If a house is undergoing a survey, is it basically sold?

[raisin3cookies]

I'm a ftb and completely clueless tho trying to learn.

Yesterday I tried to book a viewing on a property and was told there was a survey being done but the chap took my number in case the sale fell through.

I am not holding my breath. My thoughts are, either the survey will be fine and the sale will progress, or there will be some hideous issue that crops up and the potential buyers will back out, meaning we wouldn't be interested anyway.

What am I missing here? Surely people don't go through the expense of a survey if they aren't serious? Why would the agent essentially tell me it could fall through at this stage?

(Surprisingly, he didn't try to bait and switch me with "other properties that might be suitable")

Any thoughts? Is there still a possibility of it going back on the market? It was lovely.

I had a survey done which was absolutely fine to the point that my parents ( bought a lot of houses) were laughing about the fact the surveyor had clearly thought he needed to put something in to find a fault ( full structural survey by independent surveyor).

The sale fell through because the bank didn't value it at the same price and there was too big a difference for me to a) make up b) probably would have reconsidered even if I'd had the spare cash lying around as it was not a forever home.

Irritatingly I had the mortgage properly agreed as the bank had done mine back to front- it was literally the valuation that was the issue.

Also if I'd had mine done by the bank's surveyor, the correct order was valuation then approval of me, so could still fall through.

Ah, thank you. Didn't even know that a valuation could throw a spanner in the works. I need a dummies guide to buying houses.

Don't hold your breath, but it's worth being on standby just in case. Our first sell fell through due to "sudden change in buyers circumstance". Following day the estate agent phoned round contacts, someone came straight over, and offered the following day.

While house hunting I saw lots of houses fall through. If survey or searches don't match buyer's expectations, but do match the vendor's then the buyer may want to pay less, but the vendor not negotiate. It is rarely a good sign if a sale falls through, but may be a matter of risk appetite. For example we considered pulling out of our purchase when the searches revealed historic underpinning.

If there are chains involved, there is a whole set of other reasons why the sale may collapse.

Good luck with house hunting, and remember a house isn't sold until exchange.

Unfortunately yes - I'm not remotely bitter about the fact I've just spent the best part of a grand on a house which I'm now not buying.

Personally I'd be very wary of the Internet agents ( I've just offered on another house and discussed the issue with the agent and they basically just said if it happens, we just give the bank a file - the Internet agent just advised the vendor to put it back on the market - yet if they'd been able to provide some evidence, the sale would have gone through)

There is a dummies guide to buying and selling!

I bought a cheap copy if the Which Guide to Buying and Selling off amazon for a couple of £, some of the info was a bit out of date (stamp duty has changed - but you can get that off the gov website), it really helped.

The survey is usually one of the first things done when an offer is accepted/sale is agreed. So even if this survey goes through, a million other things could go wrong in the next 4 weeks or so before completion.
Dont hold your breath, but yes, there is a chance this property could become available again.