

Your EA does sound a bit useless.  I don't think I agree with other posters who have said that the EA has done their work as they have found you a buyer.

Really their work has only just started as decent agents should be working to keep the chain together, passing information up and down the chain and nudging people into action where necessary.  It is in their interests to do this as they won't get paid for 'sales' that fall through.

Thrugelmir

Pendrive said:

NameUnavailable said:

The EA is there to find you a buyer, which they've done. The process is now in the hands of conveyancers/solicitors so whilst the EA can chase/push to help move things along they can't actually do anything else.

You should be chasing your solicitor for confirmation that the mortgage offer has been agreed etc.

If they can't get any concrete answers then your other option is to put the place back on the market and tell your existing buyers they can still proceed if they want to but they need to exchange before another buyer comes along!

The EA found the buyers in the first place, and presumably checked their financial position and credentials at that time. It seems far from unreasonable to be asking the EA what is going on, at this point.

The onus is on you to put pressure on the potential purchaser via the EA. Something along the lines of if x does not happen with x days then we will be remarketing the property.  The ins and outs of the purchasers personal situation are of no concern of yours. Play hardball. It's a business transaction at the end of the day.  Your expectations and focus on the EA are unwarranted.