What is going on?

GoingToOz

Accepted offer on the house 8th Sept (from a couple who I was v surprised about as they acted like the house was made of poo when they were viewing......).

Got Estate Agents to check before I accepted (as had 2 couples £500 difference) which one was ready to go, mortgage approved in principle & no chain - both the same, so went with poo couple.

Anyway - have had all bumph from my solicitor (are yo selling the loo roll holder, where are the manhole covers etc), but heard NOTHING from poo couple.

Rang estate agents last monday to ask if there were any problems, they contacted buyers who apparently said that they would get the valuation report underway this week - still nothing!

What is going on? Is this normal to take so long to arrange a valuation report?

I am considering getting the EA to reoffer to the lower bidders (non pooey!)

Any ideas?

Doozergirl

Have your solicitors had contact from theirs yet?

Contact your agent tomorrow and ask them to tell the pooey buyers that you are setting a deadline (48 hours?) within which you want to see evidence of the legal wheels in motion or the house goes back on the market. And do it!

Then ask the agent to also contact the other potential buyers andtest the water - would they still be interested (explaining problem with original buyer, not house!).

I'd like to give people the benefit of the doubt, but this is your life we're talking about and there are too many timewasters out there. If they're genuine, you'll know very quickly. You have to move fast because this other couple have had plenty of time already to find something else and you don't want to lose any more time.

I hope everything is okay and they're just a bit slow. It would be too sad to go from two offers to none because of them. I hope everything works out for you and your house is sold quickly.

nelly_2

"Poo couple's" a great name.

GDB2222

Doozergirl wrote:

Have your solicitors had contact from theirs yet?

Contact your agent tomorrow and ask them to tell the pooey buyers that you are setting a deadline (48 hours?) within which you want to see evidence of the legal wheels in motion or the house goes back on the market. And do it!

Oh, for goodness sake! Why would anyone take their house off the market just because they have received an offer? For all you know, there is a cash buyer out there for whom the house is perfect and prepared to pay full asking price, just waiting for the poo couple's offer to fall through.

I'll repeat the first law of selling: Never, ever take the house off the market until contracts have exchanged.

If your purchasers are worried about this, you can give them an undertaking not to sell to anyone else provided they exchange contracts within X weeks. If this is a formal written undertaking, make it through your solicitor. You can include extra provisos, for example this only applies if purchasers get valuation made within 10 days, etc.

GoingToOz

Have rung EAs, who have contacted poo couple who are going to chase up their mortgage people (yeah right), and EAs are going to get back in touch with non-poo couple (aka nice people). Fingers crossed.

GDB2222 - consider me suitably chastised - it is only the second house I have sold, and the first was a textbook operation, so I guess I was naive

nelly - trust me, poo couple so apt, glad you like it - cheering me up anyway

Doozergirl - thanks for the good wishes and advice.

Watch this space!

eurows

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has issued a stern warning that a deterioration in local economic conditions - possibly triggered by rising petrol prices - could result in households defaulting on debt and a sharp fall in house prices.

Australia's central bank said households were borrowing at record levels, which had pushed higher the potential for a correction in asset prices.


"Given that leverage (debt) in markets has built up significantly and many assets appear fully priced, the pre-conditions are in place for quite abrupt swings in sentiment and a disruptive snap-back in pricing," the RBA said.

Doozergirl

eurows wrote:

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has issued a stern warning that a deterioration in local economic conditions - possibly triggered by rising petrol prices - could result in households defaulting on debt and a sharp fall in house prices.

Six of one, half a dozen of another then if we listen to your predictions then, eurows. If house prices are falling in both countries, then maybe GoingToOz can make a decision based on where they want to live rather than which house is going to lose money fastest?

Sometimes people move for other reasons than having something to talk about at dinner parties, you know. The cost of living is nowhere near as high as the UK, so Australians enjoy a better quailty of life, without even considering the effect of glorious sunshine. :cool:

GoingToOz, think of eurows when you're eating steak dinners every night and sipping those New World wines please?

GoingToOz

eurows - a sharp decline in Oz house prices can only be a good thing for me, as I am currently selling in the UK, and will probably rent for some time in Oz.

Doozergirl :beer:

TheDink

GDB2222 wrote:

I'll repeat the first law of selling: Never, ever take the house off the market until contracts have exchanged.

If a seller did this to me, I would withdraw my offer straight away. I wouldn't spend money on surveys, searches etc if the seller was still looking for another buyer!

Maybe stating a deadline for contracts to exchange is a good idea, but even then, you have to wait for the whole chain to be ready to exchange...

spottydog

sarahllord wrote:

GDB2222 wrote:

I'll repeat the first law of selling: Never, ever take the house off the market until contracts have exchanged....

If a seller did this to me, I would withdraw my offer straight away. I wouldn't spend money on surveys, searches etc if the seller was still looking for another buyer!

Maybe stating a deadline for contracts to exchange is a good idea, but even then, you have to wait for the whole chain to be ready to exchange...

I agree, personally I feel it is fine to keep the property on the market until the survey is done but at that point (once the buyers have shown their commitment by spending some money) it should always be under offer and not marketed as for sale.

GoingToOz

Update:

Poo couple's valuation people finally rang today! ......while I was out :doh:

EAs contacted other couple (now known as tight couple) who have said they are only interested at a price £4.5k lower than they bid. Rats.

Fingers crossed for a successful survey eh?