Buyer pulled out…..again

[Snugmummy]

so I posted before about our buyers needing more time to decide- after offering and us accepting.
They left us 10 long days in limbo and then finally came back and said they absolutely definitely want our house- they completely love it and started negotiating for our blinds, curtains , light fittings and gym equipment- they wanted it all!
We then went ahead and offered on our dream house, had our offer accepted and all surveys were completed with absolutely no issues whatsoever.
They then sent an email… a bloody email! To our estate agents on April fools day (feels horribly ironic) to say that, sorry, hope we understand but they’ve decided to buy another house. I’m so gutted - our dream house is now back on the market and so are we.
Please send me positive stories of a successful end to these situations, I’m aware they happen often, but never to us before. I’ve fallen in love with ‘our’ new house but feeling terribly depressed that we may lose it after all.

I don’t agree that there’s no one go blame. I think it’s downright shitty of your buyers to do this when you’d come this far. I know our system is crap but I think very poorly of buyers that behave like this.
Sorry to hear you’re in this position OP, it’s so stressful & annoying. Hope you find a new buyer soon 🤞.

The system stinks, they should be made to pay your costs 🙄

It's rubbish, but you asked for positive stories, happened to us 7 years ago, buyer pulled out May Bank Holiday while we were in Majorca, finally got a new buyer in the summer, house we wanted was still on the market and they accepted a lower asking price to try and hurry things along for their dream house, so still got the house and have £10k less on the mortgage.
Happened 3 times to my Mum, the house she's finally in is 1000 times nicer than either of the ones she would have bought with earlier buyers.
So, good can come of it. Good luck

I really feel for you OP but adopting the ‘these things happen for a reason’ is the only way to deal with it.

We lost a buyer (they just vanished - even solicitors and agents couldn’t find them) on a previous house move so our chain collapsed. We got another buyer and found a much better house (although the purchase was a nightmare). Learned later that the house we had first tried to buy had about £150k worth of problems that hadn’t shown up on their house buyers survey.

We’re now moving again and are in that horrid limbo period of getting surveys and searches and just hoping our buyers don’t much us around.

Mum and dad listed their house got an offer, and offered on their dream new build.
Buyer pulled out due to illness.
A year later buyers knock on the door , say they have cash due to inheritance .
Mum and dad called the builders, guess what due to delays, the dream house is now built and just needs them to choose fittings. Same price as housing market was stagnating.
So the delay on new house would have meant lots of trouble.
They loved the house, and got an extra 10k for their old house.

If it helps I am definitely a believer in that something better for you will come along. Not necessarily better in terms of size etc but better suited to you, if you know what I mean. We had a similar situation and our sale fell through the day before the completion as we were exchanging and completing on the same day. We were gutted however we found a house in a much better spot and still say how pleased we are that it fell though. We have had the happiest family home for 14 years. Hopefully you'll have the same OP x

I’ve never had this happen and it not work out for the best in the long run - across 4 house sales/purchases. Whatever the reasons you will get where you are meant to be.

We had sold our house, had our offer accepted on our new house, surveys done, moving date agreed, everything ready…. Then got “the call”. The house we were buying was a couple splitting up. Husband had moved out and wife was in the house with their child. As soon as she moved out into rented accommodation, he refused to allow contracts to be swapped and moved back in. Annoyed does not come close!
on the positive side however, our buyer waited (as did the chain of 4 others) and we found a different house in same area… only bigger, on a quieter road and much nicer than the one we would’ve bought. Sometimes things absolutely do happen for a reason…… the only reason we are in this house now is that our buyers, best friends, brother found out about the our current house coming to the market and we bought it without it ever going up with an estate agent! Have faith…

This happened to my parents 5 times in 18 months. Each time thier house sold within days of being on the market, then at some point, often many weeks into the sale, after my parents paying solicitor, search, survey fees etc on properties that they'd set their hearts on, people changed their minds/found something else/decided to stay put/couldn't get enough mortgage after rate rises. When it finally happened it went through within 3 weeks and no one could actually believe it was happening.

Thanks everyone got all your lovely positive messages & stories! I’m feeling a bit calmer about the situation and we are ready to go again! I really hope ‘our’ house is still there when we sell, but if not, then it’s not meant to be.

Which happened to my client (I am a mortgage adviser) we called funds from the bank for their onward purchase and we had to send it back because of signing the exchange forms their buyers pulled out

Whats meant to be will always find a way ☺️

We lost our ‘dream’ house because of crappy buyers pulling out just over 20 years ago. Went back on, found motivated buyers really quickly and at a higher price. Hadn’t found anywhere at that point - ‘dream’ had been sold.

I started to frantically look and saw one that I’d previously discounted (that had then gone under offer) Was desperate at this point and called agent who said it’s under offer and then said, wait, it’s come back on today. Viewed next day, offered and we’ve now been here 22 years.

Because we bought this house and not the original dream , kids went to a different school and grew up in a different area and have had opportunities they’d never have had if we stayed in old area. (Although they would have been at school with Harry Styles 😂)

This house has been the house of a lifetime for us and as we start to think about downsizing it’s a real wrench.

Can’t even remember the people who let us down now but I’ve gone from wishing them every kind of karma to being utterly grateful 🙌🥰

Gutted for you 😔
just before covid hit we had this happen to us. The perfect fixer upper in the perfect part of Town fell through our fingers ( offer accepted & our buyer suddenly dropped out )
after Covid we put ours back on the market with a view to rent for a bit until the perfect place came up. The day we accepted an offer on ours, the most perfect house came on the market and we offered asking price.
Bonus was it was just about done & nothing to fix up and we’ve been here 3 bloody brilliant years ! I’m glad it went tits up for us at first 😁

Always pay for insurance to cover the legal costs if the buyer defaults (won't cover the survey alas) but it will cover the solicitors fees if it all goes wrong, costs about £70

Sounds awful. I cannot get my head around the English real estate system, but hope it works out for the best OP.

This happened to us too. We were all packed up and ready to go when it turned out that our buyer hadn’t secured his divorced wife’s permission to sell the house. We were devastated, put the house back up, it sold within weeks and we were able to go back to the original house we wanted. The owner had also reduced the price so we got it for slightly less.

It will work out in the end. I know it’s really stressful but you’ll look back in a year’s time and it will all be a distant memory. Best of luck.

We're not in the UK. A sale and purchase agreement is a legally binding document for us. When you sign, you are then in a contract with the seller, and it may be very expensive to change your mind. The buyer usually has to pay a deposit of around 10% of the property price, which is held in a trust account and the settlement date is specified. If the buyer fails to complete the vendor keeps the deposit. Everybody knows where they stand and there isn't the opportunity to bail out that seems to occur in the UK system.

Australia? I could not cope with the stress of buying in the UK, the Australian system is much easier. Unless an auction most states have 2 day cooling off period I think and that's when you get your building and pest inspection done and can pull out no issues. After that you lose your deposit/earnest money.

Also doesn't matter if your current home hasn't sold - you can get a bridging loan until it sells.

yes once you “sign” in this country (UK) you are in a legally binding document ie exchange

Buying and selling houses is a horrible and very stressful process. We had an offer over the asking price within a few days of putting our house on the market, after viewing about 50 houses we found what we thought was our dream home, put an offer in etc all going well then our buyers pulled out. This was just pre Brexit and the market went stale due to uncertainty and we struggled to get another buyer and lost the house we wanted, we moved to another house and in hind sight I am glad it went this way as the house we got is so much better for us and the other would have been too small. Sometimes things happen for a reason.

A friend of mine viewed a house and fell in love before hers was on the market, the sellers wouldn't accept an offer till they were under offer and while they were trying to sell they also lost their dream house. Once they were under offer they found an even better house and have now moved.

It's a horrible process and I feel for you, but try not to let it get you down, it will all work out eventually

when i was selling my dads house buyer was cocky but went with them,on day their house was signed their buyer pulled out,i could not believe it, they went back on market that day sold next day it went through ok, they were not so cocky now ,i knew their mum let them look as a favour before it went on the market they actually turned up with 8 family members to view it, slagged off my dads house who had just died in front of me,so karma when their house was the one holding the chain up. good luck,

I'm so sorry it's fallen through. The whole process is a joke, I'm also an advocate for the Scottish system. Everything may be legal and whatnot but I would feel INCREDIBLY guilty pulling out of a sale myself. We are a week away from completion (selling and buying) and I have felt sick for the past few months wondering if it will go wrong. We are buying from a elderly woman who was trying for months to sell because she can no longer live alone. She was delighted to finally sell! Imagine if we had been the tw4ts who pulled out on her! It's all about common decency! But I also don't buy into the "dream house" thing so wouldn't be likely to pull out myself as if im puttin an offer in ive already decided i will be happy living there. There will be other houses and buyers don't worry too much.

Something happens to people when they start the buying process - this was a ages ago now, but still makes me cross....

An "out of area" couple had 2 viewings and then offered on our house which we accepted and they then viewed twice more to measure up and chat about the area which was fine if slightly time consuming. The house is on the flood map as a risk and they asked about that so we gave them our insurers details and suggested they give them a call, that was all good.

They then asked how quickly we could move, could we exchange and complete in the same week, so we then looked at rental properties, found one and started making arrangements. Dates for exchange/completion were agreed, removal vans for us were booked, deposit on a rental property was paid and then on the day of exchange one half of the couple signed and the other said "oh actually I don't think I want to" 😡.

Neither us nor our EA could believe it, in fact the EA wrote to them & refused to show them any further properties. We also wrote to them explaining how upset and angry we were - with 3 small children plus animals it was incredibly stressful. I knew it would achieve nothing but I couldn't just let them walk away without knowing that.

They found somewhere else as I saw them about 6 months later in the local town, I glared at them as I walked past but didn't dare say anything.

It is horrible for you. I think it is partly because many estate agents put a huge amount of pressure on buyers to make an offer quickly and often say there are others interested. This means people make rush decisions and then regret them after they have had time to think.