Has anyone had to stop their sale because they couldnt find anything to buy?

29 replies

MrsPuddle · 03/09/2024 22:26

I sold my house very quickly but cannot find what I want in London. I am really worried I will have to abandon this and ditch my buyer [ if they dont walk away]. How often does this happen? or do people just compromise in the end?

OP posts:

sugarbyebye · 07/09/2024 09:36

We pulled out of the house we wanted to buy due to a myriad of expensive and problematic reasons, including flooding, and haven't been able to find another since. Our chain is very annoyed, but we have four pets and there is a lack of any suitable rentals around here, even without factoring the pets in (which are an instant no, no one wants two massive dogs and two cats in their rentals, understandably). I feel bad for everyone but there's not much we can do, we were looking for an unusual property so they don't come along very often.

BeMintBee · 07/09/2024 09:42

It took us 3 months to find a house after we’d accepted an offer. We were straight with our buyers, didn’t let them spend money on surveys etc before we had found somewhere and were clear from the off that we wouldn’t rent if we couldn’t find somewhere. Fortunately they had been in the position of struggling to find a property before they offered on ours (2022 when there was very little on the market and everything was selling very quickly).

all you can do is be very clear with your buyers they may walk away and that’s fair enough but I wouldn’t have settled on a house we weren’t completely happy with.

Mumlaplomb · 07/09/2024 11:16

I think you just have to be honest with your buyers. If they drop out you will have to remarket.
are they in a chain?
We got our house photographed and ready for rightmove but lost the house we had wanted, so didn’t go “live” until we saw a couple come up that could be suitable for us. Thankfully we sold within 2 weeks so got one of the two houses we liked in the end.

badgerpatrol · 07/09/2024 11:17

Twiglets1 · 07/09/2024 06:16

In your situation @badgerpatrol I would be stalking the Rightmove Sold prices as keenly as the ones for sale. The sold prices get updated every month though they are always about 3 months out of date.

The ones that sell should give you a realistic picture of what people will pay for various properties in your area. It’s surprising sometimes the amount people will pay for the properties with good selling points - like flats in London with a nice outdoor space for example, attract a premium. Properties in catchment for good schools will attract a premium.

On the other hand, sometimes it’s surprising to see how much under asking price some properties sell for. To know this, you have to have been stalking both the For Sale prices and the Sold prices so it’s research over several months but it does make you an expert on the housing market in your local area.

That's a good tip @Twiglets1 I'm searching in a few areas (torn between a move towards London for better opportunities for DC & me work wise or further out for a bigger house for a nicer home lifestyle and room for guests/entertaining).
I'm not shy about cheeky offers, I've only got the equity + mortgage and that's that, so I can only offer that max and if I'm turned down fair enough.

My strategy will likely be try and get a patient buyer in the first place, then hopefully I can find a place before my buyer deserts me, get an offer accepted. It seems reasonably common that any buyer pulls out, but even if they do, once I'm in the chain it seems sellers are more forgiving and will allow a bit of time for me to find a new buyer (my house is nice/ordinary/popular area so shouldn't be hard to shift)

Good luck either way op!

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