Buyers pulled out just before exchange… upset and stressed!

[CurlyC12]

We were due to exchange this week… our buyers pulled out Tuesday, I’m so upset. The owners of the house we were buying have said they will wait for us for now but obviously they won’t wait forever. We viewed 13 houses before this one, it’s the only one me and my husband agreed on and we loved it.

Weve got two young children, 3 and 9 months, I’m back at work full time (mostly financial reasons for the move) and I just feel so overwhelmed. My husband has told me to try and take the emotion out of it and take things step by step but I’m finding it hard. The thought of getting the house ready for viewings again is making me feel so anxious and stressed.

Part of me wants to just pull out of our purchase because if in a few weeks they say they won’t wait any more it will be like a double blow.

Our house is back on the market and it did sell quickly last time but I just keep worrying it won’t sell this time and we are going to lose our purchase and be back at square one. Sorry don’t know really want I’m expecting from this post, maybe just a vent! Any advice welcome!

Keep going for now - we sold our house for more and were delayed by a month so it is possible things will work out okay.

It happens. It's part of buying and selling a house in England.

It's also why I always recommend not taking the property off the market until you've exchanged. Leave the sign up, leave the RightMove listing up, don't allow the EA to put "Sold STC" or "Under Offer" on either the sign or the listing. Pause, but don't stop viewings.

I get mauled on here every time I suggest this. But it's how the housing market is rigged in England. It's not about being nice or making friends with your buyer. It's about keeping the process moving. Offer -> Survey & Searches -> Exchange -> Completion.

nothing from the survey… its a 5 year old house.. we bought it new. They said they had other options which were now more desirable to them!!

Would you pay extra to still buy the house you want? If so, cut the asking price on the house you’re selling by 10-25k and hopefully generate some competing bids. The only way to get a fast sale is for people to be bidding on it

As a buyer, there’s no way I’d start the conveyancing process for a house that was still on the market. Far too expensive and stressful.

Me neither. I also don't get how you can pause but not stop viewings? You either allow them or you don't.

Read the thread. Far too expensive and stressful to depend on a Buyer not having other irons in the fire or changing their mind.

As a buyer, there’s no way I’d start the conveyancing process for a house that was still on the market. Far too expensive and stressful

This. Only a fool proceeds with buying a house that's still being actively marketed as for sale.

But as a buyer it's far too expensive to risk being gazumped. Obviously it can happen anyway but far more likely if the house isn't being shown as SSTC.

Easy. Someone asks for a viewing and you say, sorry but we have just had an offer. We're waiting to see if their serious and if they're not we'll get back to you. Once you've made an offer there's no need to delay beyond the next working day or two to arrange a date for a survey (arrange a date, not have the survey completed) and instruct your solicitor. That's showing commitment. If after a week there's no sign of progress on those fronts I'm going back to people that requested a viewing and asking if they're still interested.

Sellers have a higher risk in property sales than buyers. The whole system is rigged in the favour of Buyers delaying the process in case they find something better.

In this case though I'm guessing the buyer had shown commitment, they were due to exchange next week!

@DogInATent I have read the thread, thank you, and I disagree with you. A seller can pull out at the last minute, just as a buyer can.

My last purchase was a nightmare as the sellers at the top of the chain kept us all waiting for months (probate issues), then pulled out a few days before exchange as they’d decided to sell the property to their relative instead!

The system of buying and selling property in the UK is horrendous, but trying to put all of the risk on to the buyer isn’t the solution.

'It's also why I always recommend not taking the property off the market until you've exchanged. Leave the sign up, leave the RightMove listing up, don't allow the EA to put "Sold STC" or "Under Offer" on either the sign or the listing. Pause, but don't stop viewings.'

Only do this if you want more buyers to pull out.

The risks are the same to both buyer and seller as both can pull out up until exchange.
@CurlyC12 I'm not surprised you are really upset. All you can do it put it back on the market and hopefully it will sell quickly as it did before. Have the sellers given you a timeframe about how long they will wait?

Not at this stage they’ve told us they will just hang on for now… they are really keen to sell to us as they’ve lived there a long time and love the thought of young children being in the house again which is lovely but of course they can’t hang around for us for months on end! I think them being understanding is also making me feel guilty for messing them around although I do know that is out our contro!

Ah that happened to me on one of my house moves. I had everything packed and ready to go just before Xmas with a two year old.

Happened to me our buyer couldn't get a mortgage after buying a load of furniture on finance after putting his offer in. Sold it again two days later to a first time buyer keen to move ASAP

They sound lovely. You've nothing to feel guilty about as this was totally outside your control. I hope you manage to sell soon.

I would walk away from a house if the seller did this. I’ve gone through a number of moves and had one fall through so I’m not naive, but this would set alarm bells ringing I could get gazumped. Just as you want your buyer to commit, I want the seller to do so too!

Deep breaths and one day at a time op. It’s all you can do, but it sucks. Things might be back on track very soon. Get a wash basket for all clutter then, just before a viewing pile it all in and shove it in the boot of the car! Good luck.

Full sympathy to you- our buyers (who had been waiting for over 6 months to buy our house after a collapsed chain above) pulled out last week, the week before exchange. The worst part of all of it for me is the thought of any more viewings. I have so much ill feeling towards our bastard buyers who had been over to measure up 2 weeks ago. 6 months they've wasted. The system is absolutely fucked up. We are on our 2nd collapsed chain now. Hope you get new buyers. Your vendors sound nice so fingers crossed.

This is near enough exactly the same as what happened to us.. we accepted their offer at the end of Jan, still needed to find something ourselves, they came back for another viewing three weeks ago and then just messed us around! Sympathy to you… I’m so angry so understand exactly how you feel!

I think when chains take months & months to complete, things are more likely to go wrong as in someone’s situation changes or someone just changes their mind.

The good thing @CurlyC12 is that you sold quickly last time so it’s likely you have a good property that will sell reasonably quickly again. All you can do is try and you should also be flexible on price with any offers you do get, if possible.

And once you accept an offer, do everything you can to get to Exchange of contracts as quickly as possible.

The positives are that it sold quickly last time, so this could happen again AND your solicitor has already done all the work! This should significantly speed things up, especially if a new buyer can get the searches from the old buyer.

It is very stressful, I think your husband's advice is very good, take it step by step.