What are the most common reason for buyers pulling out?

[jensaa]

Just accept an offer on our house for the 3rd TIME! First two buyers pulled out without giving a reason (nothing wrong with survey) so although I hope this is 3rd time lucky I’m curious what are the reasons buyers pull out so often?

The only time we had a buyer pull out was they also got an offer accepted on another house which they preferred.

Our recent chain near collapsed as they wanted a reduction in price in 99th hour for a reason the were aware of when offering.

I'm a conveyancer and 99/100 it is because there are things that have been done to the property which don't have consent and the vendors are being awkward about resolving them. Sellers need to resolissues without quibbling about them.

Buyer pulling out: if in chain their own buyer pulling out or something on the survey or found a hoyad they like better
Seller pulling out: change of heart or their onward purchase falling through
I was days before exchange/completion on my last sale when the buyer's mother had a stroke and she felt she couldn't move further away

A lot of the time it’s because they get an offer accepted on a better/cheaper house. Having an offer accepted is not legally binding, so people have no qualms about pulling out if they find something bettter.

See I’m also a property lawyer and was going to say because they change their mind, realise they’ve overstretched themselves, been rushed and caught up in the agents guff and sense of urgency and competition they create.

Mortgage valuation? Not approved for the full funding?
How early did they pull out?
Does your agent require proof of finances before they can make an offer?

We had one lot pull out because of the survey but honestly I now have that survey and I just don’t think they know how to read them and got spooked, a second pulled out because I think he’d over committed himself as a cash buyer looking to get into property rental (it’s an Edwardian house), and I think he got swept up in the idea. We’re now on our third so bloody fingers crossed!

I think most people just change their minds, either the finances get too scary when they really add it all up or they see something else they like better, or facing the commitment they just can't do it

Reason that hasn't been mentioned above is that buyers lose patience with sellers messing around. Having to wait too long before the chain is complete, not being able to get straight answers, being given ultimatums etc. Anything that will cause the buyer to lose trust in the seller might make them decide the risks are too high to continue with the deal and look elsewhere. Definitely anything that makes the process take a long time leaves room for buyers to think the grass might be greener elsewhere.

Also, it might be worth double checking what your solicitor is doing/asking for and check they are responding to the buyers at a reasonable pace - anecdotally it does seem as if some solicitors are going a bit rogue and chucking all kinds of crazy demands around or just ignoring the buyers and the people selling have no idea that it's going on.

I'm guilty of pulling out twice.

First time I was trying to buy a leasehold flat, but when paperwork was sent through it also included ownership of the freehold. I was young and didn't want to be responsible for maintenance, management and collecting in monies from other tenants in the block. This won't affect you.

The second time, we struggled to get a mortgage on the property as it was steel framed. We got a mortgage, so were proceeding. The week before we thought we were about to exchange last minute paperwork showed something on the paperwork which meant someone else would be able to rip through the centre of our house to maintain their pipe - guess we'd probably have got indemnity insurance, but we really didn't want to risk that someone else could pull out home about (for their benefit and not ours).

So both times it was due to paperwork showing someone I/we were happy with.

From a buyers point of view you get 80% through the process with solicitors and the chain completes but sometimes even better comes on what would you do? Have a look round the other one and put offer on or finish and complete on the current one

Obviously you would loose a few k in legals and survey + time but maybe worth it in the long run?

Has anyone been in that situation?

Survey wobbles or change in circumstances

we pulled out of one house because of survey issues.
another because we walked past after having the offer accepted, and the neighbours were outside washing their car, radio on really loud, shouting at each other and kids etc...

Yes, we pulled out once and it was for this reason.

I had reservations about the house all along but there was very little on the market and we didn’t want to lose our buyers. Got close to Exchange and a better house came on the market so we pulled out of house 1 to purchase house 2. Felt awful but when you’re spending that much money you have to do what’s right for you.

We've pulled out because:

A better house came up that was cheaper.

When we got the survey done they'd boarded up the loft, so we had no clue what was up there, and it turned out the chain was about 9 parties long and it wasn't worth the stress

We did a bit more digging and the next door home was HMO (we pulled out very quickly on that one, about a day or so post offer).

I’ve just had my buyer (FTB’s in rented) pull out 8 days after me accepting their offer; they’d been through the whole mortgage broker process with the estate agent, which was approved, showed evidence of deposit, ID - and nominated solicitors.

In the meantime I had an offer accepted on my onward purchase.

It appears they carried on viewing other properties anyway and found something else. Their prerogative I guess, but doesn’t help me! This is why the Scottish system works much better.

My house had only been on the market 3 weeks, and I’ve had 4 new viewings yesterday / today so hopefully second time lucky.

I’m finding it highly stressful though!

I suppose at least it was only after a few days, and not further down the line.

How long was your buyer waiting due to this and was they okay?

Our buyer got refused a mortgage, not because of any issue with the house but an issue with his finances which came up when they ran all the checks. As a result we lost the dream house we were buying because it broke the chain. Why do people think they can hide things from lenders 😭

@ScoobyDoesnt it is grim, isn’t it!

One of our buyers pulled out the Friday afternoon just before Christmas. Said they didn’t want to do the work on our house they had planned after all (none of it immediately essential as ifsta well-maintained, well-presented house). Agent reckons they found somewhere else.

Our buyer waited for us but we rushed the new purchase through very quickly. We didn’t even get a survey in case it delayed things. Luckily for us the seller of the new house wanted things to move very quickly too.

Totally grim. It made me feel awful too for the people whose house I offered on, and they accepted.

I have pulled out of house sales twice. One almost immediately, this was back in the days before houses were online. We were not local, the house seemed cheap to us as Southerners in the North, we discovered it was very overpriced. The second time was a shame but the survey was dire.

A very lucky escape! 😱

My buyer once pulled out bc mobile phone mast was within 100m of the house 🤷‍♀️.
We live near London

We had a chain fall through as a house in the chain had a steel frame and there were mortgage issues.

Ds pulled out after survey couldn't trace the necessary building regs and when asked a few questions on this the vendor answered different questions and showed a complete misunderstanding of building regulations. So DS decided to pull out rather than get involved with a potential money pit and a definite gaslighting vendor.

Why would you carry on? There's always another house out there if you are the first rung of the ladder, anyway.