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.

Sorry this is happening OP.

With your baby due in 8 weeks, I would personally take the house off the market altogether, and remarket later in the year with a new estate agent.

It’s not good for you to get this wound up. I’m not saying it’s not unfair, and frustrating but selling a house, even in the smoothest of transactions, is a stressful affair.

If the other house is for you, it won’t pass you by. Maybe there’s something better waiting for you.

If you decide to change EA, why don’t you pop the listing up here.MNetters are great at critiquing the photos and there may be something that’s putting off viewers.

Huh?

That definitely won't be good for OPs blood pressure @Nonplusultra having a load of Mumsnetters criticising her house. You know how those threads go!

Think you’re missing the point here. Ok your house isn’t off market, but surely the agents aren’t consciously trying to sell it? They’ll have moved onto the other zillion properties they’re trying to sell.

Plus all the details of phone calls/emails from agent to Aus, you're not accepting that even if Aus were getting back to the agent, there is no way this sale is going to happen anytime soon!

So people are trying to tell you to instruct agent/solicitor/buyers that the sale is off. Either instruct a new agent or get this one to start actively marketing your house ASAP.

Can you ask your EA to forward you the email trail and in future CC you in ?

Take a deep breath, OP. You haven’t been singled out, the market is terrible at the moment. In your own first post, you say that the people who are selling the house you want are in exactly the same position as you , as the buyer they accepted also hasn’t shown proof of funds. So it is wretched, but you are not uniquely unfortunate. Your vendors may well be cursing you, because your offer is not proceedable, but you acted in good faith.

I don’t understand why this ‘cash buyer’ didn’t have to prove funds, when we bought out current house we were asked to get the institution who held the funds to confirm their existence and availability. I think that EA are probably also desperate, if they don’t provide viewers and offers they get ‘fired’ and make no money, if they provide bad ones, they get fired and make no money…..but there are very few proceedable buyers because of the situation. And so it goes on.

I think that you can either take your house off the market, or you can harden your heart and just try to cope with the market as it is. Stressing about it and hating people will get you nothing except more stress.

Yes, but your EA could be telling potential buyers its sold, and not offering viewings. Get a friend to call them about viewing and see what they say.

Don't believe anything the EA tell you, satisfy yourself , don't rely on them for anything , they don't really care once they have someone who will buy. Your buyer will come through probably, but its going to take a long while.

You have a lazy agent who thinks the sale will go through eventually, give or take 6 months and figures it could take that long to find a new buyer in a chain. They lied that it was a cash buyer, defined as

-A cash buyer is someone who can finance their purchase without a mortgage or selling their own home. Technically, to be a cash buyer, you must have enough money available to buy the property at the time you make the offer.

You have two options:
Suck it up and just wait till your buyer is ready to exchange , then you delay in looking for a property.

OR , keep your buyer, but tell them the property is going back on the market unless they exchange , at least that way you have their cash if they pull out and some concrete commitment. They should be able to raise a 10 % deposit based on the cash coming from probate.

This is my take, too.

You need to actively drop this buyer OP and make the estate agent actively market your house or switch EAs, this "buyer" is not buying your house any time soon.

Because auction buyers always expect discount for the fast sale. They specifically go to auction houses for bargains.

She'd take a hit, a 300K EA valued house wouldn't go for that at auction, 280K max , unless she was lucky to get a bidding war from 2 buyers who fell in love with the house and wanted it any cost (unlikely).

We experienced similar 3 years ago … cash buyer !! But then found out too late the money was coming from a business in the process of being sold. Absolute nightmare - got there in the end . I will never ever believe estate agents again about cash buyers (that’s if I can ever bear to go through this process again 😉) good luck !!

Lack of interest, in an otherwise marketable house, is down to price. You're asking too much - if you want to attract serious buyers, you need to lower the asking price.

OP I would pull out. It's not really a cash buyer. I'm so sorry.

Your house is priced too high. 2 viewings in that time tells you that - no matter what the EA has ‘values’ it at. Drop the price to a more realistic level and actively market it again.

I would change EAs, drop the price and get the EA to aggressively market it. I did this with my last house although I dropped the price significantly.

From dropping the price, the EA ringing everyone who has expressed an interest in my area, a full day of viewings it was sold (with proof of funds) in 3 days.

You are not powerless, but you are leaving the power in the hands of other people who do not have your interests at heart.

This estate agent has no motivation to market your house, as they have a buyer.

Tell them you are turning down the buyer and get another estate agent. this one flat out lied to you - when you deal with liars you are dealing with liars.

If this buyer is serious, they can get a bridging loan, but while you are sitting there fretting and hoping, they have no motivation to do that. They may not do it anyway, but you will have nost nothing. Anything could happen in the time it takes to sort out Australia, and then you have wasted all this time - and everyone is happy except you.

Take back your power.

I'm inclined to agree.

I can't see why nobody can ring Australia. At 9.00 am here, it's between 4 and 6 pm in Australia, depending on where it is. Surely you or the estate agents can ring at 8.30 am?

Also, I think your expectations here are causing you huge stress. Everyone I know who has sold a house recently has had huge delays, dramas and hold ups. It was always optimistic to think you could sort this before you have the baby, and this buyer hasn't delayed you, because you had no other options. You've only had 3 viewings, so it's clearly not a sellers market at the moment.

It's really hard, but you need to find a way to manage your expectations, accept that it isn't going to happen the way you want it to, and try and find some acceptance so you can focus on the most important thing, which is being healthy for your baby.

Well you dot have to sell it to them-keep it on the market until they can sort themselves out

This has happened twice to us. Estate Agents are incompetent and do not research the status of buyers properly. Funny how a cash buyer can suddenly stall everything by deciding actually they would like to get a mortgage instead 🤐

I’d put the house back on the market. Or tell the buyers that’s what you’re doing and see if it makes them hurry up! Selling and buying houses is stressful and the one thing I’ve learnt it that you have to be selfish about what you need.

Tell the EA to keep marketing your property, as at the moment you haven't got a proceedable buyer.

In the mean time, do NOT spend any money or try to progress the sale of the house you're buying, as you are not in a position to proceed and could lose this money. The seller might also find someone else who can proceed so will go with them instead.

Stuff like this happens. If the relative died last year then chances are the probate is nearly sorted and the money could be forthcoming soon.

Just carry on as normal, and perhaps phone the Australian solicitor yourself if your own solicitor can't do this due to the hours.

I certainly never expected the whole thing to be done and dusted by the time baby arrives- if anything, I’d prefer to be where we are now as currently we only live a mile and a half from the hospital! But I certainly had hoped that we’d all be Sold STC with the wheels in motion by now.
I am taking on everybody’s points and advice. I’m going to draft an email to the EA Sales Director, or if he’s really unlucky I might just go into the office in person and speak to him face to face.
In terms of our vendors, the tiny bit of hope that I’m clinging to is that they’ve already moved out of the house, they’re chain free so aren’t relying on our buy to finance an onward purchase. I’m hoping that means they can bear to give us a little bit more time as it’s only been 7 working days since they accepted our offer, but also conscious that they already lost 8 weeks waiting for proof of funds from their last buyer and probably don’t want to do it again!

Moving house is never straightforward and quick. You sound like you are not going to cope very well with the ups and downs..

Forget about the current offer. let them tick along in their own time and when they get their money if your house is available then they can proceed. Bear in mind that they will likely be viewing other houses whilst they wait for their money and could easily pull out anyway.

Stick your house back on the market with which ever agent you like and consider your self lucky that you found this out after only 2 weeks and not 6 months or even longer.

Unfortunately the agent and the buyer will not be remotely interested in your due date. As another mentioned, you might be best to put your house sale on hold if you struggle with stress.