Please help - I don’t know what to do!!

[Houseshousesbuttheresaproblem]

Help!

A few months ago, after I cinched a first time buyer, I found a beautiful house. The owner had passed away and the house had gone through probate and was good to go for sale by the owner’s DC. I viewed it with my DC, we loved it, and we arranged a second viewing for DH a couple of days later as he was working away. It had ample space for our DC, a second reception room and parking (albeit for one car).

The next day, after confirming the second viewing with the estate agent, I went online and saw that the house had sold (I had no idea that someone else was interested otherwise I would’ve put an offer in). I called the agent immediately and I was told that it was sold; they refused to put my offer forward to the vendor until I got advice from people here, but the vendor declined my asking price offer.

I then found another house on a street over the road, which is smaller than the first house, and does not have parking. The second house is nice and has been decorated nicely, but only has two rooms downstairs (large kitchen / diner and living room). There was lots of interest in it but our asking price offer was accepted.

Here’s the rub; we are due to exchange on the second property shortly. Searches have been done, survey completed, we are basically waiting to exchange! I’ve JUST had a phone call from the first estate agent to say the first house has fallen through and do we want to view it again…

I have booked a viewing so DH can see it, but I’m just torn.
What would you do? I know we would lose all the money we have paid for the survey etc on house 2, but do we jump ship this late in the game? Morally I don’t think I can do it!!

House 1; £350k
No occupants - house has gone through probate
Big enough to last our family for years
Parking and small drive
School catchment
lovely old features and tall ceilings
long garden
detached

House 2; £294k
vendors are buying their next property from a friend which is almost completed
only two reception rooms downstairs
Long garden
no designated parking / driveway
school catchment
really nicely presented
End terrace

What would you do??

Can you see house 2 from house 1? If you bought house 2, would house 1 owners glaring at you for a few months bother you? I think you should buy with your head first and then your heart. And for both, it's house 1.

Tough one. Of course, morally it is wrong to pull out now BUT.....house number 1 sounds so much better. Personally I would never buy anywhere if there was no parking, and it only has two rooms downstairs? It sounds far too small for a family whereas house 1 sounds like a much better size.

But....what if you pull out now and then the vendors of house 1 dick you about and it doesnt come to fruition. House 1 sounds better by far so I guess as long as you are prepared to lose house 2, then I would try and go for it. No its not right but this is a big purchase, it has to be right.

Yeah it doesn’t feel nice to be the bad guy but I think with a big decision like this feeling bad for a few days is probably just a pill you swallow. Sounds like they would find buyers for House 2 fairly easily again and who knows, they might even get an even higher offer this time around as (possibly!) the market has improved a bit.

Go for house 1 but only if the reason sale has fallen through won’t affect your purchase

We ended up being ‘the bad guys’, but it happened in the first 24 hrs of having our offer being accepted on house one.
A better house that we had previously viewed dropped their price by £10k, becoming viable for us - in 1991 that was a crucial sum.
Sometimes life places you in a difficult a position, one that you feel really guilty about making.
For lovers of karma, we ended up with the house, but the reason for the slashed price was that the family owed money everywhere & subsequently did a moonlit flit. We spent the first 6 months after we moved in, dealing with bailiffs, final notice bills etc…

You do what's best for you.

Yes, it's hard on others. But should you really be miserable in your 2nd best choice for others to be happy?

Life just doesn't work that way.

House 2 doesn't sound like the right house for you, tbh, but it would depend why the original sale fell through on house 1. You might find yourselves in the same situation in a couple of months, with no alternative available.

Sorry - post sent twice in error

Oh god, that’s tough, obviously it is an arsehole move late in the process, but hopefully their friends would hold the purchase for them, and you can’t spend the best part of £300k out of politeness.

You have to think of yourselves here, not other people. As others have said it's a huge purchase and it's crucial to find a house that will make your day to day life as happy as possible. Think you have to be ruthless here.

Thanks all - it’s all food for thought. I’m going to ask if house 1 has had a survey done and if there was a particular reason that the sale fell through (this is the second time it has happened).

Oh that's really tricky, I think that you need to make sure that you could definitely buy house 1, why is it falling through (twice?) is it because of the survey? Is the same thing going to happen to you and then you've lost them both?

I think I'd want house number one off the market and some sort of guarantee because house number 2 wouldn't give you a second chance.

I'd go for number one.

Go for house 1 but only if the reason sale has fallen through won’t affect your purchase
You can’t spend the best part of £300k out of politeness

These are the vital bits here, really. The house buying/selling process in this country is tough, but it's a lot of money you're spending and you need to do what's right for you when you are not yet legally committed.

It's crap, but be under no illusions - most of the other people you'll come across in the process would do what they needed to do too.

I would at least view house 1 with your husband.

If you both prefer it significantly then, well ....It will feel bad but I would jump ship tbh because it's a huge life decision and a huge amount of money. You have to do what you feel is right for your family.

I'd want to know why house 1 fell through. It could be a dodgy survey or the owners were messing the buyers around.

If so, there's no guarantee the sale would go through anyway.

This. I would feel dreadful about it too, but you've got to do what's right for you and your finances too. It's hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Woudl your buyers wait for you if it takes another 6-12 weeks?

100% House 1. Parking, parking, parking.

I pulled out of a house purchase midway through the buying process. We were discussing exchange dates. You do need to explain and give reasons, my solicitor handled it all. Yes it's hard but you need to do what is right for your family.

You can offer the survey and other documents to the next buyers to help the vendors make a quick sale. The house I bought had more rooms and I knew they wanted to sell desperately and dropped the price by 20k. As others have said try and find out why the original sale has fallen through.

Both houses sound nice on paper but parking would sway me.

Thanks everyone - I felt happy with house number 2 as we had basically lost #1. The second house is in a nicer area, and there is more on street parking than #1 (only tiny area by house #1 where you can park on street but require a permit). If it wasn’t for the second reception room (and slightly bigger bedrooms), I wouldn’t consider #1 again.

Also, the park, school and shops are on the side of the road where #2 is, so to get there from #1 my DC would need to cross a very busy road (lots of traffic lights), so essentially #2 is safer as they wouldn’t need to cross any roads (they are road savvy but I worry about busy roads!).

With this added info, would that sway you to #2?

With that added information I wouid stick with house 2 unless you need that extra reception room for some reason.

Yes the added info does change things. If there's only parking for one car and little on street then does that affect you? How many cars do you have. Choose the house in the best location.

I'd go for house number one.

Sorry, but these things happen.

Could you put a drive on the second one and maybe extend when you're ready? It's cheaper