House Buying/Chains

[yajeed]

I was hoping someone with a little more experience of house purchases could give some advice.

Basically, I've had an offer accepted on a house. I'm currently renting, so am at the bottom of the chain.

The house was advertised as 'no onward chain', then on viewing the estate agent said the vendors wanted to move quickly as they'd found another house. Now, it seems they haven't found a house and have no intention of renting in the interim.

So, I'm not sure what to do. Do I just hope they find a place and wait? Ideally, I'd like to move soon, but I don't have a pressing need to, other than for the certainty of actually owning a house again.

I don't want to unnecessarily annoy the vendors, yet if I can apply a little pressure or get some certainty of eventual completion, then that'd be great.

Any suggestions as what I can do to make sure I don't end up without a house at the end of this or forever waiting on the vendors?

[yajeed]

paulwirral said:

Welcome to the chaos that is the English property market . It's unlikely you will be able to force a sale so either sit it out or look at other properties , preferably deceased estates or divorce settlements , they are usually good bets in the way of proceeding quickly .

That's what I was afraid of. We do have a 2nd choice property and they would move quickly, but ultimately I'd prefer this one.

I was hoping there would be a mechanism that could be used to tie both sides into the sale and reduce the anxiety on my side. I guess they won't exchange without knowing where and when they can move, so we can't even suggest a 'maximum 6 month' completion time or similar.

Ah well, I suppose the best case is sitting it out and seeing a massive property price drop fuelled by article 50 in the interim.

[yajeed]

Renovation said:

Ask them how soon they are willing to exchange.

Ideally talk to them directly.

At the moment, it's through estate agents, and since I've heard 3 different version of the story thus far, I have little faith in them. So, you're right - getting to speak to the vendor directly would certainly be a bonus.

I'd expect they'll say that they will complete once they've found somewhere else (and carried out the associated searches etc), though it'd certainly be worth hearing that from them directly.

Edited to add: the market seems to have pretty much stalled (at least in this area) with few new properties being advertised, so I'm concerned I could be in for a very long wait.

[yajeed]

georgefreeman918 said:

We had this recently, in very similar circumstances.

- Offer accepted end of July 2016
- No onward chain, we were not selling, they were being put up by work

However we only completed at the start of December, which was a bit annoying as we wanted the property as soon as possible.

You can apply pressure, by threatening to pull out, but this may back fire if they decide to call your bluff. We didn't do this as we knew the sale of the property had previously fallen through.

Our solicitors were also useless. The best thing we did, was talk through estate agent, typically they are on commission (whereas the solicitor will get paid regardless of a sale) so they want the sale of the property to go through.

Ultimately its a waiting game, but good luck.

That's half of the problem; The estate agent made out that the sellers aren't the most amenable (and it took 2 weeks to get a viewing), but then haven't exactly been consistent with their communication either.

I hate to generalise, so won't, but needless to say the 2 estate agents I've been dealing are in their early twenties, very confident in their ability and knowledge of the market. When 'helping' us through the negotiation process their advice turned out not to be very helpful.

So, with all that, I have reservations about speaking with them to help get a resolution. I do take your point about their commission though.

Rather foolishly. I've already appointed a solicitor. I think I'll speak with them and tell them to hold off until we're in a more certain position. and try to either speak to a more senior person at the estate agents, or try to get a number for the vendors.

edited to add: This isn't my first purchase, but it's my first since giving the other house to my ex-wife.

[yajeed]

blade7 said:

Knock on the vendors door and speak to them face to face. The majority of Estate Agents don't care about yours or the vendors best interests. And use a no purchase, no fee Solicitor.

Edited by blade7 on Monday 2nd January 12:36

I did speak to one of the vendors when we viewed, and he seems a thoroughly decent bloke, and a petrol head.

Too late on the solicitors (though they won't charge much extra as long as we continue to use them for the eventual purchase).

So, I think that's the plan; don't do any unnecessary searches, wait for the mortgage approval to come through (just have MIP at the moment but it should be fine), then speak to the vendor directly to understand their position. It's a small estate agency, and rumour has it the founder is a decent guy, so to be courteous, I'll speak to him to explain the situation and get the vendors number.

I'll also keep an eye on the market. If there are many new houses advertised, then the delay could actually be a blessing in disguise.

Thanks for all the advice - appreciate it! Hopefully I'll be back later with a discussion on what to buy to put in the garage...

[yajeed]

wiggy001 said:

I've just told our buyer (who we are also buying from) that she needs her mortgage to be approved today (or at the very least, some kind of movement from her mortgage provider) or we are re-marketing our property to find a buyer in a stronger position. The ex was chasing/complaining before christmas but we have no was of contacting him unfortunately.

Reason we've not been too harsh previously is that we genuinely haven't found anything in the area that is anywhere near as nice as her house we are buying. We are also getting a good deal (if it happens) as we were selling high and buying low in my opinion. When we applied for our mortgage the valuation was done the following week and the mortgage approved in 24 hours, I just don't understand why her's has taken 5 months and counting.

Well, my mortgage has been running for 7 weeks. They ask a question every 3-4 days. The answer is usually, 'the answer is in the statement you requested last month', or 'no, I can't provide a 'DVLA document' relating to the car I sold 6 months ago'.

Back to the original post, it seems the seller still hasn't anywhere to go. However, they've made some money by their delaying tactics since I've been gazumped over the weekend.

Ah well, I see a rental property in my future while I pray to the EU gods that they take a hard line on brexit and house prices take a temporary tumble.