I accepted an offer and now my friend wants to buy our house

[Limilimin]

Hi,

I am wondering if anyone could give me any advice on this..
I've recently accepted an offer from a first time buyer on our property and our offer on the property we want to buy got accepted too. So everything seems going smoothly, but then now my friend is willing to buy our house.

We are good friends and we get together often so she knows our house well, and she is willing to move into this one and letting her current house.

1. I am not sure if I can reject the offer we've already accepted at this stage (no paper work yet, we just instructed solicitors)
2. The current buyer is a first time buyer and has got mortgage principle (with deposit of 5%) whereas my friend will be buying this one as a second home and will be letting her current property. Is my friend in a better position than the first time buyer?

We are really happy with the property we found so we don't want to lose that so I am not sure if it's safe to change the buyer at this stage.

Could anyone advise pls?

Thanks in advance.

Honestly don't do it, you've got the perfect excuse that you've accepted an offer that's proceeding. I personally think you're in a far more stable position with the FTB as well. What would be the benefit of selling to your friend instead?

Reverse?

Hmmm i wouldn't sell to a friend, anything goes wrong they could hound you about it.
Best to not have any connections with these things!

Just tell her you've already accepted an offer and don't want to screw those people over.

Thanks MoltenLasagne, I don't think there is any benefit on us, I just thought if there isn't any issue(?) it may be "nice" to sell it to friend since she really wants it.. But I guess it's not a good idea then..I appreciate your opnion. thx.

I personally wouldn’t sell to a friend.
Keep with your first time buyer

Erm, just tell your friend to get to fuck no. I knew someone in a similar situation who went with the friend's offer, there were all sorts of problems and they are no longer friends.

Never mix business with friendship in my opinion. If anything went wrong this could cause issues and you could fall out. I would stick to your current sale and not risk changing incase anything went wrong. Just tell your friend thank you but sale is moving along and money has been spent by all parties involved.

I wouldn't mess your current buyer around, plus you've got the property you want lined up.

Why would you throw that stability away for someone who is buying one a second home and will have the extra hassle of converting their existing mortgage to BTL, getting a new mortgage etc (unless your friends are mortgage free and cash buying your property)? Plus, there is the danger that the friends will expect favours from your a bit of money off her etc.

however good the friendship, things tend to be veyr stretched by doing this type of transaction.

Your buyer is ready to go, you are ready to go, just go ahead with first time buyer.

say to your friend that it is too late, there isn't time and you are going ahead with your buyer.
I really wouldn't let her persuade you either, you can keep stalling and then at some point just say - its sold

It’s a pretty shit thing to do anyway.

How would you feel if the people you’re buying from screwed you over by suddenly saying they’d accepted a different offer instead.

Doesn’t matter that it’s a friend, fact is you’ve accepted an offer already. Binning that one off for what you perceive to be a better one is just immoral.

Don’t screw over the person you’ve accepted an offer from.
it may be "nice" to sell it to friend since she really wants it.
If she wanted it that much why didn’t she try to buy it when it was actually for sale?

I absolutely would not do it. Aside from screwing over the buyer you’ve accepted an offer from, if it all goes wrong, you’ve lost the sale to your friend, the original buyer and it’ll be the end of your friendship.

I don't think she or he is much of a friend anyway only coming forward now conveniently when you have all your ducks in a row and wouldn't trust somebody who does this either.

Imagine being the FTB, having your offer accepted, so excited and happy - only to be gazumped by your friend. That's the opposite of nice.

You can help your friend find another house.

Thanks all for your advice. I guess I have to find a way to say "no" to my friend. Thanks.

@Limilimin

Thanks MoltenLasagne, I don't think there is any benefit on us, I just thought if there isn't any issue(?) it may be "nice" to sell it to friend since she really wants it.. But I guess it's not a good idea then..I appreciate your opnion. thx.

It's really not nice to screw over your buyer like this. Your friend's a bit of an arse for offering now she knows you have an offer. Bad idea! Just tell her you've accepted an offer and are sticking with it.

@Limilimin

Thanks all for your advice. I guess I have to find a way to say "no" to my friend. Thanks.

Easy: “We have a buyer, the property is sold/not available”.

Don't do it. Never get into monetary transactions with friends. We learned this the hard way and the friendship ended with the realisation that they would have happily shafted us for £30k. Even aside from this if something goes wrong it puts a lot of strain on the friendship.

@TheDogsMother

Don't do it. Never get into monetary transactions with friends. We learned this the hard way and the friendship ended with the realisation that they would have happily shafted us for £30k. Even aside from this if something goes wrong it puts a lot of strain on the friendship.

Holy shit! What arsehole 'friends'!

Friend issues aside, didn't you sign a contract with an estate agent? Depends on whether that says they're the sole agent in which case you really can't. And tbh, it's a rubbish idea but I think you've reached that conclusion yourself! Just keep it simple, say oh sorry we've already accepted an offer

Don’t do it. We were going to sell to a friend and they pulled out about 2 days before exchange. Really shitty and we’ve never spoken again in 15 years. We lost loads of money plus a friendship. I’m sorry for the money; he was obviously more of an arsehole than we’d realised as it turned out he was nowhere near in a position to buy, just a whole load of bullshit.

So your friend isn't even gazumping? She's just expecting you to drop a solid offer for no conceivable gain to yourself?
If she's this much of a CF, you really don't want to do business with her.

Don't do it, we bought a house off a "friend" and we literally haven't spoken since the day we moved in.

Even if the sale went smoothly with your friend and you got your new house I'd be on edge for months incase the boiler broke or the roof leaked and it caused strain between you

Just don't do this. You have a proceedable buyer and have accepted their offer

Imagine for a minute that you did and the sale went through (unlikely)

Friend moves in.

Day 1. 15 messages. Which key fits the back door? How do I turn the xxx on/off? One of the windows is stuck. etc etc

Day 3 - boiler problem. Your friend is going to call you and say there is a problem with the boiler.You will end up dealing with it for her.

Month 3. Leak from the guttering. Your friend is going to call you and say there is a problem. You will end up dealing with it for her.

Month 6. Issues with the neighbours - who owns the fence. Your friend is going to call you and say there is a problem. You will end up dealing with it for her.

And on, and on, and on.......