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Original poster

How long did you wait for house?

22 replies

Hurraahhnaptime · 22/04/2017 13:09

I've had an offer accepted on a lovely 3 bed semi. Great house and garden and what I'm looking for in a family home for my two boys. But I have been waiting 3 months for vendors to find a new home. How long should I wait for them? They are not willing to go into rental so for this house all I can do is wait. BUT it is very much a sellers market around here and very competitive. So very hard to even get an offer accepted. I had to go above asking price to get this and it would sell again easily as there were other offers too. Please tell me your stories of waiting and for how long? 😃

OP posts:

Original poster

Hurraahhnaptime · 22/04/2017 17:01

Any advice be great

OP posts:

Spickle · 22/04/2017 17:29

I think I would look for something else to buy.

Sorry.

Katmeifyoucan · 22/04/2017 17:32

As Spickle said I would keep looking for something else as your sellers don't seem very motivated to move.

Maggy74653 · 22/04/2017 19:00

I think I'd be looking for something else as well now. It's always worth keeping your options open x

Lilmisskittykat · 22/04/2017 19:41

I'd keep looking too but that's based on my siblings current situation where they agreed a house sale in September last year.. they messed around for a bit over prices (downvalued etc) agreed approve again and promised to be out may 2017 now.. this week they are saying won't be out til August despite having exchanged ...

GU24Mum · 22/04/2017 21:26

We were in the same position a few years ago except that we were the sellers - we were really up front with the buyers ...... but it took us ages to find something and in the end our buyers found somewhere else just before we did.

Your sellers probably need to have buyers before they'll be taken seriously - the timings may work out but I'd definitely keep looking so you don't miss out on something which may be a better bet while you're waiting.

SharonStrzelecki · 22/04/2017 21:36

I also think you need to keep looking for somewhere else. We've had a similar situation recently, the people we were buying from pulled out, and we already had a buyer so started to try and find somewhere else asap. Estate agents said we would have 8-10 weeks to find somewhere before pressure was put on. After about 6 weeks our buyers found somewhere else instead. I'm glad they did as we would be well past the 10 weeks now and still nothing we like has come up. We've decided not to sell now, and may move in the future.

Original poster

Hurraahhnaptime · 22/04/2017 21:51

But if i go for another house wont i be in the same position of waiting? As they will also need to find another house. Unless it is chain free which would be better.

OP posts:

Maggy74653 · 22/04/2017 22:14

Not necessarily, we found and had an offer accepted on our house within a week of accepting our buyers offer.

Before you view other houses maybe ask what the sellers situation is so you aren't just moving to the same position.

Original poster

Hurraahhnaptime · 23/04/2017 10:32

It all feels such a gamble. The seller could find somewhere tomorrow or a year. Same with a new seller. I don't think anyone will admit to being very slow about it all. Or unmotivated to move.

OP posts:

Spickle · 23/04/2017 11:04

The EA might help you out a bit by advising whether a vendor is "already suited" or if there will be no chain because the vendor is moving into rented or emigrating etc. Failing that, consider an empty or new build property, though probate and repossessions are sometimes problematical. Also, when you view a property, ask the vendor why they are moving. They might tell you that they've seen a fantastic house they would like to buy.

MeadowDream · 26/04/2017 11:32

Three months is too long to expect you to wait for them to find somewhere. I would be hassling the estate agent and then look around for another house. They don't seem very keen to move and I would worry about whether they will mess you around the whole way through process.

RoganJosh · 26/04/2017 11:33

Another seller may have other plans or be willing to go into rented etc. It's unlikely, but possible, that they've already found somewhere.

Cacofonix · 26/04/2017 11:43

We had this when we moved a few years back. We waited 3 months for vendors to find something. In the end our mortgage offer was going to run out so I had to start looking for something else. I asked the original vendors if we could do our survey sooner offer mortgage company would be happy and they pulled out! What a bloody waste of three months that was. In the meantime house prices rocketed and everything similar was suddenly out of our reach. I should have looked earlier.

Then the same happened with another house - these vendors were waiting for a particular house to come on the market as the estate agent said it was. Again waited about 8 weeks then I just got out looking again without telling the vendor. We found our lovely place we are in now, and when our offer was accepted, solicitors appointed etc and things started moving, then we pulled out of the other house.

Neither of these vendors have subsequently moved. I think if you haven't found a house in 3 months you really aren't looking hard enough.

Oly5 · 26/04/2017 12:57

Hassle the estate agent. Tell them the house is perfect but you won't wait forever and are looking around

Neolara · 26/04/2017 13:58

We waited for 8 months! Was worth it though.

greenroofedhouse · 26/04/2017 15:54

well playing devil's advocate, what are they supposed to do if they cant find a suitable house?

what if nothing that was a significant upgrade came on the market in 3 months and within budget?

i've watch the market around here, a really nice semi is 350k and there are buckets of those but a really nice detached of similar size as semi is 525k and there are about 3 to every 10 semi.

StarTravels · 27/04/2017 08:58

I don't think it means the sellers are not motivated to move because they haven't found anything yet. It's a nightmare at the moment as there are hardly any new properties coming on and if you need something specific (e.g. Land) it's really a waiting game to see if anyone decides to sell.

We tried to look round houses without ours being under offer as we knew we were looking for something more "specific" and estate agents just don't take you seriously. Some won't even show you round. We knew ours would sell quickly as others have before it but the estate agents assume they know better and still insist you're under offer first.

My only advice would be to find out what the seller is looking to move to and take a view on whether you've seen many of this type of property appear for sale over the past year. Perhaps then you can gauge if it's worth pulling out or holding on, but I think there will be a certain amount of waiting with whatever property you find. Such is the market at the moment frustratingly!!

oldestmumaintheworld · 27/04/2017 09:05

In your position you can either:

1.Look for somewhere else and make sure that you tell the EA to tell the vendors that you are

Give the vendors a time limit beyond which you will withdraw your offer.

Motivated sellers will move into rented if they really want to sell. The usual reason they don't want to is money. Moving house is stressful, tiresome and expensive and unfortunately all too many people cause the stress by being tiresome and not expecting to spend any money. Does this sound like bitter experience? Oh yes, my MIL!!! Tightest woman in Britain.
Good luck.

StarTravels · 27/04/2017 09:08

Not everyone can just move into rented accommodation though. I have three cats, when I rented in the past most landlords wouldn't allow me one let alone three!

Reow · 27/04/2017 09:09

We waited 5 months :-(

afromom · 27/04/2017 09:37

Oh god, this thread has scared me!
We sold and offered in Feb, all going well until 2 weeks ago when our vendor pulled out! Luckily we offered on another on Monday (nicer bigger house), but they had not started looking yet!
Originally we had agreed with our buyer to complete around late June, now I'm in a panic we may have to move in with in laws for months
Knew we would probably have to for a while as we need to shift our house (not easy to sell), but didn't think it would take months for them to find something. I was thinking it might take 1-2 months at most. 5 months at in laws would test us all I think!

OP I think I'd call your estate agent for advice on a timeframe to be agreed with your vendor, then start looking again - maybe a month?

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