Sellers fibbing about something - but what and why?

[narmada]

DH and I have found a house we like the look of. It was first listed on rightmove on 22 March 2011, first viewing day was on the Sat just gone.

We met the owners tonight and they said they'd been renovating a house to move to, that this was now done, and that they were going to move in to the new house in 2 weeks.

It struck us as odd that they would only have put the house on the market 3 weeks before moving to their new house. Both DH and I smelt a rat, but we can't work out what's going on. When we asked about the circumstances, the seller looked a bit flustered - was really obviously fibbing - and said that they hadn't wanted to put it on straight after christmas as the market was slow. But it's now April!

Both DH and I are minded to walk away because we're worried what else they might fib about, or try some wheeze at the point of exchange or something...

Are we overly suspicious? Is there any point asking the agent to clarify?!

Could it be that their finances have not stretched as far as they had hoped so they are forced into putting current house on the market and are actually moving into a shell. The might not want to tell you this as it would give you a clue that they are in a hurry, so you might drop your offer?

Could be that, thanks nigglewiggle. We have checked with land registry (can you tell both DH and I are researchers?!) and their current house isn't even mortgaged tho....hmmm. They claimed to have had an offer on the house we viewed and told us how much for. Is that normal practice or are they trying it on?!

Have you met the neighbours?

MrNC and I were planning to make an offer on one flat until the woman next door collared us and gave us a 10-minute lecture on all the residents of the block complete with swearing and racist insults. We bought round the corner instead (and woman and hubby shouted at me on my way to work, instead).

Since then we've always found the neighbours or asked their neighbours what they're like. Current ones are wonderful on one side and perfectly inoffensive on the other.

They could have been selling privately and it fell through... Does it really matter? If you like the house, check it out thoroughly and make an offer if there aren't any real problems. Some people do react in a flustered way to unexpected or direct questioning.

notcitrus no not met the nrighbours, did ask about them and was happy with answers they gave, but I think I would knock on their door before doing anything further to see if they were bonkers or anything - good tip, ta.

lala suppose it doesn't really matter, but I am just worried a fibbing seller might try and pull a fast one further down the line. I hate fibbers!

She may also consider that it's none of your business why they are selling and get flustered trying to find a polite way of telling you not to be so intrusive.

I don't really see the problem. They have no mortgage on the house so it doesn't make any difference to them if they sell or not.
They have just finished doing up the other house and now have somewhere to live.
I think that it has probably been traumatice for them doing up the other house and they didn't want the hassle of doing that and selling a house at the same time.
I think you are being overly suspicious.

I have renovated houses and lived in others and the time scales aren't important. They obviously don't need the money from the sale to buy the new place as they already own it? I can't see teh problem

OK.....it turns out they have just had planning permission refused for a needed extension. Suppose then that they were waiting for a (positive) decision. Thank god for planning portals.

Thanks all for your responses.

Don't always believe that no motgage documents registered with the Land Registry means no mortgage. There are some financial institutions that give staff mortgage by some other means. DH had a staff mortgage that was done like that. It looked really good for a while!

I went with my sister once when she was house hunting and we asked the seller what their position was, did they have somewhere to move to. The answer was yes, they had just finished renovating a property and were about to move in. Turns out they were lying to us they were getting divorced and buying 2 separate (smaller) properties. (inside information).

crazycarol thanks for the response. As well as the planning thing we were wondering about a looming divorce because the couple just seemed so... awkward, didn't speak to each other the whole time we were there and there was a strange absence of anything of a perrsonal nature in the house... Who knows. I hate the buying process in this country!

We've had similar situation Narmada. Made the effort to do property beeand landregistry etc and discovered eventually they'd been on the market for months and didn't want to say. And they had remortgaged house we wanted to buy. Where are you buying - crossing fingers it's not same house

How do you find out if a house is mortgaged or remortgaged?

Land Registry documents tell you who has rights over a property. That should include rights of way, thought that's a bit more complicated, any agreements with councils or whatever, so in 1920 it was agreed you'd never turn this property into a business that carries out noisy works, or that xyz's horses can forever hace access to the water at your pond. That document also includes the details of the owners of the house, whether a lender or those who've taken out the mortgage.

The house we were looking at showed that they'd owned the house since the late 90s but that from last year a new lender had rights over it too - twas a bank so relatively straightforward. Doesn't tell you how much or anything though!