Buyer putting offer on another place

[Believeitornot]

I'm not really sure what I'm asking, just wanted to vent.

We were on our second buyer, after losing our first, and after finding a house we were going to put and offer on, we spoke to the estate agent who told us that the buyer is now putting an offer on another place.

We had no warning, no indication that the buyer was losing interest or that they had a deadline of wanting to move before Christmas (as the agent told us when breaking the news).

Needless to say it is a bit crap as we will lose the house we like and will have to start the search again. Plus, with Christmas, it means the market will slow down again.

Buying and selling when you have to do it concurrently is an absolute nightmare.

I do have a couple of questions now I think about it:

Would you take your property off the market as Christmas approaches?

Or try and put an offer in on the house we like and ask if we can find a buyer again and hope we can do it quickly?

We've got two DCs so wanted to get a move on for schools so this is all such a pain.

[HoggleHoggle]

Urgh that sounds a massive pain, I'm really sorry.

One thing on your buyer, surely it's not possible for them to move before Christmas if they're only just putting an offer in on another property? How far had they got on yours? If they'd had searches etc already then actually yours is much more likely to complete within time I should think.

Unless your EA has said they def think they can get you another offer within the next fortnight or so then personally j would take the house off the market and try again in the spring. I think it's really damaging for houses to be listed for months, it sends out a negative message and in your case to doesn't seem like that's warranted, it's just been bad luck.

How long did it take you to get this offer?

[HoggleHoggle]

Sorry - just seen your other question. It could be worth putting in an offer on the house you like with a deadline for you to find a buyer...but unless you'd found your first buyer really quickly, I personally wouldn't accept an offer from someone who's sale had fallen through. Although I've heard of it before so you may have nothing to lose by trying that.

[Believeitornot]

Thanks :)

It didn't take along to get an offer - a couple of weeks each time but we didn't have a huge number of viewings. So I think it could take a while as things quieten down.

The buyers hadn't done anything as far as I could tell?! It all went quiet after we accepted the offer.

[FluffyNinja]

We took our house off the market during the winter when we were selling 2 years ago. It went back on at the end of February for a slightly higher price, sold quite quickly and we moved in April. My DH was unwell from having chemo and I couldn't face keeping it looking immaculate for each viewing.

I would think it's more likely that the potential buyers found another property that they preferred rather than requiring a move by Christmas as that seems a bit tight if they've only just put an offer on another house.
I wouldn't expect an Estate Agent to be completely honest about matters, frankly.

[FluffyNinja]

Just to add...our actual buyer had seen our house advertised before we took it off the market but not viewed it, as they had put an offer on another place which then fell through around Christmas. They had already sold their place and we're living with family so very keen for the sale to proceed quickly. We were moving abroad so they knew we were less likely to pull the plug like the previous vendors.

[lalalonglegs]

Are you sure the buyers existed? I had a similar situationw where I accepted an offer and then nothing happened and after a couple of weeks the buyers "changed his mind". On retrospect, I wonder if there was a buyer or whether the agency just wanted to appear to be doing a good job : certainly no money was spent on solicitors, surveys or anything. I could be overly suspicious but it was a way of holding onto the instruction while they tried to find another buyer.