Seller still hasn't found a property after 6 months

[loolyooly]

We had an offer accepted on our dream house 6 months ago. The sellers hadn't found anywhere to buy but they have a very healthy budget and there was no reason to think it would be a problem. Our house sold a few weeks later and since then - nothing. The sellers still haven't found anywhere and we are clinging onto our buyer by the skin of our teeth. The sellers are adamant that they will not rent in order to complete the sale and that we will have to wait. They have slightly widened their search area but that's it. They have a budget of over £800K (outside London) and are looking in areas with a fairly active market. I know what their criteria is and there have been lots of properties they could have bought. I have heard through the grapevine that they have a reputation for being very picky, difficult customers from previous housemoves. As I type I know the answer is going to be 'you need to move on and forget about this house' but it is so perfect for us. Has anyone else been in a situation like this where it has actually worked out or am I on a hiding to nothing?

This is long- apologies!
We had this last year and I’m sorry to say but it was not a happy ending .
We found a house we loved and had an offer accepted , we’d already accepted an offer on our house by that point .
The sellers were actively looking for a new house but after about two months they said they were going to move in with her elderly parents in the interim so “great” we thought.
Then in October our exchange was pushed back as bottom of the chain had queries and then our sellers phoned the EA and said they’d changed their minds as the wife really didn’t want to move . My dh begged the husband who still wanted to move to reconsider and he said he’d discuss with her and then 2 days later he said they’d agree to come back but only if we had it all wrapped up by end of jan.
We stuck to our word and pushed everything through and then day before exchange we had the dreaded EA call us and say they’d changed their minds again as they didn’t want to move in with her parents after all and also didn’t want to rent .
Dream over ..
Even if your sellers find somewhere now it still going to take about 3 months to get to exchange possibly, are your buyers willing to wait that long ?
Best of luck , it’s so stressful .

My brother and SIL had this for 9 months and unsurprisingly nearly lost their own sale as a result.

But their sellers did eventually find a house and moved and the whole chain rolled out successfully.

Have to also add after reading all the comments that it seems every town has that “couple” who put their house on the market for shits and giggles .
When we went to view another house after the previous one pulled out, we told this new EA the story and he said “oh what’s their surname?” And after it was established it wasn’t the same people he told us they had a particular local couple who had put their home on the market no less than 5 times over the last 8 years and pulled out every single time !
Surprised they not blacklisted .

@ConstanceGracy excellent

Can I add a different point of view? We put our house on the market and it sold in less than a week. It took us a year to find a house to move to, we put several offers in but were outbid or were competing with cash buyers. Without our house sold subject to contract we couldn't view other properties, we were very keen and motivated buyers but the market was so fast at the time it was exceedingly difficult to buy. We were open with our buyers and the estate agent could confirm we were viewing and making good offers on suitable properties. Our buyers were not in a rush as they were intending to rent out the house and we honoured the price we had agreed even though house prices had gone up in that year. We only were able to secure a house in the end because the sellers were in a rush to go and our sale was so near to completion, surveys done etc and our buyers were cash other wise we would have lost out again

You need to decide if you want to sell your own house or not, so that you don't mess your own buyers around any more. We had to move into rented so we didn't lose our buyers after losing the house we were buying when they changed their minds.

Then give your sellers an ultimatum and if they don't stick to it, move on. They also have to decide if they want to sell or not, and if they do, then move out into rented. If they won't do that, then they lose you.

I know it is hard, but you can't sit around waiting for ever and you are doing to your buyers exactly what is being done to you.

Sell your house. Rent another. There might even be another dream house. Your vendors are not bothered about moving. If you are, get on and do it. Stop messing your buyers about. You then buy a property without one to sell! That is a great position but surely this cannot drag on much longer.

I would call time on their dithering and procrastination, they don’t seem to want to move this forward. I would give them a very short deadline and view other places during that time. I guess whether you go into rented depends on how the market is in your area and if you will find more buyers soon