House Chain- How long do I give buyers to sell their house?

Elimnmum

Hi all,

Long story short, we have decided to sell our house privately. We had someone formally offer us what we were looking for with the condition obviously that they sell their property.

We have reserved a new build which is already completed. The builder has put a lot of pressure on us to complete within 10 week. However there’s been various issue on their end with architects certificates so they have agreed to slightly extend our dates. Currently complete of missives is sitting at start of Feb and move in date for end of Feb to be moved into March. 

Obviously this is not doable as the people who have offered to buy our house have not even had an offer on their own yet. 

My question is how long is a reasonable time to give them (they have had 3 viewings in a month) to sell their property before we decide to go in a different direction. Also do you think it’s fair to say to them we have to put the house on the market as they haven’t sold their house in time. 

We are struggling with what to do as we don’t want to lose the offer but also we’ve kind of got to depend on them to sell so that our builder doesn’t put the house back on the market. 

Please help. 

peterhjohnson

If they've only had 3 viewings in a month, it's extremely likely that they have overpriced their house. You have two options:
1. Persuade then to drop their asking price substantially
2. Assume that they're going to fail to sell anytime soon and act accordingly

Elimnmum

peterhjohnson said:

If they've only had 3 viewings in a month, it's extremely likely that they have overpriced their house. You have two options:
1. Persuade then to drop their asking price substantially
2. Assume that they're going to fail to sell anytime soon and act accordingly

It’s a difficult one, they’ve put it on for offers over 10,000 under the home report value. 

35har1old

Elimnmum said:

peterhjohnson said:

If they've only had 3 viewings in a month, it's extremely likely that they have overpriced their house. You have two options:
1. Persuade then to drop their asking price substantially
2. Assume that they're going to fail to sell anytime soon and act accordingly

It’s a difficult one, they’ve put it on for offers over 10,000 under the home report value. 

I had a cash buyer within a week but it still took a further 18 weeks to complete

housebuyer143

Most people wouldn't accept an offer without them having already an offer. You should have said you would accept it once their house is sold but it's is still open for offers until then. 
Now you are reliant on these people who might not be serious about selling as much as you are.

Bigphil1474

As above, I would have waited for a proceedable offer i.e. when they are in a position to buy yours as they've already sold theirs. You're on a very tight deadline to get into your new build and it's still a buyers market in my experience. We've had 2 to 3 viewings a week over the last 2 months, even when we were abroad on holiday, and still waiting for an acceptable offer. Could be tricky for you. 

km1500

my view is that you need to immediately put your house back on the market but tell your current buyers that if they sell their house then they can have yours. 

comeandgo

Your buyers are in no way ready to even start the buying process and you have to reasonably move to the requirements of your new purchase.  I think you have no other option but to put your house on the market .

dander

Agree with the above - if they don't have a buyer, you don't have a buyer, you just have an interested browser. Accepting offers from someone who hasn't sold should always be "in theory" only, with no commitment to stop marketing to others.

bluelad1927

What is the plan if your new build is ready before you sell yours. It makes no sense to hold a house for somebody who hasn't sold theirs

martindow

Missives suggests that this is in Scotland.  The comments are probably correct, but Scottish procedures differ from those in England and Wales, so need to be borne in mind.