To be so angry that our EA and buyer have put us in this position?

[AngeloMysterioso]

DH and I are expecting DC3 and need more space, so trying to move house.

Put our home on the market early July, one viewing pretty much straight away, thanks but no thanks, then nothing. After a month reduced our asking price by £10k, had another viewing, another thanks but no thanks.

Two weeks ago was another viewing, with someone we were told was a cash buyer. Great! Offer made and accepted the next day, we viewed a place we’d had our eye on the day after that, our offer was accepted early last week.

Our vendors had previously accepted an offer from someone else in July but their original buyers still hadn’t been able to provide proof of funds after 8 weeks so they started having viewings again, and because we were in a more proceedable position having a cash buyer (or so we thought) they accepted our offer.

Except- it turns out our buyer isn’t really a cash buyer. They don’t have liquid cash sitting in the bank ready to go, it’s coming from inheritance that is still tied up in probate - in AUSTRALIA. Which wouldn’t be too much of an issue because fuck knows house buying in England isn’t exactly quick, but it’s being handled by solicitors who are apparently so inept that almost two weeks after our buyer made the offer, they still haven’t been able to provide the one piece of documentation we need in order to establish proof of funds, get memorandums of sale issued and get this transaction started. And because they’re in fucking Australia, all our EAs can be arsed to do is keep emailing them and hope they get an email back.

That’s two weeks closer to my due date. Two weeks that our vendors have yet again been kept waiting by people who can’t provide proof of funds.

DH and I are so utterly powerless here and I’m fucking raging. I’m angry at our buyer for making an offer when they weren’t in a proceedable position. I’m angry with our EA for sending them through our door in the first place telling us it was a cash buyer when it wasn’t. I’m terrified we’re going to lose our onward purchase, a place that is a bit of a fixer upper but otherwise so perfect for us, because our vendors will lose patience and accept another offer from someone else. And there’s less than fuck all we can do about any of it.

EAs are overvaluing a lot atm. They are very reluctant to accept the likelihood of falling prices because a falling market reduces the volume of transactions that happen.

Unfortunately the maths doesn't work, the higher rates make the values completely unaffordable. Work out the numbers - at current valuation, how much is the mortgage at 90% ltv with a 6% rate? Who can afford it, income wise?

Similar experience with a buyer. EA believed they were a cash buyer with no property to sell as that's what the buyer said. We asked if checks had been made, and the EA said they had been.

Turns out the buyer had an aunt selling a mobile home that was going towards the purchase.

We were 6 weeks in when we discovered this. We threatened to remarket at 20 weeks and suddenly the money was found from somewhere else.

Sorry to say I agree with the ones saying change agents and remarket. Your DC3 will likely be a few months old if you exchange with this buyer.

I would be furious with the EA, we have bought a property with cash in the past, we had to prove to the EA we had the money available in our accounts. This should be standard procedure.

Sorry you are in this position, your buyer was wrong to lie, but a competent EA would have asked for evidence of funds.

Good luck OP, moving is always very stressful and rarely straightforward sadly.

@AngeloMysterioso a 10k reduction on a 300k property is not enough to make a difference.

The only person who can phone the solicitors in Australia are your Buyers. That is why they need to be told by the EA that they will continue to accept viewings from other people until your Buyers have proven they have the funds via their solicitors.

I’d just call the Australian solicitors firm myself (in Australian business hours) and ask to speak to the managing partner. Their contact details will be online.

They can’t tell you anything but you can explain the situation and ask for the managing partners email address. Then get whoever is dealing with it at this end to forward the email chain to the managing partner - ask them to cc you in so that you know it has been sent.

Its irritating and frustrating and not fair - especially when you are paying a fortune for other people to do things - but my experience of house buying/selling is that the only way to speed things up is do it yourself.

I think that too. It's a terrible time to be conveyancing, considering the housing market is so slow, plus this particular buyer is hampered by the probate process being so protracted and really shouldn't be making offers for anything before the money is in their bank.

I really feel for you, the stress must be awful. If you can shelve moving until after the baby is born, I would do it.

I’m due in 8 weeks, so we’re fully expecting baby to already be here before we move anyway, we’d made our peace with that

I don’t fully understand why this issue is with your EA. If you have accepted an offer should the responsibility not lie with your solicitor and the buyer’s solicitor?

You instruct your solicitor and they do what you ask ( for a fee) I presume the buyer has a UK solicitor to act on their behalf so that is what I would concentrate on.
You don’t have the same arrangement with
the EA. They only get paid a % once the sale concludes.

Because the EA should be verifying that the viewer has the funds available before they can either a) view any property, or at a minimum b) when they want to make an offer.

It should be checked and proven that the buyer can proceed before solicitors get involved. That's why it's an EA issue. And the buyer is also at fault because they have falsely claimed that they have the funds to buy, when they don't yet.

Why don't you sell at auction instead? It's the fastest way of selling as you exchange on the day of the auction and complete within a month.

If you do want to carry on with selling, have you asked the EAs to hold an open day for viewings? Gets it all done in one and might create some competition?

Thanks for explaining OP . It doesn’t sound to me that this is a credible offer. Have the prospective buyers investigated getting a mortgage without the Australian money.
I would be inclined to remarket the property in all honesty.

Neither the EA or our solicitors can call the solicitors in Aus because it’s outside of their business hours, what with the time difference.

Eh? Course the they can. They just have to do it outside of their usual business hours. I do it for my work all the time. Tell your agent to call them as soon as the AUS solicitor is back from holiday, or you’re finding another agent who is prepared to go the extra mile.

I would allow more viewings. If they’re desperate for the house, they can look into getting a mortgage and paying off the mortgage (in full or partly) when the inheritance comes through.

This person is not a cash buyer and I would say is in an even worse position than the ordinary buyer getting a mortgage. Your estate agent is at fault here. Too annoying. But a lot of sales are falling through just now and chains collapsing. The days of an easy sale seem to have come to an end for the time being in a lot of places.

Sounds hideous. I would stick your house back on the market OP and lower the price.

It isn't selling to a better buyer because its overpriced and that's that. (Sorry)

We recently had a house on our street go from 275,000 to 250,000 and yesterday it dropped to 215,000! 2 bedroom detached house in the South West.

It's 7 to 9 hours time difference at the moment so phone calls involve ringing early UK time, but surely there's an email address available so the time difference shouldn't matter .

Our house isn’t off the market.

Yes I know that our EAs or solicitors could call the Aus solicitors outside of UK business hours, but apparently that’s simply too much like hard work.

Sack both your estate agent and solicitor. The first for what is a lie (and tell them that) and the second for incompetence.

It will mean putting the house back on the market.

The sooner in England and Wales that we have a house sale and purchase law that is not a spivs and chancers charter the better. The Scottish law in these matters is not perfect but would be a step forward.

Agents seem to have changed the meaning of “Cash Buyer” nowadays. It doesn’t mean the cash is sitting in the bank now, it usually means the buyers will have cash once a property has been sold/inheritance/family loan arrives. Anyone using the term should be asked for proof from a bank account.

Your lives would be much easier if you ditch the buyer and ditch the EA!

@AngeloMysterioso stop stressing, it isn’t good for you and there isn’t a chance in hell this sale will go through any time soon with this buyer. You can be in control of the situation, tell the buyers the sale is off and your house is going back on the market.

It's annoying, but you have to accept with house moving that things can go wrong, so establish contingency plans and try to relax. Better that it happened now when you've only just started than further on in the process. Get back on the market, and try for another buyer.

Again- our house is not off the market, nor has it been at any point.
Our EAs having been sending chasing emails- lots of them, or so they say- but the chap handling the probate has gone on holiday and nobody else is replying to them.

It's like turkeys voting for Xmas 😂