Withdrawing offer that has been accepted - Help

[FunnyCat]

This is my first post and I am really stressed right now and want some advice...

My partner and I have got accepted an offer to buy a very nice house, not perfect but we are happy to put in the money and work to make it our perfect home. We fell in love with the property mainly because of its neighbourhood.

We are still at the stage of surveying, as after the initial survey, some follow up surveys were required to ensure that the house is structurally ok.

I have a habit of checking the news of the street and the town from time to time. I cannot even remember what got me to do this internet search again today, and I saw a piece of recent news (earlier this month) about a potential gun crime being investigated on the street of the property we are purchasing. From the photo on the news it looks like the crime scene is right next to the property! No one was arrested, and there isn't any definitive answer to what's happened yet.

It is really making me very worried. The sellers are very kind and responsive throughout, but I am now having serious doubts to whether to continue with the purchase.

We are first time buyer with no experiences, so any advice would be helpful! Thank you x

Unless it is part of a larger gun related crime wave in the area or it's happening very often I really wouldn't worry. Horrible crimes can occur anywhere. A poor woman was shot and killed on a street where I used to live but it was a one off and certainly didn't have any impact long term. This was in one of the 'safest' and most desirable areas of a city.

I put an offer in on a house, there’d been something like four house sales in ten years on the street - so people just rarely moved from there! Two or three days before exchange, I happened to google the street name and found the month before, there’d been gunshots and a few people arrested, etc.
I could have pulled out in theory but it had literally been six months of trying to buy the thing. Anyway, I didn’t pull out. I moved in. The neighbours said it was a one off (it was the other end of the street!) and the closest thing to crime I’ve seen here since is when my recycling bag ended up on someone else’s driveway during a storm.

Try not to fret too much. Can you search the road name on Facebook to see if any local groups are talking about it? Or even go there and try to collar a neighbour to ask them.

If it happened regularly it probably wouldn’t make the news. Or the article would reference other instances. Perhaps ask the vendors if they have any more information?

Someone got killed next to my home a couple of years ago - it’s still a nice area and wouldn’t have put me off living here

crime happens everywhere

I would park on the road at different times of the day (and night) and different days of the week. Might give you a snapshot of what goes on.

Thank you so much for all your responses and advice.

I did what @Walrus6 suggested and sent an email to the seller. They told me that it was definitely not a gun crime, more that the news was scaremongering some trivial disputes. I also did a further search as @dizzyupthegirl86 suggested but I couldn't find anything. It's probably so minor that it's not worth talking about. Anyhow, that area is usually so peaceful, and this is definitely a one-off event.

I do need to build a stronger heart and a calmer head to deal with this house purchasing process! Hopefully the next post I make will be about how happy and settled I am in the new house! Thanks all xxx