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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:
lakeswimmer · 13/03/2022 11:32

I would also take a dim view of the price being chipped away and being pressured. I'd pull out of the sale if that happened. It's a sellers market and we went to best and final offers. If our buyers mess us around we'll just go to the next one on the list who was also chain-free and offered us well over the asking price.

Meanwhile OP, keep an open mind and keep looking. You might find something you like as much with a seller who can move more easily.

Guttedbuyer · 13/03/2022 11:45

Just beware that lots of people are in the same boat - selling than not being able to find that onward purchase so you could end up just resetting the clock with another seller!

It's absolutely horrendous going through this.

Popetthetreehugger · 13/03/2022 11:51

I took an offer yesterday, if I was pressured in anyway, I’d pull straight out ! Sold to first viewer for asking price in 4 days . Wouldn’t rent . Why would I ? Agent knows if we can’t find somewhere we’re not moving and said it’s completely normal in this market . I can’t think who wouldn’t tell a Buyer to jog on if they threatened to chip away the price !!

Eastie77Returns · 13/03/2022 12:25

In a similar situation I advised the EA that we would give the vendor £x to cover removal costs if she found somewhere by a specific date. After that date the offer would be rescinded. She found somewhere in a couple of weeks and we completed a few days ago.

This wouldn’t work for everyone. In our case we were advised by the EA that the vendor was dragging her feet and being very fussy - there was a lot of availability in the area she moved to (she was downsizing and just needed a 1 bed). The incentive seemed to concentrate her mind.

Cinnabomb · 13/03/2022 12:29

We are in the middle of this nightmare. Dream home owned by the nastiest most bitter man. He accepted our offer 12 months ago!! And hasn’t even started properly looking yet. He can’t see he is in the wrong, truly.

MargosKaftan · 13/03/2022 13:25

@Cinnabomb

We are in the middle of this nightmare. Dream home owned by the nastiest most bitter man. He accepted our offer 12 months ago!! And hasn’t even started properly looking yet. He can’t see he is in the wrong, truly.
@Cinnabomb - you need to accept after 12 months that house isn't for sale. Look for something else and cut your losses. You can just leave your offer on the table with him until you've had something else accepted, he doesn't need to know you are looking elsewhere.

And OP - similar advice, there comes a point where you need to accept the house you want isn't available. You are reaching that. Time to start looking at other properties.

Cinnabomb · 13/03/2022 13:29

@MargosKaftan thanks for your opinion but it’s a complicated situation with more detail. We don’t need to move, we only want that particular house so we are fine to hang on.

Lubeyboobyalt · 13/03/2022 13:31

Our vendors did this to us. Turned out wife wanted to move, husband didn't so he was holding it up on purpose for 10 long months. Eventually we emailed a plea to them via their estate agents - we had broken the chain at this point and moved into rented as nearly lost our buyer.

We had got to the point of giving up and were just going to offer on the nearest vaguely suitable property with no chain just for simplicity, and then try again for a dream place in the future

Thankfully though, wife must have got wind of the email and we exchanged and set a completion date within a week of her reading it - they went into rented as well just for the sake of getting it done

Mintine · 13/03/2022 13:34

The buyers of our old house has sold their own home over18 months before we put ours up for sale, they were looking in a particular area and at a few streets. They buyer was so patient, but it was a first time buyer and they obviously loved the house.
It was almost 2 years after accepting the offer on their house, before completion.
I was surprised they waited for such a long time, but they had agreed a good price, so that might have been one of the main reasons.

BlueMongoose · 13/03/2022 17:03

@Popetthetreehugger

I took an offer yesterday, if I was pressured in anyway, I’d pull straight out ! Sold to first viewer for asking price in 4 days . Wouldn’t rent . Why would I ? Agent knows if we can’t find somewhere we’re not moving and said it’s completely normal in this market . I can’t think who wouldn’t tell a Buyer to jog on if they threatened to chip away the price !!
If you're willing to move quickly you're not in the same position as a seller who has been mucking people about for months, though, are you? Have you told whoever made the offer you accepted that you plan to hold them on a string at your convenience? Because if you have, that's fine and everyone knows where they are, but if not, don't be surprised if you play that game that one day you find what you want only to find your buyer has made another offer elsewhere as backup without telling you, has had enough of waiting and has decided to buy that instead, and you have no buyer any more.
rainingsnoring · 13/03/2022 17:54

@Popetthetreehugger

I took an offer yesterday, if I was pressured in anyway, I’d pull straight out ! Sold to first viewer for asking price in 4 days . Wouldn’t rent . Why would I ? Agent knows if we can’t find somewhere we’re not moving and said it’s completely normal in this market . I can’t think who wouldn’t tell a Buyer to jog on if they threatened to chip away the price !!
Well I hope you have been up front with your potential buyer rather than just expecting them to wait endlessly with no communication from you.

Some people may well be prepared to negotiate on the price or move into rented accommodation if they do need to sell/ move. It sounds as if you don't need to.

bellac11 · 13/03/2022 18:00

I would never move into rented, what a waste of money and difficulty that would be, particularly as we have pets.

PinkTonic · 13/03/2022 18:25

@Popetthetreehugger

I took an offer yesterday, if I was pressured in anyway, I’d pull straight out ! Sold to first viewer for asking price in 4 days . Wouldn’t rent . Why would I ? Agent knows if we can’t find somewhere we’re not moving and said it’s completely normal in this market . I can’t think who wouldn’t tell a Buyer to jog on if they threatened to chip away the price !!
I hope you were honest with the purchaser that you aren’t committed to moving. You are potentially pissing a lot of people around and costing them money.
bellac11 · 13/03/2022 18:41

How is that poster not committed to moving? They want to move into a property that they want, not just to move out of the property that they are currently in

newbiename · 13/03/2022 18:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

sadlyrefreshingrightmove · 13/03/2022 19:02

Some of the people replying to this and suggesting you can pressure your vendors probably don't have experience of what the market is like right now.

It's brutal. There is nothing on the market, particularly as you move up the chain.

We are in the same position as your sellers.

We put our house up for sale because we saw a property we liked, but the seller wouldn't accept our (asking price) offer until we were under offer. In the 1 week it took for our house to go on the market and under offer, we lost the house we liked to another buyer. We have seen every other house on the market within our budget and area range, made a couple of offers, but still haven't managed to get an offer accepted.

Our buyers asked if we would consider going into rented at the time of making their offer, we said absolutely not. We're not selling our house and uprooting our family until we have found something to move into and refuse to make a forced decision on our house purchase.

If we lose our buyers it's mildly annoying but not a big deal as we'll find other ones within a week. That's the nature of the market. The money we'd lose finding new buyers, even ones who offered less, would be less than we'd lose making a bad onward purchase. We have been completely upfront with our buyers about this, so don't even feel bad about making them wait - if they can't wait it's for them to judge and they are free to pull out.

So just be a bit careful if it's a house you really want.... Back in 2014 I waited 9 months for a chain to complete because my sellers were looking and I really wanted a particular house. I think the market is much much harder now and for sure a complete seller's market.

That said, has your seller been actively looking? We've been letting our buyer know that we are doing 4+ viewings a week. If you've not heard anything from your sellers maybe they're getting cold feet or not serious.

lakeswimmer · 13/03/2022 19:28

We have been completely upfront with our buyers about this, so don't even feel bad about making them wait - if they can't wait it's for them to judge and they are free to pull out.

This ^ we conducted the viewings ourselves and we talked to all the people who viewed about what a difficult market it is to buy in, that we were after a particular house and that, if we didn't get it, there would be a delay. When the best and final offers were submitted most of the possible buyers included a statement to the effect that they understood our situation and were prepared to wait.

BlueMongoose · 14/03/2022 19:46

@bellac11

How is that poster not committed to moving? They want to move into a property that they want, not just to move out of the property that they are currently in
If you meant popetthetreehugger they said " if we can’t find somewhere we’re not moving"
Guttedbuyer · 14/03/2022 20:15

You can be committed to moving without just buying any old thing that comes up!

I am not that poster but am in her situation. I'm committed to moving in that there won't be a time I decide just to stay where I am but am also not buying an unsuitable house because it's me that needs to live in it - potentially forever.

It's funny because you're not really allowed to view houses before yours is under offer but then your 'not committed to moving' because you won't move onto the streets to let your buyer in. We can't fucking win!

It's weeks between suitable houses appearing on Rightmove and then you're bidding against so many people it's just impossible to find somewhere.

XingMing · 15/03/2022 19:45

I like the house I live in, it's perfect because we've been here 25 years and know it backwards. BUT, it's not where I am planning to retire for reasons that have nothing to do with the house. Am I going to take a cheeky offer when I haven't found the property I want to move into? That's a huge no.

Starseeking · 15/03/2022 21:41

@Eastie77Returns

In a similar situation I advised the EA that we would give the vendor £x to cover removal costs if she found somewhere by a specific date. After that date the offer would be rescinded. She found somewhere in a couple of weeks and we completed a few days ago.

This wouldn’t work for everyone. In our case we were advised by the EA that the vendor was dragging her feet and being very fussy - there was a lot of availability in the area she moved to (she was downsizing and just needed a 1 bed). The incentive seemed to concentrate her mind.

Waves at Eastie!

Funny that I just read your post...I was out with a friend on Saturday who advised I shouldn't let "my house" go so easily without asking again, so I posted a letter to "my vendor" a couple of days ago offering:

  • an extra £10k on previous purchase price
  • contribution of £1.5k towards legal fees
  • contribution of £1.5k towards removal, plus recommendation of a packer and mover

Fingers crossed my vendor goes for it, and doesn't feel too embarrassed to pick the sale/purchase back up again!

eatentoomanygrapes · 16/03/2022 07:45

In this situation currently. I just think it's daft that sellers have to put their house up for sale before offering on somewhere else, given it takes TWO seconds to find a buyer; but it's taken our seller two months so far to start looking for a property.

Cactuslockdown · 16/03/2022 07:54

We had this, after spending £££ on full structural survey, solicitors etc we pulled out in the end. She was never going to move. She’s still in the house now, 6 years later…

Guttedbuyer · 16/03/2022 17:12

@Starseeking it's funny because I read your post as a buyer and think 'actually I'm going to try that ... who could say no to £10k' then I think well I'm in exactly the same position as my seller and £10k doesn't magic up somewhere for me to go to. Yes it could pay rental costs but what happens in 6 months when I still haven't found a new property? It will vary from person to person obviously because someone without children would probably jump at that but for most people the uncertainty just isn't worth it.

And @eatentoomanygrapes I couldn't agree with you more.

bellac11 · 16/03/2022 18:05

[quote Guttedbuyer]@Starseeking it's funny because I read your post as a buyer and think 'actually I'm going to try that ... who could say no to £10k' then I think well I'm in exactly the same position as my seller and £10k doesn't magic up somewhere for me to go to. Yes it could pay rental costs but what happens in 6 months when I still haven't found a new property? It will vary from person to person obviously because someone without children would probably jump at that but for most people the uncertainty just isn't worth it.

And @eatentoomanygrapes I couldn't agree with you more. [/quote]
Its about finding somewhere in the first place, particularly if you have pets or need quite a big house