Wait or put back on market?

[Thehousejackbuilt]

House sold to FTB in end October. They are very keen, they offered full price at the viewing and went over due to other full price offers. Have 60% deposit verified by estate agent.

Since then I stupidly assumed they were cracking on now I find out they refuse to pay for any searches, survey or instruct solicitor until they have a mortgage offer. Fine except it’s been 2 months almost and still no offer.

We really don’t want to lose our onward purchase and aside from 2 outstanding enquiries we are ready to exchange. Our mortgage took 2 days to be approved.

WWYD? They are using a broker who advised them not to spend money on anything without the offer. This is making me nervous.

Makes sense they won't move forward without an offer to be fair to them. Mine took forever to get an offer because they are so busy. I would go back with a deadline of when you want things to get moving with the threat of pulling out. There is no reason their broker can't shivvy the bank along. If said deadline is reached, you pull out and put it back on the market. Or you can just pull out now...totally depends if you're prepared to wait a few more weeks or not.

The issue with waiting is we are more likely to lose our onward purchase as they want to complete before stamp duty deadline.

You've got until March, which is a bit risky but still plenty of time. Perhaps you can speak to your solicitor about putting a deadline in for the whole thing to complete no later than February? Other than this, your only option is to pull out i think.

Well apparently the vendors application was declined and they have now appealed.

Sorry the buyers!

How frustrating! Do you know why? And why aren't they just applying to a different mortgage company? Our buyers had their original mortgage declined (for different reasons) and they just went to a different lender.

I'd be tempted to give a (very) short deadline for them to sort themselves out and, if they don't, go back on the market early in the new year.

I would maybe give them a deadline by which to instruct solicitors, searches and instruct solicitor or you are putting back on market - would normally say a week but slightly tricky being Christmas week.

I think it will be a challenge to get through by end of March - our searches took 6 weeks and they were only ordered once contract pack over to other side which took 3 weeks as our solicitors took 2 weeks to send it to us, do ID checks and then we had to fill it in - if you haven't done all this do this as then it could go straight to their solicitors. Then it'll be about a month to get a survey plus a week to get back, searches and enquiries. You may do it. I think ours will take about 3 months start to finish but that's with both sides pushing and doing weekly updates.

I'ld be tempted to give a deadline of 31st December, they may well struggle to do that but will give you a quick answer as to whether they will start and if they can say arrange 1 out of 3 I'ld then give them another week to do other 2. It's especially survey and solicitors I'ld want then get contract pack sent over asap then can order searches. I would also ask for weekly updates from now on.

The other thing I would say is buyers who are slow can be half-hearted about buying the house, if you look on threads here and see which ones are falling through its often the ones were things have gone slowly / no communication. EA may be able to take a view on that. Committing to expenditure though would show some commitment at least.

Sorry they do have a solicitor however have told them not to spend any money. They were sent the contract pack in November but have not responded at all. I started questioning this a few weeks ago and this is when it all came out regarding the mortgage.

I’m not sure why they’ve been rejected but they have a 60% deposit and the remaining amount to mortgage is low; less than £50k between two of them! Both self employed which might be it. I actually think they want the house so much they haven’t been communicating for fear of it going back on.

Their broker has appealed but I doubt this is successful and has contacted some other lenders. I’m presuming their case is complex.

That sounds like they can't get a mortgage - would imagine it is the self-employed thing as my buyers would have had a similar deposit and got a mortgage in 1.5 weeks.

I'ld go back on the market though see what EA thinks. If they then get a mortgage offer and can proceed would reconsider them but I'ld keep it on as I think its high risk.

The estate agent wants to give them until new year to make any more progress then put it back on 4th Jan which I’m inclined to agree with as not much will happen before then.

That sounds sensible though doubt there will be any progress as it's all closing down until 4th in a day or two but probably better to put back on in NY anyway. I think there were a few self-employed mortgages on one of the other threads and they did seem to be taking forever but with March deadline and no progress with anything else and one rejection its probably too risky to continue.

@Thehousejackbuilt

The estate agent wants to give them until new year to make any more progress then put it back on 4th Jan which I’m inclined to agree with as not much will happen before then.

I think this is fair and reasonable. Not least because realistically you don't want people viewing between Christmas and New Year anyway.

I feel your pain so much. We have similar. Accepted offer from our buyers in August. Short chain (we're buying a probate house, so just three houses). We're ready to go. Contracts sorted, searches sorted, mortgage agreed. Most of our stuff is packed. On 8th December our buyer said they were almost ready to go. Hooray. Except it turns out they're idiots and have a solicitor who similarly had warned them not to spend any more until necessary. This caused an early delay when they wouldn't instruct a surveyor until their buyers had their mortgage confirmed - by which point the stamp duty holiday was announced and suddenly there was a four week wait to get a surveyor. So when they said they were almost ready they actually meant 'almost ready to instruct searches'. Which is what they've done now.

I basically want to kick things. When this all started we optimistically thought we might move the week after October half term. Now I'm thinking if we're in by February half term it will be a miracle.

Meanwhile my plans to leave a nice bottle of champagne, takeaway menus etc for our buyers have been downgraded to a bottle of prosecco and if they keep dicking about might be downgraded again to out of date milk in the fridge!

Sending positive vibes and patience to survive the tightwads.

Put it back on the market, they are not serious buyers. The clock is ticking.

sorry no help and haven't bought/sold a house for a few years, but how did the Estate Agent miss the fact they hadn't been approved a mortgage?

Whenever we've sold its been first thing to be checked before accepting. No mortgage in principle then don't even bother offering.

They have an agreement in principle but you obviously can’t apply for the full mortgage until you have a property. They haven’t got to valuation stage so it has to be something picked up during underwriting.

60% deposit, AIP, offered full asking price and higher on first viewing - I think anyone would have chosen them over the other offer.