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Original poster

I didn't get the house because...

23 replies

Wiggy29 · 10/10/2013 08:31

Other than you deciding you didn't want your house, why else did buying a house fall through for you? I'm currently in the buying process and wanted to try and think of reasons it may not go through as at the moment I'm stupidly excited and can hardly sleep! Think I need a reality check in case it all goes pear shaped (which I know it often does, I'm just not sure why).

OP posts:

ilikecooking · 10/10/2013 08:53

Seeing the survey can add thousands to a house regarding work needed to be done & brining up possible issues such as plans for new transport links, new build properties, change in use of land at the rear etc.

Some friends of mine were due to exchange on a property then pulled out at the last min because they drove down the road in the dark for the first time & felt unsafe.

A change in circumstances to either party ie sudden loss of income, a bereavement, illness etc

I'm sure there are loads more but I have to get to work now....

Original poster

Wiggy29 · 10/10/2013 09:00

Thanks, it's good to think of things like what it would be like at night (we've already had a chat about it as it's quite far out but still near 4 other houses). There's only us (we don't have property to sell) and the people we're buying from so not a massive chain but aware that things can still go wrong.

OP posts:

JRmumma · 10/10/2013 09:02

Yep, survey. The first house we were buying was exactly what we wanted. A little Victorian cottage, but the survey recommended a survey on the roof structure which would have cost us £1k and potentially could have shown (as the original surveyor thought possible) that it needed many thousands of £ worth of work. As first time buyers we decided that we couldn't afford the £1k if the result was that it did need work as we wouldn't have been able to do it, so we cut our losses and walked away.

Another house we put an offer on and was accepted later turned out to have already had a buyer in place but was struggling to get a mortgage, which they eventually got and because they had made a slightly higher offer we lost out.

If anything goes wrong then try to think of it as not meant to ne and move on. Its hard but you will find another house and it will all work out for the best in the end.

Fingers crossed for you though!

DontCallMeDaughter · 10/10/2013 09:08

For us, there was a problem with the land registry docs - there was an old leasehold from literally 100 years ago, before the house had been sold as a freehold. The leasehold hadn't been properly closed out (I don't really understand all of the legal points). Our solicitor advised us not to proceed without the docs being sorted, the sellers weren't interested in resolving it and eventually the chain collapsed because our buyer got sick of waiting and pulled out.

Another one nearly fell through because the garden wasn't actually on the land registry docs, it belonged to the council and the fence that had been built around it had been done without council permission. Sorting it out took 6 months, and we renegotiated the price (him: but you have private access to the garden, me: but its not my garden, its the council's and I don't want to pay for something I won't own). When we sold that place we made sure the Estate Agent was explicit that the garden wasn't included in the price.

pippop1 · 10/10/2013 13:52

because:
Someone else made a cash offer so they took theirs.

The survey came back with structural problems and we didn't want to take them on.

jennycoast · 10/10/2013 13:54

Someone made a substantially bigger offer, despite the property being "off the market". I'm glad now.

Rooble · 10/10/2013 13:55

Because the vendors kept trying to negotiate the price up by pretending they had a better offer. We bought a different house nearby; their house didn't sell for a further two years!!!!

MummytoMog · 10/10/2013 15:04

Because the house got broken into and the boiler, kitchen and bathroom got nicked and we couldn't get a mortgage because it wasn't inhabitable.

Because my husband was an idiot and thought the house wasn't worth the asking price and we withdrew our offer. It's worth twice that now, eight years later.

Aethelfleda · 10/10/2013 15:57

Because the vendor's MIL lived there too and told us when we did our second viewing "I don't want to move actually, it's too much bother". We checked the deeds online and found she had cash in the house and was perfectly entitled to stall the process at any point by refusing to leave. So we withdrew.

K8Middleton · 10/10/2013 16:11

Because the house the vendors were buying had not got building consents or planning permission for the extension so they pulled out... so we couldn't buy their house.

Because the extension to the lease that was a condition of our offer had not been included by the estate agent when our offer was made When our solicitor finally pinned their solicitor down on the point and they weren't interested in doing the extension we walked away about a £1000 lighter for solicitor fees

Because the vendor decided that if I wouldn't pay the extra £3000 to have a new kitchen put in that they had chosen and I didn't want they didn't want to sell it after all.

Because the freeholder died leaving the freehold to the leaseholder who decided he'd make more money not to sell to us but turn it back into a house and sell.

Because the owner decided to get some damp treatment done and then put it back on the market and try his luck for a higher price.

There are more. I had 7 offers accepted before I finally bought. I have a lovely house now

gintastic · 10/10/2013 16:17

Because the next door neighbour reopened a historical boundary dispute because she thought she could get some money out of it. She wanted £30k from us to resolve an issue over 2m2 of land. We walked. The house didn't sell for another 3 years.

Because the house was in negative equity and the bank wanted another £5k to reduce the shortfall. We walked. It was repossessed and sold for £90k less than we had originally offered. Wasn't much smug (but it must have been awful for the poor vendor).

MrsBramleyApple · 10/10/2013 16:17

The house had a shared occupancy driveway and my dh's best friend who was a surveyor said "don't touch it with a bargepole!"

MrsBramleyApple · 10/10/2013 16:18

Because the house had a shared occupancy driveway and my dh's best friend who was a surveyor said "don't touch it with a bargepole!"

Madamecastafiore · 10/10/2013 16:27

Because the crazy bint who rented the house wouldn't even let the surveyor in due to them having D&V. Then she refused to let him in because a friend of hers had been killed in a bus crash. Apparently she had form for this kind of thing and we were the third couple to pull out.

Next house woman told us after survey that she didn't love her husband anymore and was refusing to vacate when things went through if she had not reached a financial settlement. Looked at me in disgust when I suggested that she could rent and said 'what put my children through that!' Her youngest was 9, she had an au pair and the elder 2 were away at boarding school. My youngest was 2 and eldest was 6. She suggested I go into rented instead!

DoNotRideInOnAWhiteHorse · 10/10/2013 16:32

Because the surveyor said I was paying too much for the house, and the vendor disagreed, I walked away, I must check to see what it sold for in the end.

Because someone else who had viewed the house before me suddenly turned up offering more money than me.

EastwickWitch · 10/10/2013 16:47

Because although DH liked it I didn't. I tried to make myself but could only see the negatives.
It's near me & I still dislike it.

Jan49 · 10/10/2013 18:24

Because the survey showed that the plumbing had all been done by amateurs and had to come out, and the surveyor suggested the house wouldn't be easy to sell on as it was ex-council with no garage.

Because the vendors said one of them had been diagnosed with a very serious illness so they pulled out.

Because the council said they couldn't allocate our ds a school place until we'd bought a house or got a rental contract, so if we bought, there was a risk of then being allocated a school too far away, so we rented instead.

handcream · 10/10/2013 18:41

They say that 65% of house buying is done by the women, ie. if the women doesnt like it the man will have NO chance of getting it.

Likewise if she really really loves it HE will have no chance of refusing to buy it.

And I think that's true. My DH wanted a house many years ago. I didnt like it because it had a creepy cellar that smelt damp. Seen too many horror films tbh.

littlecrystal · 10/10/2013 19:36

From the ones I loved and have lost:

Because I was trying to work out a "reasonable" offer based on the prices sold and offered too low - the next day the vendor accepted a higher offer from somewhere else.

Because this was the 1st house I viewed and it was backing on the road and I thought something better will come up. I later realized that I actually loved its location, and nothing better came up. In addition the prices went up and I can hardly afford such house anymore.

gintastic · 10/10/2013 20:19

handcream - very true! The house we currently live in I had loved from the outside for ages. Then when our second attempt fell through and I discovered this one was on the market, we viewed ASAP. We were only in the front hall and DH looked at me and said "we're buying it, aren't we?" just from the look on my face :-)

deste · 10/10/2013 20:55

Our flat was "sold" but the buyers were refused a mortgage three times. That was two weeks ago. Yesterday we got an offer 8k below the asking price which we refused but today we got 1k under the asking price so it is now sold. DD also got her mortgage through today after two weeks of worry. She moves next Thursday. We have a cash buyer so very hopeful.

handcream · 11/10/2013 15:27

I do wonder how some properties go through. I often get people saying 'we will rent if that helps'. They dont mean a word of it!

A good agent will filter out the time wasters. Around here Hamptons like to do Open House' The best agent around here who is a stand alone business and knows the area like the back of his hand says they are a waste of time. You get all and sundry, people use the loo, and often hijack the agent with nosey questions with no intention of buying. Of course there is also the question of security when 15-20 people are wandering around your house and opening cupboards and such like.

I think if a women definitely hates a house a man wont buy it. I wanted a house (that we didnt end up buying because we were outbid). My DH didnt particularly like it but I burst into tears (I never do that) so we did put in an offer.

BlackMoonlightGhostsandRoses · 11/10/2013 23:28

Because there are a number of loons out there with more money than sense. We now have a lovely house, in probably a better location.

The 'dream house' has had three 'sale agreed's' fall through in the past year, and from doing some digging, would appear to have not only substantial refurb costs (we knew about those) but planning's just been granted for relatively high density housing on the two neighbouring properties (we didn't know about that!) so think we had a narrow escape.

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