Bastard buyers pulling out...

[DontEvenPoint]

5 months selling, finally get 2 offers both considerably under asking, first lot it transpires are not actually under offer themselves so can't proceed, second lot we accept on the condition that we also secure our next house for a lower amount, after a few tense days our seller finally accepts our offer, all finally happening OR SO I FUCKING THOUGHT. Stupid pissing buyer told EA today she didn't think she wanted to go ahead. Please excuse swearing and excess caps. I am so cross.

Okay - do you know why she 'thinks' she doesn't want to go ahead? You can fix something if you don't know what the issue is.

Can't fix obviously

Find out what the problem is - it might be something that you can deal with. If not - bad luck - very distressing for you. I really do feel for you.

Apparently she has noticed that there are some phone masts about half a bloody mile away. Apparently she does not want to risk irradiating her offspring. This is in London btw, so not entirely an unexpected occurrence. FFS.

That's tough - not much you can do about that. Reassure her or ask the EA to help but if she has made up her mind it is, unfortunately back to square one. sorry.

God. Can you point out the multitude of studies showing the zero risk of living near phone masts? Will her house be a mobile phone free zone? Not that mobiles are dangerous either, but you get a lot more radiation from them than from masts. Argh, I'm fuming on your behalf!

Sounds like an excuse tbh.

bonehead alert here I'm afraid. Someone too ignorant to know what radiation is and what is proven. And of course bet she's always glued to her brick phone!

good luck to her finding a property in London that isn't close to a mast.

maddening I know, but file in the 'waste of good oxygen' drawer and move on.

Thank you. I think the ridiculousness of the reason (as I see it) makes it worse really. My EA has been brilliant actually, printed out maps of all the masts in the area, emailed her info about safety etc, but she's not happy. It's been such a stressful few months not getting offers and missing out on several great potential houses, and we really thought it was working out at last. Oh well, I shall just repeat my mantra "it's only a house, it's only a house". Still want to cry though.

Welcome to the English system ( bitter scot )
Offer full asking price, £10.000 over mortgage valuation.
That was in June. 4 change of completion dates, we are in storage, staying with family, some in hotels, cats in cattery, family want to kill each other.
Completion date 2nd Dec.
Scotland, sold ( with a binding date in 10 days ) please tell me how it works and how the fuck people in England are putting up with this !!

i suspect phone masts are an excuse for cold feet (or some other reason that's not terribly concrete), or a smaller anxiety than she is making it out to be at least. because you all know you can't do anything about it so it makes her easier to say she doesn't want to proceed. if it were the only thing concerning her she would possibly be more easily convinced by the info sent by the EA

I bought a house the day it went on offer and we completed six weeks later.
Win some, lose some.

in Scot-topia offers are binding but you have to pay out for searches and surveys home.

you know which way is north.

mitzy it works both ways in england for buyers and sellers. yes it's stressful and difficult and there is i'm sure plenty of room for improvement, but there are plenty of other risks associated with the scottish system

So there are no searches or surveys in England ?
What are the other risks with the Scottish system ?
I am genuinely not having a go because it is the English system.
We ( Me and DH ) love living where we now are ( England ) but the house buying system is really really awful.

of course there are. it's just that the offer/acceptance is beforehand and not binding. neither system is perfect, both have risks and nailbiting aspects and unpredictable stuff and paying out money that you might not get back. it's not that i don't think either can be improved (though i'm by no means expert enough to be able to suggest what those improvements might be in practice because there would be knock-on effects legally), just that i don't think one system is better than the other

Don't woo her or try to reassure her. Let her walk away. If she is capable of flaking out on you now, then she's also capable of doing it at the eleventh hour. Instruct the EA to get it back on the market immediately. Good luck; I really feel for you.

yes, of course we have searches and surveys in England - but you do them after the offer is accepted. So you don't have to do them to make an offer, but you do risk paying for them and then having the transaction collapse.

swings and roundabouts. It would have prevented this dippy buyer getting this far though.

Well today we got another offer which was actually slightly higher and hopefully not from some weirdo with an aversion to phone masts. Whoop whoop! Fingers crossed we get a bit further this time. Thanks for all the support.

Great news, Dont. Fingers crossed all proceeds smoothly now.