Would you withdraw from this purchase?

[mnahmnah]

Hi

We sold our house in April. Offer accepted on purchase in June. Should be exchanging soon. We have first time buyers who are in rented until October. Their mortgage offer will run out in November I think. I really don’t want to lose them in case we don’t get the same offer or even sell.

However - we’re having major doubts about the house we are buying. The seller has proven to be difficult and we just don’t feel like we can trust his word or that the house won’t turn out to be a bigger money pit than it appears. He said he would do certain things then didn’t because he’s run out of cash to do them. Other things he has done, I’m not sure they have been done properly. We looked at it again last week now it is empty and it is in a far worse state than when we offered. We asked for a price reduction, he said no and if we didn’t commit by the end of that day, he would withdraw from sale. He then demanded we exchange this week, but the solicitors say we’re not quite there yet. We feel he is hiding something. Just a gut feeling about how he is behaving.

There's another house for the same price, in a better location and it is immaculate. BUT - will we lose our buyers? In terms of mortgage, we will have to re-apply and potentially not be offered the same amount and higher interest rate. Or not be granted a mortgage at all! Plus the extra survey to pay for and wasted solicitors fees.

What would you do? Are we crazy for proceeding or crazy for pulling out? Thanks!

I would change to second property as you have doubts. Could you go into temporary accommodation and put your furniture into storage until the new purchase is ready otherwise you may lose your buyers?

Don't buy the property unless you are sure that you want it.
From what you have said, the buyer hasn't stuck to his word with regards fixing things, has left the house in a worse state and is now trying to bully you. It would make me suspicious too.
Could you sell and move into rented if your theoretical offer on the new house was accepted?

The wasted money on the survey/ solicitors is annoying but shouldn't be a factor in whether you buy the current house or now.

You have 3 choices:
Stick with the current plan, which you are anxious about.
Pull out and go into rental to guarantee your buyers - this doesn't mean you can't buy the house that has caught your eye.
Pull out and try and get your buyers to extend their deadline, and risk loosing them. The chances of completing in November on a new purchase are slim.

In all cases, have you need to see inside the new potential house?

Thanks everyone.

I have viewed the potential new house. Annoyingly, it went on the market a week before our mortgage in principle ran out. I stressed the urgency to view, but they couldn’t fit me in until after the deadline. So we offered on this one and put the mortgage application in, just in the Knick of time before mortgage rates went crazy. Our rate went up a bit, but not as bad as now. I viewed the house anyway, out of interest. Really liked it, but I was concerned it was smaller than the other. At this point though, i would take a little smaller and immaculate over the current one!

My husband is viewing it tomorrow. I’m waiting to hear back from my mortgage advisor on how bad it could be.

I wouldn’t ask a vendor to fix anything, I dread ask for money off to do it, they will never go as good a job as you, why would they?

Is the house in a condition that you are able to do what you want with? How long ago was your mortgage offer? Rates have been hiked a lot

Have you had a full structural survey on the house on which you offered? What percentage of the purchase are you funding and what percentage will be covered by your mortgage? I would pay attention to your doubts.

It doesn’t seem to be that your heart is in this 1st house. Don’t be hard on yourself and listen to your gut feeling. And yes interest rates have increased but if you can still,afford it then I would go for it.

@Prettypaisleyslippers

We have asked for money off and he was very clear he wouldn’t reduce it by a single penny. He won’t even remove the old carpets for us, which are a health hazard and I don’t want my children near!

It basically needs complete redecoration, which we knew, but can now see it’s for more cracks and peeling liner paper on every wall. So maybe plaster reskimming? He has removed the gas fire because it was condemned. But now there is just a hole in the wall. The old boiler is on the kitchen wall, which he said he would remove and hasn’t. The downstairs WC has a crack and is leaking. He said he would replace it and hasn’t. The kitchen is old, but last week it was in worse condition with doors hanging off and it’s disgusting. We thought we could use it for a while before replacing, but that would need to be done very soon. I’m not convinced the new flat roof on the kitchen is properly done. It’s a rubber membrane type and you can see the serial number etc printed on it. That doesn’t look finished to me? He’s even gone so far as to remove all the blinds, even though the fixtures and fittings says they’re included. I feel he’s just being petty and demanding. We discovered a few lights didn’t switch on. The estate agent says it just be the bulbs have gone. Feels like he’s in on it now!

I think the rental idea pp suggested is good. We were offered 4.99% as FTBs in May, a week ago when I asked our broker it was around 6.5, by early November I expect it to be 6.75-7.00. Your buyers may not be able to afford those kind of rates, so you either have to keep them or start from scratch with a decreased pool of buyers because of affordability difficulties.

Trust your gut, always.

We got our mortgage at 5.6% and our broker said it wouldn’t be much different for the same lender. I just need to find out if they would need a whole new application or if they could change the current one

Tbh, even if I could get the same rate, if I made an offer in April, I would want you to be out by early December so I could get settled in before Xmas and if you said no, it would be a deal breaker for me. That's already more than enough time, and I might as well wait til January when I know prices will be far lower and move in Spring and buy someone else's house.

Don't just consider their finances. Consider them getting on with their lives too.

Sorry. Reality is a bit brutal atm. It's a buyer's market. We get to call at least some of the shots.

Pull out

@KievLoverTwo

I completely agree. Our buyers have been patient while we found somewhere to buy. I really don’t want to put them out. Obviously I’d they could extend their rental and if their mortgage offer can be renewed, that would be amazing. If not, we will complete ASAP and go into temporary accommodation until the new purchase went through I guess. The problem is, how do you find somewhere to live for only weeks or three months let’s say?

@KirstenBlest

Encouraging 😁

I just can’t tell if we’re panicking unnecessarily and it will all work out fine. Or if we are right to worry.

Air B and B. Holiday static caravans that aren't rented out much in winter. When I was last looking at rentals there were a fair few that said 'please note this house is available for a maximum of six months' - people who have been on the market and decided to give the market a six month break, so there are sellers out there looking for people who know they are selling. You can also offer to pay more than the asking rent price for a short term option. Serviced accommodation if you are near a city, although that is horrifically priced. Go for the lowest quality of rental you can fit in, insist on a six month break clause and accept you may end up paying six months rent for a three month stay.

@mnahmnah , read your OP. You have a bad feeling about the purchase and you have seen a house that suits you more.

Actually, I forgot, we lived in a hotel for a month whilst looking for a rental. Nice hotel, large family room. Bought a car/travel fridge, lived off cold cuts and takeaways, cost us about £1200 for four weeks in 2021 (for the hotel).

I would pull out. Sounds like the money you lose from surveys etc will pale into comparison of the amount you'd spend doing up that house.

Our purchase took 14 months (!!) We moved into a rental after 6 months to keep our buyers (1st time buyers). We were incredibly lucky that 1. The buyers stuck it out that long and 2. that a friend of a friend rented their BTL to us on a rolling contract. Could you look on local FB groups and see if there's a landlord willing to do that for you?

We would only pull out if this other house accepts our offer. Which they should because their asking price is how much the current house is, so we could do full asking price. So we would only need short term rental between the two completions. A hotel may work out cheaper than some of the short term rentals and even Airbnb I have looked at!

I think hotels are used to it. We explained we were going to be homeless and didn't know how long we would stay. I guess they know from experience that longer stays are generally less demanding. We kept it tidy, used our own toiletries and bog roll and bin liners and even took our own hoover out of storage to do the room. We only asked for a weekly sheet change, so we cost them very little money and we were charged very little money.

@KievLoverTwo

We’re close to the city centre so lots of hotel and B&B options. I guess I would just have to ring round lots of them to find the best option if it comes to it

I would think about them separately. Even if the second house owner doesn't accept your offer, do you still want the first house?
It sounds as if it could end up being a bit of a money pit. He obviously isn't a man of his word and doesn't care about breaking contracts, etc.

If the mortgage offer is for the same amount, it is far easier for the broker and lender to port it to a new property vs going through affordability checks again.

Don’t buy the house. Your gut is telling you something - listen to it.

I would pull out regardless. It sounds like a nightmare especially the flat roof.

What did your survey say?