Advice needed: sold our house but nothing to buy

[BingoFucklinger]

We sold our house in November on the understanding that we need to find a suitable house to buy. Since then there has been very little coming on the market so we still haven’t found anywhere.

Our buyers are, understandably, growing impatient and want us to instruct our solicitor so that their solicitor has the relevant documents to “complete [their] side of the process.” We’ve been advised by our solicitor not to take any further action until we have an offer accepted on a property.

Has anyone else found themselves in this position and what did you do? Do we sit tight and hope houses start coming on the market soon? Do we walk away and relist our house when there seems to be more coming up?— this means we risk missing out on any houses that come on the market in the meantime and also there’s the risk of getting a lower price for our house. We really don’t want to sell up and move into rented at this point.

I hate to mess our buyers around and feel really uncomfortable with them wasting money on solicitors, surveys, etc when we aren't in a position to proceed.

Also, has anyone had any experience of leaflet dropping to let property owners know you’re interested in their house? We’ve wondered about doing this around the main area we’re looking at.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

You move into rental or you lose your buyer , I'm afraid.

We were in this position. We lost our buyer. We weren't going to consider a rental with a toddler. Like you, theres just not many houses coming up for us to move into. We've been relisted as of yesterday so time to start again. You just have to decide if it's worth renting for however long it may take you to find another house and whether that would be more or less expensive than waiting for another buyer who may (or may not!) offer less

We were in this position we just decided to stay put in the end.

Well the thing is you haven't sold your house at all. You've just accepted an offer from a potential buyer. Your buyer hasn't even been able to start any of the process and no survey has been done yet. I understand your position but at nearly 3 months and no start of the conveyancing process it's not really that realistic for your own buyers.

More properties will come on the market in the Spring but it is very unlikely that your own buyers will wait until then. The reality is that you either progress with your own sale and move into rental or you will end up losing your buyer as you can't expect them to hang around for months and months and as it is they will already have lost out on the stamp duty holiday if applicable.

Or you do as you have mentioned. Take your house off the market and relist when the market seems to be moving again in a couple of months time. But again it's a gamble as to whether you will achieve the same price that your current buyers are/were prepared to pay.

This is the problem with starting the selling/buying process in the Winter months as there just is not much to look at when buying. Perhaps absolute honesty is the best policy and then it gives your buyers the chance to throw in the towel and walk away as surely they are going to without any action soon - as indeed I would.

If I were your buyer, and you hadn’t even instructed a solicitor after 4 months, I would seriously doubt you wanted to sell.

If you lose this buyer, how easy will your house be to sell again?

Thank you for your help.

Our buyers haven't said anything about pulling out (yet!) so do we just stay as we are and cross our fingers that something comes up?

I feel as though we're stringing our buyers along (I think because finding a suitable house feels like a pipe dream right now!), although we've been totally honest and open with them.

I hope everything goes well for you this time round @ItsAllOrangeAndYellow

I think you need to sell the house and rent rather than keeping the buyers waiting. It's not fair on them. They have been very patient already and were perhaps hoping to make the stamp duty deadline which they won't now.
Otherwise, you pull out and remarket in Spring when hopefully more houses will come to market.

They have the patience of a saint. I'd have moved on by now!

You need to either crack on and rent or pull out.

I think you should sell your house and move into a rental place. We were in the same position. We sold our house in November and moved into a rental place.We didnt want to risk losing a serious buyer so we made a decision to sell, get our money out and move temporarily. We are still searching for the right house but then we know we can take as much time as we need to pick the right house without any pressure from the buyers to speed up our search.

I moved into rented. Also, a good position for you to be in when something you want to buy comes up.

I think it’s your buyer’s decision, not yours. You’re being completely open and honest with them. You are serious about moving but shouldn’t feel pressured to move into rented if you don’t want to. They will either wait or look for something else. I think you’re right to try to avoid them spending money on the conveyancing etc at the moment

We went through with our sale and moved in with family but we were offered 20% over asking and had a 'tricky' house.

If I were you, I'd let the estate agents know that you are prepared to pull out if you don't find a house (if that's the case) so your buyers know where they stand.

@BananaPie

I think it’s your buyer’s decision, not yours. You’re being completely open and honest with them. You are serious about moving but shouldn’t feel pressured to move into rented if you don’t want to. They will either wait or look for something else. I think you’re right to try to avoid them spending money on the conveyancing etc at the moment

The buyer is pushing them to instruct solicitors so they can complete the purchase. Clearly they're reaching the end of their patience.

Why would you lose your buyer which is what will happen if you delay? Move into rented or move in with family. You will be in a strong position to buy when houses come onto the market in the spring/summer.

Makes me laugh when people say go into rented. True if you don’t find somewhere it’s the only way to complete a sale, but sometimes it’s not appropriate and it’s better to pull out and start again later or be honest with buyer and see how patient they are.

For example if your finances might change in future, it could be better to stay in a mortgaged property than rent. Or it can be cheaper to stay in your house. For example two thirds of our mortgage payment goes to paying it off every month. A six month rental would cost us a fortune. If you have young kids renting can be a hassle.

We were in the same boat but luckily something did eventually come up the two times we sold (buyer pulled out due to covid the first time). I think five weeks was the longest it took and I got very nervous about losing the buyer. But I’d rather have waited and started again later if necessary, than move into rented. We were very committed to a move for the right house but just not enough to go through the upheaval of renting just for one buyer. That could be selfish, but you have to be when you’re talking about thousands of pounds and the security of your home!

Aren't your buyers going ballistic?! Do they need to complete by 31st March for the SDLT?
We were in a similar position to you in that we accepted an offer but couldn't find anywhere.
We said we'd move into rented.
We have now found somewhere but I doubt it's going to complete by 31st March. Our buyers offered in October. They've been patient enough!

We sold up and lived in rented accommodation with belongings in storage but that’s because we were moving a considerable distance, so it made sense to be living in the new area.

Unfortunately, it then took us 6 months to complete on the house we offered on because the seller fannied about. We carried on looking during that 6 months and didn’t find anything better but if we had, we’d have pulled out of the sale.

So you do risk your buyers pulling out if you string them along for too long but if you got an offer very quickly initially, maybe that’s not an issue if you have to re-market it?

Your buyers have been so patient! Not even appointed a solicitor yet? As a buyer I would require some firm commitment from you.

Comes down to how much you want to sell. Do you definitely want to move, and are willing to keep your buyer and proceed with the sale regardless? Or do you only want to move on your terms, when you find the right house?
You cannot guarantee your buyer will wait forever.
(And without a buyer you can have no onward purchase, even if you find the perfect house)

A friend of mine has the same issue although they only accepted an offer a couple of weeks ago but hardly anything new on the market. They have a really tight budget and renting would mean they had an even smaller budget when things do come on the market. I was wondering if some people are staying put/not considering moving until they know if the SD holiday will be extended.

Rent, or expect them to get increasingly pushy then pull out. Renting is a great option, makes you a preferred buyer. I'm never going to get stuck in a chain again.

I sold without anything to buy because I needed to decompress and see what came up. We moved into a rental for a year and whilst it is not perfect I like the anonymity of being here and the time it has given me to find somewhere.

In the same position. I offered asking price for one property and they decided not to move. My asking price offer was accepted on another property and then they decided not to move three days later. There is nothing on the market so I am mulling giving up.

Rent. It will tie you to six months but as you realise the process can easily take six months even if you found a house to buy the day after you sign the lease. The market is cooling, there's no guarantee you'll find another buyer quickly if you do find a house (also agents are being fairly strict about only showing houses to people who are in a position to proceed).
Your buyers have been unbelievably patient.

We couldn't find anywhere so moved in with family. The good thing now is we are chain free so a good prospect whenkne eventually does come up.

You have to decide what you want the least: to lose your buyer or rent/stay with family.

We couldn't lose our buyer as we it full asking price and it was too much of a gamble to pull out and seeing we could sell again. Now we're just waiting for the market to pick up

with some lenders, you have only three months to port your fixed rate before incurring early repayment penalty if you decide to rent.