I think our buyer is stringing us along

[crazy4cats]

We accepted an offer on our house towards the end of Feb this year. Our buyer seemed like a perfect buyer - FTB, living with parents so no chain / rental pressure. She was happy to wait for us to find. We accepted a lower offer than what we first wanted because of this.

It took us a while - 2 months, but we found and then 2 weeks later our sellers found and the chain was completed. This was 6 weeks ago.

As soon as the chain completed we instructed solicitors, finalised our mortgage and sorted out our RICs survery to pay back the help to buy loan. We assumed everyone was doing their bit, but a couple of weeks ago our seller let us know that our mortgage provider had been over to do the valuation, which got me thinking it was strnage that we hadn't heard anything from our buyer's mortgage provider. I followed up with the EA and were told they would follow up. it's a short chain of 4 people and 3 houses. everyone from us and above has done the needful, it is just our buyer dragging her feet.

We followed up last week and still no update.

Today we find out she has not instructed her solicitor as she's waiting for her passport - which she applied for today. If she just sends them the money to do the searches things would move along but she is refusing with no good reason.

The fact she will not commit to searches or finalise a mortgage is ringing alarm bells. So after speaking to our sellers EA we issued an ultimatum that she needs to pay for searches by Wednesday or we will find another buyer - we can't go on waiting for her - it's been 6 weeks with no movement at all. Apparently she wants to look at the house again but I've said not until she has sorted out getting searches started.

I just have a bad feeling now, the fact it'e been 6 weeks with no effort from her at all is alarming and we are getting pressure higher up the chain.

This is so stressful - if we have to get another buyer we will be moving EA to use the same as our seller and really have to push for a quick sale - I'm so worried our seller will pull out to find another buyer. We got so lucky finding the house we did, we will not get as much house for our money if we have to start again.

I think you're right to be concerned and did the right thing to issue an ultimatum. What does your ea say?

I'd just put your house back on the market, she can't be a serious buyer at all. As an FTB, there isn't a lot she would need to do initially, apply for mortgage, get valuation and survey booked. Most important thing would have been to provide proof of ID to solicitors. As she hasn't done that, suggests cold feet and I wouldn't waste a minute longer on her.

@AntiHop our EA were fine with this - it sounds like they are frustrated with her too and did say when they tried to urge her to just pay the solicitor she was a bit rude!

@Iamtemptedbythehandbag yes I agree, she was in a great easy position! Let's see what she says when the ultimatum is issued

I am just so worried that our seller will pull out - whichever way this goes, we are weeks away and they might well think they can find a buyer in a better position! I'm hoping they will persevere with us as we are actively trying to resolve and there's no gurantee that another buyer wouldn't have problems either!

If she can't even provide her ID documents she's not a serious buyer. Definitely get some more viewings in and bollock your EA for not being more thorough in checking offers

Although on paper she seems like the ideal buyer this can backfire. There isn’t pressure on her if she was selling etc. It seems she can afford to be indecisive now too and mess you about. I would market it asap. If she’s serious she can go through with next steps and if not you are already on your way to finding another buyer. Good luck.

It'll probably take three months for her passport to come back! I'd go back on the market.

@YukoandHiro when she put her offer in we were told she had an AIP from our EA mortgage broker so that part seemed fine.

I am kicking myself now too for not being more pushy at the start once the chain was completed and checking on mortgage status/ serahces etc. Although I do think we pay EA and solicitors enough thatthey should be the ones doing this!

Get your house back on the market, and quick. FTBs are often nightmares, in my experience - generally they have less skin in the game so are more inclined to dick about, just because they can.

If yours is living with parents too, that's potentially even more difficult, as they may not have the same impetus to leave as if they were in a rental with contracts and expense to consider.

Stick to the deadline you've set, and be prepared to look for a new buyer. Because this one is exactly the type who will string you on for months and pull out when you're ready to exchange.

I would ask your EA to put it back on the market asap OP, sounds like an absolute time waster.

Your EA seems pretty rubbish that they have not chased this themselves.
I would probably ditch them, along with the so called buyer.

We sold last year and in hindsight I wish we had dumped our buyer when we she started to mess us about.
Our EA was awful, they lied to us and were just stringing us along. We would have been far better just going with our gut feeling and dumping her when she started started playing up.

thanks everyone, I'm glad it's not just me

We've given the ultimatum and will see if anything moves, if not I suppose time to tidy the house again 😫

Definitely EA needs a bollocking! They should have been chasing, getting everything done they could have.

However, FTB's are often 'nervous' and need some hand holding.

Apparently she wants to look at the house again but I've said not until she has sorted out getting searches started

I'd have let her view it again. It's a lot of money & she's doing it in her own, it's a big deal the first time!

I wouldn't sack her off, but I'd make it clear she needed to get a wriggle one.

I hope you don't lose the house you want to buy (you could remind your buyer house prices have gone up considerably (if they have? They have here!!) & that she won't get as much house for her money if she starts looking again now))

update!

Our ultimatum worked, she sent some money to her solicitors this morning and they have started work.

Now just to get her to apply for her mortgage....

still not out of the woods yet but the fact she has sent some money at least shows something. Lesson learnt, I will be doing weekly follow ups with the EA and if she is stalling again for no reason we will get pushy again.

Now she has finally got her rear in gear we are happy to let her have another look at the house. However, I won't be putting my hand up to offer this as ideally want to wait for exchange in case she tries anything

It's good that she has jumped into action op.

I do think some FTB regard themselves as God's gift to the property market.

We were dicked about by FTB last year. They came for another look just before we exchanged and decided they needed 25k off the asking price.

They also lived with parents and there was this smug vibe from them all that they held all the cards.

It was truly awful but in the end we had to find new buyers. We are NINE MONTHS into our sale because of them. Now selling to an investor. Never again will I deal with FTB.

I mean I know she's been dicking about for 6 weeks but she did wait 2 months for you to find another house..

So what? So is the rule she should wait as long to instruct her solicitors as it took us to find? what's the point in that?

She knew the score when putting in an offer. She was being a twat for the sake of being a twat.

@Minimalme yes in hindsight a FTB is not all they are cracked up to be. Some people love a bit of power play in the housing market and I do think she was one of them until we called her bluff.

I have heard lots of people say that about ftb. But we sold our house last year to ftb and they were amazing. In the end we found each other on Facebook and chatted the entire way through. It was lovely. She was so excited. I sent her photos of her first post to come through the mail.
she asked about wall sizes etc. made getting dates arranged. It’s a shame that some people seem to think they are in complete control. How horrible.

I don't think that's very fair. Many vendors accept offers, take ages to look for a house to buy, and then decide to stay put, leaving buyers having paid for surveys and searches etc.. I'd say she needed to move on things like instructing solicitors to do searches only when you'd had your offer accepted, though in her place I would have done all the stuff that wasn't particular to your house -like passports, mortgage, finding a solicitor and getting them ready to begin, and so on, as soon as I decided to buy a house at all.

Yes I didn't expect her to do anything until the chain had completed, although if she knew she needed a passport that should have been apllied for weeks ago as everyone knows how long it can take. however, the chain completed and she did nothing for 6 weeks in terms of instructing searches, applying for a mortgage etc, so just held the whole chain up for 6 weeks with the attitude of 'so what'

That's what has annoyed everyone higher up in the chain. if our seller decided they wanted another buyer because of this we wouldn't be selling anymore so she'd lose out too