Page 2 | How do estate agents keep chains together

Hungry675tf · 2021-08-23T09:52:59+00:00

Think our chain is about to collapse due to gazundering FTBs at the bottom of the chain at the point of exchange. Our chain was really short (3 properties) and up until now everyone has progressed swiftly and in good faith. It is so exceptionally stressful. How on earth do estate agents cope with it and keep all the chains ticking along? What is the longest chain anyone has managed to get over the line? I need some light distraction whilst I look at all my packed boxes of sorrow.

Thurlow · 23/08/2021 17:15

[quote Hungry675tf]@Thurlow agree. Its awful. Are you saying it is your second chain collapse? What happened? I feel constantly sick at the moment.[/quote]
Yes, but they are both quite specific so I have everything crossed that yours goes through! Our first attempted purchase was with someone who didn’t seem to want to move and so we gave up after a few months; we’ve just lost our second attempted purchase as they discovered insurmountable problems with their own purchase.

Original poster

Hungry675tf · 23/08/2021 17:18

It is awful. We're back on apparently, thanks to the two sales progression teams. Ours said they were dealing with 12 renegotiations today alone. Its sounds like a very stressful job.

I have had a gin. I will likely have more as the evening progresses. Just need to see if we can actually exchange now!

OP posts:

Original poster

Hungry675tf · 23/08/2021 17:24

I really feel for you

This is our second attempt. We lost our first buyer as she was divorcing and it transpired that there were issues with her financial settlement which meant she couldn't proceed.

Everyone I have spoken to about it today has a similar tale of woe. The system really isn't fit for purpose

OP posts:

Thurlow · 23/08/2021 18:06

Thank you! I too am pickled in gin to get over the disappointment, the second house in particular was such a dream house. But onwards and upwards and all that jazz…

ShingleBeach · 24/08/2021 00:47

EAs in our recent chain found alternative reputable damp surveyors to give a guaranteed job price at a third the price that the (mad) buyers found, found surveyors available to do a survey when everywhere else was taking weeks (stamp duty holiday frenzy), sorted out a row about a lease at the bottom of the chain, found a solution to a deadline /moving problem at the top, got replies from solicitors who had otherwise gone to ground… did a great deal of smoothing and untangling.

The solicitors did their job well in dealing with the legals but did nothing to ‘hold the chain together’. Had no idea at all of the impact of not being able to get removal vans on any but the specified days and needing to be booked NOW… etc.

CharlieBrown65 · 24/08/2021 08:14

@KleineDracheKokosnuss

I’ve got a short chain but my buyers are using a cheap as chips conveyancing call centre who are awful. Beyond awful.

I’ve just sent a message to the estate agent to tell the buyers that their conveyancer needs to stop asking idiotic questions that they’ve already had the answers to, and exchange already. The whole chain is ready, but their conveyancers are incapable of anything other than ‘computer says no’.

Is this countrywide? If it is you have my sympathies 😫 we had to use them at the sellers request and it was the most stressful 10 weeks of my life. We rang them multiple times a week to get them to do anything!

drspouse · 24/08/2021 08:36

I'm so glad I've not been in a chain!
First purchase (and therefore first sale) was in Scotland and I was in rented in England before buying no 2.
Second sale may have technically been a chain as my sellers did buy elsewhere but I was living with a friend so at least had somewhere to live.
I still own that flat and rent it out and DH sold his but our new joint property was completed before he sold his (I got a mortgage on my income IIRC).
Current house we hadn't sold yet but had a tiny mortgage and our sellers moved to Australia!

DameCelia · 24/08/2021 08:47

@WombatChocolate where on earth did you get the idea that a solicitor gets paid even if a transaction falls through????

You have to pay for searches but the solicitor doesn't make any money on those, they are a disbursement. Fees are only charged if things fall apart right at the end and a lot of work has been done.
@KleineDracheKokosnuss
The conveyancer asking the questions may well be a bucket shop firm.

KleineDracheKokosnuss · 24/08/2021 09:10

@CharlieBrown65 it’s “myHouseMove”. My solicitor has taken to calling them My Little Pony Move because they are so bad.

WombatChocolate · 24/08/2021 09:11

DameCelia, yes, but lots of transactions do fall apart at the end, when a lot of work has happened. You regularly hear of transactions falling apart and chain collapsing on exchange day or in the week before. The buyer then has to pay the solicitor for their work, and the surveyor but not the EA. And they have no house to show for it.

CharlieBrown65 · 24/08/2021 09:11

Oh god I feel for you. The worst is when they refuse to speak to you because they aren't your solicitor 😫

TangoWhiskyAlphaTango · 24/08/2021 09:15

If I was ever made Prime Minister I would sort out the house buying and selling process in this country. Having moved many times most recently last year it is an absolute bloody nightmare. I cannot fathom how it is still allowed. Why can we not have a sellers pack with survey / searches / legal documents all up front and paid for by the seller? It would save so much time and hassle. How can it be that you get months down the line and have spent ££££££ for it to just fall apart through no fault of your own? Its utter madness!

TangoWhiskyAlphaTango · 24/08/2021 09:16

@Wombat64

I've got a fab estate agent. She's basically contacting the solicitors on a regular basis & updating both me & the buyer.

I'm so chuffed with the service that I'll insist on paying the agent, even if the sale falls through.

It becomes problematic if you have a chain & there is no communication up & down the chain.

I also had a superb local agent that I have sold with twice and also bought through. She was is a feisty fucker but hell she gets the job done. 100% better than a shit online agency who do fuck all beyond the initial sale.

DameCelia · 24/08/2021 10:24

@TangoWhiskyAlphaTango
We tried that, a number of years ago.
Vested interests campaigned successfully against it.
It is the obvious answer.
But the lending banks really don't want it.
People saying it works without chains in other countries need to remember that most of those countries use bridging finance, which is ridiculously expensive here.

DespairingHomeowner · 24/08/2021 10:26

Don't despair OP. Your EA should be calling his 'hot buyers' (ie people who are ready to go & have an interest in property similar to your flat)

This was the case when I bought my old flat (10 years ago) - agent bent my arm to go and see it as 2 sales had collapsed (FTBs could not get finance) = so that agent got the sale for the previous owners

This time around (6 months ago) I had sold but no property to buy & was on a deadline. I made the local agents aware of my position and saw lots of properties which were not on 'open' market but where sale was underway but had hit snags (mainly the mortgage offers)

Get your agent on the case to see if he can find other potential buyers, which might motivate your FTBs

Are they trying it on, or do they have issues with their finance, is it a reaction to a survey etc? You need to work out if you can call their bluff, would be better to compromise, or what the situation is...

PS - it is VERY common for people to get cold feet during the process, so this may also be part of it. Here, its also for your agent to try to get it over the line

One slightly less reassuring fact: if this is a FTB property it might be less lucrative commission wise for your agent than spending time listing an expensive house so they may need a nudge to work on your property

Original poster

Hungry675tf · 24/08/2021 11:30

@DespairingHomeowner

Don't despair OP. Your EA should be calling his 'hot buyers' (ie people who are ready to go & have an interest in property similar to your flat)

This was the case when I bought my old flat (10 years ago) - agent bent my arm to go and see it as 2 sales had collapsed (FTBs could not get finance) = so that agent got the sale for the previous owners

This time around (6 months ago) I had sold but no property to buy & was on a deadline. I made the local agents aware of my position and saw lots of properties which were not on 'open' market but where sale was underway but had hit snags (mainly the mortgage offers)

Get your agent on the case to see if he can find other potential buyers, which might motivate your FTBs

Are they trying it on, or do they have issues with their finance, is it a reaction to a survey etc? You need to work out if you can call their bluff, would be better to compromise, or what the situation is...

PS - it is VERY common for people to get cold feet during the process, so this may also be part of it. Here, its also for your agent to try to get it over the line

One slightly less reassuring fact: if this is a FTB property it might be less lucrative commission wise for your agent than spending time listing an expensive house so they may need a nudge to work on your property

Funny you should say this as its our next step.

Our agents are the largest independent where we are, stand to make money on our fee plus two mortgage fees, so have a significant financial interest on keeping it together. So glad we went with them, worth every penny so far!

But we're back on apparently so who knows what will happen 🤷‍♀️

OP posts:

Chicchicchicchiclana · 25/08/2021 14:11

@TangoWhiskyAlphaTango

If I was ever made Prime Minister I would sort out the house buying and selling process in this country. Having moved many times most recently last year it is an absolute bloody nightmare. I cannot fathom how it is still allowed. Why can we not have a sellers pack with survey / searches / legal documents all up front and paid for by the seller? It would save so much time and hassle. How can it be that you get months down the line and have spent ££££££ for it to just fall apart through no fault of your own? Its utter madness!

Whilst I agree that the house selling and buying process in this country needs reform, you can't have a survey that is paid for by the seller. How would that work?