How long to consider an offer

[Shwish]

So we offered on a property yesterday lunchtime. Full asking price. We have a buyer in place who is ready to go - our previous place we were buying the seller decided not to sell just before exchange(!) so our buyer and us are very keen to get moving. It's been 24 hours now and the new seller is still "thinking about it" would you assume it's a no-go and carry on looking elsewhere? I know this new seller is nervous because they're in a similar situation in that their previous buyer pulled out last minute so they want to be sure whoever buys now won't do the same. But we want to be in before Christmas. We are super motivated because we don't want to lose our buyers - they've said they'll wait for us but obviously not forever. And we offered full asking price. Surely it's not that hard a decision? What should we do?

I am sorry, but I think that's deeply unrealistic. Recent time quotes I have had have been 8-16 weeks but only because I wasn't in a chain and the seller was moving into an air b and b and we have no financial gifts from anyone to verify did the conveyancer's secretary actually agree to tell me (they never, ever want to commit to this) that she thought 8 weeks was genuinely possible in our case. This was in June. People generally start winding down for the xmas break around the middle of December, so even if you find the best lawyer in the world, people he/she needs information from just won't bother because 'it can wait til the new year.'

If you have a nervous seller, you need to give them a bit of time to think about who they want to sell to.

Agree it's not super realistic to expect to complete within 6 weeks when you have a chain behind you (are your buyers chain-free?) However I wouldn't panic yet.. They will be assessing your chain and proof of funds etc. It would make sense for them to take longer than usual with these checks as they have been burnt.

Yes my buyer is chain free. And they're 100% ready. We've both signed the contract and it's just waiting for me to be ready to buy, to be exchanged. Have also showed proof of funds.

I think you need to give them more time to consider your offer before assuming they aren’t interested.

I also highly doubt you will be moving in before Christmas, even if they accepted your offer today.

Thanks. They've "accepted" but want to keep it on the market until contracts are exchanged. I'm not happy with that because we've also been screwed over recently with a seller changing their mind about selling at the last minute, meaning we've paid out on surveys and conveyancing / searches etc. so I think we are back to the drawing board. I obviously don't want to pay out loads of money on a house where the seller isn't really committed, although the agent has said they'll speak to them tomorrow so we'll see if they're willing to budge on that. There's another place we're going to see this evening.

Agree that’s completely unacceptable @Shwish

If you decide you want to proceed with the house I would be telling the EA you will only be doing so if they withdraw the house from the market.

If they have accepted, but want to keep it on the market, assume they are actively trying to get a better offer. The risk is all on you as you will spend on surveys and conveyancing while they aren't committed.

Nope to them still keeping it on the market OP.

Its not you, it’s them.

Thats taking the piss on their part, you've offered to pay the asking so why on earth would they still have it on the market. You have to hard ball this sh*t. You say 'asking price offer is dependent on the property being taken off the market immediately' have you never seen Phil & Kirsty LLL?
Also you ain't gonna complete in 6 weeks, the idea of it is proper delusional. Get set for late Jan at best x

Yeah I'm definitely not going to go ahead unless they take it off the market. I don't mind them keeping it live until we get our mortgage offer or until we book a date for the survey - I understand that - but no way am I going to take all the risk all the way to exchange of contracts while they continue looking for a better offer.
Especially as we've presumably already been stung for a lot more wasted costs than they have. They've lost a buyer, we lost a seller. Conveyancing costs more when you're buying plus all the searches and surveys. Obviously that's not their problem but it's where I'm at.

I think you should get them to mark it as under offer at the very least.

So you have both been burned. But now they need to show they are prepared to respect you enough to give them a little bit of trust.

I actually think pretty much anyone would refuse those terms really. If they want to sell they have to take it off the market, surely? Whether that's to me or someone else.

Yes only someone very naive would accept those terms.

Shame on the EA really for not telling them that is unacceptable.

What a pain- our vendors kept theirs in the market until
Post survey as they had been let down but marked it as sold subject to contract after that with the EA no longer showing it Is a short term rent an option for you so you don't lose your buyer?

It would be possible to complete in your timeframe- I've gone from offer to completion in 4 weeks before, although that involved an awful lot of work ringing solicitors, estate agents, etc, pretty much every day to force the sale through in the required time frame. However for this to work you need all of the relevant parties to be incredibly motivated to complete in the time frame as well. Unless the vendors are willing as a bare minimum to list the property as 'Under Offer' it would suggest to me that they probably aren't. I imagine a lot of vendors at this point in the year are feeling that they couldn't be bothered with the hassle of completing this year, as it would mean spending Christmas surrounded by packing boxes in their new home. So as well as taking the house off the market I would want an explicit agreement of the date you'd be looking to complete by.