Fed up with house buying!

[Yazi23]

Hi all,
Currently in the process of buying our first house.
We are first time cash buyers. Our offer was accepted on 2nd of October, nothing then seemed to be happening, so when I chased things up with the EA at the end of October I was told vendors have changed solicitors, so a new memo of sale was sent out. Since then nothing has happened and after regularly getting my solicitor to chase things up, she confirmed today vendors haven't even filled in the 'initial paperwork' for their solicitor so vendors sol can't get started on anything. We have done everything we can up to this stage and are now waiting on draft contract.
I rang the estate agent today basically saying it's coming up to 7 weeks since our offer was accepted and nothing seems to have happened/should we be looking elsewhere/are they serious about selling etc. They said they'd chase up the vendors but I haven't heard anything back from EA yet.
Vendors have had their offer accepted on the place they've found and the people there have said they'd be willing to move into rented if they can't find somewhere - but how long will they look before they decide to go into rented?
It's just so frustrating as we are in a good position being chain free and cash buyers but actually it seems to be no benefit at all. Our vendors don't seem proactive at all regarding paperwork etc and I'm just feeling so fed up with the whole process.
I'm really hoping to exchange mid Jan and have expressed this several times but not hearing anything back. The lack of communication is driving me mad!
We really love the house so I guess we've just got to sit tight but I'm slowly going bonkers and feel like it'll never happen!

Hi. I work in property/conveyancing.
Your estate agents need to take your needs more seriously tbh. You could easily walk away. The agent, sadly, works for the seller/vendor so the Agent is looking after them far more than you (simply because you won't be paying their commission account when the Completion Date comes around).

Do you really truly love and have to have this house and this one alone? Make the Agent think you are looking to view other properties. Did you get money off when you made your offer? did you have a cheeky offer accepted? Could the seller be more actively looking for a new home? Perhaps it would be an idea to meet your seller either at the house (pre-arranged of course) or at the Agent's office? Face to face chats seem to iron out lots of unasked questions that just don;t filer through when one party talks to the Agent the other party only hears about 25% of it second hand.

I always try to state up front if the seller has asked us not to issue a contract yet because they are still looking, as long as the client agrees to this.

You are not game playing. You're merely asking about the timescale and well you should. If the seller takes another 6-9 months to find somewhere or never finds somewhere you will have waited for nothing. The seller apparently say they are prepared to move into rented accommodation. So can the Agent ask: When will Mr Seller be able to vacate the house please? Perhaps ask for end of January 2018 and see what comes back by way of information.

I assume your solicitor has not ordered any searches yet as they will be waiting to check the seller's title to the property. that is perfectly normal and standard procedure.

Hope this helps you a little.

Thanks cats&dogs. So we love the house and I've mentally moved in (not good!) but I am still looking on rightmove and if another dream house, or near enough, came up I wouldn't discount it with how slow this has been progressing.
We have been looking for around 2 years and finally found this house which ticks all the boxes although we're not in a situation where we have to move so it does take the pressure off a bit. (We're currently in rented).
Our vendors have found somewhere, it's the people above them who are yet to find/willing to go into rented, you're right though, I think I need to be more assertive in trying to encourage everyone to work towards the same date.
I'm just so frustrated as if our vendors had said, look it will be February before we complete, I could cope with that as like I've said, we're not under pressure to move, but I just don't want to be treated like an idiot left hanging on. It's just inconsiderate.
Annoying thing is, after negotiating we paid pretty much asking price as it's in great nick in a sought after area so wasn't likely to be snapped up pretty quickly - probably another reason the vendors don't feel they need to be overly proactive.