Exasperated FTB - Any Advice?

HunchBunch

Hi,

Long time lurker, first time poster…

My wife and I are FTBs and are completely frustrated and exasperated. If anyone has any advice, or even just some words of comfort, then we’d really appreciate hearing from you.

We made an offer on a house back in July ‘20. It was accepted within 24 hours. It was at the lower end of the guide price. We’d been told that the seller had been messed around by previous buyers and, as we really liked the place (it’s honestly perfect for our needs), we didn’t want to muck them around by haggling and wanted to make it clear that we were serious.

We had all our mortgage finance sorted by the middle of August, and searches back and survey done by the end of August. We agreed that the seller could leave the old white goods in the kitchen and a load of junk (including a rotten old garden shed full of more junk). We did this to try to make their life easier, hoping that it would smooth things along a bit. We also said that we wouldn’t look to reduce the offer based on the couple of things that came back in the survey (not major, but needed addressing - probably £5k’s worth of work).

Since August the seller has pulled out of at least one onward purchase, and possibly two. They’ve said that they will “break the chain” but haven’t actually done anything along those lines. Since November they have done nothing - just sat there waiting until “after Christmas.”

Our mortgage offer expires soon so in one final attempt to get things moving we’ve said that if we don’t exchange within 10 days, and complete by the end of the month, we’ll be pulling out.

Despite communicating this via solicitors and the estate agent we’ve heard nothing.

We’ve waited for the better part of six months and have nothing to show for it. Even allowing for covid and general busyness we feel that we’ve been more than accommodating.

Utterly infuriating!

davilown

offer in offer in July 2020 or 2021?

HunchBunch

July ‘21 🤦‍♂️

greensalad

Start looking at other places. I wouldn't discuss further with this seller. 

Mineral1

This is just what happens, you simply can't impose your own timeline on a house purchase. Your options are to either stick with it for now or look elsewhere but that will mean starting the process again with no guarantee it will be any quicker.

You can get mortgage offers renewed and if the house truly does suit your needs well I'd stick with it for now if I was you.

propertyhunter

Keep looking at houses I'd say. The new year is a great time for new instructions and there is the possibility of finding something even better (you never know). I wouldn't pull out of your current transaction at this point in time unless you find a better house and have an offer accepted. 

GoogleMeNow

HunchBunch said:

Hi,

Long time lurker, first time poster…

My wife and I are FTBs and are completely frustrated and exasperated. If anyone has any advice, or even just some words of comfort, then we’d really appreciate hearing from you.

We made an offer on a house back in July ‘20. It was accepted within 24 hours. It was at the lower end of the guide price. We’d been told that the seller had been messed around by previous buyers and, as we really liked the place (it’s honestly perfect for our needs), we didn’t want to muck them around by haggling and wanted to make it clear that we were serious.

We had all our mortgage finance sorted by the middle of August, and searches back and survey done by the end of August. We agreed that the seller could leave the old white goods in the kitchen and a load of junk (including a rotten old garden shed full of more junk). We did this to try to make their life easier, hoping that it would smooth things along a bit. We also said that we wouldn’t look to reduce the offer based on the couple of things that came back in the survey (not major, but needed addressing - probably £5k’s worth of work).

Since August the seller has pulled out of at least one onward purchase, and possibly two. They’ve said that they will “break the chain” but haven’t actually done anything along those lines. Since November they have done nothing - just sat there waiting until “after Christmas.”

Our mortgage offer expires soon so in one final attempt to get things moving we’ve said that if we don’t exchange within 10 days, and complete by the end of the month, we’ll be pulling out.

Despite communicating this via solicitors and the estate agent we’ve heard nothing.

We’ve waited for the better part of six months and have nothing to show for it. Even allowing for covid and general busyness we feel that we’ve been more than accommodating.

Utterly infuriating!

Keep looking at other properties while keeping this on the back burner (and let the Estate Agent know you are doing this, so that they can put a rocket up the vendor's *@*!).

It looks like the vendor is not finding anything to their liking, and probably never will, nor do they seem to be "motivated".

MysteryMe

Sometimes the stars wont align and you have to sadly change your plans, which is a shame because you obviously like this property and become attached to it. I also appreciate you will have spent money on various applications and surveys which will be lost if this purchase does not take place. Not that you need one but you do have a ready made excuse for withdrawing with the mortgage offer expiring so I'd just explain to the EA that you really can't wait indefinitely and will now be resuming your property search. This may focus the vendors into either finding a property or moving out but some people are just ditherers and will always dither. 

lookstraightahead

I truly don't understand why people put their houses on the market and then won't move. What on Earth is the point?

op, you've been messed around enough, look for something else, tell the EA you are doing this if you think it will help, no need to say anything otherwise.

you can have your own timescales. It might narrow your options, but you can choose as you are not relying on selling a property, use this to your advantage.

I wish some vendors would admit they have a fear of moving, like I have a fear of dentists.

HunchBunch

Thanks for all the replies, really appreciated.  Glad to read that we're not doing something crazy by looking elsewhere!

Mineral1 said:

This is just what happens, you simply can't impose your own timeline on a house purchase. Your options are to either stick with it for now or look elsewhere but that will mean starting the process again with no guarantee it will be any quicker.

You can get mortgage offers renewed and if the house truly does suit your needs well I'd stick with it for now if I was you.

Re Timeline: We're aware of this, and have genuinely been really patient.  Six months is a bit much though, don't you think - especially as this isn't a particularly complicated transaction and we've seen nothing from the seller to suggest they're actually going to move.

Re Offer renewal: Unfortunately in our case it isn't that simple (we're going through a broker we trust and have spoken to them about this).  We might be able to get it extended by a couple of days but anything longer than that will require a new application.  We don't really want to "waste" a new application, and the associated credit checks, on this property unfortunately as in all liklihood we'll be in exactly the same place in six months time.

GoogleMeNow said:

Keep looking at other properties while keeping this on the back burner (and let the Estate Agent know you are doing this, so that they can put a rocket up the vendor's *@*!).

It looks like the vendor is not finding anything to their liking, and probably never will, nor do they seem to be "motivated".

One of the pieces of advice we recieved from friends was to get the Estate Agent to really push the seller, and we've really tried to communicate that firstly we're really good buyers and the seller is going to miss out and secondly that we're serious about looking elsewhere and pulling out of this purchase.  Unfortunately it appears the "post sales" person dealing with our purchase is a bit, umm, rubbish (trying not to be too rude).  It takes two or three times for them to get the message we want passed on correct, for example. 

GoogleMeNow

Can you ask your solicitor where they are up to with the conveyancing process?  Knowing whether the transaction is simple or if there are issues, together with an update on what still needs to be done, will give you (and us) a much clearer picture of how far off you are.  

Every time the vendor pulls out of a purchase and then finds a new one to buy, the process of conveyancing starts again with a new solicitor acting on the sale to your vendor of the new property, so essentially you are waiting for them to catch up.