Searches taking 10 weeks in our area…

[tunnocksreturns2019]

…and sellers don’t seem to want us to start them yet as they haven’t found a property yet.

I’m starting to think they’re less than 100% sure they want to sell based on this. Am I being silly or should I try to be less wedded to this property as our new house?! Nothing else is coming up at all that would suit us.

Sellers have only been looking for a couple of weeks to be fair. Our offer was accepted a fortnight ago.

That's a clear message that if they don't find somewhere they want to buy then they won't be breaking the chain and going into rental for you. So bear that in mind. If you can afford to lose the money, I'd put the searches in anyway. But hold off on booking the survey for a bit.

Thanks. I think I will put in for searches. On the plus side there’s no chain my end and I’m able to wait.

I’ve not bought a house for 15 years. It’s not the best fun at times, is it?!

No point doing the searches before your vendor does theirs if they're staying in the same area - it's not going to speed things up and will be a waste of money if they don't find anywhere to buy.

It’s pretty standard for everyone to be advised not to start searches until the chain is complete. We were told then same in March.

Sadly we then waited eight weeks for our seller to find somewhere - they did make it clear that they wouldn’t be rushed and wouldn’t break the chain - and on the day that they did, our buyer pulled out because she’d been furloughed.

Painful! Is seller looking around the same area, so you’ll be looking at 10 weeks anyway?

Thanks both! I am fairly clueless which will be apparent…

Seller is not looking at the same area but not that far away - they’re looking in a town/countryside around that town about half an hours’ drive away, 10-15 miles or so

@TakeYourFinalPosition

It’s pretty standard for everyone to be advised not to start searches until the chain is complete. We were told then same in March.

Sadly we then waited eight weeks for our seller to find somewhere - they did make it clear that they wouldn’t be rushed and wouldn’t break the chain - and on the day that they did, our buyer pulled out because she’d been furloughed.

Painful! Is seller looking around the same area, so you’ll be looking at 10 weeks anyway?

So painful! Have you found somewhere since?

Yes when sellers find their own house they’ll still be looking at same local council area, so I guess their searches will take an age too!

Ah well. It’s mo emergency on my side which I know is very fortunate. Just impatience to secure the house for sure.

It’s pretty standard for everyone to be advised not to start searches until the chain is complete. We were told then same in March

That's interesting, it's the opposite of what we were advised. Our area is notorious for slow LA searches even pre Covid. Does sound sensible to wait and do them together if everyone in the chain is moving within the same area though.

So after viewing various other properties our sellers decided they love their house and aren’t going to move out of the area after all

I’m sad. Hadn’t started searches or survey so no money lost, just a few weeks of excitement and needless planning

There’s nothing quite right for us out there at the moment. I’m stopping myself from viewing a fabulous house in the wrong area for us - DC can walk to secondary school in 15 mins from our house; this one is substantially further away and as a lone parent I don’t want to make life harder for any of us

It’s not an emergency we move. I’ve decided I’d like it all done and dusted before younger DC starts secondary school in 2 years’ time. Looking back at Rightmove, three suitable houses came up in the last 6 months so hopefully that’ll be doable

Ah sorry to hear that, the market is just all a weird wobble still. At least if it's not a must to move you can take a bit more time to wait for the market to come back into a more normal cycle (whenever that may be!!)

And under 'normal' circumstances it's advised not to do anything (legals / surveys / searches / mortgage offers) until the chain is complete so as not to waste money. But the way things have been with the market over the last year people have been starting things off given there have been such massive delays with everything.

Sorry to hear your update. I had read your OP and was just about to comment that I would not start the searches and would keep viewing houses when I read it.

The market is very strange at the moment. I pulled my house off after accepting an offer because there just wasn't anything suitable. It was a good decision because five months later I still haven't seen anything I would consider. I doubt my buyers would have been happy to keep waiting!

Thanks both. I’m a bit blue about it but hopefully there’s something just around the corner for us, literally as well as metaphorically!