To pull out of house purchase

[Bluewhoglue]

We had an offer accepted on a house in September.

Things are progressing but we have noticed a number of houses that have appeared on the market in the past 3-4 weeks which has made us question our decision as these houses are similar to our house but are slightly cheaper or a similar price but in better condition with more parking. We put it down to nerves and have continued our purchase.

However, a house has popped on the market and we are really having second thoughts. We think it would be a better fit because it has downstairs bathroom, 2 of the bedrooms are bigger (we'd get an additional 6.5 sq feet), the downstairs is larger, and it is much closer to schools.

It would come at an additional cost (£20k) but we could swing it, however I am concerned about the affect my decision will have on the seller.

what would you do? I have yet to make an offer so this might be moot.

Would it be reasonable to make an offer and see what happens?

Because things like this happen.

You have done it now. You can’t live in regret so your going to have to pull out.

But I really would recommend you don’t look next time you offer. You will always find something that might be better and trip yourself out about it.

And I also believe in a weird kind of fate of ‘what’s for you won’t go by you’ as long as you have good house buying karma. But I’m a bit weird like that. I certainly wouldn’t be hopping from offer to offer. Buying houses are easy. Selling them is crazy. So you want that karma in good nick.

Anyway what’s done is done. Better to pull out sooner than later.

Why? I've bought and sold in England and most recently (18 months ago) bought and sold in Scotland. The only significant difference is the seller preparing the home buyers report. The buyer of our cottage in Scotland pulled out 6 weeks after making an offer which we had accepted - until the missives are agreed , which can be very close to completion, the Scottish buyer had exactly the same rights to pull out of the deal as in England. I think it's probably more frowned upon, but the practical impact is the same.

Luckily we'd had 2 other offers, both still interested and we sold another 8 weeks later to one of those buyers for just £1k under the price we'd agreed with the buyer who pulled out, and we had a very good seller that we were buying from who kept to the offer we had made rather than mess us about

But it really isn't the "once an offer is accepted you're locked in" approach that I think lots of folk think it is. You're locked in when the missives are agreed, which is pretty much the same as when the exchange happens in England.

Speaking as someone who had four sales fall through, for various reasons not connected with my house, mainly personal circumstances of the buyers changing (one couple split up, one couldn't afford the mortgage, one had the sale of their own fall through and one was relying on the money from a divorce settlement that never appeared). I was devastated each time but I still say buy the house that you actually want. It's a massive purchase and you can't go ahead just to keep the vendors happy. It's an upsetting thing to do and I feel very sorry for your vendors but these things happen.

At the end of the day it comes to caring about the low opinion of someone who you never have to see again , or making the right choice over the most expensive thing you will buy.

Could it be that buyers don't want to spend hundreds of thousands on a house when something better and more suitable has come up? Buying a house because you don't want to 'upset' the seller is beyond ridiculous.

I didn't say otherwise!! Of course buyers need to buy the best house, for them, they can afford.

But your post was stupid. Of course people get 'precious' about their sales going through, many will have something 'big' depending on it. Life changing for many.

There is absolutely nothing stupid about any of my posts. You put something up for sale , somebody considers it, but then there is a change of mind due to their circumstances, in this case a better property. People need to get over it and move on, instead of the usual Mumsnet complaining about buyers.

We pulled out of a house purchase. It was a big renovation project. We had bid low on it & then got pushed up by sellers saying there was lots of interest etc. in retrospect nobody else ever actually bid & we should have held firm! Anyway went to our upper limit then fairly quickly realised there was far more to do costs wise than we had allowed for, & pulled out. I don’t lose any sleep over it. It recently appeared on right move all renovated so it obviously sold in the end.

The problem is that there will always be a better house. At a certain point you just have to have confidence in your decision and proceed with a sale.

That's why house moves are so stressful. So many things can go wrong before the final day (on both sides). Feeling sorry for the seller can't be a deciding factor in anything. If they suddenly got a better offer do you think they'd say no because of you?

You’re undoubtedly right but I think I’m allowed a moment of self pity! 😉 I’m over it now. We have a new buyer and I’m keeping everything crossed 🤞