How often should I be chasing estate agents?

1122abc

First time being in a chain, what timeline should I expect?

*not asking how long the purchase will take*

Hi all,

It’s my first time being in a chain and I’m not sure whether to let things proceed as they do or chase anything up. 

I accepted an offer on my flat last Thursday and haven’t heard anything since. 

I had my offer accepted on a house on Wednesday and I’ve instructed my conveyancers (waiting for the memorandum of sale) and started my mortgage application. 

The vendor of the house I’ve offered on has attended several viewings over the weekend and I have chased the EA yesterday to check whether an offer has been made. No response yet. 

Should my EA be updating me about my buyer? I haven’t been informed of their lawyer’s details. A family friend is their mortgage broker. 

Should I be chasing my vendor’s EA for an update (not sure whether it’s OTT to chase them again today if I have no response)?

I was a FTB a few years ago (buying a flat with no chain) and I had things in motion very quickly, but it was a long process (7 months) and me anticipating things happening quickly added to the stress. Not sure what the standard should be here. 

Possible important context: the property was pre-marketed to just one buyer who under offered but I accepted the offer (it was a fair offer to me) because the house I have offered on had several other offers and I wanted to proceed ASAP. 

eddddy

Bear in mind that a complete chain will need to form above you.

i.e. If your seller gets has an offer accepted on the next house up the chain, then that seller needs to get an offer accepted, etc, etc.

So the chain might take some weeks or months to get complete.

Some people choose not to instruct solicitors or apply for a mortgage until the chain is complete.


Maybe as a starting point, ask your EA what your buyer's plans are. Do they plan to instruct solicitors and apply for a mortgage straight away, or do they plan to wait for a complete chain?

Once your seller has had an offer accepted, you should ask the seller's EA the same question about your seller.

Otherwise, you might instruct your solicitor, and get very frustrated because the buyer's and seller's solicitors aren't replying to your solicitor.

housebuyer143

Stop. Don't do anything else until the chain is formed. Don't order searches, don't pay your solicitor for any work. 
They might take months to find anything and you might ultimately find a different house. I would also make it clear to the agent you will not be doing anything further until you have confirmation they have had an offer accepted. 

There is no point chasing the agent. If you give them the above info they will contact you when they have found a place. I imagine that's why you don't have the memo of sale yet as well.

1122abc

Thank you both so much @eddddy and @housebuyer143