Did we do the right thing?

[hopingtobuy]

What would you have done in this situation? Put two offers in on a house yesterday. First one we were told was rejected and that someone else had viewed the house after us that morning and had also put a similar offer in which was also rejected so we had both been asked to put final offers in. Ours was apparently the highest. However, we'd been told we could move in around December/January but today we're told there was no guarantee on that and it could be much later. Then found out that vendor was actually a new build company who had taken the house as part ex. They wanted us to exchange within six weeks however and sit on our £20000 deposit until the new build was ready... We've pulled out as with no actual idea of completion date we figured we could be even looking as far ahead as next Easter. Estate agents told us then that this had created a problem as they had had to cancel a viewing later on this week. Surely though they'd just have gone back to the apparent other offer they'd had yesterday? Not sure we've done the right thing as we loved the house but new build company was holding all of the cards. Would you have done the same thing?

New to this, we're mid 30's and 40's. Is this how things work?

i would have done exactly the same thing a possibly six month delay between offer and completion is way to long and there will be other houses for sale

and if the builder went bust or something happened meentime thats your £20000 gone for a burton

I think you have done the right thing as well. As a FTB you are in a good position to move quickly and any delay is going to cost you in extra rent.
When we were FTBs we exchanged and completed on the same day and our vendors moved into rented accommodation. We moved into the property one day after completion.
For most house purchases, I would expect a maximum delay of a month between exchange and completion so up to 6 months isn't normal.
I am wondering if the sellers who have part-exchanged have bought off plan and the building hasn't started yet!

Thank you, really helpful advice and some points I hadn't thought about such as if the builder goes bankrupt and or the house hasn't even started being built yet. House was also being 'sold as seen' what does this mean?

Fuck the EA, what a terrible arrangement.

sold as seen means if there are any problems with the house you as buyer take on the responsibility to get them fixed

EAs are cheeky bastards. I'd be suspicious of whether the other offer existed!

*The EAs - not all though that's been my experience so far

You absolutely did the right thing.

Estate agents told us then that this had created a problem

Tough luck! The EA will continue to have “problems” if they don’t explicitly set out the unusual nature of the deal before taking offers from prospective buyers.

What are they suggesting? You put your life on hold for 9 months so they don’t have to cancel a viewing

Yes you did the right thing. There,l be other houses or that one will come up again...

Is it not possible for them to buy the house during part exchange, the current occupant to rent somewhere (Maybe the new build company could foot the bill) and then you buy the house from the new build company. We viewed quite a lot of homes where elderly residents would be moving to new retirement flats, these were of course not built until later than planned but I have no idea if people had to wait in the meantime