Property purchase driving me crazy - AIBU

[Mazza92]

Property offer accepted in January. Our sellers didn’t find a place till April. They paid for the survey etc but their onward sale fell through. They have now got an offer accepted on a second property a week ago. But their sellers need to find somewhere and no one knows when the chain will complete.

original agreed completion date was July but now with us potentially going into a chain where everyone would have to agree - I just don’t have the patience to carry on waiting! It’s been 7 months already and I think it’s very unfair for us to have to enter another chain because they couldn’t find anywhere - AIBU? Any advice on what to do would be helpful

we have kept on looking but to no avail

Well you can pull out, or you can ask them to go into rental to break the chain, and offer to split the costs, or wait it out. There is not much more that can be done.

You could ask them if they’d consider moving to rented accommodation

I would reduce my offer. Surely the market had fallen in your area in 7 months. Tell your vendor to move into rented, or you'll pull out too. I don't think all the waiting stress is worth this type of chain and the high risk of everything falling through

YANBU.

You’ve been patient for so long but they can’t reasonably expect you to keep waiting indefinitely.

Personally I would be saying that if they don’t agree to go into a rental so you can move by July, I will be pulling out.

Thanks all - they refuse to move into rented. I doubt they would accept a lower offer although we can try . It’s all so frustrating!

If you pull out, they can't move. Simple. It's in their best interests to appease you. Plus if they do go into rental, that'll shorten their chain. They're being selfish. If they don't agree, I'd be looking elsewhere.

Sorry but YABU

This is what buying a house is like. You can't expect them to rush finding somewhere, they have to be happy with it as it's a huge purchase. Also moving into rented is a hell of a lot of upheaval especially if they have kids - I would never have done that and would have just found another buyer if needed (I would rather substantially reduce the price than have to go through that).

If you aren't happy with it then you will need to pull out and find somewhere else.

I don't see the point in pulling out unless you have found somewhere else.

I agree. Before kids I would have considered bunking up with relatives, I can't imagine affording to rent and properties are few and far between around here.
With kids, no way. Too much stuff!
Although my opinion is probably linked to the fact that our max price range is £250k, if you are thinking big it's another story!

It’s been 7 months already

No it hasn't, it's been 5

I understand what you mean re: patience, but perhaps a life lesson is to be learned here - maybe you should have stipulated that they need to find a home to purchase within 1 month, otherwise you'll move on to another house.

I would have moved on long before now unless it was my dream home.

I think it’s very unfair for us to have to enter another chain because they couldn’t find anywhere

Are you the bottom of the chain, OP?

Yes, it sucks that you have to wait around for them but wouldn't you want a buyer of your property to do the same for you if your purchase ran into difficulty? And the rental market is so crappy that I can understand people not wanting to break the chain.

If the house is worth the wait, then persvere. If it's not, then walk. That's all you can do really.

I equally doubt they would accept a lower offer as don't seem to be seeing the situation from your point of view at all.

Sure, you can't make them rush into finding somewhere but they are failing to understand that it is a buyers market (in most areas) not a sellers market - so if they lose you they may not get the same price again or it could take months. If my property was on the market at the moment I would be very conscious of the need to cherish my buyers and not upset them. Your sellers don't seem to care.

I would be pulling out by now as I said above. But then again, it's easy to say that when you're not personally involved. Only you know how much you love this property.

I totally understand how you feel...now. 6 months ago I would probably have said you've had to wait unreasonably long - but experience of the property market this year has changed my mind a bit. It's not that I think you shouldn't be annoyed, but the question is will you get a property any quicker if you jump ship now?

Will depend where you are, of course, but I'm guessing from the difficulties those further up the chain have been having finding a property, that your area might be one of those where there just aren't that many great properties available.

I was also trying to move in January this year - with mine sold and offer accepted on the one I wanted, and when my purchase ran into trouble, I pulled out of everything. I thought about keeping my sale happening and "going into rented" but quickly discovered that phrase is so easy to type in a forum like this, but would be a terrible idea in real life. I felt bad about screwing over the couple who wanted to buy mine, but I couldn't make myself homeless because of guilt.

I could have rented a 1-bed flat at twice as much money as my mortgage on a 3 bed house costs. I would have had to add storage costs on top of that. That's if I could get somewhere to agree to a short-term contract (but of course a contract that I didn't know how long I needed). I would have earned a bit of interest on the equity on my house, but been charged tax on that. It adds up to additional costs of 4 figures every month - on top of the fact I had sold at a relatively low price in this market. There was a very real risk that I'd quickly be in a position where I couldn't even afford to buy my old house back if the market recovered at all, let alone afford the type of property I was moving for.

You may find your vendors are in a similar situation. The choice for them may well be that if you aren't prepared to wait, they'll accept that and try to find another buyer, or chose not to move at all, rather than "go into rented". It's really not the "buyers market" people say it is at the moment, it's more of a case of a super-tough market on all sides and I think that's why prices aren't dropping dramatically.

It's not been 7 months if you offered in January, we are only at end of May. Tbh if my buyers asked me to go into rental I would tell them to jog on. There is hardly any rental availability round here and if we did it would cost more than double my mortgage costs so obviously not in our interests. You either suck it up or pull out but it sounds like you haven't seen anything else to buy anyway.

In my area property prices have risen since January so you wouldn't get a better deal if you pulled out now. I think I'd be patient. It's frustrating but it sounds like they're doing their best.

My sister used to have "holiday" cottages near Windsor - there were 8 I think. A mix of 1 to 3 bedroom properties. Very often they were being used on a monthly rental basis for people who had moved out of their own home as it had been sold, and were waiting to move to their new one. She did not rip anyone off, and her properties were always full. There should be more places like this. From her perspective, yes, she would make more from 1 and 2 week holiday lets, but the hassle with cleaning etc and all the other rubbish that comes with holiday lets was not worth the hassle.

You said you haven’t found another house you like so no point moving unless you find something. You could sell your home and move into rental which would mean that you are then in a better position to make an offer and ask for it to move quickly.

I took 5 months for us to get to exchange on a property with no chain and that was frustrating enough, so I can understand how you feel having to wait for so many chains to complete. However like many op’s have said you’re are really limited with your next move.

Its really not been that long. If i received messages of “get out now or we pull” id be happy for you to pull out and have someone else buy. Im not rushing THE most expensive purchase many of us will ever make to appease you

Unfortunately it’s a sellers market at the moment as there aren’t enough houses so you don’t have much negotiation power (and the sellers know it). Stay put unless you get an offer accepted on another house- but even if you do pull out now and go for another property you are likely to be bottom of the chain again, and you will have lost money on your surveys etc…

If you were to pull out of the sale you still can’t move, and could potentially end up in a longer/more complicated chain.

if it’s your dream house then just be patient, you can’t expect your sellers to buy a property that isn’t right for them just to speed things along. If it’s not your dream house then pull out and find another and hopefully you’ll end up in shorter chain.

If any changes were made it should be getting rid of chains. It's a bizarre system here in England - once you complete you should complete. If the sellers agreed a July completion then they should either honour that or provide you compensation as they are costing you money. If they are not willing to do that, then walk away.

The only reason there are "chains" is so that everyone moves on the same day. If everyone was happy to complete on different dates then completion could happen whenever that part of the transaction was ready. It would mean obviously that each party would have to find somewhere else to live in between the different completion dates. Not many people would agree to that as there is much at risk, i.e. not receiving monies on their sale before they complete on their purchase, having to store belongings for an unspecified time, lack of short term lets etc.

Solicitors cannot let sellers and buyers decide completion dates because they need to do the work necessary to transfer the title and they don't know at the beginning of a transaction how much work will be needed. Just because a seller has decided that they want to complete in July doesn't take into account any legal issues that might crop up. Would you be happy to complete on the "agreed" date without all the legal work being done?

I agree that there needs to be changes made to the system and a lot of other country's systems are quicker but that's usually because the seller has already done most of the legal work before they market (and paid for it). We tried it before here with the HIPS, but many sellers were unwilling to undertake surveys and searches upfront because they could be out of date before they had a buyer.

I would start looking at other properties. You might find one not in a chain you like just as much. Then you can say to them to move into rented or you have the option to purchase a different property. At least you’ll know your options then. It’s awfully stressful being reliant on others.

I mean, you could back out of course, but you could well end up waiting another 7 months before completing on a different purchase. House buying is a very painful experience, but be wary of cutting your nose off to spite your face!