Buyers asking for grace period - wwyd?

[WonderingWhatsBest]

Hi

My husband and I split up last year and our house has been on the market for around 14 months. We had no offers at all with the initial agents and after around 6 months we switched agents and the price was dropped by £100K.

We dropped the price by a further £25K at the start of summer and had a family come for two viewings, and although they loved it, they were looking at jobs overseas and couldn’t commit.

Recently we’ve dropped it by a further £25K and had a couple more viewings but no offers.

Yesterday the family who were considering moving abroad said they’re staying in the U.K. after all and would like to put in an offer of the current asking price, contingent on us taking it off the market for a ‘grace period’ of 2-4 weeks while they put their own house on the market (ie they’re not currently proceedable).

For info, the context is that I’m currently renting a small flat, which is convenient but extortionate and not a good long term option. The kids have the bedrooms and I’m in the lounge when they’re with me.

I haven’t heard of this grace period situation before. My ex husband is keen to agree to it but I’m not convinced.

What would you do?

We’ve been wondering about a counter offer.. perhaps saying that they need to commission the survey during the grace period to show commitment.

It’s an old house and there’s a possibility that it would show up some issues we’re not aware of.

Sorry but that’s nuts.

They may be committed but that’s not the issue. The issue is they haven’t sold their own house and their house might take months to sell.

Even if they got a survey on your house which would be foolish at this stage, (& highly unlikely they would agree to it), you wouldn’t necessarily get to see the survey.

I wouldn't hold the viewings (if you have any) while you wait for them as many people are taking a long time to sell at present as they are tending to over price.

Thank you for the response! Yes we might not get to see the survey, although at least if the buyers changed their mind having seen it then it would waste less of our time 🤷‍♀️.

The EA seemed to think they’d be more likely to accept getting a survey done than increasing their offer, which was another thing that we discussed, but you may well be right.

One of my friends has suggested a non-refundable retainer. I don’t know whether that would be doable.

Re the ‘non refundable retainer’ I agreed to something similar once. The problem is that to be enforceable it has to be done by a solicitor which means up front costs for both parties ( the money has to be held in a legal account, you can’t just leave it in the bank, not if you actually want / need to cash in).

it was just a whole load of extra trouble, really. We did eventually sell it to the buyers who wanted the retainer, but the whole palaver was a symptom of just how difficult they were to deal with.

Personally I would continue to market your house. Your potential buyers didn’t sound the most reliable tbh. ( going abroad/ not going etc).

Ok this is really helpful to know. Thank you.

The EA has just told me he ‘didn’t get through’ to the buyer yesterday, which to me either means the buyer is flakey or the agent didn’t even try. Either is bad news really 😭

There is a third option which is that the EA couldn’t get through to them yesterday

I had an offer from a couple who weren't even on the market. We offered them two weeks grace to get theirs on the market and sold and then might would put mine back on if they hadn't sold. 4-5 weeks later they still hadn't put theirs on the market, of course I kept having viewings, I sold mine twice and they are disappointed..

Thats true! Although if I was serious about buying a house I would be answering my phone.

Go for it. No other offers and no reason to expect you'd receive many more in the two weeks grace period.

We gave our buyers a grace period of a month after their sale fell through- mostly because I'm pregnant and can't be bothered to clean the bloody house for viewings.

It worked out. They're ever so greatful and we are completing next week. They've been amazing at getting docs back on time etc. A little generosity goes a long way.

Yes my ex-partner’s view is that a little generosity goes a long way, and overall I absolutely agree with him. If the timing was different then I’d be more easily swayed.

Thank you so much everyone for the replies - really appreciated.

All they can do at the moment is register an interest. I'd tell them to come back when they are proceedable. If they are keen and non-flakey they will be happy to do that anyway. If you receive an offer in the meantime, great. If you don't, they'll be back.

Well so would I tbh but not everyone is like me (or you) but could still be serious about wanting to buy your house. Also, some people are in jobs where they can’t take personal phone calls at work.

But… I still don’t think you should take any offer from them seriously until they are in a position to proceed.

Some people work and are not constantly available to answer their phone. Deciding that they are flakey based on one failed phone call is a bit ridiculous.

Why don't you agree to two week period and it can then be reviewed? If you aren't getting interest I can't see 2 weeks doing much harm

I definitely wouldn’t. As PPs said what’s in it for you?

Not worth risking them faffing about with their own house or changing their mind and offering on something else.

Better to keep the pressure on them and don’t accept their offer until they are sold. Cross your fingers for a better offer in the meantime!

I would not agree to this. Keep it on the market because you never know, a proceedable buyer might view tomorrow.

Just because a house has been on the market for a while and hasn't had many viewings doesn't mean a buyer won't turn up at any point.

My son and DIL were selling and buying, all surveys and searches done etc, when the house they were buying withdrew from the sale, so in order not to lose their buyer they had to find somewhere quickly. Luckily due to salary rises they could go up a price bracket and found the perfect house( which had been on the market for several months with no offers and few viewings) within a week, and everything went smoothly from then on.

So if you take it off you could be missing out on proceedable buyers who have just started looking in your price bracket.

Yes this is fair enough. However, there’s a history of the buyer being difficult to contact, which I’ve only just found out about today.

Just to clarify, with regard to the question of the buyer not being contacted yesterday, it may be that the agent didn’t try. We don’t know.

We haven’t had a very reassuring experience with the EA so far either, so as some pp suggested we’re also looking at re-listing with another agent in the new year if it doesn’t work out with this buyer anyway.

I did this.
A buyer's property wasn't even on the market.
She made an offer, the EA put in on as 'under offer' and then marketed her home which sold in 3 weeks.
It all worked out ok in the end, and people weren't prevented from viewing but knew it was under offer

I see, fair enough. Perhaps the agent is better off emailing them rather than calling.
I wonder if you could suggest a 'compromise' (assuming the agent does get a call/ email back from them) to suggest that you will allow viewings to go ahead still if there is further interest but will let them have 2 weeks to market their house without accepting any potential offers. I would also get any other local agents round in the meantime to value your house and see if any of them give you confidence that they can actually sell your house. If the price is right, you normally get interest immediately and offers within the first few weeks.

I wouldn't agree. They've already been flaky (who goes househunting when they're thinking of moving abroad?) and now they want you to take all the risk. Sounds like the behaviour of buyers who will insist on a price reduction right before exchange as well.

Yes I’m a bit worried about this too.

I would say you will give them a couple weeks grace period. Go to a new estate agent, get a good deal if you both list both houses. They will be motivated to sell them.