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Original poster

Buyer acting strange at crucial time - advice needed

36 replies

Phoenix89 · 10/12/2017 20:49

Hello. We are currently selling our house to a FTB and purchasing our dream home in a chain of just three. Originally we wanted to complete on 24th November and suggested this date from early October which all parties agreed to, but when it got to the required exchange time our buyer's solicitors suddenly had a new enquiry every day for over a week. We then agreed to aim for a new completion date of 6th December, for which we were supposed to exchange on the 1st. This didn't happen because solicitors were being slow, but the funds had been ordered by our buyer's solicitor and our solicitor so we were all ready to exchange the day before. Our house was all packed up and removals booked, but then on 5th December (day before completion) we got a call from our solicitor saying our vendor (who has never once been a problem and has been moved out of the property and ready to go for a while) had messed up their mortgage paperwork and needed the bank to issue a new one. It turned out that they were able to do this quickly and had the new paperwork ready again 3 days later, but of course everyone's moving plans were ruined. We were then aiming for exchange on Friday just gone and completion this coming Tuesday, but we received a call from our EA on Friday morning saying our buyer was so stressed out at the whole process that she is now going to stay with family abroad and doesn't want to exchange and complete for at least another month.

All we know about our buyer is that she is a FTB and not originally from the UK. We have been told she doesn't understand much about the whole process and has needed to be heavily guided by EAs the whole way through.

We basically don't know what to make of this sudden demand but to us it looks suspicious that she now doesn't want to even exchange for another month when last week she was ready to complete. She's even had post delivered here already.

We think we need to put some pressure on her to at least exchange contracts before Christmas, but at the same time if we lose her as a buyer by putting too much pressure on then we will likely lose our dream home too.

How can we persuade her to exchange contracts without risking losing her altogether?

Incredibly stressed, living out of boxes with no wifi and furniture in storage. Help!

OP posts:
DrinkFeckArseGirls · 10/12/2017 20:53

You need to tell them she exchanges now as you’re pulling out. Sadly it looks like it was not happening anyway.

DrinkFeckArseGirls · 10/12/2017 20:53

as - or

Chocolate254 · 10/12/2017 20:59

I also agree with pp, You need to put your foot down and tell her she exchanges or you are going back on the market.

I never understand buyers who act up, Its like they really dont think someone will pull out, My buyers did this I threatened to go back on the market and then they stopped mucking about and we were completed within a few days.

HundredMilesAnHour · 10/12/2017 21:04

You have to tell your buyer to exchange now or the deal is off. If she isn't willing to do it now, she probably wasn't go to go through with it anyway so better you find out now.

Original poster
Phoenix89 · 10/12/2017 21:08

Thanks all. Chocolate254 what reason did your buyer give for wanting to delay things?

Everyone (apart from EAs) are telling us to give her an ultimatum but our worry is that putting the house on the market will mean things will absolutely delayed by a considerable amount of time and then we seriously risk losing our vendor and dream house. It's such a difficult position to be put in and so upsetting.

OP posts:
HundredMilesAnHour · 10/12/2017 21:25

You already risk losing your vendor and dream house. There's no guaranteed your buyer will even come back in a month and be willing to proceed.

Give the ultimatum tomorrow and house back on the market on Wed if you don't get a satisfactory response. You don't have time to mess about, nor should you.

Chocolate254 · 10/12/2017 21:26

It is really difficult, But you could literally hold on and hold on where do you draw the line?
Our buyers said there was a delay with getting the money together for the deposit. And so kept trying to change dates, I let them change it once, BUT when they tried to a second time I gave them the ultimatum, They crapped themselves and sorted it pronto.
You really should tell her whats what shes playing you like a fiddle dont stand for it.

Chocolate254 · 10/12/2017 21:29

I also agree with pp that you already risk loosing your vendors anyway as they may pull out as she wants to wait a month and isnt giving a good enough reason, Personally I would remarket if my buyers buyer was playing up.

Original poster
Phoenix89 · 10/12/2017 21:31

I guess it's just the chance that she actually might still go through with it in January thats making it extra difficult to take that tough stance. You are right though.

Does anyone know if you have to inform buyers if the house goes back on the market?

OP posts:
Chocolate254 · 10/12/2017 21:34

I think you will have to phoenix, I feel for you, Its all so stressful, Your buyer is a dickhead.

Original poster
Phoenix89 · 10/12/2017 21:39

It's the worst. I feel like our system here really sets us up to be messed around as buyers and sellers. My hope is that she has taken the weekend to see sense and will be more rational tomorrow, particularly as she has invested money in the house already on solicitor fees and a survey, but as you all said it doesn't look good does it!

OP posts:
LurkingQuietly · 10/12/2017 22:09

OP, this sounds scarily similar to our situation a few years back. Our buyer was getting some very dodgy advice from her dad - along the lines of drag it out, you'll get a bigger bargain and can drop your offer last minute. Hmm

Anyway. We issued a letter from our solicitor saying stop dicking about, exchange now or it goes back on the market. Incidentally, prices have gone up x% in the area in the inordinately long time it's taken us to get to this point so we won't struggle to at least match your offer etc etc. I'm assuming it was slightly more professional in tone, but I never saw it so who knows?

I was shitting myself. She tried to drag her feet so we put it back on the market. Got an offer the next day of £10k more, she turned up on our doorstep crying asking us to still sell it to her. We said we would for £5k extra (split the difference) if she exchanged within 48 hours. Done and dusted.

Moving day was awful as her Dad turned up, threatened us, threatened to follow us to our new property so he'd "know where we lived" but all ended well.

You have to be tough. You have to say it will go back on the market and mean it.

Best of luck.

Original poster
Phoenix89 · 10/12/2017 22:16

Appreciate hearing about your experience and glad that it paid off for you. Our main concern is the house we are buying, we actually wouldn't care if the whole thing took months longer if it meant we could still get that house so I guess that's the hardest thing to come to terms with. We've been on really good terms with our vendors too and are in direct contact with them which makes it feel worse that it might all fall through.

We were even genuinely considering offering the buyer a grand or so off the asking price if she signed on the dotted line but realise that just makes us look weak and isn't the right way to go.

Fingers crossed she will stop messing about and exchange but if she doesn't then we will have to go back on the market...right before Christmas 😬

OP posts:
TheFaerieQueene · 10/12/2017 22:22

I wonder if she is having trouble securing a mortgage? I would be remarketing tomorrow, your purchaser doesn’t strike me a credible.

Original poster
Phoenix89 · 10/12/2017 22:27

It can't be that as we were supposed to complete last Wednesday and I know her solicitors ordered her mortgage funds as her home move pack from her bank has arrived at our house.

All very strange.

OP posts:
dancingqueen345 · 10/12/2017 22:35

What's the market like in your area?

Where I am the FTB market is red-hot and things will go in a couple of days. I'm a FTB and viewed a property last week that had originally gone under offer in September (after being on the market a week) but the buyer started dragging their feet so the seller said that they were going back on the market (hence me then being able to view). The market is so competitive that I immediately put a full asking price offer in, which then after a couple of days seemed to do the trick of forcing the original buyer into proceeding!

Not ideal for me, but the seller got what they wanted/needed out of it!

SellFridges · 10/12/2017 22:42

We had a buyer like this. She ordered another survey the day before we’d talked about exchanging. She also claimed not to understand the system and had to rely heavily on her awful, cheap, online solicitor. She did a runner so we put the house back up for sale and completed within 6 weeks.

Original poster
Phoenix89 · 10/12/2017 22:44

It's pretty good I think. We are based in central Cardiff and the property is only a few years old and has two parking spaces, three toilets and a front and back garden. I don't actually think we would have a problem selling it as it sold within a week of being on the market originally (also in September like in your case).

That is very annoying for you but I have to admit it did make me feel slightly more positive so thanks for sharing!

OP posts:
whiskyowl · 11/12/2017 09:00

It sounds to me like you have a disorganised vendor and a buyer who has freaked out. Perhaps she's misunderstood the system, perhaps she needs a bit of reassurance.

I would issue an ultimatum. It's really up to the EA to work to calm down the buyer in these cases.

NoSquirrels · 11/12/2017 09:09

If I were the people you were buying off, I would be much more tolerant & willing to wait if you played hardball with your FTB and issues an ultimatum than I would be if you just let it drift until after Christmas with no firm date.

Ultimatum. Follow through ASAP if necessary. It’s a shitty situation but realistically it’s your only option and better to be moving forward (however that happens) than being in limbo.

Gazelda · 11/12/2017 09:18

I agree with NoSquirrels. If I were your vendor, I'd feel far more comfortable if I knew you'd given the ultimatum then remarketed, rather than leaving the whole chain at the mercy of a flaky FTB.

FluffyWuffy100 · 11/12/2017 09:19

I would issue an ultimatum. It's really up to the EA to work to calm down the buyer in these cases.

Same.

AnaWinter · 11/12/2017 09:29

If she wants the house an ultimatum will not make her pull out. I think she has cold feet about it and would not waste 4 weeks waiting for her.

guestofclanmackenzie · 11/12/2017 09:39

We've been in a similar situation. Buyer started to stall at the 11th hour and then they needed a few more weeks as they were "stressed". Then I realised that if they really had their hearts set on our house and truly wanted to buy it, they wouldn't be acting like this. Our EA issued an ultimatum and they pulled out. We were devastated but house went straight back on the market and we got another buyer lined up very quickly. The ultimatum saved us hanging on for another few weeks and also we could have lost the couple we ended up selling it to as they had another house in mind but snapped ours up when they realised it was back on the market.

wowfudge · 11/12/2017 12:01

Press for exchange asap and completion in the NY if that helps the FTB. I think lots of FTBs have no idea just how stressful the whole process is for others in the chain who are selling and buying.

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