Lost second buyer on exchange date

[Whentheshipgoesdown]

Any advice really welcome.

We live in southeast London. Our house is unremarkable, but too small for us. It’s on the sort of road that you get flyered on by estate agents as it’s (allegedly) sought after and is next to a lovely park.

We accepted an offer after 2.5 months on the market, which fell through when the buyers went awol after a month. By this time we’d had an offer accepted on a property, and to keep the chain going we accepted a discounted (90% mv) offer with a cash buyer. We were due to exchange in Monday and the buyer has pulled out, and the sellers have gone back on the market at a higher price.

I know we just need to pick ourselves up and get on with it but we we are desperate to move as a large family in a small house. I’m going to give a quick sale company (they claim to target selling in 14 days which i am sure is bolleaux but right now I’d do anything to avoid months of viewings).

Is there anything we can do to act quickly and to increase the chances of a procedable buyer? Both our buyers were cash and financially qualified and we were using a big high street agent.

Is there any benefit to moving out and renting while trying to sell and then buying with the proceeds? And is there anything to make a house sell quick beyond reducing the price which we’ve already done?

Those quick sale people will be happy to take your property at a 25% or more discount. Don't be fooled.
I don't see any advantages to moving to rented while selling, unless you find it impossible to keep your house in showroom condition.
It is the crap system in this country- offers should be binding (with contingencies). Timelines laid out at offer stage. Conveyancing streamlined.
But we are stuck with what we have now. Have a frank conversation with your agent. Ask them to be honest about price, presentation, anything to do with your house that may be a red flag to buyers etc. Why did the second buyer pull out? They must have spent a thousand or two. They need to get only qualified buyers in, but they can't help it if people pull out - they want their commission too.
Perhaps you have just been unlucky
In the 20 properties I've bought and sold over the years there's only two times I haven't completed on a purchase - one time the seller changed their minds and the other I was gazumped (that seller did come back to me when it fell through but I was committed elsewgere).

Thanks for your comment - I’ve got a big family and work from home in a v busy job so it is extremely hard to have the house in good condition for viewings. The agent I’m looking at is one that looks to sell your house in 14 days as opposed to one which cash buys it, which i understand comes with a huge discount.

And - the first buyer went awol, no reason given or contact with the agent, second offered at a massive discount (not dissimilar to buy it now companies) and also is refusing to give a reason or speak to the agent but my best guess is it was financing, as they’d asked first to complete in August. They didn’t do a survey and searches were clear.

A quick sale company will be all about price - low price, possibly to someone they know.

How will you buy a bigger house in a hot and rising market if you short sale your own house? Further, in such a market I also wouldn't risk breaking the chain, simply because the market could move 10% or more whilst you're out of it and consume the equity you needed to upside (or even to remain as you were).

You could consider prioritising a chain free buyer and then buying chain free, so you're a chain of 3 with only 1 of you actually moving house.

You need a new agent and some frank conversations around price and presentation.

Good luck, it can be so stressful.

Although at time this lot on here can be harsh it might be worthwhile putting the link up and getting them to critique it. They normally come up with loads of good ideas!

Thanks both. Interesting you say market is hot and rising - in reality all of the houses which were on the market in October when we were viewing are still on. I think the boom has passed this little corner of se London behind.

I’ve got a good salary which is quadruple what it was when I bought so actually the buying is fine and I am/was relaxed about discounting consequently, because I could still afford to buy. I don’t need the full mv,
I just need someone to actually buy it rather than pretend to!

And - both my buyers were chain free, cash buyers, financially qualified and the one who just pulled out was a repeat buyer with my agent

(Didicat - good suggestion but house is not up yet. And i can’t practically stage my house for viewings
and also live in it, we are six in three bedrooms)

Was the recent buyer a business or were they buying to live in?

They were a business, converting properties to HMOs. It never quite sat right with me, but I really wanted to preserve the chain so we could move :-(

From your comments I feel like you are just looking for validation for going with this 14 day agent, to be honest. It will be a shitty deal and that’s mad in a hot market; they usually can’t believe their luck in a cool market. But if you do decide to go against advice and go with them I would at least give it a week to think through when you aren’t feeling so sick of the whole process. Yes, viewings are a pain in the backside, but you might come out in a much better position if you look for a new seller. I’d not make any rash decisions and maybe just wait until after the SDD when the market cools slightly and everyone can see the wood for the trees again.

Could you say where in SE London please - I’m looking for a three bed house!

More generally - it’s a really hot market, as others have said. I’d avoid one of those companies at nearly all costs. If you’ve got a financial cushion selling and moving into rented seems a better (still not recommended, imo) option.

Not looking for validation - just advice. Like any agent there’s a cooling off period and if their usp of quick sale to a third party for 95% of mv turns out to be nonsense, as it may well, then I’ll cancel before the end of it. I’ve got an agent booked to do a market appraisal who just sold a house three doors down. I’ve put a load of calls in to try and fix the niggly bits in my house that drive me crazy, accepting I’m likely to be here for months, and I’ve contacted the agent on a similar property to the one we just lost to see if they’re willing to have a viewing.

I like to fix things. I don’t know how to fix this. I don’t mind viewings, i can borrow enough and I am not fussy about houses. I’m just struggling with the idea of being here for another six months, and always having the same risk of someone pulling out on the final day.

Perfectly willing to accept that someone who aims to sell in 14 days may well not be able to at anything approaching market value, I’m more thinking ahead I guess - in two weeks time if it hasn’t worked, what next?

Just saw essential’s questin. we’re in Sydenham (just south of crystal palace). It must be some kind of temporal warp here as all the houses we were interested in 5 months ago still haven’t sold.

I guess though the advice is - get a grip; be tidier; and wait. I’m no good at any of those I’m afraid, so I was hoping there’s another way. But perhaps there isn’t

You will still get a better offer on a slightly messy house on open market than a discount buyer! The house we went to buy and offered on. Was not super tidy, it was clean but lived in.

Not everyone is looking for a show home believe it or not!

Get an estate agent to value at least and ask what the minimum required is?

It's a crap system but you just have to be patient , it will work eventually and it sounds like you have been unlucky

This is easy for me to say, three months ago I felt like you. Barely held my nerve . Then there was magic manic progress and everything is wonderful now

Butterfly - very glad things have worked out for you. Fingers crossed and I’m be the one giving out sage advice in three months time.

It’s interesting everyone’s so firmly against sacrificing value to gain speed.

We used a company called Quick Move Now, if thats what youre looking for I would recommend them. Once the price was given and we agreed everything went smoothly and at our pace.

Thank you, ilike.

My sister is looking for a 3 bed in that area! If you pm me the link I'll pass it on!

I suspect you may see the market pick up OP, if you try the market again. We’re SE14 and looking in the immediate surrounds. Two months ago things weren’t really shifting very quickly. Suddenly - it felt like overnight - houses were coming on and going under offer in a week. We went to a few viewings and there were queues, quick offers etc. I imagine people will start to broaden their searches soon if this continues - and your area is lovely!

Thanks essential - let’s hope so. The area is great with the horniman and crystal palace, and we’re opposite wells park which is what sold the house to me in the first place. The house itself is nothing remarkable but it’s fine, and I am hopefully not asking the earth for it.

I used to live on Longton Grove! Huge four bed semi detached maisonettes with a garden bigger than I have in Somerset for 90K misses point of thread I love Sydenham though - very leafy.

Amazing! Those houses are on for a million now, you can see one on rightmove right now.

Mine’s not one of those or I would have said it is fantastic rather than fine!

I had a similar situation (admittedly, some time ago) where a sale had fallen through and we needed to sell.

I approached one of these quick sale companies but I also thought about putting it up for auction.

The company looking to buy it cheap offered something like 20% under what it had been on the market for.

Whereas, when I put it in the auction I actually got slightly more than it had been on the market for. The house needed a lot of work doing to it that we didn't have the money for at the time which put off a lot of people. However, putting it in the auction, a much wider range of people saw it and, as it turns out, there are always people looking for a "doer-upper" that they can renovate so it sold straight away at auction.

Just an alternative to think about.