Offer acceptance on two properties

Schwarzwald

Snookie12cat said:

user1168934 said:

Snookie12cat said:

I hope when you sell your house someone puts your house on the back burner and then you lose the house you have found and are excited about because of it.

It's a horrible thing to do to someone and you shouldn't condone it. There are exceptions, but just doing it because it not right at all.

No need to be nasty.

Condone it or not, this is how I have seen everyone do it. There are no good guys on either side and estate agents are worse than the buyer and the seller combined together. I was simply trying to help the OP by telling him things everyone does but never tell others. You feel free to stay on your high horse.

Not everyone does it and shouldn't. It is nasty. If you don't love the house then do not offer on it, the end. 

If the seller is messing you around, tell them you will view other houses and do it. Do not tell them you are super keen on their house and then drop out. It's incredibly upsetting for sellers. If appreciate sellers are crap sometimes as well, but most people do not accept an offer on their house with the intention of messing buyers around. Doing viewings is annoying! 

I dont think there is anything wrong with the OP making an offer on another property if property A's vendor is moving slowly - for reasons that dont seem well communicated. It puts the OP at risk so s/he should react to it.

There's also no reason to tell the EA that you are viewing other properties or even bidding on other properties, or even the fact that an one offer got accepted.

I think the inflection point upon which you should tell the EA and property A's vendor that you are dropping out is when you have taken the decision that you will go after another property full heartedly and with full focus.

Just make sure you dont develop a habit of always pulling out half-way because something nicer came around, there are lots of nice houses out there, you cant live in all.

Snookie12cat

Schwarzwald said:

Snookie12cat said:

user1168934 said:

Snookie12cat said:

I hope when you sell your house someone puts your house on the back burner and then you lose the house you have found and are excited about because of it.

It's a horrible thing to do to someone and you shouldn't condone it. There are exceptions, but just doing it because it not right at all.

No need to be nasty.

Condone it or not, this is how I have seen everyone do it. There are no good guys on either side and estate agents are worse than the buyer and the seller combined together. I was simply trying to help the OP by telling him things everyone does but never tell others. You feel free to stay on your high horse.

Not everyone does it and shouldn't. It is nasty. If you don't love the house then do not offer on it, the end. 

If the seller is messing you around, tell them you will view other houses and do it. Do not tell them you are super keen on their house and then drop out. It's incredibly upsetting for sellers. If appreciate sellers are crap sometimes as well, but most people do not accept an offer on their house with the intention of messing buyers around. Doing viewings is annoying! 

I dont think there is anything wrong with the OP making an offer on another property if property A's vendor is moving slowly - for reasons that dont seem well communicated. It puts the OP at risk so s/he should react to it.

There's also no reason to tell the EA that you are viewing other properties or even bidding on other properties, or even the fact that an one offer got accepted.

I think the inflection point upon which you should tell the EA and property A's vendor that you are dropping out is when you have taken the decision that you will go after another property full heartedly and with full focus.

Just make sure you dont develop a habit of always pulling out half-way because something nicer came around, there are lots of nice houses out there, you cant live in all.

I just think people should be upfront. If they are going too slow tell them and then look, you don't have to do all these things under the radar.
If you have changed your mind tell them, don't monkey branch until you have another better one lined up. 

lookstraightahead

Snookie12cat said:

Schwarzwald said:

Snookie12cat said:

user1168934 said:

Snookie12cat said:

I hope when you sell your house someone puts your house on the back burner and then you lose the house you have found and are excited about because of it.

It's a horrible thing to do to someone and you shouldn't condone it. There are exceptions, but just doing it because it not right at all.

No need to be nasty.

Condone it or not, this is how I have seen everyone do it. There are no good guys on either side and estate agents are worse than the buyer and the seller combined together. I was simply trying to help the OP by telling him things everyone does but never tell others. You feel free to stay on your high horse.

Not everyone does it and shouldn't. It is nasty. If you don't love the house then do not offer on it, the end. 

If the seller is messing you around, tell them you will view other houses and do it. Do not tell them you are super keen on their house and then drop out. It's incredibly upsetting for sellers. If appreciate sellers are crap sometimes as well, but most people do not accept an offer on their house with the intention of messing buyers around. Doing viewings is annoying! 

I dont think there is anything wrong with the OP making an offer on another property if property A's vendor is moving slowly - for reasons that dont seem well communicated. It puts the OP at risk so s/he should react to it.

There's also no reason to tell the EA that you are viewing other properties or even bidding on other properties, or even the fact that an one offer got accepted.

I think the inflection point upon which you should tell the EA and property A's vendor that you are dropping out is when you have taken the decision that you will go after another property full heartedly and with full focus.

Just make sure you dont develop a habit of always pulling out half-way because something nicer came around, there are lots of nice houses out there, you cant live in all.

I just think people should be upfront. If they are going too slow tell them and then look, you don't have to do all these things under the radar.
If you have changed your mind tell them, don't monkey branch until you have another better one lined up. 

People didn't really do this so much a few years ago, from what I experienced. You can see how it comes about. You've got vendors who won't move quickly. They need buyers so that they can look for properties, and then they want to spend so much time looking. So they keep buyers dangling. There is no incentive for a buyer to tell the whole truth, and even if they did, the seller then can't look for an onward buy.

A bit like everything in society, everyone wants it all. If I were in the op's position I would certainly be looking elsewhere but keeping quiet. That's because the seller appears to be not bothering about the op. The seller isn't saying "I have no intention of rushing, I will not move until I am perfectly happy to, and I will keep you waiting as long as I need to". That would be the open and honest thing to do as well. But they won't do that. 

Snookie12cat

lookstraightahead said:

Snookie12cat said:

Schwarzwald said:

Snookie12cat said:

user1168934 said:

Snookie12cat said:

I hope when you sell your house someone puts your house on the back burner and then you lose the house you have found and are excited about because of it.

It's a horrible thing to do to someone and you shouldn't condone it. There are exceptions, but just doing it because it not right at all.

No need to be nasty.

Condone it or not, this is how I have seen everyone do it. There are no good guys on either side and estate agents are worse than the buyer and the seller combined together. I was simply trying to help the OP by telling him things everyone does but never tell others. You feel free to stay on your high horse.

Not everyone does it and shouldn't. It is nasty. If you don't love the house then do not offer on it, the end. 

If the seller is messing you around, tell them you will view other houses and do it. Do not tell them you are super keen on their house and then drop out. It's incredibly upsetting for sellers. If appreciate sellers are crap sometimes as well, but most people do not accept an offer on their house with the intention of messing buyers around. Doing viewings is annoying! 

I dont think there is anything wrong with the OP making an offer on another property if property A's vendor is moving slowly - for reasons that dont seem well communicated. It puts the OP at risk so s/he should react to it.

There's also no reason to tell the EA that you are viewing other properties or even bidding on other properties, or even the fact that an one offer got accepted.

I think the inflection point upon which you should tell the EA and property A's vendor that you are dropping out is when you have taken the decision that you will go after another property full heartedly and with full focus.

Just make sure you dont develop a habit of always pulling out half-way because something nicer came around, there are lots of nice houses out there, you cant live in all.

I just think people should be upfront. If they are going too slow tell them and then look, you don't have to do all these things under the radar.
If you have changed your mind tell them, don't monkey branch until you have another better one lined up. 

People didn't really do this so much a few years ago, from what I experienced. You can see how it comes about. You've got vendors who won't move quickly. They need buyers so that they can look for properties, and then they want to spend so much time looking. So they keep buyers dangling. There is no incentive for a buyer to tell the whole truth, and even if they did, the seller then can't look for an onward buy.

A bit like everything in society, everyone wants it all. If I were in the op's position I would certainly be looking elsewhere but keeping quiet. That's because the seller appears to be not bothering about the op. The seller isn't saying "I have no intention of rushing, I will not move until I am perfectly happy to, and I will keep you waiting as long as I need to". That would be the open and honest thing to do as well. But they won't do that. 

I agree the market is messed up. When I was trying to buy recently agents wouldn't let me view any houses unless I had an offer on mine. I have always said from the start I am very fussy and would only move to my dream house in the right location. 
I thought it incredibly unfair to get buyers to only make them wait an undefined amount of time for me to find said dream house.

By pure chance the house came up within a month of offer accepted, but if it had not I would have lost the buyers because of the silly system. Then comes the problem of where does someone who wants larger than a 4 bed go in my town... There are none. I have seen so many houses come back on and I know it's because they can't find anything to go into. Any agent who said the sellers were upsizing but hadn't found something I didn't offer on for this reason.

Would much rather find the house and then put mine on the market so people are not messed around so much. You can't expect a seller to just buy anything, but this means that buyer could be waiting forever. It's not fair and makes the process so much more stressful. I am sure this wasn't how it was 10 years ago.

lookstraightahead

Snookie12cat said:

lookstraightahead said:

Snookie12cat said:

Schwarzwald said:

Snookie12cat said:

user1168934 said:

Snookie12cat said:

I hope when you sell your house someone puts your house on the back burner and then you lose the house you have found and are excited about because of it.

It's a horrible thing to do to someone and you shouldn't condone it. There are exceptions, but just doing it because it not right at all.

No need to be nasty.

Condone it or not, this is how I have seen everyone do it. There are no good guys on either side and estate agents are worse than the buyer and the seller combined together. I was simply trying to help the OP by telling him things everyone does but never tell others. You feel free to stay on your high horse.

Not everyone does it and shouldn't. It is nasty. If you don't love the house then do not offer on it, the end. 

If the seller is messing you around, tell them you will view other houses and do it. Do not tell them you are super keen on their house and then drop out. It's incredibly upsetting for sellers. If appreciate sellers are crap sometimes as well, but most people do not accept an offer on their house with the intention of messing buyers around. Doing viewings is annoying! 

I dont think there is anything wrong with the OP making an offer on another property if property A's vendor is moving slowly - for reasons that dont seem well communicated. It puts the OP at risk so s/he should react to it.

There's also no reason to tell the EA that you are viewing other properties or even bidding on other properties, or even the fact that an one offer got accepted.

I think the inflection point upon which you should tell the EA and property A's vendor that you are dropping out is when you have taken the decision that you will go after another property full heartedly and with full focus.

Just make sure you dont develop a habit of always pulling out half-way because something nicer came around, there are lots of nice houses out there, you cant live in all.

I just think people should be upfront. If they are going too slow tell them and then look, you don't have to do all these things under the radar.
If you have changed your mind tell them, don't monkey branch until you have another better one lined up. 

People didn't really do this so much a few years ago, from what I experienced. You can see how it comes about. You've got vendors who won't move quickly. They need buyers so that they can look for properties, and then they want to spend so much time looking. So they keep buyers dangling. There is no incentive for a buyer to tell the whole truth, and even if they did, the seller then can't look for an onward buy.

A bit like everything in society, everyone wants it all. If I were in the op's position I would certainly be looking elsewhere but keeping quiet. That's because the seller appears to be not bothering about the op. The seller isn't saying "I have no intention of rushing, I will not move until I am perfectly happy to, and I will keep you waiting as long as I need to". That would be the open and honest thing to do as well. But they won't do that. 

I agree the market is messed up. When I was trying to buy recently agents wouldn't let me view any houses unless I had an offer on mine. I have always said from the start I am very fussy and would only move to my dream house in the right location. 
I thought it incredibly unfair to get buyers to only make them wait an undefined amount of time for me to find said dream house.

By pure chance the house came up within a month of offer accepted, but if it had not I would have lost the buyers because of the silly system. Then comes the problem of where does someone who wants larger than a 4 bed go in my town... There are none. I have seen so many houses come back on and I know it's because they can't find anything to go into. Any agent who said the sellers were upsizing but hadn't found something I didn't offer on for this reason.

Would much rather find the house and then put mine on the market so people are not messed around so much. You can't expect a seller to just buy anything, but this means that buyer could be waiting forever. It's not fair and makes the process so much more stressful. I am sure this wasn't how it was 10 years ago.

When I first started buying (30 years ago), my experience was that anyone could look at any property. Properties were marketed at a price, and the expectation was that you would make a seller an offer  - which was rarely over the asking price. Along with that offer came your circumstances (eg, FTB, no chain, house to sell etc) and your requirement for moving (eg, need to move in 3 months or not in a rush or whatever). There might then be some negotiation over price, or timescale, and the seller would either agree or not.

I know others have a difference of opinion, but in my experience people were happy to move out quite quickly then - renting, short term lets, moving in with family / friends. They would then start their own chains. Don't think I've ever been in a chain of more than three. 

so, you've got a situation now where people are in bidding wars, lack of rental (or not wanting to), down valuations, stricter lending, people being over picky with things (both sides), etc and no one being as flexible (for whatever reason).

Earlier this year before I bought my current house I saw a house that I really wanted, had 40% deposit and nothing to sell. The EA wouldn't let me view as I didn't have 20% (I think it was) funds above asking price to negotiate with. They later had to reduce the price and it 'sold' - now it's back on the market. I think that has all been down to the EA playing silly games.

googler

I've said this before in these forums, but E&W needs revision of the house buying and selling system to include most or all of the functionality of the Scottish system. We don't have any of this messing around up here. In short;

Party A puts property up for sale. 
Viewers look at it, and Party B puts an offer in.

This offer is in writing, and includes the offer price, the full contract terms which will apply to the the sale/purchase, and an Entry Date.  

A accepts offer.  In doing so, A accepts both the contract terms AND the entry date. 

Note that this is not their final commitment - there may be some to and fro to modify details, but I would suggest that the vast majority of sales go through without significant modification of terms, nor a change to the entry date. It's agreed in writing, right at the start. No haggling over contracts months down the line. No doubt about when each party will move. The entry date is agreed at the time the offer is accepted.     

Both parties then know exactly what is happening. A will move out and surrender the keys, and B will get the keys, on the entry date. That they both agreed on at the start.  

lookstraightahead

googler said:

I've said this before in these forums, but E&W needs revision of the house buying and selling system to include most or all of the functionality of the Scottish system. We don't have any of this messing around up here. In short;

Party A puts property up for sale. 
Viewers look at it, and Party B puts an offer in.

This offer is in writing, and includes the offer price, the full contract terms which will apply to the the sale/purchase, and an Entry Date.  

A accepts offer.  In doing so, A accepts both the contract terms AND the entry date. 

Note that this is not their final commitment - there may be some to and fro to modify details, but I would suggest that the vast majority of sales go through without significant modification of terms, nor a change to the entry date. It's agreed in writing, right at the start. No haggling over contracts months down the line. No doubt about when each party will move. The entry date is agreed at the time the offer is accepted.     

Both parties then know exactly what is happening. A will move out and surrender the keys, and B will get the keys, on the entry date. That they both agreed on at the start.  

That would be so much better. Shorter chains no doubt as well? 

googler

The way that the E&W will be changed to the benefit of buyers and sellers is by individuals petitioning and lobbying their MPs. 

RS2OOO

Anecdotally by not changing the system it is the Government who are losing out.

So few properties are for sale - Could it be because people don't want to go through the stress of the system? 

Took us 18 Months to find a suitable home, we listed ours immediately, but couldn't view the new house because we'd not sold ours. Fortunately, and to our surprise, another suitable house came up a Month later. That was in July, we've not seen anything suitable since.

After we listed, practically all of my home owner friends responded with general negativity explaining why they are planning extensions as opposed to stress of selling / moving.

Now onto my 3rd buyer and the chain teetering on the edge of collapse my wife and I have started to discuss what was originally a worst case scenario - staying put. We are still praying that won't happen, but if it does, that's £13,000 the Government won't be getting in Stamp Duty.

googler

You have my sympathy.

Moving from two flats to a detached house in early 2000s, we found the house, put the flats up for sale in late November, viewings continued into December.  All done and moved in mid-February.  That's pretty much routine up here.