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House buying - tell me how it worked out well after it all went pear shaped.

35 replies

ItscoldinAlaska · 02/03/2021 08:40

I am feeling a bit down and deflated. Found a Victorian house with that elusive 4th bedroom that we desperately need. DS1 (17) is sharing with DS2(13) and it is not going well. Put my tiny 3 bed new build house up for sale last week and sold it to the first viewer. Put in an offer of 6k under asking (needed work) last week, rejected, they wanted 2.5k under asking. Offered that. Yesterday told that we had lost out to first time buyers who had offered what we offered.

I didn't love the house (the garden was dark and the upstairs was very old and poky, probably needed new floors and replastering) but feel a bit Sad that we have to start searching again and nothing on the market. Please tell me stories of how things worked out for the best with your house buying after it went wrong. People keep saying 'these things happen for a reason'.

OP posts:
MrsPinkCock · 03/03/2021 09:28

[quote ItscoldinAlaska]@gingajewel It should be illegal! All it does it line the pockets of the conveyancers. They don't lose out. They are the only ones who don't![/quote]
You can find conveyancers that take no fee, or a reduced fee, if the sale falls through. The overall fee on completion is usually higher though, kind of like an insurance policy.

They’d still have to pay external agencies for searches etc, so it’s not lining their pockets. They’ve done the work so should be paid, I guess.

We had a buyer pull out. So as not to lose our new house we ended up just buying the new one and keeping the old house. Which meant new mortgage applications for an offset mortgage, double stamp duty (which we claimed back eventually) and paying two mortgages for six months until the old house sold. Looking back it was hugely risky and we lived on the breadline for a bit but it was worth it to get the house, we love it even years later!

Mischance · 04/03/2021 09:52

My sale went pear-shaped 4 times since January 2020, but...............contracts have now been exchanged with my 5th buyer and I move 3 weeks today - I can hardly take it in! Maybe I should do some clearing out and packing!!!!

SignOnTheWindow · 04/03/2021 09:58

Over the course of my life, I've had 4 'dream homes' fall through. In each case, I've found something better.

It sounds like you didn't really like the house, so it's probably a blessing in disguise. Good luck with the new search!

LongTimeMammaBear · 04/03/2021 10:33

When trying to move from our last home, it took us 2 years. The first year, we saw a house we liked very much but wouldn’t accept an offer because we had no real buyer. we had lots of offers but from people who hadn’t yet sold their house and even from people who hadn’t yet put their house on the market. EA told us to continue on the market. None of those potential buyers developed into anything, so no loss. Just very frustrating. Took it off the market after a number of months. Far too stressful with small children to keep house pristine and taking them out for viewings.

Next year put on the market again. Lots of viewings and interest. Accepted and offer from FTB and then out an offer in on a house my DH loved. Then in one day we had a call from EA that we lost the house because someone else who had already exchanged out on an offer. Next a call came that our buyers were pulling out after they had their parents viewed it because the house had bad feng shui

We then had a lady knock on the door that she wanted to view our house and we told her she had to go through the EA. She viewed and made an offer. Supposedly a cash buyer. A house we loved came in the market. We used to walk by this house walking to the station and always loved it. Very characterful. Made an offer and was accepted. Night before survey in our house. EA rings to say the surveyor cancelled the appointment. Turns out this lady is a serial offerer. Makes offers in houses and never goes through!! The EA (same for our purchase) puts forward other buyers for our dream house and offer accepted at same price!!

We get another buyer within two days, no chain. A lady getting divorced so has cash from settlement. Find another house. We like it but not a dream house. Sellers said they’re buying a plot and are moving in to rented. We had to walk away from that house because seller dragging their feet for MONTHS and our buyer was up against a time frame.

Moved to the house we’re in solely because it ticked the boxes for what we absolutely needed for our growing family and, importantly, it was empty. Not a dream house. We agreed we’d live here a few years until we found something we loved.

That was 15 years ago. We have had the most wonderful neighbours. Life long friend not only for us but also our DC

We have done a lot of work to the house and now I can say the inside in our dream house because we made it our own

With that said, we do plan to move in next few years because our needs have changed. Kids are grown and almost gone. We also no longer need to be walking distance to a station. So our next move will be a character house in the country. Different type of dream house than what was our dream house before. But we won’t have any of the constraints we had before. We will also look into selling and renting so we can be chain free to get what we really really want (this time).

MyCatLovesFish · 04/03/2021 11:13

It's not always the buyers! I have had two sellers pull out at the point of exchange. Still trying to buy house no. 3.

mindutopia · 04/03/2021 11:23

I don’t know but when you have a good story tell me! We had offer accepted on our dream house (literally planned to stay there 25 years or so til retirement). It was wonderful. That was pre-first lockdown. 5 months of conveyancing all through lockdown, starting school applications to transfer, deposit paid on new nursery, boxes packed and vendors pulled out 2 weeks before exchange due to illness (which rightly was much more serious due to COVID).

We’ve made 2 other offers on properties we really liked this past year. One £35k over guide price and one £80k and lost out both times. Sadly, we’re in a very nice part of the country that all the Londoners seem to be evacuating too.

We had a viewing next week for another property and they had their first viewings yesterday. Estate agent just called to say they agreed a sale already. 😩

We saw another house at the weekend which was okay, but had an actual squatter living in the garden shed. Apparently, he’s been there 15 years and he comes with the property because they won’t take steps to remove him before sale! Which is probably the only reason we got a viewing for that one. I just want to cry. What is this insanity!

LongTimeMammaBear · 04/03/2021 13:02

Holy smokes @mindutopia a squatter for 15 years! Not sure he can be gotten rid of. Those sellers will have one heck of a time trying to get him to vacate, let alone future buyers. Not sure someone could get a mortgage with that going on.

StCharlotte · 04/03/2021 14:10

Slightly different angle.

We bought a live-in business (like a pub) and rented out our house.

When we came to sell the business we served notice on our tenants who were due to move out a couple days before completion on our sale. DH went to collect the keys from the agents who hadn't bothered to tell us the tenants weren't moving out for another fortnight thereby rendering us homeless!

However, it worked out in the end because our buyers had fucked up on their mortgage and ended up completing two weeks late.

I think I aged about ten years in those two weeks...

user1471538283 · 04/03/2021 21:24

I understand how upset you are but honestly it isnt for you. I bought our last house in a bit of a panic and it was a nightmare from start to finish.

The seller was horrible, completely unreasonable, pulled the plug on it once and left 3 skips worth of rubbish. The day we moved in I felt completely flat. The house needed alot of work and I spent thousands. I lost thousands selling it.

If I had my time again I would not buy it. The right house is out there!

ellenpartridge · 04/03/2021 21:27

Our what we thought was "dream house" fell through after lots of stops and starts and issues. We then found something much much better and I'm so glad the first one fell through. So happy where we are now.

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