Pull out of property purchase

[ChampagneLassie]

We’re in process of buying the house we rent. And now our ideal house has come to market. The main difference is cost. The house we’re currently buying is 5 bed huge garden. And is 20% more expensive. Whilst we can afford it that obviously comes at a cost to other lifestyle choices. I posted before as it’s more than we wanted to spend but we’ve been looking for 2 years and not seen anything we really wanted. Until now. It’s ideal, it’s 4 bed, a decent sized garden. I actually prefer the look of it, wooden floors throughout, nice period features. And it’s 20% cheaper. That saving would make such a difference to our lives.

But the dilemma if we pull out our current landlords will obviously be very disappointed. I’d offer to cover their legal costs and be hugely apologetic. Do you think that would be sufficent recompense?

we’re about 1-2 weeks away from exchange.

i worry about bad karma. I worry that if we switch and the new property perhaps the sellers pull out / change their mind (they’re looking to downsize), it would serve us right. Thoughts

People always ask about areas schools etc. they’re in same location very close to very good schools.

It's very possible they are selling you your current house at a bit of a discount and they'll make more money on the open market.

How close are you to exchange? Even if quite close I think pulling out has to be acceptable given the system we live with. You don't owe it to your vendors to pay so many thousands of pounds more for a house you are less keen on until the deal is sealed. That is the system.

However it would be a bit of a gamble as there are more things that can go wrong with an unknown house. Vendor may pull out or gazump etc.

At no other point in your life would you consider making a purchase of something that costs hundreds of thousands of pounds because you don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings.

Of course you put an offer in on the house you actually want, can more easily afford and live in. Your landlord will, unfortunately, have to deal with it. Is it ideal for them? No. But you can’t buy a house just to spare them the hassle of having to market the property.

Offer on your perfect house.

Biggest purchase you will ever make. Make the right decision for you and your family. You can apologise and be contrite but don't buy a whole house out of guilt.
And you wouldn't 'deserve it' if the new one falls through. It would be shit. But it wouldn't be karma. It would be bad luck.
I'm wishing you BEST of luck. It's too big a decision not to make the right one.

I would stick with the current property. 1-2 weeks isn’t much notice to pull out and your landlord can then make it very difficult for you in regards to still renting from them. Like you say what happens if the other house doesn’t work out, you would then have to come back to your landlord to either still rent from them or offer to buy the house again.

Normally I'm one of the people saying pull out if you are unsure. But this time it's tricky. You know your current house, the neighbours and any problems there are. There's every chance of completing your purchase smoothly, since you and the seller know each other.

OTOH the other house is a totally unknown quantity. Nightmare neighbours, rotten joists hidden by those lovely floors, sellers who aren't sure they actually want to sell. Who knows!

Make the offer on the dream house.

If you get accepted then you can tell your ll. Don't listen to the guilty feelings, of course you go for the house thats best for you.

I'd make an effort to allow all viewings for other buyers and keep house tidy. Thats enough. You do not need to offer to pay their costs. Keep it polite and factual.

I think talking of it would serve us right/bad karma is unhelpful. That is simply not how cause and effect works IMO. But the sheer mechanics would mean an increased risk of things going pear shaped and you need to factor than into your decision.

thankyou for all the kind words. I expected everyone to tell me off for even thinking like this

Yes I could offer to help sell the house. They think they’re letting us buy the house under market and I think they’d actually wait till we’re out and tart it up a bit to maximise sell price. But if someone else would pay what we’re paying then it doesn’t really matter who they sell to.

It’s a shitty thing to carry on looking whilst doing your conveyancing. I’ve had people pull out twice on or near exchange date. Expect your LL to be pissed off. They might serve you notice leaving you stuck for accom during your second conveyancing.

It’s only a few doors away…we know all the neighbours. Which is also potentially a problem as they’d all know we did this and might consider us quite shady.

I don’t think you would be doing anything morally wrong if you pulled out and went for the other house but personally I would stick with your current home.

You know exactly what you are getting, no chance of the purchase going wrong and you will make longterm gains from buying at a discount and in a flat market.

A bird in the hand etc.

When we sold my mums house after she died our first buyers pulled out on the day we were due to exchange and there was nothing we could do about it! They were apparently proceeding on two houses at the same time and ought the other one. Our solicitor was very cross as their solicitor had messed us about for ages wanting legal papers signed by all the siblings despite only 2 being the executors so we had to pay a fortune to get the documents couriered to the US for my sister to sign.

The good news is that the house sold very quickly to someone else and we got a better price.

I agree. I actually pulled out of the house purchase two weeks before exchange (HA so zero quibbles about that) because I found "the perfect" house. And while I don't regret the purchase necessarily, there are a lot of issues with the house that came up since. I've had to replace the boiler on day one and I am pretty sure I will have to do some work on DPC very soon and god knows how much it will cost. Not to mention that once they took their furniture out, it turned out that the house was beautifully decorated around it. One room is such a mess from the construction point of view that I don't even know where to start. Add moth infestation we uncovered a month after moving in and are still dealing with... In short, any savings I could have made are being swallowed by remedial works. No complains as a lot of it was reflected in the price but project-managing all of this is like another full time job.
You know the house you live in, OP. That is absolutely priceless.

Perhaps that’s part of problem, I’m pricing up all the things I’d want to change but we can’t really afford. I just don’t feel at all enthusiastic about the house I live in. I know it’s a good property in a good area but I don’t love it. And now one I could love is available at a lower cost. You’re all quite correct there maybe hidden issues. And it certainly needs a new kitchen and bathroom, but I’d have much more money to do that. (I’d like to replace kitchen in current house but we won’t be able to afford to)Ahhhhh🤯

regardless of the other house you should withdraw as it sounds like it will be a financial burden.

no point going there if you don't have to

It's business, plus a buyer's market. Discuss it with your landlord to see if they will reduce their price to you. All's fair when such large sums of money are involved. It's your life, your money.

The biggest risk is that you don't get the other house, someone makes a better offer, your current landlord decide not to sell to you any longer and you end up having to find a other rental or buying something that is a worse compromise.

It's up to you to assess the risk and whether it is worth taking it.

Just to add, we made an offer on a house two years ago that had been on the market for 2 years without one offer. Wed met the owners who were desperate to sell, we thought match in heaven...and against all odds, another buyer came through the woods who were able to proceed right away so they understandably went with them. In the end, it fell through and we got the house, but we didn't expect at all that two buyers would appear at the same time (and the price had been reduced more than 6 months previously), so there's always an unexpected risk.

100% Pull out. This is a huge financial decision. You need to do what's best for you rather than your ex landlord. Don't pay them any money either.

This is what would worry me. Personally I think it’s a really shirty thing to do 2 weeks away from exchange, particularly to your landlords.

There's absolutely nothing to say that you would actually be successful in buying the other house for a 101 reasons. I'd stick with the bird in the hand.

This is one thing I wouldn't do. They've agreed a price already. It's skirting pretty close to gazundering which is bad enough to do to a stranger but worse to do to your landlord who already thinks they are doing you a favour. She can withdraw with regret & apologies citing that it is too much of a reach for them financially. That puts the ball in their court - they can offer a reduction if they are desperate to close the deal, or not if they don't.

Personally, I'd go for the bigger house.

Forget about the ethics of it. I wouldn't do it simply because if the second house sale fails (and it could for a whole variety of reasons) you've burnt your boats and you have neither property.

Whereas with the rental, it sounds like you are about to exchange and there is no chain or other reason it won't go through.