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Original poster

Heartbroken buyer :(

34 replies

WhatsGoingOnEh · 03/06/2014 19:42

Sold ex-marital home in December. Split cash, giving me a big deposit. But small mortgage as I'm self-employed.
Found house EXACTLY the right price in EXACTLY the right location.
Offered asking price, accepted, all good. Only one snag - owners had to find a place to buy.
Waited - they found place in March. Seller said he was keen to complete in 8 weeks. Then proceeded to stall and eff up every single thing until now. My mortgage offer expires end of June. My panicky sellers went round to his house and asked him WTF was he doing? He just stood there.
Sellers just rang me to say it's looking bad. They will give me till end of June at the current price, but after that they will put the house back on the market for 25k more as their estate agent hold them house prices have shot up 10% in the last six months.
I'm heartbroken. None of this is my fault - I have no chain. I'm living at my parents' house with the kids. It's lovely but I NEED my own place.
I'm so angry and heartbroken. Back to square one after six months. And £2k down in fees, solicitors bills and surveys for I house I can't buy! Gutted.

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Original poster
WhatsGoingOnEh · 03/06/2014 19:43

Mortgage broker says Halifax probably won't extend my offer as the new mortgage rules have changed everything.

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Bowlersarm · 03/06/2014 19:46

Bit confused OP. Have your Vendors lost the house they are buying?

Original poster
WhatsGoingOnEh · 03/06/2014 19:50

Sorry!! Not definitely lost - they love the house and still want to buy it. But the seller (of the house they want to buy) doesn't seen to want to SELL it. We think he's being forced to sell to pay off debts/ex wife. So he's refusing to give any dates for when they can exchange or complete.

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Bowlersarm · 03/06/2014 19:53

Ah I get it. Greedy of your vendors to want more money from you though. Personally, I think the markets cooling off a bit so they probably won't get more for it anyway. Can you renew your mortgage offer?

MissMysticFalls · 03/06/2014 20:02

Oh God, you poor thing. I really hope they either find another place that's easier to buy and keep you or it all gets sorted soon. I'm self employed - just been through the new mortgage process. I highly recommend using a decent mortgage broker as they know who's best for people in our situation or if you live in their catchment area try Ipswich Building Society. I'm terrified of the same thing happening to us. We're renting, FTB, had an offer accepted after they dropped the price for a quick sale but now they can't get an offer accepted on a place. My fear is they'll try to get more for it in order to buy the house they want. In my head I've already painted our DS's room!

Gemma77 · 03/06/2014 20:42

We had our mortgage agreed pre the new rules and it also was due to expire at the end of June. we phoned them this week to see if we could have an extension and they agreed straight away over the phone! They said a second extension was unlikely and we would have to apply again under the new rules but that a further month was fine.

We are with natwest if that helps

Seems really harsh by your sellers, especially as the reason your mortgage is close to expiring is because they took so long to find another house!

If you can keep the mortgage offer going then it's not your fault if things are delayed higher up the chain. Seems crazy that they would be willing to try and sell their house all over again and potentially lose the house they are buying! They may get more for their property now but they will probably have to pay more if they have to find another property - if I was them I would be worried that we might lose you if things didn't get sorted out soon!

Iseenyou · 03/06/2014 20:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
WhatsGoingOnEh · 03/06/2014 21:31

Thank you all SO MUCH for your replies to my badly written OP. (I must admit I drank some wine at dinner time, drowning my sorrows.)

It's not all over yet although it's looking awfully close to it. If the next house up (with the really twattish seller) DOES complete by the end of Nune, I can still buy my place at the original price. Tbh, if I do get a mortgage extension, the twattish seller plays ball, and I do buy my house, even after June, I don't think they could ask for more money unless they have to pay more money for the house they're buying too. If you can follow that.

I feel like a mug. I've been so lovely and friendly to the people I'm buying (or trying to buy) from, that they're taking advantage. I'm a FTB with No chain, paying the full asking price. I'm ready to go, no commitments... I thought sellers loved buyers like me?!

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Original poster
WhatsGoingOnEh · 03/06/2014 21:37

Next time I try to go through this HIDEOUS process I'm going to be STRICTLY BUSINESS.

The sellers of my house were each selling a house to buy one together. The woman I'm buying from told me, when I put my offer in, that her bf had "sold his house". Turns out he'd only accepted an offer -- his place didn't actually sell till last week!

I should've pulled out then. But it's the perfect price/size/location, and I thought I was doing the right thing being reasonable. I should've followed my instincts - nobody does anything unless they're scared of losing you.

And I wouldn't have wasted one complete mortgage offer waiting around for this house. I feel so stupid.

And as soon as her EA mentions house offices going up, she's all about putting it back on the market after June to get more money. If she does that, I hope she gets a buyer who's in the middle of a horrible chain and everything falls apart around her greedy ears.

There are NO other houses in my price range. Ffs.

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Original poster
WhatsGoingOnEh · 03/06/2014 21:38

House offices? Prices, obviously :)

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Original poster
WhatsGoingOnEh · 03/06/2014 21:39

It's not her fault though - it's the bloke up the chain who's dicking everyone around. Turns out there are 4 charges on his house, from people/companies wanting money out of it. One is his ex. I think he's stringing out the process of selling to piss her off.

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CrapBag · 04/06/2014 10:35

It is partly her fault. She is dicking you about as well, they lied about her BF having sold his house, they took ages to find somewhere and they seem to be hanging about for their twatish vendor. If they really wanted the house they are suppose to be buying, why would they wait another month, then try and put their house back up for 25k more? There is no guarantee they will actually get that. Its only been less than 3 months since they accepted your offer so what had house prices in the last 6 months got to do with it and why are they asking their EA about that when they have accepted your offer?

I think they are trying it on with you, they are trying to get you to offer more money. They should tell the twat they are walking away from him, not wait. Even if they find another buyer for more money, they still have an obstructive twat to deal with and would risk their 'new' buyers pulling out.

ajandjjmum · 04/06/2014 10:40

Offer them another 5K (if you can) for them to move into rented accommodation by the end of June. That might appeal if they really want to move.

You're right about keeping things businesslike in the future - although we've all made the 'friendly' mistake!!

Original poster
WhatsGoingOnEh · 04/06/2014 12:56

No, they accepted my offer in December so it has been 6 months.

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Original poster
WhatsGoingOnEh · 04/06/2014 13:00

They're quite an old couple - early 60s? Or late 50s. I don't think she'd go into rented accommodation even for such a generous pay-off.

She has three cats who can't be disturbed. I kid you not. Forget my two kids. (Eye roll)

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ajandjjmum · 04/06/2014 13:09

I've just gone right off you OP - late 50s IS NOT OLD!!!! Grin

Original poster
WhatsGoingOnEh · 04/06/2014 13:10

Then she's older than that!!!! Sorry!!! I meant they're not two 20somethings who don't mind camping out in a rented place for a month.

Sorry!!!!!!!

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ajandjjmum · 04/06/2014 14:12

Don't worry - made me laugh - I still shock myself when I look a mirror and there's not this 30-something year old looking back! Grin And I'm more mid than late......

HalfCracked · 04/06/2014 19:12

They sound like chancers. If they sell for more then the price of what they buy will go up too. Ask them if they don't want to sell anymore.

Original poster
WhatsGoingOnEh · 04/06/2014 20:25

I think that was the point she was making - that if they can't buy the house they want to buy (the twat's one), then they'd need more money from their sale because all the other houses have gone up 10% in the meantime.

Oh I don't know. I'm starting to feel I'm just not meant to have that house. It's not my DeStInY. I've started giving my details to other estate agencies... Something else (better) is out there with my name on it.

If I can get a new mortgage offer! :-S

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CuthbertDibble · 04/06/2014 20:44

Don't panic, I've been watching the market really closely these past eight weeks. It's very tricky but there have been an awful lot of reductions lately. It looks like some estate agents have been over-pricing/pushing their luck lately.

I'm not sure what's going on but not everything is selling quickly, today I had a rightmove alert and all six properties were ones with price reductions. This is prime commuter country, north Herts/central Beds.

Iseenyou · 04/06/2014 20:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MissMysticFalls · 04/06/2014 21:49

Where we're looking it's the vendors, not the EAs pushing for higher prices. I think about Feb/Mar people started believing the hype about house prices and interest rates going up so several vendors in the village we're looking at put their properties on for a lot more than their neighbours sold for only 3 months previously. The EAs are a bit franker in villages I think! They've made it v clear that they think the vendors are being unrealistic. Guess what's happened? They're all coming back down more in line with previous sale prices, before they sell.

Iseenyou · 05/06/2014 08:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MissMysticFalls · 05/06/2014 09:03

I hope we're not going off-topic OP, just trying to reassure you that even if vendors want to ask for more, they're likely to end up having to settle for less. One EA told us (when we viewed an overpriced house) that if we and others offered below the asking price the vendor might get the message that he was asking too much. We didn't want to buy it so didn't offer, but it's still on the market weeks later...
Another EA told us that they know that buyers are better informed now and can look online and see what similar houses have sold for, but that vendors who aren't in a hurry sometimes ask high to see what they can get.

You sound like an excellent buyer and I wouldn't underestimate the value of that. If they have any sense they'll hang on to you and try to buy from someone else.