Lost our buyer - Need advice!

jellypigs

bluelad1927 said:

In the  current market I'd brace yourself to losing your 'forever home". You'd be amazed how many 'forever homes' there are out there for most people. With our last move we gave up on a 'forever home' after a survey. Turns out we found one we are even happier in.

The vendor won't be interested in a note through the door. Everybody's different but it would be a sign of desperation for me and I'd promptly re-market the property.

You're probably right. I'm far too emotional!

bluelad1927

jellypigs said:

bluelad1927 said:

In the  current market I'd brace yourself to losing your 'forever home". You'd be amazed how many 'forever homes' there are out there for most people. With our last move we gave up on a 'forever home' after a survey. Turns out we found one we are even happier in.

The vendor won't be interested in a note through the door. Everybody's different but it would be a sign of desperation for me and I'd promptly re-market the property.

You're probably right. I'm far too emotional!

To be fair house buying is emotional for the majority and its good to get views from those who aren't attached to the process.

Good luck with your sale!!

Hoenir

jellypigs said:

Our estate agent told us not to the tell the estate agents of the house we're buying yet. Why would that be? 

They'll inform their clients. As there's no certainty as to when you'll sell your property. Even if do then your buyer is going to be well behind in the process.  Going to find out at some point in the future. 

FlyMeSomewhere79

cymruchris said:

jellypigs said:

The house we're living in now was the first home we bought (wanted to be here for a couple of years, we're now approaching 10 lol).

We've been casually looking at houses for a while and found a perfect one, and put our house on the market. We really thought it'd go quite quickly as its a great first time buyer / downsizer in an awesome village with good links. We snapped this house up when we first saw it and have since extended. Obviously there are some downsides that we know will put people off, but we thought it'd get snapped up.

In a month and a half, we had three viewings, which we found disappointing. It did sell on the third to be fair, but they pulled out after a week. Apparently they had a row and one of them didn't want it and the other acted rashly. Whoops! 

However, in that time we got the ball rolling pretty quick. We have our mortgage and have paid the solicitors their deposit for the searches. Our estate agent told us not to the tell the estate agents of the house we're buying yet. Why would that be? I'm not sure what to do. I believe in being as honest as possible but I am just petrified of losing our forever home! 

In addition to my previous point above - I'm currently in the position of having 'sold' for the second time. My first buyer had a property to sell, and they didn't make any progress even when they reduced their asking price several times. My current buyer has nothing to sell, and appears to be making all the right noises, mortgage valuations, surveys etc. but I am not going to 'offer' on my own choices of property until I am reasonably confident that the buyers are going ahead. The market does have a few more 'return to market' properties at the moment - so will depend on how patient your seller is.

The first time I 'sold' a few months ago - there were 5 offers, 2 at asking.

When it was put back to market at the beginning of December I wasn't expecting it to shift until the new year, but an offer came in after a week of being relisted.The market had changed a little since the first 'sold' - and so it was a very close offer to asking that was accepted.

I'm constantly 'watching' properties in my chosen new area, keeping a shortlist, and I can see many over the last few months have gone 'sold subject to contract' - so property is still moving, even if it might not be quite as quick.

If yours isn't - then there is likely something underlying that's causing it. As others have said - you can be patient and give it a week or two - but if there's no interest you might have to consider a price reduction to see if that'll generate renewed interest.

At what stage do you pull your finger out and start looking for a house? Exchange of contracts? People like you are why chains get ridiculously long and the stress is dragged on over many months. If you've had their proof of funds and they've had surveys done then why are you still sat there refusing to look at homes. Stupid behaviour because you risk your buyers thinking you are playing a horrible game and not serious about moving, they will then pull out and buy somewhere else.

FlyMeSomewhere79

At the end of the day nobody should walk around with the attitude that they are the most important part of the process and people will let them take as many months as they want - they won't! Sitting in a chain of uncertainty for many months is not good for anyone.

I'm buying and selling a house and almost at exchanging contracts, over two months on since offering, my seller has failed to offer on another house because he's got strict requirements however he has said so far that he will break the chain if needed and rent which is necessary because my buyers are a man, his mother and grandmother that are sat in rented accommodation waiting to make my house their home. Not everyone can drag these things out month's longer and the alternative is pulling out and finding a property with no chain to buy.

jellypigs

We spoke to them and miraculously they are willing to wait a short while!! 

Bigphil1474

I'd expect they'll wait a short while - proceedable buyers are few and far between unless you have a special property at a very cheap price. The local market where I am is short of buyers, prices are being slashed, and I've noticed a few houses coming back on to the market after being taken off. Not to mention the glut of ex rentals becoming available. We've had ours on the market since October, loads of viewings, lots of good feedback, but not sold despite dropping lots of hints about being very flexible on sale price. Had 1 offer which was way too cheeky. A lot of the houses I'm itching to offer on are still available from May/June last year. Hopefully things will pick up this year.

cymruchris

Bigphil1474 said:

I'd expect they'll wait a short while - proceedable buyers are few and far between unless you have a special property at a very cheap price. The local market where I am is short of buyers, prices are being slashed, and I've noticed a few houses coming back on to the market after being taken off. Not to mention the glut of ex rentals becoming available. We've had ours on the market since October, loads of viewings, lots of good feedback, but not sold despite dropping lots of hints about being very flexible on sale price. Had 1 offer which was way too cheeky. A lot of the houses I'm itching to offer on are still available from May/June last year. Hopefully things will pick up this year.

I'd agree with the above. Don't panic just yet. There's usually a bit of flexibility in these things for most people. @Bigphil1474 - you're not selling in Manchester are you

cymruchris

FlyMeSomewhere79 said:

cymruchris said:

jellypigs said:

The house we're living in now was the first home we bought (wanted to be here for a couple of years, we're now approaching 10 lol).

We've been casually looking at houses for a while and found a perfect one, and put our house on the market. We really thought it'd go quite quickly as its a great first time buyer / downsizer in an awesome village with good links. We snapped this house up when we first saw it and have since extended. Obviously there are some downsides that we know will put people off, but we thought it'd get snapped up.

In a month and a half, we had three viewings, which we found disappointing. It did sell on the third to be fair, but they pulled out after a week. Apparently they had a row and one of them didn't want it and the other acted rashly. Whoops! 

However, in that time we got the ball rolling pretty quick. We have our mortgage and have paid the solicitors their deposit for the searches. Our estate agent told us not to the tell the estate agents of the house we're buying yet. Why would that be? I'm not sure what to do. I believe in being as honest as possible but I am just petrified of losing our forever home! 

In addition to my previous point above - I'm currently in the position of having 'sold' for the second time. My first buyer had a property to sell, and they didn't make any progress even when they reduced their asking price several times. My current buyer has nothing to sell, and appears to be making all the right noises, mortgage valuations, surveys etc. but I am not going to 'offer' on my own choices of property until I am reasonably confident that the buyers are going ahead. The market does have a few more 'return to market' properties at the moment - so will depend on how patient your seller is.

The first time I 'sold' a few months ago - there were 5 offers, 2 at asking.

When it was put back to market at the beginning of December I wasn't expecting it to shift until the new year, but an offer came in after a week of being relisted.The market had changed a little since the first 'sold' - and so it was a very close offer to asking that was accepted.

I'm constantly 'watching' properties in my chosen new area, keeping a shortlist, and I can see many over the last few months have gone 'sold subject to contract' - so property is still moving, even if it might not be quite as quick.

If yours isn't - then there is likely something underlying that's causing it. As others have said - you can be patient and give it a week or two - but if there's no interest you might have to consider a price reduction to see if that'll generate renewed interest.

At what stage do you pull your finger out and start looking for a house? Exchange of contracts? People like you are why chains get ridiculously long and the stress is dragged on over many months. If you've had their proof of funds and they've had surveys done then why are you still sat there refusing to look at homes. Stupid behaviour because you risk your buyers thinking you are playing a horrible game and not serious about moving, they will then pull out and buy somewhere else.

Sorry - only just spotted this - just wanted to say before using the 'People like you' line - it's worth asking questions and understanding the position in detail before giving a sweeping statement that I'm the cause of the problem.

The property being sold is actually a probate property - my parents - and the executor is a local solicitor who's advised that since the first sale didn't proceed, that she'd write to me to confirm when the new buyers had their ducks pretty much in a row for me to go ahead and start offering on places. I am not yet aware that they have got their funds or that they have fully digested their survey report, although it's likely.

The structural survey was completed 2 days before Christmas - so I'm fairly confident that I'll get the nod any day now - as I don't want to hold up anyone above me by putting an offer on a property that ultimately falls through. The buyers are fully aware of the position - they don't have a chain below them, and my shortlist contains mostly chain-free properties. So I'm happy to stand by my initial comments without being labelled 'People like you...' - you might disagree, and that's ok with me, but certainly am not one to intentionally delay matters - will happily shift at lightning speed once I know the probability of proceeding is strong.

Bigphil1474

cymruchris said:

Bigphil1474 said:

I'd expect they'll wait a short while - proceedable buyers are few and far between unless you have a special property at a very cheap price. The local market where I am is short of buyers, prices are being slashed, and I've noticed a few houses coming back on to the market after being taken off. Not to mention the glut of ex rentals becoming available. We've had ours on the market since October, loads of viewings, lots of good feedback, but not sold despite dropping lots of hints about being very flexible on sale price. Had 1 offer which was way too cheeky. A lot of the houses I'm itching to offer on are still available from May/June last year. Hopefully things will pick up this year.

I'd agree with the above. Don't panic just yet. There's usually a bit of flexibility in these things for most people. @Bigphil1474 - you're not selling in Manchester are you

No bud, I'm in Leeds. Got another couple of viewings tomorrow and 1 on Saturday. Seems to have picked up a bit this week.