Please help me navigate this estate agent situation!

[Motheroftwofeline]

We had an offer (at asking price!) accepted on a lovely home 6 weeks ago. We feel we were slightly misled on the vendors position as they haven’t found anywhere to move to and don’t seem in a hurry to look.

We have today accepted an offer on our property and I’m so frustrated the other end of the chain is ‘blocked’ as I really want to make the move as my DH job will be based in this new city from late spring (there is some flex on that but not a lot)

Are we ok to look at other properties (I’m guessing that’s a yes, it’s a free country!) but what happens if another we like is with the same agent as the property we have already offered on? How would that be received and might we lose the original property?

We just want to move and I’m stressed 😫

Of course you're free to look at other properties but you may find yourself in the same position. The estate agent wants a sale so I don't think there'll be an issue with viewing others.

It's not unusual for people to accept an offer on their property without having somewhere to move to. In fact, some agents insist on having an offer on your house before being allowed to view others. How do you know they're not in a rush to move? There's not much on the market at the moment and a house is a huge purchase for people. It's only right that they take their time. It's not their problem that your partner has changed his job. Six weeks is nothing in the grand scheme of things. You'll be waiting a good few months, most likely, even if they offered on a property tomorrow.

I think the key is just to be open and honest with the agent, they will be used to this kind of situation and as @Hallyup5 says they will not want to lose a sale. I think it's very sensible of you to keep looking at other properties, you need to keep your options open. I was in the same situation a few years back and ended up having to withdraw my offer because the sellers of the property I wanted to buy had offered on somewhere but the seller of that property couldn't find anywhere to buy. As I'd also viewed other properties I had a plan B. Being in a chain is stressful but hopefully it will all work out for you. Good luck.

Thanks both for balanced opinions.

I don’t want to be hasty and rush into anything further, I think we’ll give it another week and a half, by which point we will be 2 months since offer accepted, to suss out the upward chain. Now we have a buyer, I don’t want to lose them, and as I’ve said due to DH job we do need to relocate. If push comes to shove we’d have to rent but that’s not ideal

Now you have a buyer you are in a much stronger position.

Have you had the survey done in the house you are buying?

I would be honest with the agent. Tell them there is good news, you have a buyer, and you now need to start pressing ahead.

Say you very much need to move by xxx date, and would the vendors be prepared to go into rented if they can’t find anywhere fast enough.

Don’t leave it and wait, talk to them.

You need to allow some leeway for your sellers to find somewhere, but at 6 weeks in I'd say you already have and it's very reasonable to tell the estate agent that you need to start considering other options. When we were first time buyers, we were strung along for 6 months waiting for a complete chain - you don't want to end up in that position! We cut our losses in the end, but wished we'd done it sooner.

Conversely - when selling our house, once we had a buyer we looked at everything on the market that might fit our needs. When we'd either ruled out or missed out on all of those and were then dependent on new stuff coming on, we told our buyer that we would go into rented rather than lose her. Timescale for that? One week. You don't owe them anything if they're prepared to keep stringing you along for goodness knows how long.

We were in the position that someone else described above- agents wouldn't allow us to view before we'd sold ours and the one house that did let us view before being sold rejected our above-asking price offer as we'd only just gone on the market so hadn't sold(!) Literally days after that we got two full asking price offers on our house so are now sold stc but we're finding it stressful already as the buyers are (understandably) keen to get the ball rolling but the market is so dead around here that if any good properties do come up they're very much in demand and go very quickly. We don't want to settle for a new house that doesn't work for us but are also cautious about losing our buyers if nothing comes up 🤦🏻‍♀️ It's a harsh market at the moment OP so could well be that your sellers are also desperate to move but either haven't found anything yet or have but keep losing out.

Gosh, yes, it really is so tough at the moment

The thought of being strung along for months and maybe they just then pull it from the market! We’ll let news of our offer reach them and give it a week or so.

I hope the potential stamp duty extension gets things moving again. House buying and selling is so stressful!

@Motheroftwofeline: I am not trying to worry you, but I’d be trying to find out what they are doing, and potentially moving on to other houses

Family member had offer accepted in September, gave owners around 4 months (!) to find a place, they eventually pulled out - due to a job loss. @£##£&** had let her pay for a survey week before though

There is so much imbalance- sellers incur no great cost if they pull out, so I’d check they actually are moving. It might encourage your EA to push them to get a move on. EA want their fee and will understand that if no progress you will move on to a different property to avoid losing your own buyers

@DespairingHomeowner oh no...that’s exactly the situation I’m looking to avoid.

@Motheroftwofeline: once bitten twice shy!

I think you need to balance protecting your interests, vs pissing off the seller, but understand if they pull out they might be liable for basically nothing (£100 for EA photos, poss nothing for conveyencing)

Is it a buyers or sellers mkt in your area? How hard would it be to find another house?

So I would: be looking at other houses with other agents (selectively) - you might find one where its mid transaction and honestly that you like better. I cannot imagine agents ALL talk to each other

Meanwhile, get a commitment from your seller of when they move/by when they would decide to move to a rental if they cannot find BEFORE you pay for survey, & also appoint a conveyencer who won't charge too much before you move

I would make booking your survey conditional on seeing the sales memo on the house that they are moving into (or firm arrangments to move elsewhere). This could be an issue if eg they plan to move in with family, but I really thought it was fishy that sister's vendors taking forever to find a place: if you really want to move you will take some action (& start getting rid of things)

If they won't agree to that, ask them before booking survey if they will cover the cost if they pull out - that would help you gauge it

See how things go, also make an excuse to go back and see the property in a month or 2 - if you see that they have continued decluttered/have boxed stuff up its a VERY good sign. People I am buying from had already started boxing stuff up when put house on mkt (they are relocating) which made me confident they were actually planning to go

How long are your buyers prepared to wait? are they FTB/ how important is the SD break for them. If the SD thing gets extended to end June, and I was offering on a house know I really would be wanting it to complete sharpish (& I would personally look elsewhere if chain blocked in about 2 weeks)

How much do you want to keep your own sale? would you rent if you had to? Or buy a compromise house to get SD break instead of this one? These are things to think about as your vendors will be looking out for own interests, not yours

I was really sad for my sis (& the expense of survey was a lot for her to lose as basically a FTB/not high income), BUT I also think she did not protect her own interests in this situation, which you have a chance to do

@Motheroftwofeline: my long post was not meant to panic you. Lots of people wait to be under offer before really looking HARD and chains do start from the bottom.

The point is more to look out for your own interests here and ensure things are moving along