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Original poster

Why are our buyers delaying?

53 replies

Duckstar · 29/07/2015 12:10

Offer accepted on our house in May. It is lower then what we wanted, but our buyers are cash buyers (don't need mortgage, buy to let). They are not seasoned investors. First purchase. We also managed to offer on property and get a good deal. Our vendors accepted because of short chain.

Since then our buyers have delayed at every stage. 6 weeks to instruct solicitors for example.Apparently they are now deciding if they wish to get searches done! They are buying our house for 500k, who wouldn't spend a couple of hundred quid on searches?

Our vendors are now getting edgy and want completion asap.

We have chased why they are delaying. We get (through EA) that they apologise 100 percent committed. They then continue to delay.

Any ideas what might be going on? Why they are delaying?

My concern is if we say we are putting house back on market we will lose are purchase (which we probably have already paid 3k on because of sols fees etc). Our vendors need to move quick as they need to relocate.

OP posts:
Superexcited · 29/07/2015 12:14

Has your estate agent checked that your buyers actually have the funds available to buy your house? I have been in the position before where I have accepted a cash offer and then discovered (several weeks later) that the buyers only had 70% of the funds in cash and needed to apply for a mortgage for the other 30%. You need to harass your agent and your solicitor and get some deadlines put into place.

IHeartKingThistle · 29/07/2015 12:17

YY get them to check everything. We found out on our expected exchange date that our buyer's buyer never actually had a mortgage offer and nobody had checked. We lost our buyer and it was months before we managed to move.

Hobbes8 · 29/07/2015 12:19

I'd put it back on the market. We had several offers from chancers when we were trying to sell. We had two asking price offers within a few days but neither of them proceeded, then a third who couldn't get a mortgage.

At one point in the process we lost our buyer and didn't tell our seller, just scrabbled to find a new buyer to hold our chain together. By this time, after several people messing me around, I had become quite ruthless. I was a massive pain in my estate agent's arse until the sale was completed - I'm sure they were pleased to see the back of me!

Sorry that was a bit of a tale of woe, but my point was don't let your buyer mess you around.

Original poster
Duckstar · 29/07/2015 12:22

EA says they have brought in bank statements and there was sufficient funds for them to purchase property.

I said to my Sol can we agree provisional date for exchange and they said couldn't be done as all depends on our buyers and how quickly they can proceed. I suppose different to say if you don't complete by x we will put back on market then agreeing!

OP posts:
Original poster
Duckstar · 29/07/2015 12:24

Thanks Hobbes it is useful to get other people's experiences. That's my concern we wait and wait for buyers and we end up losing property and sale. While if we put back on mortgage asap our vendors may give us say a month to find a buyer (in SE so that's doable).

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lalalonglegs · 29/07/2015 12:56

You have my sympathy, I'm in a similar position - FTBs offered in May, still no completion or even exchange, their solicitor ignores mine, EA insists that they are 100% committed Hmm. The problem with threatening to put it back on the market is that, in London at least, the market is dead at this time of year. I am stuck and just furious.

HoggleHoggle · 29/07/2015 13:02

It's easy for me to say I know, but I honestly would put it back on the market on x date. I'd give them probably a fortnight for some real progress to be made - what real progress would be is up to you but obvs it would need to be something definitive. I don't think there are any valid reasons for these delays you describe - 6 weeks to instruct a solicitor! - and after being badly fucked about by buyers a few houses ago, I've vowed to never let it happen again.

Spickle · 29/07/2015 13:18

£500k cash seems a lot for a first time investor to be buying a house which is to be rented out or are they buying to redevelop? However, if no mortgage company is involved then you don't need to have searches and I have seen a lot of purchases from investors where they choose not to get searches, but usually it's because they know the area well and are not overly fussed about future planning developments in the area, or they own a couple of other rentals down the same street/location, or they are planning to rebuild/redevelop and sell on at a profit, in which case they probably not concerned with searches.

Tbh threatening to pull out/put back on market doesn't always make much difference, nor can you have a "provisional" exchange date, either you're ready to exchange or not. If you're not ready, no solicitor will exchange without leaving themselves/yourself open to legal problems further on. Get your EA to phone your buyer's solicitors to find out what the delay is in particular, then come back on here for further advice!!

Superexcited · 29/07/2015 13:45

Your EA have been crap. In my experience EAs usually request the buyers solicitor details within 24 hours of an offer being accepted. If no details have been provided within a couple of days the EA usually start to come down a bit heavy. Similarly they usually start asking questions if no survey has been arranged within 3 weeks.
I think you need to say that unless significant progress is made by Monday you will be putting the house back onto the open market.

RaphaellaTheSpanishWaterDog · 29/07/2015 13:48

We've opted not to do searches when purchasing a similarly priced house for cash - to live in though, not as an investment - but what gets me here is the six weeks to instruct a solicitor. I appreciate it's different if buying as an investor as you've got to have your business head on and maybe you're less inclined to act spontaneously, but surely all the more reason they'd have a solicitor already lined up? Very strange - sorry, that's not very reassuring OP.....

Your EA really needs to be chasing this....do they want their fee or not?!?

BothEndsBurning · 29/07/2015 14:00

I had a similar delay which turned out to be down to the buyer's solicitor. The solicitor dealing with the transaction had gone on an extended leave, and the locum in place simply did not have the experience to deal with it and just left it at the bottom of the in-tray. (It was a leasehold property.) My solicitors were useless and just kept bleating "We're still waiting to hear from the buyer's solicitors" instead of getting on to them and finding out the reason for the delay. I had to ring them myself in the end.

wowfudge · 29/07/2015 14:08

Have you checked whether they selling their own place? Just a thought. There was another poster on here a couple of weeks ago who found out her cash buyer was nothing of the sort. Are they on holiday? I agree with pps that the EA needs to get onto this pronto.

specialsubject · 29/07/2015 14:13

guessing they've put down the Telegraph and done the actual sums on BTL, and discovered that this is a crazy investment.

tell your agent to pull their finger out, demand to know why they didn't get things moving and put the place back on the market.

thunderbird69 · 29/07/2015 14:17

I agree that you should threaten to put it back on the market.

Other than the surveys have they anything more than needs to be done before exchange?

Original poster
Duckstar · 29/07/2015 14:47

Buying to rent out and I imagine sell in potetntially 5 years. Prices have gone up 25 per cent in 5 years here and forecast to do similar over next 5 years.

Definitely not selling their own or on holiday.

Definitely strange the delay in instructing. Makes me think there is an issue - potentially money. Or my other concern is they are delaying and then will try and drop price hoping that we will accept rather then lose house we are buying. I'm not accepting a penny less though.

Have pushed EA and they are adamant nothing ontoward going on. They have written to buyers twice saying they need to get moving.

EA potentially are concerned if this deal falls through we will go with someone else (outside period for sole selling now, because of delay), and frankly after all this I probably would.

I have rung EAs - waiting for call back.

In terms of what else needs to be done there probably isn't a lot, but they appear to drag out everything.

If I knew they were delaying because they had to get some money together that would be better, but this feeling something is going on, but not sure what is awful. You don't want to pull out and potentially lose money and purchase, but equally don't want to be messed around.

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specialsubject · 29/07/2015 21:27

aha -bottom right hand corner. Why are you waiting for these tossers in your seller's market?

put it back on the market. You are in the SE and it will sell.

Original poster
Duckstar · 30/07/2015 13:17

Thanks for all the advice. An issue has come up with property we are buying (going to start another thread on that) so going to hang tight, for now. It may be that we can't proceed with our purchase, in which case, we will put house back on market. If we do continue definitely will be giving deadline. Thanks for all the helpful comments.

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HoggleHoggle · 30/07/2015 22:31

Good luck! I moved a month ago and we've made a deal that that's it for 10 years. Hope all goes well for you.

Original poster
Duckstar · 12/08/2015 19:36

Update we told buyers we want to complete by 28th August. They said they are going on holiday till 3rd September and will not agree to any dates while away, but haven't given alternative (such as let's aim for 7th).

We are going to have to put house back on market aren't we? They are messing us around? If they won't even agree to day to aim for. They are "cash buyers" no chain and 4 months later won't agree a date to exchange for.

I'm just sad as we sorted out issues with house buying and we will lose it. The property we hoped to buy is much more in demand then ours.

Any positive stories about how it will all work out ok and you ended up with a much better house?

OP posts:
wowfudge · 12/08/2015 20:06

Have they already gone away? Put 7th to them to complete giving them with 24 hours to get back to you to confirm agreement. If they don't commit then re-market.

Koala2 · 12/08/2015 20:30

Yes it worked out for me this way - we got a much better house when we had to pull out of our purchase as our sale fell through. Though it does have a smelly toilet at present due to plumbing issues.

Original poster
Duckstar · 12/08/2015 20:38

Wowfudge they haven't gone away yet. In first email from EA they were going away end of month. When we pushed and said well let's get sorted before you go they suddenly were going away tomorrow.

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ThroughThickAndThin01 · 12/08/2015 20:41

It's odd they are delaying. Could it be they need to give the bank notice to have their money available? Or even though they have the funds, that they've decided to get a buy to let mortgage anyway and its delaying things?

Original poster
Duckstar · 12/08/2015 20:46

ThroughThick who knows we've asked EA several times why they are delaying and we've been told they are not, 100 per cent committed etc. There clearly is a reason for delay, and frankly, if they were honest and said "look, we need to get mortgage so going to take a bit longer", fine, but they just take weeks to do things. I'm done. They can mess someone else around.

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wowfudge · 12/08/2015 20:47

Time to play hardball I think. Whatever it is they are playing at, maybe they are just arrogant swines who think everything will be done on their whim. Call their bluff once and for all.