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Original poster

To the buyer who just retracted her offer on our house

46 replies

Beauregard · 26/01/2012 12:17

I hope you do not find what you are looking for and that someone messes you around the way you have messed us about.We shall probably lose the property we were going to buy now so i hope you are pleased with yourself.You have made an already stressful process much harder and i hope Karma bites you on the ass.
Do not view houses near a railway and place offers if trains bother you you evil witch.

OP posts:

SwedishEdith · 26/01/2012 12:23

Um, well, she has got the right to do so, you know! Too early for ?

ChickensGoMeh · 26/01/2012 12:25

Possibly a tad harsh? A teeny weeny overreaction?

rockdoctor · 26/01/2012 12:28

I sympathise. Having lived overseas for most of my house-buying life, I was absolutely appalled at how things work here. We managed to buy a house but even though I would dearly love to move I can't yet face the ridiculous system that people put up with here. Offers should be accompanied by a sizeable non-refundable deposit so that if a buyer does pull out you get some compensation.

Levantine · 26/01/2012 12:31

oh dear
how far along was it all?

StitchingMoss · 26/01/2012 12:33

rock, completely agree - our house buying/selling system sucks big time. Have a friend going through it at the moment and it's awful - hope I never have to do it again .

sympathies pelvicfloor .

MrsZoidberg · 26/01/2012 16:39

Sympathies PelvicFloor.

Happened to us just before Christmas, and we're dreading the phone ringing in case it's the vendor of the one we have offered on.

To the posters who think the op is too harsh - until you've been there, you cannot know the hurt and anger it causes, afterall, if they have pulled out because of a railway line - was it not there BEFORE they out in the offer?

member · 26/01/2012 16:43

I feel for you OP - not happened to me although there were threats. Agree the system is extremely stupid & un-neccessarily protracted in England. Hope you get another buyer soon OP.

lonelyplanet · 26/01/2012 19:33

I totally sympathise, it's just happened to us too, over two months and loads of money in.

MiddleOfTheStreet · 26/01/2012 20:13

Total sympathy from me too! Some buyers are evil and deserve having voodoo dolls made of them and pins stuck etc etc !
We have just had our buyer pull out (2 wks ago). Were supposed to move tomorrow... . On upside. Have now found lovely new buyers, after less than 24hrs on market. Wishing you the same- xo

libelulle · 27/01/2012 12:13

We haven't had anyone pull out, but some of the comments about our last house made my head want to explode. One viewer said it was too far from the railway station. And you couldn't find this out before viewing, dimwit? Someone else put in an offer at 40k below asking price because the kitchen was apparently too small and one of the three bedrooms was in the attic. They were quite put out when the estate agent told them that if it had had three first floor bedrooms and a huge kitchen, it would have been on the market for... a higher asking price! They upped their offer in tiny increments until they finally reached asking price, but by that point I wouldn't have touched them with a barge-pole.
I've never met such unreasonable people as when involved in house purchases!

Lightofthemoon · 27/01/2012 13:50

libelulle we keep getting that too 'it's too far from the town centre...' and you don't check this rather important criteria you have before viewing!?

I'm really sorry pelvic I absolutely dread this happening, is hard enough waiting for someone to buy your house and get one you love lined up at the same time without the fear of it all going wrong at the final hour. I really hope it still works out for your purchase.

betterwhenthesunshines · 27/01/2012 14:42

It goes both ways you know - we put an offer in on somewhere, had it accepted, paid for a survey and THEN the buyer pulled out as they had changed their minds. Surely you decide if you want to sell your house BEFORE you put it on the market.

It's disappointing for you, but at least you haven't shelled out any money like we had...

frostyfingers · 27/01/2012 14:52

You have my sympathies - our buyer pulled out just before Christmas, 10 minutes before a deadline imposed by them. They wanted us to move within 4 weeks of accepting the offer so we pulled the stops out looking for a rented property, sorted out removal people, insurance etc, children's schools and then they decided that actually they didn't want the property.

They must have known more than 10 mins before, and if they'd been a bit more realistic and given themselves and us more time then we wouldn't have incurred so much cost. They didn't even have the grace to apologise for the inconvenience (we had two two hour visits from them when they were viewing, gave them loads of info regarding the local area and services) or the effort we'd put into meeting their deadline.

I wished them ill for quite a few weeks - now I'm a bit further away from them I don't feel quite so bitter. BUT we were only going into rented to haven't lost the house of our dreams like you have.

Becaroooo · 27/01/2012 19:26

Hmmm...I have been the puller outer in the past twice....

On one the home buyers report was pretty bad We were heartbroken as we had set our hearts on the house, but it just needed so much doing to it the wasnt clear on viewing (hadnt had any workdone on it for 15/20 years). Some of the windows were falling out!!! I felt very bad for the vendors though

Second one was being bought from a building company and it just got really weird...they were storing furniture in it (?) and it was still there when they said it had been taken away. They were also pushing for a 4 week completion which they then reneged on....

The system in the UK is mad...we bought a house in December finally but I dont want to do it again in a hurry

Becaroooo · 27/01/2012 19:28

....and the vendors of the 1st house took it off the market anyway (after getting another buyer) and 2 other houses we offered on (offers rejected even though they were only £3-5k under asking) were taken off by the vendors too

frostyfingers · 27/01/2012 20:00

Becaroo, I think that's a fair enough reason for moving out - you can't tell until you get the survey exactly what's required. What hacked me off was that our buyers had their full survey, pushed and pushed us to move out in 4 weeks, asked for and been given lots of local info, said they were going into sign at such and such a time and THEN changed their minds.

FiveHoursSleep · 27/01/2012 20:11

Oh no Pelvicfloor, that sucks. We've had a sellers disappear off the face of the earth on the day we hoped to exchange. Their EA and lawyer had no idea where they had gone. We had our hearts set on the place and had paid for surveys etc.
We were selling our house too, and had to go through exchange on that as our buyers had been so patient while our sellers buggered us about. Then the next day we drove up to the village we had tried to buy in and rented the first place that would let us have pets.
2 weeks later the vendors surfaced. Mrs seller had been in hospital having an emergency hysterectomy apparently, which was probably traumatic but they also had two adult children, one of whom could have rung someone, we thought.
They apologised and wanted to know if we were still interested in buying it. We said no, and went on to find this house, which is much more convenient for transport and in a much nicer area than the original one.
And as a bonus, we sometimes walk the dogs around the house we were going to buy and they have built a mobile phone mast 20 metres form the garden. For us there was a reason that sale didn't go through, and I'm sure it'll work out for you too.

Becaroooo · 27/01/2012 21:21

frosty That is really awful, I'm sorry but I have actually heard of people who had packed up, sitting on boxes awaiting the remocal van to be told the move had fallen through!!!

CointreauVersial · 27/01/2012 23:29

We had this happen to us, and they ended up buying the house three doors down from us.

So, for the three months it took us to sell our house again, they were actually our neighbours (and it was the sort of road where we all knew each other/socialised etc). Every time I saw them I was gritting my teeth and muttering under my breath.

But it's OK now; I forgave them eventually. We sold and moved away. We have been back to our old neighbourhood several times, and they even invited us to their Halloween party last year.

runtybunty · 28/01/2012 00:01

Ha...try being the one who has to give the bad news that the buyer/seller has pulled out! And not getting paid for months of work. And then multiply that by lots and lots and lots......

And then somehow it's always MY fault - bloody estate agents

(stomps off muttering)

Seriously though, my sympathies it's totally shit when it happens whichever side of the fence you are on!

Kewcumber · 28/01/2012 00:24

I had someone pull out at about 10.30am on the morning if exchange once because they'd "changed their mind".

I am in the process of buying/selling again and I never now beleive its going to happen until we've actually exchanged.

Its shit isn't it.

Kewcumber · 28/01/2012 00:30

"It's disappointing for you, but at least you haven't shelled out any money like we had..." that isn't necessarily true. I have spent about £750 so far (not including time the solicitors have spent) so far on my house purchase. If my buyers drop out I lose all that.

Becaroooo · 28/01/2012 08:50

Re: fees....We lost 2 lots of search fees and 2 lots of survey fees each time we pulled out so we did not do it lightly (total cost nearly £1k).

I have to say I agree wit you runty The EA who told me about a vendor taking the house off the market after they accepted an asking price offer actually sounded embarrassed, not to mention baffled. I felt really sorry for her!

I think a big issue is that in the UK people can still exchange and complete on the same day....also there should be a penalty of a certain % of asking price the nearer it gets to the agreed completion date...like when you cancel a holiday...eg: 10% 3 months before, 30% 1 month before and 50% 1 month or less before?

suesin · 20/04/2013 06:31

I totally agree, buyers who pull out of house sales should be made to pay compensation for any legal work undertaken by the person selling up to that point. The moral being, think before you speak!

VBisme · 20/04/2013 07:31

I shouldn't have read this, I've had an offer accepted on the house of my dreams and pulled out all the stops to fund it.

I'll be devastated if it doesn't go ahead

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