How long do we give the vendor to find a place?

[AndOutComeTheBoobs]

If we put an offer down on a place a few weeks ago and she hasn't made any noises about finding a place (she wants to move 200 miles away) how long do we wait? What if she hasn't found somewhere in 6 months?

Is your place now off the market? If so, I’d be giving her weeks, not 6 months! Why would you wait that long?

We are renting so it's neither here nor there except the money we have to buy the house and do it up is being eaten away by our rent 1k at a time.

I don't want to wait 6 months.

I'm saying, what happens if it takes her that long to find a place.

What if it takes her a year?!

I was just throwing out a time.

I'd say weeks not months. She has made a commitment to sell and now ought to be proceeding. She's spending your money by not getting on with it, since it costs you rent while she procrastinates.

Tell her you want to complete in 8 weeks and if she isn't in a position then withdraw your offer. If anyone ought to be renting it's her, since she has accepted an offer on her house.

6-8 weeks maximum. But I would be calling the estates at least once a week for an update. Does she know your situation? Make noise to the estate's that you've given notice on your rented place so it needs to be sorted asap.
She's accepted your offer so she should be getting herself organised imo.

I would let her know that you expect to be able to move in within 3 months of your offer being accepted. Speak to her EA, and they can liaise with her. Ask for evidence that she has set the wheels in motion for purchasing another property, or even renting in the area she wants.

I've been calling the EA the last two Monday's and they say "we'll call her and find out an update and get back you."

They have not once got back to me. They a truly shit estate agent. Especially because ours have been so good.
(We are renting but needed to sell a property which is about to complete).

Call the EA and be more specific. We need to complete this sale in xx weeks if she can't commit (and maybe move to rented in the area she wants) then we are moving on to find another house. You are pissing away our money in rent, she can do the same for a while at the other end.

I would keep your eye on the market and continue viewing other places too as you might need a plan B.

I’d call the estate agent and say we want to be in by idk, August, so really she needs to be getting an offer accepted in the next couple of weeks for that to be realistic

I’d keep looking for other properties, if I were you. No need to withdraw your offer, just let the estate agent know that you are not prepared to wait forever and will be continuing to look for alternatives.

Wow, I've waited 3 months and no sign of my seller finding anywhere yet but would never expect anyone to rush a decision to buy a he home. Quite a decision! Be patient for gods sake!

Just a word of warning, @AndOutComeTheBoobs - when we were selling our house, our estate agent told prospective vendors that we were willing to move into rented accommodation to facilitate a quick sale. We absolutely were not, and we ended up in a position whereby we had to find temporary accommodation to bridge the four weeks between completing on our old and new houses or risk losing the sale of our old place, as the vendor was a first time buyer who wanted in immediately and took the estate agent at their word.

Make sure the vendor has actually agreed to move and it's not just a slippery agent feeding you a line!

Your patience might bite you on the arse Newbie good luck.

I would presume that the EA is not getting back to you because the vendor is not giving them an answer! Fine to set a deadline in your head and let them know (if we haven't exchanged by x date then we will pull out of the sale).

Hope she finds somewhere very soon, OP!

I'd carry on looking and give the vendor, say, a month. If they haven't found anything, then I'd pull out. It sounds like they might have been fantasising about moving but aren't genuinely ready.

Chic that's exactly my worry.

Plus we see our vendor daily (very small town) so we know she isn't 200 miles away looking at houses.

We had this last year. We waited 15 weeks and then gave up on our dream house. We're now renting and the vendors took the house off the market.

Wait for them, still keep your eye out for other possibilities but DO NOT spend any money on surveys, solicitors etc until the chain is complete.

Good luck

We sold our house had to rent £6k later rent wise we moved into our new home. Had to find a rental that would take animals and pay 6 months upfront. Your seller should rent or you keep lookin

You can try booking another viewing with the same agent to see if that gets them moving?

Having been in your vendors position I say you can let them know your limit for waiting and stuck to it, or start looking elsewhere. We were looking for a 'forever home' with strict criteria to make the move worth it for us, in a peculiar fast moving housing market. We tried to buy several houses, but due to various circumstances, including gazumping, and long periods of no houses available we were prepared to buy, it took a couple of years to finally move. There is no way we'd have moved more quickly, or into rented, just to satisfy a buyer. We had no problems getting new buyers if we lost one (for various reasons in the process, including relationship breakdown, job loss, finding a property they preferred). We had a couple of prospective buyers trying to be 'tough negotiators', and to be honest we never ever went with a high maintenance buyer like this after a first bad experience with someone who kept aggressively pushing us. Including a very harassing couple who expected us to respond to their ridiculous and highly caveated offer over the Christmas Bank Holidays, when we were waiting to hear about a house we had an offer accepted on and the seller was away. This couple came back months later with a more reasonable offer, but there was no way we'd have sold to them unless we were absolutely desperate because of their entitled behaviour. Fortunately we sold at asking price to a much more pleasant purchaser when we finally found the home that was right for us. Sometimes things take time, sometimes people have time to wait.

Likewise OP! Think you'll need the luck playing games like that

I have never heard of someone sitting waiting patiently for the vendor to find somewhere else Newbie, with no deadline. What position are you in to be able to do that? What if you had someone waiting to buy from you? Were spanking money up the wall on rent? What if prices change over the what could be a year that you're waiting?

You're the one being a bit unusual here, not the OP.

If you see the vendor regularly, just ask her and don't bother with ringing the agents! You'll see what she says and her body Language and you'll know if she's genuinely very keen to move.