How long for vendor to find a house

hhh0809 · 2020-09-13T12:18:03+00:00

It's been a while since our offer was accepted but our vendor's yet to find a house to buy. How long should we wait before searching for something else?

DidIAks · 13/09/2020 13:26

Get them to more into a rental, otherwise it’s best to keep looking.

YellowNotRed · 13/09/2020 13:32

@DidIAks

Get them to more into a rental, otherwise it’s best to keep looking.

You can't 'get them' to anything.

How long is a while?

We offered 2.5 weeks after we found a buyer, (new house was vacant possession so we ended the chain) I wouldn't have wanted to take much longer for risk of losing them.

Icantfindausername · 13/09/2020 13:40

I suppose that depends on how much you want that house, if it was the perfect one I wouldnt want to pressure them, do you need to move quickly? I think these next 2 weeks will be busier as kids are back at school now and people have more time to think about house etc x

Puffthemagicdragongoestobed · 13/09/2020 13:48

When we sold last year in September our buyers' buyer stipulated completion by end January. We told this to our vendors when we offered. Having a deadline helped with keeping the chain on track.

JoJoSM2 · 13/09/2020 13:54

With our last house we waited for 2-3 months for the vendors to find a place they liked. Luckily, the whole chain stayed patient and we eventually completed about 5-6 months after having our offer accepted.

KoalasandRabbit · 13/09/2020 14:28

Depends how much you want that house and if there are similar on the market. I've only bought no chain involved properties as I'm not very patient. I think if you are thinking of walking away the fairest thing would be to give a deadline or warn the vendor then they can decide if they want to find a solution unless its been months already in which case if there were alternatives I would walk away. I would have a look around and see what your options are. It's really up to you though but I would be nervous about if there's another lockdown and would want things completed asap.

DidIAks · 13/09/2020 15:04

At the moment many buyers with chain are rejected in favour of buyers who can move quickly. Lender offer times have doubled as well. Many chains are failing for a variety of reasons.

Even in normal times many buyers end up on the short end, and we aren’t in normal times. Presumably you want to close before the tax benefit disappears.

You’d be wise not to start anything and keep looking until the sellers are ready to go. Who knows, you may find something better in less time.

isseywith4vampirecats · 13/09/2020 15:07

we had this last year made an offer accepted and three months later she still hadnt found anywhere and as we were cash buyers and knew the date that the money would be available we wanted to move to that date so we pulled out, and bought an empty house as we were in rented we didnt have to rely on a buyer , the house we moved into straight forward and moved in to our timeline and the original house came back off the market about a month later, this year it has gone back on sale at £10000 more and sold so presumably she eventually found something she liked but no way were we waiting that long would have cost us another £8000 in rent

NoSquirrels · 13/09/2020 15:10

How long is ‘a while’, OP?

Original poster

hhh0809 · 13/09/2020 15:16

@Icantfindausername

I suppose that depends on how much you want that house, if it was the perfect one I wouldnt want to pressure them, do you need to move quickly? I think these next 2 weeks will be busier as kids are back at school now and people have more time to think about house etc x

We want to move quickly to avoid any delay of Covid or Christmas. Even if we stipulate a completion deadline it won't help unless they find something so it all depends on their search.

OP posts:

Original poster

hhh0809 · 13/09/2020 15:17

@NoSquirrels

How long is ‘a while’, OP?

About a month

OP posts:

Original poster

hhh0809 · 13/09/2020 15:18

@Icantfindausername

I suppose that depends on how much you want that house, if it was the perfect one I wouldnt want to pressure them, do you need to move quickly? I think these next 2 weeks will be busier as kids are back at school now and people have more time to think about house etc x

Do you think the market will be busier in the coming two weeks?

OP posts:

Original poster

hhh0809 · 13/09/2020 15:19

@Puffthemagicdragongoestobed

When we sold last year in September our buyers' buyer stipulated completion by end January. We told this to our vendors when we offered. Having a deadline helped with keeping the chain on track.

When did they find a house and when did the chain complete?

OP posts:

Original poster

hhh0809 · 13/09/2020 15:23

@DidIAks

At the moment many buyers with chain are rejected in favour of buyers who can move quickly. Lender offer times have doubled as well. Many chains are failing for a variety of reasons.

Even in normal times many buyers end up on the short end, and we aren’t in normal times. Presumably you want to close before the tax benefit disappears.

You’d be wise not to start anything and keep looking until the sellers are ready to go. Who knows, you may find something better in less time.

We don't want to buy after the stamp duty benefits end. That's why we can't afford to wait for too long and miss other properties.

OP posts:

NoSquirrels · 13/09/2020 16:04

If you need to move quickly, tell the vendor your deadline to exchange & complete, advise them that if they don’t find a house they can complete on within that time they’ll need to go into rental. If they don’t want to agree to that, you’ll pull out now.

I’d keep looking anyway I think, and be very open with estate agents about your timeline.

Sitdowncupoftea · 13/09/2020 17:20

Personally i would give them a deadline or look for somewhere else.

Icantfindausername · 13/09/2020 22:44

Yes my estate agents said its picking up locally in the next week and it's been quite the last 2 weeks as schools going back etc x