Selling woes - why do people do this?

[TurtleTrouble]

We sold our house in August after a week, were in a chain of four. Completion date was set for end of October, and 4 days beforehand the buyer at the bottom of the chain (always seemed slow to do anything, poor communication) pulled out completely, no explanation. Money wasted, removals booked, all houses back on the market, the one we wanted resold the next day (seller cut price as they wanted to be gone ASAP).

Thankfully we resold ourselves a couple of weeks later (early November). Found a house we loved, had offer accepted. We’re in another chain of 4. And now.....once again, the buyer at the bottom of the chain hasn’t even apparently filled in the client care pack, the first set of paperwork from the solicitor. We sent ours back almost 3 weeks ago. We’re dreading them pulling out/delaying for ages etc. Why can’t people just crack on with things once they’ve committed to purchase?

*we’re in a chain of 4

Because people are shits.

We lost out on 3 houses this year, only one that we pulled out on (within two days of getting to contract docs and because the seller had lied about something in them). Our last house, the sellers pulled out the week of exchange because they had decided not to bother moving house after all.

Obviously this is buying not selling, but my sentiment remains the same!

And to add, with the final house, we offered in August and it was Nov before we could exchange (12 wk delay on searches) so it's not like they didn't have time to consider properly!

Ugh I’m so sorry to hear about that. What an effing nightmare. Have you found somewhere else now?

I just can’t understand how people can be so casual about buying and selling houses so they either don’t engage with the process or they leave everyone else spending money while they’ve got no intention of moving. Our buyers and our sellers seem keen, it’s the buyer at the bottom of the chain (he’s buying the flat off our buyers) that is causing the worry. The exact same situation as last time. I was feeling ok about everything until this week, then was told he hadn’t even sent the paperwork back despite being chased and felt all shit about everything again especially as we had the homebuyers’ report done on Tuesday which obviously cost a lot. The kids were gutted last time we didn’t move as they were so excited, most of their stuff was packed up, DH took a week of leave to pack and then it all fell to bits 😩

@TurtleTrouble oh OP that's so shit I'm sorry. The house selling/buying system here is just dreadful.

Being charitable, the bottom of the chain is generally most exposed to Covid related employmenr problems such as unemployment, cut in hours, furlough.. They also have the least equity so are most exposed on the debt side.

We were in a similar chain and my fear was always the people at the bottom of the chain, not anyone further up.

Same situation, bottom of chain was first to accept offer in October. Heard nothing from them. Apparently their mortgage broker has advised them to spend no money until they have an offer, except lenders are being so slow. It’s frustrating.

When will the government overhaul the whole system? Make offers in writing and binding. Put time limit on surveys, mortgage approvals etc. It concentrates the mind if there are penalties!

We absolutely have the most unbelievably stressful system! I am in a chain of 5, all sales agreed in August, the delay of the people at the bottom of the chain getting their mortgage offer has been months! We were all aiming for completion by end of November, then before Christmas and then exchange before Christmas which now isn’t going to happen because we are all still waiting on this bloody mortgage offer! Every other piece of paper is in place up the chain ready to exchange and we have been assured the offer is coming, it is so stressful.

@Pipandmum you are absolutely right!

It’s definitely the poor communication that is hard - I totally understand that times have been rough for a lot of people this year, I really do. It’s just the utter waste of time and money that’s been so gutting - to spend hundreds of pounds on searches and surveys, take time off work, spend time preparing to swap broadband suppliers over etc only to pull out days beforehand seems unfair.

Sorry to hear it, it's awful, especially to give no explanation.

We have had both our buyers and sellers lying to us - it amazes me how people think they can get away with this when so much money - and solicitors - are involved!

Our sellers lied about building regs on their conversion, which was a deal breaker for us for a number of reasons. And our buyers told us they were ftb, when they were actually selling their current house, which messed us around no end. We are now living with family but it's all over (until we start looking for a new one next year). Good luck.

Sounds like they're waiting to see what happens to the market etc for as long as possible so do all you can to get their arse in gear (which isn't a lot admittedly!)

House buying in England sucks!!

We are in a chain. It's a bloody nightmare. We've been going since August, and now the top buyer has pulled out of their sale and put an offer in on another property, so we might not be in til March, so touch and go with the stamp duty holiday. Gah!

Positive update here! The mortgage for the buyers at the bottom of our chain came through at 4pm, we now have everything in place ready to exchange, fingers crossed! I am SO relieved

We sold early sept to a buyer with no chain, buying an empty property - still no word on exchange. Seems ridiculously long, hold up seems to be enquiries. I think covid is really holding things up

I don’t understand why banks don’t give you a firm mortgage offer (rather than a flimsy AIP) with all the credit checks, affordability etc so they can tell you they will definitely (subject to house valuation) lend you x amount. Rather than you have to find a house and hope the bank will lend you the money.

Luckily and touch wood our chain is just our purchase. We are renting and our vendors have already moved out into an inherited house.

@FVFrog

Positive update here! The mortgage for the buyers at the bottom of our chain came through at 4pm, we now have everything in place ready to exchange, fingers crossed! I am SO relieved

Oh that’s great! Finally, you must be so relieved. We have a sliver of good news too - apparently it was a mortgage offer holding up the guy at the bottom of the chain too, which is now sorted. So hopefully he can get on with everything else now. Hard when it’s further down the chain, and you’re relying on ‘chasing up’ and other people’s priorities to get any information - we were initially told this person was a cash buyer, not sure where that confusion came from!

@TurtleTrouble will keep everything crossed for you. It’s so unbelievably stressful!

A lot of issues with the whole process currently under the excuse of Covid. Banks are taking an age to get offers out, valuations massively delayed and solicitors who are notoriously slow are even slower.