Sorry - long post warning!! Really need some second opinions!
We accepted an offer on our house in the begining of February and had an offer accepted on a house the same week. The people we are buying from them took two months to find an onward purchase. It was a long wait (especially in the markey where we are) but we were okay in terms of timing as we had plenty of time for school application deadline in October.
Unfortunatley, the chain fell through above our sellers the day of exchange. Seriously gutted but the people above our sellers found somewhere else quickly and all on again.
Then, the chain broke again on the day of exchange (by the same people again - who tried to guzunder at the last minute) So now our sellers are back looking for somewhere to buy - its been a month and still nowhere. Apparently they have a very wide search area but nothing is suitable. My impression from speaking with them is that they dont really want to move but for financial reasons they must.
So we have been waiting patiently - school applications go in next month and as it stands we wont be in the catchment area we want. However, I have since found out that we can change our address up to the end of January/early February if necessary - which gives us a few more months.
So we started to have a look at the market again. Found a house not far from the first house and..... I like it better. It is bigger and needs much less work doing. It is a bit more expensive but we can cover it as we have paid off more of our mortgage on our current house over the past 9 months of waiting. We stuck an offer in to see what might happen - looks like it is accepted.
We said we would only pull out of our current purchase if she found somewhere to go quickly and end of chain. She did that yesterday (took her 1 day compared to our current sellers!)
The house she has put an offer in is end of chain - the EAs want to speak to our EAs to check that the chain below us is ready to go (which is it - out buyer will be relieved if we find somewhere that can move quicker)
However - obviously it isnt risk free. Our current sellers love my kids and really want us to have their house. I am confident they wouldnt ever guzump us or anything like that. The current house survey was fine and all the searches etc are done and okay. I really dont want to do this to the current owners who are so lovely - but I have to do what is best for my kids too.
The new house is lovely and is fairly new so I would hope survey and searches would be okay but who knows.
Would you pull out? Anyone have a crystal ball I can borrow????