Offer acceptable but buyer's buyer has no offer

shiraz99

So how would you guys suggest I handle this? I received an acceptable offer on my house, which has no forward chain, and my buyer is SSTC but their buyer has yet to have an offer or has accepted an offer on their property.

I'd like to accept their offer but I don't want to be waiting, and potentially missing further offers on my property, whilst their buyer sells his/hers.

Mark_d

I think it's unlikely you find a complete chain of buyers & sellers where your buyers is offering an acceptable price.  One thing to be clear about is your target completion date.  Your buyer will then put pressure on their buyer, so as  not to risk  the purchase of your property

Martico

Chains build from the bottom up, so let them know that you'd be happy to accept their offer once they're proceedable, but in the meantime you'll keep the house on the market

steve866

Martico said:

Chains build from the bottom up, so let them know that you'd be happy to accept their offer once they're proceedable, but in the meantime you'll keep the house on the market

This is how it's always worked for me.

dander

Realistically, this "buyer" is NOT SSTC. Offers from non-proceedable buyers are worth absolutely nothing. I would tell them to come back when they have a proceedable offer on their own place and then you will consider the offer. Until then, nothing changes for you.

AskAsk

the buyer is not proceedable as they haven't got a buyer for their property that can proceed.  i wouldn't sell to anyone in this situation.

ognum

I recently sold a property, one couple offered the asking price but had not yet put their house on the market.  We new the couple, they really, really wanted the house, we were not in a great rush.

They put their house on the market with our agent and we gave them a six week exclusivity (gentleman's agreement not legal) to sell their home.  They priced well, sold in three weeks to first time buyers.  We completed quickly.  It can work!

AskAsk

ognum said:

I recently sold a property, one couple offered the asking price but had not yet put their house on the market.  We new the couple, they really, really wanted the house, we were not in a great rush.

They put their house on the market with our agent and we gave them a six week exclusivity (gentleman's agreement not legal) to sell their home.  They priced well, sold in three weeks to first time buyers.  We completed quickly.  It can work!

it can also go wrong and you have wasted time waiting for them!  when i put my house on sale, a couple was so smitten by it that they offered £30k over the asking price and ask that we give them a month to sell their house.  i told them that i was not prepared to take the property off the market for a month and wait for them, even with the extra money offered.  they ended up taking out a bridging loan to buy the house and offered the full asking price instead.

in my mind, this was a better option as they could make me wait for a month, then once they have had an offer on their house, drop the price back to anything they want!  they could also struggle to sell their house and in the mean time, i would have lost other potential buyers.  too much risk in my opinion.

i would only accept such an offer if there was no other interest, and i would want to continue to advertise.  i wouldn't want to take my property off the market on a wing and a prayer like that!

ognum

AskAsk said:

ognum said:

I recently sold a property, one couple offered the asking price but had not yet put their house on the market.  We new the couple, they really, really wanted the house, we were not in a great rush.

They put their house on the market with our agent and we gave them a six week exclusivity (gentleman's agreement not legal) to sell their home.  They priced well, sold in three weeks to first time buyers.  We completed quickly.  It can work!

it can also go wrong and you have wasted time waiting for them!  when i put my house on sale, a couple was so smitten by it that they offered £30k over the asking price and ask that we give them a month to sell their house.  i told them that i was not prepared to take the property off the market for a month and wait for them, even with the extra money offered.  they ended up taking out a bridging loan to buy the house and offered the full asking price instead.

in my mind, this was a better option as they could make me wait for a month, then once they have had an offer on their house, drop the price back to anything they want!  they could also struggle to sell their house and in the mean time, i would have lost other potential buyers.  too much risk in my opinion.

i would only accept such an offer if there was no other interest, and i would want to continue to advertise.  i wouldn't want to take my property off the market on a wing and a prayer like that!

Well as usual with house buying and selling we are all different.  I don't for a minute regret what we did, we had an amicable, easy sale.  Sometimes stepping back and not hassling does work.  You claim it was 'a winging a prayer', we believe it was considered and though out.  The house we sold was far from perfect, the buyers could have asked for price reductions for many things that needed doing.  They didn't because they respected us for sticking with them.  We got what we wanted from listing to sold in three months.

dander

ognum said:

I recently sold a property, one couple offered the asking price but had not yet put their house on the market.  We new the couple, they really, really wanted the house, we were not in a great rush.

They put their house on the market with our agent and we gave them a six week exclusivity (gentleman's agreement not legal) to sell their home.  They priced well, sold in three weeks to first time buyers.  We completed quickly.  It can work!

But this could also have gone this way without you giving them exclusivity. If they wanted it they could still price well and sell fast, make an offer and deal done - no-one's saying they can't have the house. But until their sale is agreed, all you have is some people who really, really want something and you can't sell a house on a dream.

AskAsk

dander said:

ognum said:

I recently sold a property, one couple offered the asking price but had not yet put their house on the market.  We new the couple, they really, really wanted the house, we were not in a great rush.

They put their house on the market with our agent and we gave them a six week exclusivity (gentleman's agreement not legal) to sell their home.  They priced well, sold in three weeks to first time buyers.  We completed quickly.  It can work!

But this could also have gone this way without you giving them exclusivity. If they wanted it they could still price well and sell fast, make an offer and deal done - no-one's saying they can't have the house. But until their sale is agreed, all you have is some people who really, really want something and you can't sell a house on a dream.

Exactly.  Things could go very wrong.  He was lucky it didn't.  But all sorts of things could happen where the expected sale falls through, and you would have wasted 6 weeks for nothing.  Not something I would want to take a risk on if there are other buyers interested.