FTB: some advice on waiting for vendor due to chain break

Heardy92

Hi guys

Long story short I'm a FTB who had an offer accepted June of this year and after an already long, emotional process (and generally just hoping I'd be moved this side of Xmas) have found out today that the chain ahead of our vendor has fallen through. I'm still waiting to hear from the EA on the vendors appetite to rent, but was wondering how common it is for a buyer to negotiate a reduced price based on willingness to tread water while vendor starts a new purchase from scratch. I'd fallen in love with the flat I had hoped I'd shortly be moving into, however on the flip side I'm paying rent while I wait and my partner had been waiting for us to move to find a new job as she's a retail manager.

Just some generally words of advice would be really welcome as I'm quite rocked by all this.thanks in advance 

MaryNB

I wouldn't hold out any hope on the vendor moving into rented accommodation. Either they move into short term accommodation which will be expensive. Or they sign to to an AST for a minimum 6 months which doesn't leave them with a lot of flexibility if the find somewhere else to buy shortly after completing. 

Also the hassle of moving twice, cost of movers x2, paying rent for a few months, finding somewhere if they have pets. In some areas of the UK there is massive demand for rental properties so they may struggle to find somewhere suitable. 

Very easy for them to promise they'll move out and rent but bail when they look into it in detail. Or they find somewhere to buy late in the process and drag it out until they're ready to complete on their purchase.

lookstraightahead

I have an issue with one party making another party wait and foot the bill, but if they won't rent then I think you need to decide whether to wait or look elsewhere. I doubt they will reduce the price - if they're not willing to rent they are unlikely to negotiate anything else.

I've always broken the chain and find it less stressful, often overlapping, and then making my money back as Im then bottom of the chain and have more negotiating power (which is exactly what I've just done). But it appears I'm in the minority so don't count on them looking at it from that perspective. 

I think many vendors think it doesn't cost FTB to stay put, not sure why as they're usually paying rent, or someone's paying anyway.

nimbo

The rental market is crazy at the minute. They may not be able to find anywhere quickly. And even if they did they might not want a temp move before Christmas. 

It may not be the way you planned it but can’t your partner start looking for roles now? 

Start looking at other properties? Although you then have to start from
scratch too…

SpiderLegs

Heardy92 said:

Hi guys

Long story short I'm a FTB who had an offer accepted June of this year and after an already long, emotional process (and generally just hoping I'd be moved this side of Xmas) have found out today that the chain ahead of our vendor has fallen through. I'm still waiting to hear from the EA on the vendors appetite to rent, but was wondering how common it is for a buyer to negotiate a reduced price based on willingness to tread water while vendor starts a new purchase from scratch. I'd fallen in love with the flat I had hoped I'd shortly be moving into, however on the flip side I'm paying rent while I wait and my partner had been waiting for us to move to find a new job as she's a retail manager.

Just some generally words of advice would be really welcome as I'm quite rocked by all this.thanks in advance 

I’m a bit confused. You don’t like the idea of having to continue paying rent, but then expect the vendor to have to go do exactly that?

Or you’re going to gazunder them?

Now if I was the vendor and had just had my chain collapse I wouldn’t be in a particularly good mood. If my buyer then came knocking on the door saying I had to drop the price or have a load of hassle and extra cost of breaking the chain, I might have a few choice words to say about those particular options…

lookstraightahead

SpiderLegs said:

Heardy92 said:

Hi guys

Long story short I'm a FTB who had an offer accepted June of this year and after an already long, emotional process (and generally just hoping I'd be moved this side of Xmas) have found out today that the chain ahead of our vendor has fallen through. I'm still waiting to hear from the EA on the vendors appetite to rent, but was wondering how common it is for a buyer to negotiate a reduced price based on willingness to tread water while vendor starts a new purchase from scratch. I'd fallen in love with the flat I had hoped I'd shortly be moving into, however on the flip side I'm paying rent while I wait and my partner had been waiting for us to move to find a new job as she's a retail manager.

Just some generally words of advice would be really welcome as I'm quite rocked by all this.thanks in advance 

I’m a bit confused. You don’t like the idea of having to continue paying rent, but then expect the vendor to have to go do exactly that?

Or you’re going to gazunder them?

Now if I was the vendor and had just had my chain collapse I wouldn’t be in a particularly good mood. If my buyer then came knocking on the door saying I had to drop the price or have a load of hassle and extra cost of breaking the chain, I might have a few choice words to say about those particular options…

I see it the opposite way around. The vendor is the one wanting to sell, and had put their property on the market wanting to sell.

They have a buyer with no chain, who really wants to buy it. Yet it's costing the buyer more and more to wait around. 

The buyer can simply move on and shop elsewhere, but the vendor only has one product on offer.

I think at the present time it's a bit skewed admittedly because of demand, but vendors need to consider the market slowing down.

of course it's the vendors prerogative to do what they like, it's their house, but surely when people put their houses on the market they actually 'want' to move on with their lives? 

The risk the buyer has is that the vendor will do as you say, and tell them to do one. But if the buyer isn't happy anyway as they're getting nowhere fast, I'm not sure it's a big risk to the buyer. A house is a house. There will be another one around the corner.

impatient2020

We went through this last year, offer accepted in Jan. Chain collapsed in May (due to solar panel issue up the chain) then we hung around until Aug when chain 2 collapsed (due to non standard build futher up the chain) our mortgage offer expired, we loved the house (still do!) so we hedged bets, got mortgage offer renewed, and hung around for chain 3 which then collapsed in Nov (due to our vendors losing their job). After a year of emotional rollercoaster, with nothing to show for it, we took time out and started again this summer...now waiting to exchange on a new property. 
I've learnt from this, don't hang around or expect anything from vendors. start looking for a new property. 

GoogleMeNow

impatient2020 said:

We went through this last year, offer accepted in Jan. Chain collapsed in May (due to solar panel issue up the chain) then we hung around until Aug when chain 2 collapsed (due to non standard build futher up the chain) our mortgage offer expired, we loved the house (still do!) so we hedged bets, got mortgage offer renewed, and hung around for chain 3 which then collapsed in Nov (due to our vendors losing their job). After a year of emotional rollercoaster, with nothing to show for it, we took time out and started again this summer...now waiting to exchange on a new property. 
I've learnt from this, don't hang around or expect anything from vendors. start looking for a new property. 

For someone with a username of impatient, you have been incredibly patient!  Hope you exchange and complete very soon, fingers crossed!

SpiderLegs

lookstraightahead said:

SpiderLegs said:

Heardy92 said:

Hi guys

Long story short I'm a FTB who had an offer accepted June of this year and after an already long, emotional process (and generally just hoping I'd be moved this side of Xmas) have found out today that the chain ahead of our vendor has fallen through. I'm still waiting to hear from the EA on the vendors appetite to rent, but was wondering how common it is for a buyer to negotiate a reduced price based on willingness to tread water while vendor starts a new purchase from scratch. I'd fallen in love with the flat I had hoped I'd shortly be moving into, however on the flip side I'm paying rent while I wait and my partner had been waiting for us to move to find a new job as she's a retail manager.

Just some generally words of advice would be really welcome as I'm quite rocked by all this.thanks in advance 

I’m a bit confused. You don’t like the idea of having to continue paying rent, but then expect the vendor to have to go do exactly that?

Or you’re going to gazunder them?

Now if I was the vendor and had just had my chain collapse I wouldn’t be in a particularly good mood. If my buyer then came knocking on the door saying I had to drop the price or have a load of hassle and extra cost of breaking the chain, I might have a few choice words to say about those particular options…

I see it the opposite way around. The vendor is the one wanting to sell, and had put their property on the market wanting to sell.

They have a buyer with no chain, who really wants to buy it. Yet it's costing the buyer more and more to wait around. 

The buyer can simply move on and shop elsewhere, but the vendor only has one product on offer.

I think at the present time it's a bit skewed admittedly because of demand, but vendors need to consider the market slowing down.

of course it's the vendors prerogative to do what they like, it's their house, but surely when people put their houses on the market they actually 'want' to move on with their lives? 

The risk the buyer has is that the vendor will do as you say, and tell them to do one. But if the buyer isn't happy anyway as they're getting nowhere fast, I'm not sure it's a big risk to the buyer. A house is a house. There will be another one around the corner.

I think on balance we can say that there are more potential buyers than available properties at the moment.
And we can probably also say that that has been the case for the majority of the last thirty years or so, with no realistic expectation that that will change in the medium term.

And I suppose we could also say that the buyer deciding to go find another property may only result in them joining another chain that might also collapse at some point down the line.

And I am guessing that this new property is going to need revised mortgage application and starting again with a new set of surveys and legals.

And at the end of the day, if your view is that this particular buyer can go find something else at the drop of a hat, then presumably the vendor who has collapsed the chain will be picking up another property fairly sharpish as well.

I hear lots and lots of comments about how hard it is for FTB to get on the property ladder, so if that’s the case one would imagine that the OP putting themselves back at the start of that process isn’t the wisest suggestion.

impatient2020

GoogleMeNow said:

For someone with a username of impatient, you have been incredibly patient!  Hope you exchange and complete very soon, fingers crossed!

You can tell I signed up in the midst last year
fingers, toes, ears, legs, eyes... everything crossed this time! 

lookstraightahead

SpiderLegs said:

lookstraightahead said:

SpiderLegs said:

Heardy92 said:

Hi guys

Long story short I'm a FTB who had an offer accepted June of this year and after an already long, emotional process (and generally just hoping I'd be moved this side of Xmas) have found out today that the chain ahead of our vendor has fallen through. I'm still waiting to hear from the EA on the vendors appetite to rent, but was wondering how common it is for a buyer to negotiate a reduced price based on willingness to tread water while vendor starts a new purchase from scratch. I'd fallen in love with the flat I had hoped I'd shortly be moving into, however on the flip side I'm paying rent while I wait and my partner had been waiting for us to move to find a new job as she's a retail manager.

Just some generally words of advice would be really welcome as I'm quite rocked by all this.thanks in advance 

I’m a bit confused. You don’t like the idea of having to continue paying rent, but then expect the vendor to have to go do exactly that?

Or you’re going to gazunder them?

Now if I was the vendor and had just had my chain collapse I wouldn’t be in a particularly good mood. If my buyer then came knocking on the door saying I had to drop the price or have a load of hassle and extra cost of breaking the chain, I might have a few choice words to say about those particular options…

I see it the opposite way around. The vendor is the one wanting to sell, and had put their property on the market wanting to sell.

They have a buyer with no chain, who really wants to buy it. Yet it's costing the buyer more and more to wait around. 

The buyer can simply move on and shop elsewhere, but the vendor only has one product on offer.

I think at the present time it's a bit skewed admittedly because of demand, but vendors need to consider the market slowing down.

of course it's the vendors prerogative to do what they like, it's their house, but surely when people put their houses on the market they actually 'want' to move on with their lives? 

The risk the buyer has is that the vendor will do as you say, and tell them to do one. But if the buyer isn't happy anyway as they're getting nowhere fast, I'm not sure it's a big risk to the buyer. A house is a house. There will be another one around the corner.

I think on balance we can say that there are more potential buyers than available properties at the moment. 
And we can probably also say that that has been the case for the majority of the last thirty years or so, with no realistic expectation that that will change in the medium term.

And I suppose we could also say that the buyer deciding to go find another property may only result in them joining another chain that might also collapse at some point down the line.

And I am guessing that this new property is going to need revised mortgage application and starting again with a new set of surveys and legals.

And at the end of the day, if your view is that this particular buyer can go find something else at the drop of a hat, then presumably the vendor who has collapsed the chain will be picking up another property fairly sharpish as well.

I hear lots and lots of comments about how hard it is for FTB to get on the property ladder, so if that’s the case one would imagine that the OP putting themselves back at the start of that process isn’t the wisest suggestion.

"We"?

I really don't understand where you get the last thirty years from! You're saying they for the past 30 years there has been more demand than supply?

The buyers don't have to join a chain if they don't want to.

The buyers are actually having to start again with these vendors so the mortgage offer will no doubt run out anyway. 

I don't know what you mean by 'realistic expectation in the medium term' unless you have a crystal ball.