Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

Anyone else under offer with nothing to buy?

36 replies

pinksnowball · 29/04/2021 18:15

We found a buyer in March, then had an offer accepted on a house shortly afterwards. All seemed too good to be true, and indeed it was! The survey on the house we were buying uncovered some major structural issues so we've just pulled out Sad

So now we are under offer with no onward purchase. Anyone else in the same boat? We're still keen to move and our buyers seem very committed and reasonable but I'm wondering how long they'll hang around while we look for something in this slightly crazy market!

OP posts:
Whereverilaymycat · 29/04/2021 18:47

Not me, but I read an article today that a first time buyer was still waiting on their house ten months on. Their seller just can’t find / get anything. So you’re not alone.

TakeYourFinalPosition · 29/04/2021 18:50

No, but our seller is still looking - they'll have been looking for a month this Sunday, so we intend to call for an update if we haven't heard anything by Tuesday, but only really because our buyer is now making some noises about wanting to get things moving.

We've had no problem being this patient so far, so hopefully you'll get a good few weeks at least... After that, it gets difficult. My husband is now convincing himself that the seller won't find anywhere, and we'll have to find something else, but that's pretty recent!

CoconutChair · 29/04/2021 18:55

My MIL didn’t find anywhere, so pulled out of her sale. Our neighbour just lost the house they were supposed to be buying, as their vendor couldn’t find anywhere either. Such a bizarre market at the moment

Dizzycow79 · 29/04/2021 18:57

We are in the same boat - ours is under offer but searches revealed issues so we've pulled out of buying a property.

We've been looking but nothing that we want to buy and we don't really want to rent due to our dd who is disabled.

I think we will end up pulling out of the sale of our house due to the way the market is right now.

ManyMaybes · 29/04/2021 19:00

Sounds like the market is in a death spiral. Little in the market so people are wary of listing, leading to fewer properties and then the ones that are on the market get taken off because there is nothing to buy!

Changingwiththetimes · 29/04/2021 19:06

I have been waiting over two and a half months for my seller to find a house. I was told by EA she would go in to rental so got everything done but now she says she has to buy. My buyers will not wait- I've been holding them a bit as my daughter is still doing GCSE assessments until end of May. We are moving some distance so I can't just nip out do more viewings, and we are now very emotionally invested in this new house - it's a big move for lots of reasons. So, wish I knew what her plan is: will she just keep looking? Pull out? I have dogs and I need to find a rental soon, but six months renting in London (plus the fact we will miss stamp duty holiday and need a storage unit, most likely kennel the dogs etc) is going to cost us so much money.
I wish the EA had been up front (or the seller). I feel in limbo and when I told my daughter we might have to start looking again she cried.

Figmentofimagination · 29/04/2021 19:14

I had an offer 3 weeks ago. I've only managed to view 3 houses so far as not much available and the few that are available get snapped up quickly.

The house I viewed today I'm just not sure about. It's narrower but longer than our current house, has a lovely large kitchen diner extension and large garden, new bathrooms but the 3rd bedroom is smaller than ours and the loft conversion could only be used as storage. I worry I'm settling so I don't let my buyers down.

maybeshesawomble · 29/04/2021 19:26

Yes, but fortunately have the option of moving in with family. I’m very nervous that we could be with my in-laws forever though as there’s been so few houses come up recently.

rhombuspocahontas · 29/04/2021 19:36

Same here, we're moving in with family although the children and I with my parents and DH with FIL as neither have enough space for us all.

Hoping it's not for long! Unfortunately we are looking for a very specific area so I'm just keeping my fingers crossed people are waiting to market their houses in June.

Original poster
pinksnowball · 29/04/2021 22:31

Sorry to those in the same boat! We are not keen to rent really, as we are too worried about what will happen to the market. Plus we have two young DC and I can't face the disruption of moving twice.

OP posts:
umbel · 30/04/2021 07:07

I could almost have written your OP @pinksnowball except when our structural issues were uncovered it was the vendors who pulled out, not us! Our poor buyers have been hanging on since Feb and have indicated they could wait until September. We do have a friend we could lodge with at that point, but I would really like a purchase in the pipeline by then. I would hate to let them down but like @Figmentofimagination I’m worried we’d just be settling for whatever we can get. This is supposed to be a 15-20 year move for us and the house we lost was perfect (apart from the fact it had structural problems Wink). It’s really stressing me out!

Greenvalleysightseeker · 30/04/2021 07:15

This seems to be happening a lot, my Mum sold a few months ago without finding anywhere else and has moved in with my Granny until she finds somewhere. Almost instantly she wouldn’t be able to afford to buy the house she just sold as houses are now going way over the asking price. It’s also happened to two couples I know, both with children. It’s very stressful for all concerned! Fingers crossed for everyone in this position that you find the perfect house soon.

movingquandry · 30/04/2021 07:17

Same here (hence my new username). Been trying to move to our final home for over 2 years.

There is nothing to buy so we haven't marketed ours yet. We won't move into rented -london market and far too risky to be out of it.

We may relent over the next couple of months and market ours to put us top of the pile if and when a house comes up.

We've had 2 buyers in the past and had to let both down as we couldn't find anything to move to

@Figmentofimagination it doesn't sound like you love the place and moving is so expensive so making a mistake is not a good choice Sounds like a no to me.

Figmentofimagination · 30/04/2021 07:46

Thanks @movingquandry and @umbel. I told my husband no. He was willing to consider it but I said I just didn't think it was right. A new house came on yesterday, and I booked a viewing last night for Saturday. It ticks most boxes but again I don't think it's right. Mainly that it is a north facing back garden so the lovely extension they have built out back won't get a lot of sun/any sun in some months. I guess the owners were aware of that as they have a seating area at the front of the house.

umbel · 30/04/2021 07:50

We may relent over the next couple of months and market ours to put us top of the pile if and when a house comes up.

@movingquandry even having your house already sold doesn’t put you at the top of the pile in these strange times. Lots of stuff seems to be goi g to cash buyers or people who have accumulated spare cash during COVID and are now looking to invest in a BTL or holiday rental. Where I live, we are also having to contend with an influx of people from the south looking to relocate. The prices they are selling at mean they can easily come out top of sealed bids, and every property is going to sealed bid within days.

Original poster
pinksnowball · 30/04/2021 08:16

I could almost have written your OP @pinksnowball except when our structural issues were uncovered it was the vendors who pulled out, not us!

Why did your vendors pull out @umbel? Ours offered to negotiate on price to try to keep us but we said no. I just don't want the disruption of having to do major work and it is not at all what we thought we were getting when we put the offer in - it certainly wasn't marketed as a doer upper!

OP posts:
umbel · 30/04/2021 08:47

Why did your vendors pull out @umbel?

@pinksnowball you tell me??!! We were totally prepared to take on the work, and would even have met them part way on costs, but we didn’t get that far. They just told the estate agent that they were so upset to discover this work needed doing, they wanted to do it themselves and they weren’t sure when or even if they would contemplate moving in the future. They pulled out of their own purchase and withdrew the house from the market. Very puzzling but what can you do?

Original poster
pinksnowball · 30/04/2021 09:11

@umbel wow that's completely bonkers! Do you think maybe they were having second thoughts about selling and this gave them an excuse?

It's a shame our situations aren't reversed to be honest our vendors were still keen to sell but we had already made up our minds.

OP posts:
Dizzycow79 · 30/04/2021 09:27

@pinksnowball

Sorry to those in the same boat! We are not keen to rent really, as we are too worried about what will happen to the market. Plus we have two young DC and I can't face the disruption of moving twice.
This is our worry about going into rented - that the market will move on without us being able to afford anything, at least if we have a house we are in it if that makes sense.
Original poster
pinksnowball · 30/04/2021 09:39

@dizzycow79 exactly. It's so hard to know what to do right now as the market is hard to predict. Obviously selling and going into rented could work out brilliantly if prices stay the same or fall, but I'm nervous to take that risk without a crystal ball.

OP posts:
OUB1974 · 30/04/2021 09:54

This happened to us last year. The market was a bit better then, but we still felt under pressure. We saw every house in the market that was the right size and budget and settled for the best one. There wer major problems though with the survey and searches so we ended up pulling out in November with nothing left to buy on the market (I was very cross as our seller lied to us and in the meantime a really lovely house had been and gone).

The good thing was though thay we moved in with family, which put us in a very good position, especially as we were moving a hundred miles away. Since we pulled out, there has only been around one house per month coming on, none of which were right. But a couple of weeks ago we finally found somewhere. It feels much better this time.

My parents are in the same position. They want to downsize, but want somewhere really nice. They can't sell theirs on the off chance that one might come up. Wish it would all get going again! Luckily our buyers are either getting a new build or moving in with family so no chain.

FoolsAssassin · 30/04/2021 10:13

I know about 4 people including us who would like to move (downsizing a bit ideally ) but nothing suitable coming on and we know if it did we would all be in competition with each other, developers and people coming in out of area. That’s just the people I know, no doubt more. I think we’ve all given up.

Meanwhile in our local FB page there are people asking if anyone selling what we all have as they can’t find anything.

umbel · 30/04/2021 11:42

Do you think maybe they were having second thoughts about selling and this gave them an excuse?

@pinksnowball I think one of them really wants to move, the other doesn’t, or at least didn’t like the property they were buying as their onward move. Would have been nice if they’d figured that out before going up for sale! Hmm

EmbarrassingMama · 30/04/2021 12:24

Same for us. We went on the market in September and went under offer a few weeks later. Absolutely nothing on the market and the only alternative was to move into rented which seemed high risk and annoying with kids, so in the end we pulled out and stayed put.

With prices still rising in London, I was concerned about moving into rented then getting priced out in 6-12 months time.

TrustTheGeneGenie · 30/04/2021 12:28

we are not in this situation just yet, but about to put ours up for sale and there is bugger all to buy. Estate agents say buyers will be understanding but... i am wondering whether we should wait but if prices drop i'll probably regret it...