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Original poster

Found dream home, but they won’t move!

58 replies

Pinkblueoryellow · 12/03/2022 12:15

We had an offer accepted in November. Unfortunately, the owners haven’t found anywhere they want to move to and so we are holding the chain up.

DH seems to think they will pull out.

I wondered if anyone could advise or had been in this position?

OP posts:

NeedAHoliday2021 · 12/03/2022 12:29

Our neighbours did this to their buyers. They’d wanted a particular new build but there was a waiting list and only one house so they didn’t get it and couldn’t find anything else they liked. Their buyers offered £20k more but they turned it down. Usually I’d think that behaviour is flakey but I’m a bit obsessed with nosing on rightmove and there’s so few options I can see why they pulled out unfortunately.

Sunshineandrainbow · 12/03/2022 12:32

Would it be an option for you to rent while you wait for your dream house?

Octomingo · 12/03/2022 12:41

We had this. We got our estate agents to push for them to move into rented. It was easier for them, as there was just the two of them, but we had kids and schools etc. And the chain was in danger of collapse.

DistrictCommissioner · 12/03/2022 12:46

Our neighbours couldn’t find anywhere, & ended up selling to their buyers & renting it back from them for 6 months. Unusual but worked for them.

Totalwasteofpaper · 12/03/2022 12:51

Three options

@Octomingo has outlined.
Price chipping so if you don't complete by weekly price drops by 1k perweek or whatever
Incentivise- if you complete by X date we will pay a 20k or whatever bonus ( they can use this to cover rental)

Andacherryonthetop · 12/03/2022 12:58

We are in this exact situation! So frustrating. They are adamant they won’t rent too and we’re going to lose our buyers soon I think 😩

DespairingHomeowner · 12/03/2022 13:04

If hang in there - traditional property buying/selling season is Easter to start if school holidays

Not much on the market Dec-Feb

In your position I would look around at other properties but not pull out. Would you find it easy to get other buyers?

ukborn · 12/03/2022 13:21

Yep. Pulled out after three months waiting and after her estate agent started sending me details of her other listings. Seller eventually withdrew from the market completely.
Keep looking.

Lastqueenofscotland · 12/03/2022 13:46

Could you afford to offer to pay 6 month rent for them?

Original poster

Pinkblueoryellow · 12/03/2022 14:13

Unfortunately not and I don’t think they’d go for it anyway.

OP posts:

Ff10n · 12/03/2022 23:35

You can't force people to sell their home just because you want to buy it!

surreygirl1987 · 12/03/2022 23:44

We had this. We pulled out eventually. I could see it from their point of view- they wanted to move, but weren't going to move to a house they didn't want! Like us, they also wanted the right house for them. Fair enough. They didn't find anything and a few months went by. We did offer them £20k over asking price to complete by a certain date, but that clearly didn't matter to them as much as finding the right house for them, so we started looking at other properties. Found one we liked, pulled out of the one that wasn't happening, and we're living here now very happy! As PP has said, you can't force someone to move out, even if they've accepted an offer. I'd start looking at other properties and see if there is anything else equivalent. How long are you prepared to hang on? Might be worth having a deadline in mind or you could be waiting years!

Housinghelp321 · 13/03/2022 06:21

@Ff10n

You can't force people to sell their home just because you want to buy it!

Not quite the same when they’ve agreed to sell it to you though. It’s not like OP has seen a nice house and is outraged that the owners won’t sell it to her. In many countries, these people would already have been contractually bound and wouldn’t be able to change their minds. I think we should move to a system like that in this country too. The pre-contract stage is awful.

Rainbowqueeen · 13/03/2022 06:23

Honestly I’d keep looking and if you find something else then pull out.

statetrooperstacey · 13/03/2022 10:10

This happened to us , after several months and our sellers offering and pulling out of 2 properties we started looking again and found an even better house, absolutely no compromises , ( unlike the first one) so we pulled out after about 6!months of waiting. 2!DAYS later they got back in touch as they had had an offer accepted. Too late for us as we liked our new house more. Very happy ! Start looking again op, there might be something better out there for you .

Guttedbuyer · 13/03/2022 10:23

You just need to continue viewing other properties and if this one becomes available then go for it.

lakeswimmer · 13/03/2022 10:25

We're in the same situation as your sellers. We put our house on the market to try and buy a specific house. Unfortunately we didn't get it and there's nothing on the market which is right for us. We're viewing a very wide variety of properties and trying to keep an open mind but ultimately we can't magic the right size house at the right price and right location out of thin air.

We're fortunate that our buyers are chain free and are prepared to wait. I believe they will as they really want a house in our specific location and there's very little available in our rural area.

We've considered renting but there's nothing suitable and we've also discussed selling to the buyer and renting the property back but we wouldn't agree to that. I don't want to be evicted from my own home if we still can't find anything!

AnxiousHeffalump · 13/03/2022 10:26

We had this. After seven months, the vendors said that house prices had gone up and asked for an extra £20k. We pulled out and found somewhere else. To my knowledge, a year on, the vendors are still there.

Guttedbuyer · 13/03/2022 10:28

Glad to see there's some other reasonable people on here. We are 6 months on from offer and as much as I wish I was able to purchase the house I can also completely understand that buying a house is a huge thing and that our vendors can't rush into buying the first house that comes up just to keep us happy! Moving into a rental is also a huge thing and again I understand that to them staying put and potentially having to remarket if we pull out is the best option for them. Especially when prices are still going up for the moment.

I am in the same situation as them with my buyer and I'm sorry but I'm not just going to leave my home for the first house on Rightmove (not that there's many!!!) just to keep them. I have to think more long term than that.

Guttedbuyer · 13/03/2022 10:29

@lakeswimmer your situation is identical to mine!! Maybe all of us going through this need a support group

lakeswimmer · 13/03/2022 10:35

@Guttedbuyer I'm just hoping the market picks up as we get into spring. There are five people in our household and each of us needs to be in a different town/village for work or education. Getting the right location is really difficult.

BalladOfBarryAndFreda · 13/03/2022 10:37

Not quite the same when they’ve agreed to sell it to you though. It’s not like OP has seen a nice house and is outraged that the owners won’t sell it to her.

@Housinghelp321, if they are in England it’s exactly the same, legally. They are not obliged to sell until contracts are exchanged and even then can still pull out prior to completion of sale (they may just incur penalties).

I’m sorry you’re in this situation, OP. As has been suggested, you can try to force them into rented with chipping strategies and ultimatums but that may backfire and you may lose that house. Have you a back up plan? Will you go into rented to keep your sale if they pull out?

Guttedbuyer · 13/03/2022 10:43

How do 'chipping strategies' work when they could just pull out and sell it to someone else for the same price if not more? And it affects the mortgage too.

I'm in this situation and yes I would ask my buyer to please hang on and explain everything but I just wouldn't agree to what you're proposing. I doubt there are many who would!

I think in a better market then perhaps yes but in that market we probably wouldn't keep having this problem anyway.

Roselilly36 · 13/03/2022 10:56

We moved last year, we found our buyer very quickly and luckily found where we wanted to buy two weeks later, if our buyer had put pressure on us, we would have pulled out, moving costs so much unless you are entirely happy with what you are buying, why would you? Almost impossible to get a rental property at the moment, so to chain break isn’t always an option. We also had a situation in a previous sale, where the vendor made it quite clear if she couldn’t buy a particular property the sale would be off. Lucky for us it did go through ok and was a lovely family home for us for 18 years. Buying and selling is always very stressful, I don’t fancy doing it again. Were we live now is ideal for my disability so I doubt we will move from here. I hope it works out ok for you OP, you have been very patient, but I would be looking elsewhere to be honest. Good luck.

SpiderinaWingMirror · 13/03/2022 11:26

Start looking for something else yourself.
We moved a few years ago, we had motivated sellers. I had been warned by several local agents that in the tiny town we wanted to move to, houses were often put on the market by people ready to scale down. But the reality was that smaller houses weren't much cheaper and by the time they had covered expenses it was hardly worth it, so many houses just didn't progress.

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