Accepting offers on house

[aden3085]

Hi, looking for advice. Firstly I should say I’m in Scotland so slightly different.

We viewed a house back in October which we loved, offer was accepted and our house was then put on the market beginning November. Things were slow given time of year, we’ve since had about 10 viewings, all with positive feedback and 2 offers. The latest offer is asking price but the prospective buyer has a house to sell which has been on the market since October. They’ve had a few offers but none that were proceedable. Our estate agent has advised we don’t accept the offer given that they can’t actually proceed. I’m concerned by doing this the our house will sit for longer on the market looking stagnant (maybe having to reduce price etc). If this couple do manage to sell quickly will they still want to proceed with us if we’ve rejected their offer. It may also look bad on our part if the couple we’re buying from find out we’ve had offers but aren’t accepting as they’re keen to progress quickly.

I guess I’m just asking for advice as our options are:

1. accept offer and hope their house sells soon.
2. decline offer and hope our house gets more interest but given it’s been on the market 3 months I feel this is unlikely

Any advice or thoughts would be welcome!

Thank you

How much under was the other offer? I’m
in Scotland but I’ve not bought or sold for 20 years so I’m sure landscape is different now. If you accept, then the buyers pull out, can you claim costs from them - re marketing and the difference between their offer and eventual sold price? Or else they can reduce their price for a sale and get a bridging loan? I’m not sure why your buyers not selling their house becomes your problem. If you have a legally binding offer at a price you’re happy with, surely you accept?

I would accept the offer and proceed for as long as it was tenable, but I'd also discuss it with my solicitor. I'd want to know what happens if they pull out, what compensation you might be able to receive, how quickly you'd re-market, and a reasonable timeframe for all of the above.

The estate agent is concerned that by us accepting the offer, we then have no control as none of us can know how long it might take for their house to sell. We’ve already kept the people we’re buying from waiting for 4 months and they’re beginning to get impatient. Our estate agent feels if we keep the couple who have offered on side then hopefully when their house sells it’s a straightforward process but in the meantime we have the option of doing viewings/accepting other offers. It just feels a bit of a gamble.