Anxiety with chain - people pulling out

[Greenfem]

Hello

I am so frustrated and worried by the housing market at the mo.

We are desperately needing to move and have had our property on the market since July. One offer at the full asking price within the week and we put in an offer on somewhere else (accepted). After a week, our buyer pulls out but the people we are buying from kept it off the market for us despite initially threatening to take it off the market as they didn’t want a complicated chain.

Last month we got another offer (much lower than we wanted to do) from someone else who had a first time buyer buying theirs.

We had initial pressure from both sides with people wanting to move quickly so we’ve been doing all the things we needed to do.

We’ve paid the mortgage advisor and had our mortgage offer but we felt things were a bit quiet on either side of us in the chain.

At the beginning of this month, we learned that the first time buyer pulled out so our buyer’s property is back on the market. Then a couple of days ago, the people we were buying from were fed up with waiting and decided to take their propert off the market.

I feel like I’m in limbo.

i don’t feel assured that our buyer won’t change her mind, and I don’t feel we can put an offer in somewhere else until she is proceedable.

We’ve found somewhere else that we could move into and it would be great. It’s a probate property with another agency and we were advised buyers don’t usually accept lower offers and take it off the market to someone who isn’t proceedable… which is where we are at (and what we are doing at the moment…holding our property off the market for this lady to sell hers).

i feel a bit stuck and wanted to ask if anyone else is also stuck in the property buying / selling at the mo or has any experience / words of encouragement. Thanks

sounds really stressful, I hope you're doing ok.
until property prices come down to comfortable and affordable levels, chains will be shaky and will have to expect this. FTB in particular are seeing real risk of negative equity and you can't blame them.
The housing market needs to catch up, until then, expect this for a long time.

My cousin is in the same situation as you and I've told her repeatedly buyers won't pay for the over-priced houses and her best option is she could just sell at a better price and move into a rental for a bit and look for a new house from there. Could this work for you too? That way you've sold your house and can concentrate on just one side/buyer.

The market is expected to go down so it might work for you in the long run.

Thanks @iovebread. It’s tricky because our property is off the market because the lady put in an offer when she was proceedable. It was a low offer and we accepted it. We’ve kept it off the market for her for nearly three weeks while hers is back on the market - I don’t know if we are doing the right thing. Our thought though is that if we put it back on the market, the EA would want to put it in at a reduced price again to drum interest (which would change our buying budget) and there may not be sufficient interest in ours owing to the time of year and financial reasons you’ve given. We did look at renting but it’s not possible. A friend of ours has been in this property limbo of trying to sell and buy for 3 years. With a large family it’s taking a toll on them. I’m sorry for your cousin too. Hope they sell soon.

Sorry to hear your stressful situation @Greenfem a good friend of mine is going through something similar &I know she feels in limbo too.

I would say your house needs to go back on the market as you have already given a 3 weeks grace period . You could price it at the same price you have accepted from your current buyer. Then it’s just a race between who can proceed first- them or someone new.

I’d find someone who really, really wants to buy your house. Who will keep the chain below them secure through almost whatever means.

Either have a dream house, or a dream price.

Thank you. Spoke to EA this morning. He recommended keeping ours off the market for another two weeks to see if the lady sells her but we talked about the fact that a FTB would be more interested in ours and is more likely to get a loan as ours is cheaper, so we’ve decided to accept viewers while it’s off market only if the agent knows them and they are proceedable, and put it back on market in a week. Rollercoaster …. Having viewings again is always a stress with family life and children at home but I’m trying to remain positive that it’ll get us to where we need to be. Honestly, I think we’ve always been realistic about what our bottom price was to sell at - we prioritised the dream home over the price but now that the dream home is off the market, I’m just trying to be practical about getting a short chain where possible to minimise risks and complications associated with a long chain.