Withdrawn sale

[Mamabear1992]

Hi looking for thoughts or words of wisdom, had a shitty day

We decided to sell our house a few months ago to move closer to home, as we're expecting a 2nd baby and our current house is quite small. It's also miles from family and I miss my mum and would love for her to be able to help this time round especially as my 1st child was born in lockdown.

Found a first time buyer and accepted her offer immediately as she was lovely and offered asking. We weren't greedy and wanted a quick secure sale.

We have yet to find anything for us to move into. All our offers keep getting rejected, even two where we went over 10% asking.

Keep being told vendors are wanting FTBs which we aren't, so feeling so deflated and confused. How is anyone meant to move if they're already a homeowner lol!

Today we decided enough was enough.

Im 25 weeks pregnant and we wanted to be out by October before baby is here but unlikely to happen.

We've decided to withdraw our house from market and ultimately let down our first time buyer. My husband made the call to the agent about an hour ago.

Feeling horrendously guilty but also I haven't given myself a chance to enjoy or focus on this second pregnancy so perhaps I'm being too harsh on myself.

I feel sick with the stress which can't be good. My throat is sore and I have a stress rash on my chest. Feel like I've neglected my toddler the last few months as well so secretly just want to forget moving and soak up the toddler months that are short and sweet.

Anyone been in a similar boat? Did I make right call withdrawing and just focusing on family? I think I did but feel bad for buyer ultimately .....

The new way is to sell and move into temporary accommodation thereby making yourself as attractive as possible.
This was news to me 18-months ago but having been there, done that I now realise it is what is expected.

We have actually sold 2-houses in the past 12-months and while we were just finding our feet with the first one (plus add into the mix a lazy, lying EA) the second one showed exactly how it is done. No-one got through the door for a viewing if they weren't sold, living in temp accommodation and with the funds in place. Next we went straight to B&F with the assurance everyone was ready to go with no chain in sight.

With our new house (newbuild) we had to exchange 9-months before completion making temp accommodation a necessity.

There wasn't much else you could do - you made the right call, don't beat yourself up about it OP x

I'm on the other side, have had an offer accepted and the vendors are still looking for a property a few months down the line. Can see there's almost nothing on the market.

If they end up pulling out I'll be very disappointed of course, but I wouldn't blame them or think they're bad people. I know they want to move, they're just stuck in the current housing market deadlock like the rest of us.

We are in a v similar position. Our offers are being rejected in favour of cash buyers. We have a big deposit but still need a mortgage. It's extremely depressing and seems to be v hard for families to compete with maybe older people who have cashed out of their homes. I am fed up of the market and considering withdrawing from our sale. Feel terrible for letting down our buyers (and their DC). But I can't keep schlepping across the country every weekend to get my hopes up about houses we are never going to get accepted on.

I'm really down about it as we also wanted to move closer to family. I want my kids to be around their grandparents anf cousins and I miss them. DH and I also have quite full on jobs and that bit of support would be invaluable.

I'm also stressed now as it will mean we can't move before younger DC starts school so finding them both a place at a decent school when (if?) we move will be hard.

Have you had to pay any fees to withdraw?

What more coukd you have done?

You really did your best. My experience has been that all the nicer family homes have been snapped up by wealthy baby boomers for whom an extra 20 to 50,000 was chicken feed.

Im in my 40s,and every house i viewed was genuinely bought by 70yr olds with cash in the bank, half a million. Might sound unlikely, but most houses had 20 viewings at least, of whom at least 4 were genuine cash in bank buyers. Estate agents werent bothered about anyone needing mortgage or to sell anything. The word 'chain' meant i was seen as a waste of time.

Hopeless. How the market is still revolving is beyond me.

So sorry you're going through this OP, reading this makes me afraid of the dark.

We moved into our current house in Dec21 after over a year of faffing with buyers, sellers, chains and whatnot. When we were looking in 20/21 you have to have STC to be allowed to view, now you have to have completed which to me is very scary with a toddler and 3 pets and am sure others feel the same.

Biggest fear is being priced out of the ladder the more time passes and interest rates go up and house prices keep skyrocketing.

During all the faff I got pregnant with our 2nd and gave birth 2 weeks after we completed so understand your predicament. Spent quite a bit of time worrying and crying over the sheer uncertainty. It's what's most important to you that matters and you have made the right decision for you.

Focus on your family for now and try again when time is right and the madness hopefully subsides.

I don’t know... if you got a good price and if prices are no longer rising steeply where you’re moving to, I would be tempted to move into rented accommodation in the new area. If you can find somewhere unfurnished you can take your furniture with you and wait for the perfect house to come to market

It's odd vendors want FTB- many vendors I've read posts from acively do not want FTBs....

That just seems to be a Mumsnet thing. In real life it is logical that people would choose a first time buyer over someone in a chain