Where do I even start...
We first put out house up for sale in September 2016, (this now seems like a distant memory) and had an offer within a couple weeks for asking price (410k) from 2 sisters.
To summarise this first attempt I will simply say that they didn't have the necessary funds, and this was not properly vetted by the agents. We were assured that they could get the gap in funds for the deposit from their mum (they were 30k short), and after a 2nd viewing they asked for 10k off the asking price. As we had somewhere to go (new build) and we wanted to get things moving we agreed to take 10k less and told them to get their survey done asap. Lo and behold after their survey they claimed that the house had been downvalued by a further 17k. They also refused to show us evidence of this.
As you can imagine, we ditched these chancers (even though the agent was adamant that we were lucky to even be getting that much from them!). We also ditched these agents, and decided to start again, not going to the new build and just looking for a different property close to where we currently live. At the time we felt that maybe this was all meant to be.
We put our house back on the market with a different agent, sold again quickly, this time we put the house on for 400k and we accepted an offer for 392,500. We simultaneously found a house we loved who told us that they had found somewhere and needed this all done and wrapped up in 12 weeks max. We spoke to our buyer who was no chain and a FTB and he said no problem! Brill!
The following day we get a call from the agent, apparently the woman from the couple we were buyer from had walked into work that morning and been given a massive promotion, and therefore to their shock they could afford way more and were going to look for a different and bigger house. (Of course this had nothing to do with the fact they put their house up for 450 but because of a bidding war they ended up getting 470k.) So we said fine and waited to hear. We called every week to see how they were getting on, and meanwhile our buyer hadn't even booked a survey, so to us we felt that we were safe to just wait until there was some movement on either side of the chain. 3 Months passes!!! And we speak to the agent for the house were buying and ask if they are genuinely looking, to which he responded that they have such a specific criteria he really doesn't think so (they still haven't to this day) and that he would speak to them about our concerns. Long story short, they basically said unless we want to wait forever we might as well look elsewhere. So the hunt continued. A week later, end of July, we find a new house, put in an offer, it is accepted and we immediately instruct solicitors, and have a survey. We also speak to our buyer to see what's going on (as he's been very quiet, and he then gets a survey booked in - both go ahead no problems) solicitors on all sides get to work. Our buyer wants to complete end of Aug. We ask chain above if that works - they say yes fine, no problems. So we tell him should be fine, for end of Aug or failing that start of Sept. As we approach exchange all goes very quiet in chain above and turns out that there is a probate at the top of the chain that they had failed to mention, and it hadn't even been applied for. So, I tell my buyer and he is annoyed (yes fine, me too!!) and I say I will check up daily to see if anything comes back. From what I can tell he had a 3 month mortgage agreement so it was going to run out at start of Sept so we asked him if it could be extended if needed and he said yes. So, 2 weeks before exchange is due, is get the word "Probate is in, all systems go - just a few bits but exchange is imminent and all good to complete before Sept", my sol emails his and calls to find out if they are ready to go ahead, to no response. So we called him, no reply, emailed and no reply. Eventually he gets back to me and says he was tired of waiting and found somewhere else. I asked if he would change his mind because it would all be done by when he wanted, and the probate wasn't mine and my husbands fault. Our buyer says too little too late and pulls out.
So we go back to our vendor and ask for more time, they give us 2 weeks to sell. Which we do, for 390k but the people need to sell their house, we tell them to do so asap, and they sell in 2 weeks to a FTB. This was end of Oct.
All of our mortgage offers in the chain above expire just after xmas, and this has been stressed to the people in the chain below (even from the moment they stepped foot in my house, I told them face to face, and they also told their buyer).
All is running smoothly until 3 weeks ago when the buyer at the bottom suddenly says she can't move until Jan because of personal reasons. Well we try to get the message across that this can't happen because offers expire and our vendors can't get it extended or a new one because he is self employed and the bank have refused to re-do. So it really is now or never.
I personally had to get hold of everyone below, my buyer (who hadn't been given half the info from the agent) and then his buyer (who also hadn't been given any info) and turns out, SHE wants to move in Dec, but her sol refuses to do in in Dec unless she pays an extra fee.
I go back and forth between agents, buyers, solicitors, my god i've never been so stressed. None of them deserve a penny of their commission in my opinion!! Eventually it seems that if someone will front the cost (1000k plus VAT) as the buyer at the bottom can't afford it. Then MAYBE we can exchange in time. I said I would pay, but would apprentice some contribution from the chain above if possible as it is a large sum and even though they've been patient, it is also them that can't extend the mortgage (we will also have to get a new one as ours expires) so top of the chain and my vendor say they'll do 200 each. My sol tells me we shouldn't do this without conditions, i.e we must exchange and complete by the deadlines or we won't pay the extra money.
The deadline is Friday, I have a headache, and am exhausted. I have offered the money and the sol at the bottom hasn't responded to mine. They have until Friday to pull this off. I've told the agents that it is down to them now, I've spent over 20 hours on the phone in the last 2 weeks.... wish I earned commission. I also have a full time job which I have managed to keep despite being frazzled for so long.
Everyone else needs to pull their weight and make this happen now, I've done all I can. You know that point where you go beyond caring, and their attempts to manipulate your desperation don't even work anymore... yeah that is where I am. Pass me the wine, don't worry about a glass....... :(