Chains when selling

[Buttons0522]

Having only ever bought direct from builders before, we are purchasing our forever home and discovering for the first time the complexity/pain of chains! Our estate agent has encouraged us to continue with viewings despite having received an offer we’re happy with to try and find somebody with a straightforward chain i.e first time buyer. Feels harsh to me but is this what people do? Would you go as far as accepting a lower offer for a short chain? The whole process seems so risky and flawed!

We’re on the opposite side to this, found our dream home but lost out to a first time buyer even though we were the higher offer by quite a bit. I have a sneaking feeling they are still having viewings as they want a cash/FTB who offers more than the current ones. I think this is just the way it works, I think the sellers of the house we wanted (who hadn’t found anywhere due to the area they were moving to - very fierce market) knew that they would be at a disadvantage when buying if they weren’t selling to a FTB so their chain was short. It’s a shame because I think these attitudes are changing the market and meaning people are messing people about by still having viewings after accepting an offer and also if you have any sort of chain, you basically have to pay more for a house where FTBs/Cash buyers get to pay less. We are buying in to this mentality now as we are pretty set on selling to a FTB/Cash Buyer or landlord as we don’t want the same problem of we seem really unattractive because we’re in a chain so plan to keep it as small as possible!

I'll never sell to a ftb again. we had nothing but problems with last lot. unreasonable expectations

You hear stories of chains which can take a year or more before being able to proceed. If I were selling my house I would very much give preference to a FTB or to someone with no chain. They are likely to be able to complete in a couple of months, without all the stress that can come with a long chain.

It is worth evaluating every aspect of an offer. Proceedability is as important as them having the money.

The EA's job is to present all the offers to you with advice on their ability to pay and their ability to proceed.

Is their chain very complicated? Do they have an offer on their current house?

I wouldn't accept an offer from someone who didn't have an offer on a house they needed to sell to buy mine. And would absolutely accept a lower offer (a reasonable lower offer, of course) from someone with the ability and motivation to get on with the purchase without endless delays or messing about.

It does seem onerous, but in the end, usually, everyone manages to move.

Some really useful advice here, thank you all!! It all feels very precarious and I suppose you don’t quite believe it until you have the keys in your hands!!