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Original poster

You all told me about first time buyers

24 replies

Dontwatchfootball · 16/07/2021 21:33

Trying to sell, loads of delay from the buyers which meant they waited ages to get the survey done. This came back with the need for further specialist surveys, taking more time, then a demand for some work to be done. Instead of doing a retention and reduced sale price, the demand was I had to do the work before they would move forward. Its only 4 days worth but will be a major disruption for that time. After months of farting by buyer and their solicitors I have had a week of escalating demands and now been given a 2 week deadline I cannot meet because the only builders they would contemplate doing the work cannot come for 3. So now looking at losing the house I am buying. I am so pissed off with the whole thing I just want to crawl under a rock. Which I guess would solve my housing problem. Is it always this bloody difficult?

OP posts:

m0therofdragons · 16/07/2021 21:37

Just say no. We ended up paying our buyer £3k back after the sale (in the contract though) to pay for work to be done rather than while we lived there. Solicitor paid it direct to the builder too. Call their bluff.

Livingintheclouds · 16/07/2021 21:39

No. I don't understand why they are dictating what builders you use. It's still your house, and if they want the work done it's up to you who does it. Have they exchanged? If not I'd insist they do before you get anyone in to do anything. Time to make a few of your own demands.

readytosell · 16/07/2021 21:42

Seriously, just tell your agents to get the house back on the market and find another buyer.

FTB are a fking royal PITA sometimes if they have no idea about the reality of houses. Houses are real living things that have problems. Seasoned buyers know this!

Original poster

Dontwatchfootball · 16/07/2021 21:45

Thank you all. @m0therofdragons - they would not accept any alternatives to me doing the work. @Livingintheclouds - they would not exchange until the work is done. @readytosell - too true.

they may come back and say they still want to buy it, but I am seriously thinking of telling them to fuck off.

OP posts:

PyjamaFan · 16/07/2021 21:47

Don't sell to them and put your house back on the market tomorrow. They will just carry on messing you around.

BrilliantBetty · 16/07/2021 21:50

Put it back on the market if you can.
I had 3 failed sales with FTB.
One set had a genuine reason why it didn't go ahead, the other two were just utter time wasters.

It's such a stressful process.

I wouldn't be having any work done to the property until at the very least the deposit has been received from the buyers. Otherwise they could pull out any second and walk away scot free.

THisbackwithavengeance · 16/07/2021 21:53

I'd have told them to fuck off and put the house back on the market. There are some CFs out there. FTBs are generally the Instagram generation though. If they want show home picture perfect, you can direct them to the nearest newbuild Wimpy estate.

It's a shame about the house you wanted though.

MyMabel · 16/07/2021 21:53

I’ve got two viewings on my house tomorrow. Already lost the house we semi-reserved (new build that we can’t put a reservation fee down on until we get an offer, the lady kept it off the market for a couple weeks for us but we haven’t had an offer and now it’s gone) I’m absolutely gutted. Unsure of where to go from here.

I’m getting sick of having people coming to my home and not bloody buying it 😂😂

Sparechange · 16/07/2021 21:55

I will never, ever sell to a FTB again
Every time I move up the property ladder, I presume this means when I come to sell, I won’t have to risk a sale to a FTB but I somehow always manage it!

The last one was a FTB and French, so I had to usual FTB dickish questions (requests for FENSA certificates for a Victorian house, requests for indemnity insurance for a wall removed 20+ years ago) plus wanting to do the sale according to the french system

It nearly broke me.
I’m never selling again. If I need to move, I’ll somehow have to keep this place as well

HmmmmmmInteresting · 16/07/2021 22:00

FTB are a fking royal PITA sometimes if they have no idea about the reality of houses. Houses are real living things that have problems. Seasoned buyers know this!

This!

Last time I sold the FTB was really cocky because he thought he was so sought after as a ftb. He didn't realise I saw it as a minus. Ended up telling him I wasn't selling to him because he kept making unreasonable demands that a seasoned buyer wouldn't have

It nearly broke me.
I’m never selling again. If I need to move, I’ll somehow have to keep this place as well

This made me lol

papaoscar1208 · 16/07/2021 22:09

Agree with the others, I would be telling the agents that their demands are unrealistic and putting it back on the market

marly11 · 16/07/2021 22:17

Depends where you are but in my experience in SW recently it's a sellers market. My friend who is trying to buy keeps getting pipped to the post and houses/flats are selling so fast. I would just put it back on the market on the basis that they are being a pain.

Chloemol · 16/07/2021 22:19

I agree, demands are to unrealistic, reduce the price if necessary to cover the work, but they do it

Give them 2 days to respond or it’s going back on the market

The way houses are shifting at the moment you can probably get more for it. Downside is you may lose your new house and may have to pay more but call thier bluff

Cantbebotheredtothinkofaname · 16/07/2021 22:22

We’ve just sold to FTB and had a similar situation where the work needed to be done prior to exchange (although I believe that was actually their mortgage companies demands, not theirs specifically). The FTB had nothing to do with choosing the company that did the work, we just simply submitted the certificate of completion and guarantee via the solicitor, so they are being completely ridiculous! I would threaten to pull out, chances are they will back off, I suppose if you think you’ll lose your house anyway you have nothing to lose.

Unsoliciteddeckpic · 16/07/2021 22:24

I have sold to ftb, twice. And both times half way, through I told them not to bother because their demands were so unreasonable. Always last minute, trying to put the exchange back and risking me losing another house.

And both times, they backed down.

Ftb often do think that seller need to be willing to do anything, not matter how unreasonable, to accommodate them.

negomi90 · 16/07/2021 22:25

Don't do it or at least not until after exchange. Your buyers are the sort of knobs who will find another issue or pull out once you've done the work. If you haven't exchanged, they will face no penalties for this.
Back out now, and save yourself a lot of time and stress.

Original poster

Dontwatchfootball · 16/07/2021 22:34

Thank you lovely mumsnetters - this has made me feel a lot better because you cant help wondering if it is you, can you? I had a cry, a beer and looked up the number of another estate agent to call tomorrow for a new valuation (turns out one of the FTB is friends with someone at my EA, I thought I was getting a lot of pressure from them too). I think I will get the work done as once I read the survey and had a look myself it does seem to be a problem - but then back on the market for a hopefully higher price. And not going to them. Funny thing is, this is my first house but I was not anything like this when I bought, compared to them I was practically comatose when it came to making demands. I just made an offer and waited for the seller to find another house before we completed.

OP posts:

OneHundredTrees · 17/07/2021 07:00

Sounds like a good plan, OP. It's completely unreasonable of them to demand what you should do - I would tell the EA they've put so much pressure on you that you're withdrawing and listing with another agent.

I'd avoid FTBs too, sold my last house to FTBs who held things up so much with ridiculous questions; they wanted to store a load of stuff in my garden before exchange too! The worst was when they wanted me to provide a 'warranty' for the 10 year old wooden garden shed.

WB205020 · 17/07/2021 07:58

I sold my property to a ftb in 2016. He was a huge, unbelievable pita. Not building demands but heel dragging. His mother had to deal with things on his behalf. The EA even had to have a face to face with his mother to explain he was being a nightmare. Then when we came to the week of exchange he said he would only exchange at the end of the following month as he didn’t have enough saved for the solicitors fees! It was a complete nightmare. I ended up agreeing to leaving 500 in cash in the property upon completion. I was so angry for a long time after and I would to this day never dell to a ftb again.

The silver lining, and I know I sound a dick for this, is my old property is up for sale now…..for £30k less than he brought it for and it has been reduced too. I just see it as karma for being a complete knob during the sale.

MissLucyEyelesbarrow · 17/07/2021 08:03

Wow, I didn't realise this was A Thing but, having just sold to a FTB, it makes perfect, painful sense.

In our case, the actual buyers were nice, but they were freaked out by the conveyancing process so, for example, when their solicitor (covering her arse) told that them having clear environment searches didn't guarantee that there were no environmental issues on the property, they panicked and wanted proof. How do you prove a negative? Seasoned buyers understand that.

SoundBar · 17/07/2021 08:04

Be less ready to negotiate OP. We sold our Victorian house to FTB, they wanted the floor replacing, damp proof certs, reduction in price to do repointing of chimney... we just said no to all of it. They got the message and it did go through quite quickly once they realised we would quite happily have pulled out. If your house is in a popular FTB area and / or a good solid FTB price point then you have everything in your favour, it is a seller's market

HmmmmmmInteresting · 17/07/2021 12:33

When people say FTB are desirable, what they mean is a buyer with no house to sell. When choosing between two buyers with no property to sell where one is a ftb I definitely go for the seasoned buyer.

QueenStromba · 17/07/2021 14:05

Just to balance this. We recently bought as FTB and there were a couple of times that the vendor probably thought we were being unreasonable but both times the EA rang us up and we had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Her solicitor seemed to have plucked out of thin air that all of a sudden we were getting picky about exchange and completion dates after saying all along that we weren't fussed, for example.

user1471538283 · 17/07/2021 14:09

Put it back on the market and I bet you will get a buyer soon.

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