Selling our house-feeling stressed

[Lacoll88]

Hi I've been following the forums for a while but never posted...but just looking for a place to vent and support if anyone has been in a similar situation.

We put our house on the market just over a month ago had two viewings and two offers within 2 weeks...we ended up with a decent offer and I couldn't believe our luck...the buyers then came round twice after making the offer showing different family members, since then (3 weeks ago) we have heard nothing...we have asked the estate agent to chase them up but they have said they are not answering the phone...I am starting to worry now, why would they ignore the estate agents calls? If they are pulling out fair enough but we would like to know either way then we can start marketing our property again 😡 Does anyone know what more we can do?? Other that wait and keep nagging the estate agents to call them. Thanks

There's lots of possible reasons but none of them are your problem! I would ask your agent to do one last push by all means available so text, email, phonecall and letter giving them 48 hours to respond or house is back on the market. Have they done anything at all like instructed solicitors or made any progress with a mortgage? EA could speak to solicitor or mortgage advisor and see what they could find out. Also do they have a house to sell as your EA could ring their EA and see if there's an issue. Obviously you don't want to cut your nose off to spite your face but if there has been no progress at all I wouldn't lose any more time. EA shouldn't really have taken the house off the market without proof of funding or solicitors details, it's not good for you if they do that

Thanks...that's really good advice, the estate agents haven't been much help to be honest, whenever we call we speak to someone different and they just say 'oh we will try and contact them' Then we hear nothing so have to call back again. I will chase them up Monday and see if they have tried all ways possible to contact them. When the buyers came round after the offer to show a family member they said they had been to see the mortagage advisor at the estate agents that day....and had a mortgage approved. We haven't heard wether they have a solicitor or not but that is something I can ask. Thanks for your help.

We are selling at the moment, and the sale was not agreed or the house taken off the market until the agent had verified the offer. Buyers had to prove ID, and provide proof of funds and solicitors details. Since then, agent has been very pro-active in checking that things are happening and keeping us informed. They are earning a good chunk and should be working hard for you, sounds like they are not. Good luck with your move.

Also now I come to think of it, our agent also checked our buyer's chain by ringing other agents / solicitors.

from what our buyers said they are not in a chain...it's all been a bit confusing..the buyers are an Asian family..we have had a few different family members view the property before and after the offer and heard different stories about who will actually be living in the house. The house is on right move saying STC does that mean our house is not on the market or is?

If you can see it on Rightmove, it's still on the market. Sounds as though the mortgage isn't approved yet, but they should have instructed solicitors and the EA should have prepared a memorandum of sale which is sent to both solicitors.

Giving the EA 48 hours to get the buyers to make contact should galvanise them into action. If the buyers are getting a mortgage via the EA's in-house adviser then the EA has a bit of a conflict of interest imo but they should know where things are up to.

If you can see it on Rightmove, it's still on the market.

Not if it says STC. It won't come up on searches unless you deliberately select "include STC/under offer".

You may also not be aware but some religions don't allow people to borrow money from commercial lenders so the mortgage may be coming from another source - this might take a bit longer to sort. However! If they are not communicating this then I wouldn't personally hang around with the house off market for too long.

It's not like it isn't on Rightmove anymore though.

No wooooo but people won't be seriously looking at it.

Yes I did wonder about the mortgage lender being specific to their religion...however like you said they should really communicate this. The house is on Rightmove but the estate agents won't be actively marketing it and I know if I saw a house that said STC I would not consider it for sale and try and book a viewing.

We had someone offer which we accepted and never heard from them again!! Idiots.

Really? I can't believe people don't have the decency to just let the seller know if they have changed their mind. At what point did you put yours back on the market? And have you managed to sell?

Did you get a memorandum of sale from the EA, listing your details, your solicitor and your buyers' details and solicitor? It is normally sent out within a couple of days of the offer being accepted. If so, get your solicitor to chase theirs, if not I'd assume that they're not serious and get the house back on the market or ask the other bidder if they're still interested.

I'm an EA, trust me when I say people can be really really weird when buying and selling houses. It seems to bring out the absolute worst in people!

If they are not responding to the EA, then I would get the EA to leave them a message or send an email to say that if they don't hear from them within 48 hours, the house will be back on the market.

We were once messed about for ages by buyers, dithering and dithering and finally angling for a reduction - I got so fed up I marketed the house elsewhere, and found a buyer.

Previous buyer was then on the phone to the former agent, saying his wife was crying, please please please - tough! I am quite sure they thought that if they messed us about for long enough, we'd be desperate enough to agree to a reduction.

I agree with others. Get estate agent to phone and email them tomorrow morning saying that unless you hear from them with a progress report by 5pm on Wednesday you will be putting the house back on the market first thing Thursday morning.

Have their solicitors been in touch with yours - it may be worth checking just in case progress is being made without your knowledge (can happen).

We once had someone make an offer on a property which we accepted, the estate agent rung them up to let them know - told us they were really happy and then NOTHING. We had to put it back on teh market - estate agent couldn't contact them at all

Thanks for all the help, we have put our house back on the market today as they are not responding to voicemails left by the EA and they failed to attend their mortgage appointment last week at the estate agents- which they failed to tell us! Oh well back to square one 😩

Best to find out now rather than go a long way down the line and pay out a fortune on solictor fees on top of wasting more time.

I hope that you find another buyer soon