Buy in three days, or be "homeless"?

[pelagra]

We got an offer on our house on Saturday. The buyer wants to move as soon as possible, but we have held off viewing until we were procedable. We've kept a careful watch on the market, and had a shortlist of 9 properties. Today has been taken up with driving by, and cheekily asking vendors who were at home if we could walk round their gardens. That has brought it down to 6 possibles. None of their agents work Sundays, so with lockdown coming in we have three days to arrange first and potential second viewings.

Would you even try? We wouldn't actually be homeless, but we'd end up in a caravan outside a friend's house while paying to store all our stuff.

Does anyone have experience of buying in the first lockdown that might help us decide whether to push ahead now?

You just have to try and stall your buyers. They are being unreasonable to say you have to find somewhere in 3 days. Also as far as I am aware agents are staying open during this lockdown so you should still be able to view.

Even if your buyer wants to move asap it does not mean you have to rush. Realistically their survey, mortgage, legal work, removal is likely to take longer to organise.

Think shes more worried about lockdown?

Your buyer can ask for whatever she wants. You don't need to comply.

The housing market will continue though lockdown. Don't be rushed into spending all that money just to satisfy her.

Also, she isn't going to be able to actually complete on your house by Thursday. So she won't actually be mov8ng in then.

I think she means she has 3 days to view and decide which house she wants, otherwise she wont have a house to move to when the sale does complete.
Not that she will have to move out of her own house in 3 days.

The housing market won't stop, there are exemptions for facilitating house moves. Just call the agents on Monday.

Ah ok. But she doesn't? Viewings etc are still possible through the upcoming lockdown.

Are you sure you can't view during lockdown?

I disagree with all above. Bite their hand off and move into the caravan. Take your time and pounce on a bargain when you see one. Good luck.

Totally doable! At least go and look and see if you want any of them.

So far as I can see, estate agents fall into the non-essential category, and won't operate in lockdown. That is where the 3 days deadline comes from.

Our current house is quite specialised, and we offered it chain free to encourage buyers, knowing that our friend's caravan is large and readily available. The pressure for speed is coming from further up our buyers chain, which has been waiting a long time to be completed. Normally we would be happy to stick by what we have offered, but I can see lockdown dragging on all winter. If none of the shortlist suits us, I think there few others will come to market

I have a lot of experience of buying in the first lockdown. In that we're now going into the second lockdown and nothing has moved, despite all offers being accepted and the chain of 3 being established in June.

Everything is taking forever. Our mortgage was applied for four months ago and still isn't confirmed. Solicitors are moving at snails pace. Searches are taking longer to come back.

I appreciate this won't be everyone's experience, but everyone we're dealing with (mortgage brokers, estate agents, solicitors) says our case is completely normal. There's no way we'll be in for Christmas.

So... my advice would be, tell your buyer you'll try your best but you can't make any promises. If you want to keep your buyer (which I also would advise, based on what we've been through), you may well end up in that caravan!

If you are serious about moving and you think you might struggle to find a future buyer then move to the caravan!

It is to big a decision to rush.

The offer needs to be checked to ensure they even have the funds. Surveys and Checks done. There is no reason to rush

If you've said you're chain free then you really should stick to that if you expect others to play fair with you too. It is very annoying when you make an offer on a property that's marketed as chain free and then the vendors change their minds and hold things up.

I think it will depend on how much you want to move and how comfortable the caravan is! I would definitely look at the houses in the next few days and in your position I would take the offer and move out, but I think you have to mentally accept you might have to do Christmas in the caravan!

NAEA advised agents will still be working.

Many did online viewings at least for initial ones. I would crack on, view the ones you can, if one suits then offer. But be prepared to move onto the caravan if your place is niche. Put you in a better position as a buyer too.

Even if there was no lockdown it still might take time to find somewhere. If you want to sell and your buyers are limited by the type of property then you’ll just have to do it.
Also, if you have said you are chain free, it’s not really fair to pull out because you can’t find somewhere (although obviously you can still do this, but then don’t tell people in future that there is no chain!)

Even if offices close, estate agents can work from home. It's whether home owners will allow viewings. Some might be keen to sell and bite your hand off.

Estate agents are definitely still working through lockdown

We viewed one house that was advertised chain free (complete with stars and capital letters!) we would have offered on it had it not been for the EA telling us 5 mins in that there was “technically half a chain” (mum and daughter, one happy to rent, one wanted to link the sale) We were on a deadline with our buyers so didn’t have the time to wait for even just one of them to find a house and then wait for whatever chain to be complete. We wouldn’t have bothered viewing if we’d known it wasn’t chain free. In your shoes I’d move into the caravan or be prepared for your buyer to walk if you do decide your house isn’t chain free after all.

@pelagra - the housing minister has confirmed the housing market will remain open during lockdown, so you’ll be able to view hopefully. Don’t rush. Official guidance is being published on Tuesday but it all points to nothing changing in the housing market.

@fellrunner85 - that is unlucky. I’m one of 3 friends who sold in July & August. July friend moved in three weeks ago, chain of 3. My other friend & I sold in August. I’ve got a chain of 5 & we are due to complete this week. My friend has a chain of 3 & their completion date is 27th Nov.. it has been slow with mortgages, ours took 7 weeks. But searches all back in two. 🤷🏼‍♀️

If you've only 6 houses in the running to view then crack on and try and see them before Thursday. You can definitely make a decision on a first viewing and there's a chance the chain can get on with paperwork during this lockdown.