Anyone fancy starting a Sellers support thread?

[Sooperswooper]

Just that really!

Bearbehind-we did have a reasonable offer which we accepted, everything was going through the solicitors, we would have moved by Christmas. The buyers unexpectantly pulled out. After that fell though we dropped the price significantly to sell so we wouldn't lose our next house. I do see where you are coming from but nothing round here is selling.

MummaGiles- that is encouraging to hear. Our EA said they have finally sold a house which had 101 viewings- hope it doesn't take that long!

I was so delighted to find this thread. I need some support fellow sellers! Our buyers seem to be doing things in an unconventional way and it is stressing me out! They only carried out a valuation survey to satisfy their lender and that was all ok with no retainers on the offer. It took place on 5 Nov and they got their mortgage offer straight away. Then out of the blue last week we were contacted by the agent to make an appointment for a timber and damp survey whichtook place and all was ok. Today the buyers popped over for another viewing with their mother and 4 other friends and I quizzed them a bit and they said they have also asked for a structural survey and the appointment should be made for next week. I concealed my irritation as I don't understand why this is happening in this order and asked if they were sure they had commissioned a structural survey as they were very expensive and invasive and involved opening up bits of the building. They said oh no its not that kind and that they are only doing it to satisfy the Insurance because the house is on a hill and has had alterations to the layout in the past (its victorian and alterations were done approx 30 yrs ago). I have no objections to surveys taking place but I do have objections to a lengthy string of surveys. If they discover something they don't like after x survey and we are several weeks down the road it is going to be very annoying! I am going to ask the agent to make it clear that all surveys need to be complete by the end of next week so we can all move forward. Am I panicking or is this a bit odd?

I am furious with our estate agent. Over 2 weeks ago they said a couple were going to make an offer and loved the house. We asked the EA about this a couple of times as no offer has been forthcoming.The EA were adamant they were going to make an offer. We asked them to chase it up and heard nothing more. It turns out they had given the wrong information to the couple and told them we wouldn't move until April (which isn't the case at all). As a result they gave up and thought the move wouldn't be possible so didn't make an offer. I only found this out by chance after to speaking to a different team member who doesn't normally talk to us. GRRRRRR!! Am so cross.

Moving15- that sounds a nightmare.

Goldenlillies that is awful. I hope you're going to kick off massively!

Yes I was not impressed!! Spoke to the EA today and they have been in contact with the people who are still keen and fortunately haven't found another property yet- fingers crossed.

oh goldenlillies what a nightmare. Hope this couple still make you an offer!
We are now drowning in a sea of paperwork. I don't remember it being quite this much last time!!

Is there any way I can claim costs back off a buyer of my mums house as they have pulled out the day before completion and we have spent all our money moving my mum whos 81 and not in good health storage removals carpets etc etc would it come under consequential loss could I take him to court to recover these costs?

Unless you'd exchanged petero there's no come back at all- it's the worst part of house purchasing in England and Wales.

Petero - so sorry to hear this has happened. It seems all too common. Have they pulled out before completion or exchange? If you've exchanged already then yes, you will be able to claim but if it's before exchange then I'm afraid not.

It's a real flaw in the system. I think if you've not exchanged all you can do is put the property back on the market asap. It's not the best time of year to sell, but it's not impossible.

I am just lurking for now. I am planning to go on the market in February, presumably a better time to sell than now. I really struggle with finishing the bits in the house. Wishing everyone good luck!

Do you mind if I join this thread? We accepted an offer on our house in mid-August and had an offer accepted a fortnight later. We are in a chain of 4 and I feel sick to the stomach that it's about to break down. 3 parties in the chain have been ready to exchange for the past two weeks, the bottom of the chain is fucking around delaying things, renegotiating their offer with their vendor (our buyer), saying there are unanswered enquiries etc and there is general incompetence happening from Estate agents and solicitors.

I just feel so frustrated that there is literally nothing I can do except constantly chase our EA (who always says she is chasing, but....). Why would anyone not want this sorted out this side of Christmas???!!!

Petero-Sorry to hear of your mum's situation. The house buying/selling process in this country is ridiculous.

Goldenlillies-any luck with your sale?

Moving-how are you getting on?

Catbasilio-Good luck when you get started!

Pip - Sorry to hear it's all a bit fraught. It sounds like it will be okay and you just have to be patient which is SO hard. Like you say though, you all have the chance to get it all sorted for Christmas which would be amazing! Hopefully the people at the bottom of the chain will see sense.

Our buyers had our house surveyed last week but are still waiting for their mortgage offer. It seems to be taking ages which is worrying, although they are getting a buy to let mortgage so maybe they take longer.

We are in an area where houses sell fast generally, but it's the wrong time of year for the sale to fall through. We are being patient but every so often I feel like just packing it all in!

I think I'd feel more relaxed if it was spring and there were lots of buyers around. We are buying new build hopefully, but of course the builder won't wait forever.

Sometimes wonder why we started this whole process!

Thanks LaFlotte, I really needed that! Apparently our buyers are concerned their buyers are deliberately stalling now, but it's not over until it's over, right?! Our house sold within a week in August so fingers crossed if it does go belly up we might find someone else quite quickly and luckily our vendors aren't in a huge rush, but still.

I hope you get some progress soon. I have been amazed at how slow the process can be, it's ridiculous. I know what you mean about wondering why you started; I was so full of optimism back then, now I'm a ground-down, cynical old cowbag!

I'm going to pour a glass of wine and find something trashy to watch on Netflix and try and forget about it until tomorrow at least. Thanks again.

Ah Pip enjoy your wine - I think we all deserve it! When I got an update from the agent today, saying there wasn't any update basically, I stuffed two biscuits in my mouth and had a little tantrum!!

We have investors buying our house, so we don't have a chain which is one thing, but it does also mean that there is no urgency on their behalf as it's just an investment. They have held off on getting their solicitor to do the searches etc until they get their mortgage offer, so hopefully once they have that (being positive!!) things will start moving again.

It's a horrible business, we are buying new build and I know the builder will get impatient at some point.

Hopefully it will be worth it in the end. It had blooming well better be worth it after all the mornings waking up and 5am and not being able to get back to sleep!!

the good news is two fold Ive had a fixed offer off a house for cash company which is under a regulated scheme which means that they cant mess my mum around as well as a offer off a neighbour whos brother wants to buy the house as well.the issue i had and was wondering about was I was told by my solicitor that the original buyer wished to complete on the 20th of november and they stated that my mum would have to hand the keys in by that date as a result of which we moved heaven and earth to make this happen only to be told at 4pm the day before that the date had been put back to the 25th of november as there had been a hiccup with paperwork after which the buyer pulled out the day before due to not being as he said being able to fit his van on the drive even though he did so a few days earlier I feel that my solicitor has due to them stating my mum needed to be out has caused this situation expense etc as well as the buyer pulling out any thoughts on this?

Your solicitor hasn't done anything wrong from want I can see petero.

If the original completion date was 20th Nov they were quite right to advise your mother needed to hand the keys back on that date.

The fact the dates changed and the buyer subsequently pulled out isn't their fault.

The only way this could have been avoided would have been by having a delay between exchange and completion. That way you'd know the sale was definitely going through after exchange but before moving your mother.

Is there a reason why you didn't do this?

I'm sure it must be incredibly frustrating but there really is very little you can do about the aborted sale so I'd focus your energy on the new offers/ sale rather than trying to find a way to punish someone for the situation your now in- good luck.

Hi Bear the solicitor never advised us as to the fact of delaying between exchange and completion they told us that the buyer wanted to exchange and complete on the same day and wanted to rush it through they never advised us at any point that we could have a window of time between exchange and completion which is the main reason why we are in this position

I still don't think there's anything you can do. A solicitor acts on your instructions and the buyers requests. They don't have to advise you on the whole process and all the options, they expect you to know what you want.

You obviously had a conversation about exchange and completion- hindsight is a wonderful thing but agreeing to do both on the same day was a bad move.

Some people do exchange and complete on the same day but it is common to have a gap in order to confirm removal dates etc.

Sorry to hear you're in this situation Petero, but I'm afraid I agree with Bear. If you haven't exchanged, then there is no come back at all. The whole process in this country is awful for both sellers and buyers.

Sorry, I clearly have no idea how to link to people's usernames properly...

Hello everyone. I just wanted to say to people struggling to sell, that it might not be the price it really might be the Agent. I say this as we put our 3/4 Victorian semi on the market back in early May at a price that all three agents suggested was not unreasonable. We had over 20 viewings in about a month - one couple saw it three times - but only one offer, and that was £30k below the guide price. We pulled it off the market in July and put it back on in early October with a different agent (one I had seen before). They marketed it with a guide price of £10k below the original price and we had 25 or so viewings in the space of just over a week. There were a number of asking price offers and in the end it went to sealed bids, with 5 offers all above the previous guide price. The lowest was £5k over, the highest - which we have accepted as all 5 were chain free - was £50k over. I don't know how the first agents got it so wrong, but I suspect they marketed it badly - describing it as 4 beds when in reality its 3 and a box room/study - and pitching it to an unsuitable clientele. You would think that everyone sees the same stuff on rightmove etc, but clearly not as we had people offering the second time who said they had been looking for a year, but evidently had not viewed it in May/June. Just a thought.

Update on the buyers with many surveys... the structural roof survey has taken place so I guess it's just a waiting game now to see if they are happy with everything. In the meantime my solicitor has sent me all the contracts to sign and every single doc has spelling mistakes in the names and address of the property AND my leaders are being slow and vague about my mortgage application. I really hope I never have to do this ever again!!

Moving15 - I know exactly what you mean! This process shouldn't be so hard, it's actually very straightforward if all parties are honest and do all their tasks properly and promptly!

As you can probably tell from my tone, we have had no progress. I have told our EA that if we don't get to exchange by the end of the week we will assume the bottom of the chain is no longer serious about their purchase and we will be going back on the market. Obviously I don't want to have to do that, but if they're not serious then why are we wasting our time waiting for them?

Honestly if this goes through then I'm not moving again until I retire.

Hi, just need to vent! Flaky buyers have just pulled out after 8 weeks!

Their buyers had put searches on hold! Fed up as we have to go back on the market and have lost good selling time.

Plus side, we are not buying another property until completely sold, so no chain.

I hate this game! Sympathies to all those in the same boat.

Gutting JT05, that's rubbish for you. Thank goodness you don't have an onward purchase to stress about yet. Fingers crossed for you that you get another offer soon.

We are still waiting on the solicitors at the bottom of the chain to pull their finger out. Literally nothing has moved forward in the past fortnight and we've been ready to exchange for 3 weeks now. I'm actually slightly comforted by the fact that this ridiculous delay seems to be the fault of incompetent solicitors and EAs rather than the buyers at the bottom of the chain deliberately stalling...

Christmas is proving a welcome distraction!