Vendors can’t find a house

TonyMMM

We had a vendor like this ...we waited 2 months before giving up on them and finding another property (which we did in 2 days)...

womble12345

Yeah I wouldnt be spending any money on a property purchase until there was a complete chain.

lookstraightahead

When you're renting, or a first time buyer, or living with parents, vendors assume you are not in a rush (you see it a lot on here), and are happy to keep you waiting while they find their 'dream', 'ideal', or 'forever' home, at absolutely no cost to them, and with no mortgage deal end looming. You're their customer, in what other industry would this be acceptable! 

you are in a prime position and quite honestly if I were you I would be fed up of it by now.

lookstraightahead

TonyMMM said:

We had a vendor like this ...we waited 2 months before giving up on them and finding another property (which we did in 2 days)...

Perfect solution 

MrsCatz

We did the same, at the end of the day it is a business transaction. 

1616six

womble12345 said:

Yeah I wouldnt be spending any money on a property purchase until there was a complete chain.

Luckily we haven’t really, just the solicitor deposit which we can just change to whatever house we do end up buying. 

Had a quick look on Rightmove and there’s absolutely nothing in budget that is remotely worth considering so we’ll have to just keep an eye out. Like what has been mentioned here re potential of this happening again, I think looking for a no chain or vendor found property is the way forward where possible!

TripleH

We had a similar issue.

Offered on a house that was sold chain free (owners moving to Cyprus). We started everything as they said they wanted to sell quickly.

3 days before the survey was due to be done (and after no response to our queries on the half-filled paperwork) they turned round and said their onward purchase had fallen through.

We said (gritted teeth) fine, we will extend deadline on completion until September so they can find somewhere in UK because again they said they were moving to Cyprus still.

Their response was that 'we' were being unreasonable with extending 'their' desired July deadline by 2 months and that they weren't prepared to agree a set deadline, we would havevto wait for them. They used the 'think of our (adult) children, where will they go'.

We cancelled the survey and told them to do one (we were politer). We found a wonderful house 3 weeks later and live there now. Their house went on the market for the 5th time in 3 years and the sale fell through again....

I love karma sometimes!

born_again

1616six said:

Thanks for the replies all!

I should have mentioned that we are currently in rented so we are in no chain - we’re (in my opinion) ideal buyers for a vendor as we are chain free, mortgage approved and ready to go. 

I think it’s time for me to have a more serious chat with the EA and put it to them bluntly - either the vendor has a bit of a kick up the backside to either break the chain or find somewhere soon, or we consciously try and find somewhere else. 

I didn’t know whether we were being impatient, we are technically in no rush to move but what I don’t want to do is wait another 3-4 months for the vendors to then pull off the market if they can’t find anywhere leaving us getting on for a year later starting from scratch!

Rather than EA, can you not talk to vendor. Explaining that you need to move soon or you will be looking for a new property. End of the day, they can move out & rent while looking for a new property.

1616six

born_again said:

1616six said:

Thanks for the replies all!

I should have mentioned that we are currently in rented so we are in no chain - we’re (in my opinion) ideal buyers for a vendor as we are chain free, mortgage approved and ready to go. 

I think it’s time for me to have a more serious chat with the EA and put it to them bluntly - either the vendor has a bit of a kick up the backside to either break the chain or find somewhere soon, or we consciously try and find somewhere else. 

I didn’t know whether we were being impatient, we are technically in no rush to move but what I don’t want to do is wait another 3-4 months for the vendors to then pull off the market if they can’t find anywhere leaving us getting on for a year later starting from scratch!

Rather than EA, can you not talk to vendor. Explaining that you need to move soon or you will be looking for a new property. End of the day, they can move out & rent while looking for a new property.

I did wonder about this but I don’t know if it’s frowned upon.. I can’t imagine the agent being willing to put us in touch. Do you think it’s polite enough to maybe write a brief letter to the vendor explaining the situation and to say if they want to have a chat to give me a call? Then just sticking it through their letterbox? I don’t like the idea of just turning up and knocking on the door. 

TonyMMM

Just tell the agent that whilst your offer stands, you are going to be looking at other properties  ....they will pass on that message for you, that's their job.

Then make sure you book a few viewings, so that they know  you are serious. It may concentrate their minds ( or you may find a better property).

In hindsight it It would have been perhaps wiser not to spend any money on this purchase until you knew a chain was in place ( we made it clear that we wouldn't be instructing a solicitor or arranging a survey until our vendor had an offer accepted on a property), but don't be afraid to write that off if you have to, it's a lesson learnt.