How long can you spend looking for a suitable place to live after accepting an offer

[Zapzep]

as subject

There was a thread asking a similar question the other day.

A few people said a month, most said three months.

As long as your buyer is prepare to let you ?

I’ve been looking since start of feb and had one purchase fall through.

Little on market. Fucked.

As long as it takes. I took a year to move as there was nothing on the market in my price bracket and I didn't want to rent because of rising market. But was very honest with buyers from the start so no guilt that I kept them waiting!

If it's more than a month or two and you are serious about selling then you would need to consider moving into rented to allow things to proceed or take the house off the market.
You may strike lucky and find a patient buyer who is prepared to wait but unlikely - as time goes on it runs the risk of the bottom of the chain collapsing as people look elsewhere etc.

A month - 6 weeks. I'd not wait any longer and would want you to move into rented or take off market

Days. Weeks at the most.

Maybe we are easily pleased, but we don't go chasing a perfect home and have always been happy with where we live. Could be because of a limited budget.

We waited five months before pulling out.

We bought recently - we had sold to FTB who were keen to move. Our vendor hadn’t found somewhere to buy after a couple of months so said they would move in with family as they didn’t want to lose the sale so we were very fortunate. Took 6 months to complete though (they still hadn’t found a house they wanted to buy)

Why would they take it off the market just because you're not willing to wait?

I'd just be as honest as possible with the buyers and keep them updated. If they love the property enough they may wait a while. I wouldn't want them doing a survey or paying out before I'd found.

The problem is that your buyer may need to vacate their home by a certain date (for whoever is purchasing it). That’s what’s happening to my relative right now-they need to vacate their home shortly, but the property they’re buying is still occupied due to conveyancing delays-because the seller changed their mind on where they want to move! That’s the bugger in a chain.

As PP’s have said, just be v. honest with your buyers about timing. My relative’s seller wasn’t and my relative has had to rush around to find rented accommodation and put most of their belongings into storage!

Very topical thread!

We have just withdrawn our offer on a property as the vendors point blank refuse to consider renting and have only just made an offer on a property where the sellers haven't even found anywhere yet, so we have no idea what the resulting chain/timescale might be.

We are cash buyers with the funds literally sitting in the bank.

Our offer was accepted in February. Full survey done and we have incurred costs for a builders visit to estimate for (not insignificant) work identified by the survey, plus our legal fees.

We are moving back to the UK from elsewhere and need to confirm dates with international removers who get booked up months in advance.

We now need to make a short notice dash to the UK to find another property and it is looking highly likely that we will end up putting all of our belongings in storage so as not to lose the removal slot.

If you want to sell your house then, realistically, there comes a point when you actually have to leave the property!

My parents accepted an offer Agee ago and haven't viewed a single house. Their plan is to move in with my sister, however I think she was hoping it would be a few weeks at most. But it will probably be months as they won't look until they'd sold. My sister is a saint.

I spent 5 months last year trying to get a place to buy. Eventually I decided to complete on my sale and move in with family.
I think my buyer was patient.

@onlyforthispropertythread Yes, my relative might have withdrawn their offer if they’d realized how much the seller was going to mess them about. It’s so frustrating, not to mention expensive.

In this case, it’s actually the seller’s solicitors who are the worst. After the seller found their.property, it took their solicitors nearly a month for them to even start the conveyancing! My relative’s solicitors kept asking for a completion date and wondering why they wouldn’t give one. 😡

I think it will always be a very individual thing. We needed someone who could move quickly (ie be proceedable within a few weeks) as otherwise we were going to lose our purchase. Equally when my parents were trying to sell their house the vendors they'd agreed to buy from were happy to wait as they had no pressure to move in any particular time frame. My friend accepted one offer and then the buyer pulled out after two months of waiting and then she accepted a second offer who held out for nearly a year. (Friend was limited to only being able to live in a specific village due to school). So there was 8 months difference between how long her buyers were willing to wait while she looked.

I think whichever way you look at it then it will always come down to the individual circumstances within a chain. As a vendor I think all you can do is be honest with anyone who offers if you haven't found somewhere and might need some time.

Make that 10 months, my brain is a bit broken today but my point hopefully still stands! 😂