House sale - what would you do?

Oh dear Luckygirl what stress! I agree with the other posters who recommend that you make your EA earn his fee, it is in his interest too remember, that is how he makes a living! I would also recommend that you try to detach yourself emotionally from your buyers, don't just go with them because you like them, hard I know, but people aren't always what they seem. I do really hope you get this resolved soon, I have been through this many times and it is unbelievably stressful.

'Cash Offer/buyer' has mixed message. It pften does not mean that the would-be buyer has the cash amount in the bank to pay over. It often means that the would-be purchaser will not require any mortgage AFTER they have sold their existing property.

Estate Agents should really determine the position of the purchaser BEFORE they permit them to view any properties.

Kamiso

nipsmum

This doesn't happen in Scotland. If you submit an offer to the lawyer dealing with the property and its accepted by the seller the house is yours no matter what happens. Its so much more simple than the English system.

Except when the seller then sits on the offer for the best part of a year. My friends were stuck as they were bound by their offer but the seller was presumably hoping someone else would step in with a higher bid.

In Australia when an offer is accepted it becomes binding after a short period of time - usually 14 days.
The offer we have just had accepted was only subject to us having a Building and Pest inspection carried out and being satisfactory to us. That was to be done within 14 days of us signing the contact. On signing we paid a deposit of 10% of the purchase price. Once the inspection was carried out and the result acceptable the contract became binding. At the time of the offer a date is agreed on for settlement (completion) and everyone knows when it will be finalized. This can be any time which is decided by the parties involved but is usually 60 or 90 days. In our case as the vendor has already bought and we were keen to settle so we did not have to find another rental we agreed on about 45 days. The majority of offers would be conditional on the purchaser having finance approved although mostly this is pre approved to an amount now but still has to be confirmed by the lender.
If a purchaser pulls out after the contract becomes binding they would loose their deposit.

It is highly unlikely that a sale would not go ahead once an offer is accepted so everyone knows the timeline and can plan accordingly.

It is driving me nuts!

The property I wanted has just received a cash offer and the builder cannot refuse it. So here I am with a buyer for here, who (if I accept the offer) wants to move quickly and I may have nowhere to move to. The builder has another property which he is prepared to earmark for me, but won't be finished till April.

What a muddle.

nipsmum

This doesn't happen in Scotland. If you submit an offer to the lawyer dealing with the property and its accepted by the seller the house is yours no matter what happens. Its so much more simple than the English system.

I agree that is much fairer,much simpler and takes away a lot of the stress unlike the English system which seems to thrive on causing stress....?

Kamiso or when the seller takes it off the market and it sells to a friend of his 3 weeks later for less than we had offered....well he didn't have fees to pay that way!! We've sold our house three times in the past five years ,its a lovely house and sells quickly every time and we've felt like shit at letting buyers down but we cant move into a rental with cats so we need somewhere to go .One guy accepted our offer before his FIL told us he was just "trialling the market" so he knew what his ex wife was due from the sale and the third one is still in the house he was "desperate to sell" that had been on the market for over 4 years before we offered...he wanted us to turn up at his door with a suitcase full of cash .Honestly you couldn't make it up.
I hope your sale goes through quickly this time and you can move on.Its been a very tough time for you and you deserve a break

nipsmum

This doesn't happen in Scotland. If you submit an offer to the lawyer dealing with the property and its accepted by the seller the house is yours no matter what happens. Its so much more simple than the English system.

But Lucky is in England!

Not sure what he means Luckygirl - surely your EA took the potential buyer's financial status when he was allowed to view?

We are in England and a few years ago made an offer on a house, they said they had a lot of interest and decided to go for sealed bids with the proviso that the purchaser had to provide evidence that they could complete in a month. Is that still a thing that can be done?

What a minefield it all is!

Agent is still trying to check out potential buyer's financial status - he can't get an answer from their agent.

nipsmum

This doesn't happen in Scotland. If you submit an offer to the lawyer dealing with the property and its accepted by the seller the house is yours no matter what happens. Its so much more simple than the English system.

Except when the seller then sits on the offer for the best part of a year. My friends were stuck as they were bound by their offer but the seller was presumably hoping someone else would step in with a higher bid.

Good luck. My daughter is also in the process of selling and buying at the movement and it’s all very stressful at the bat of times isn’t it! Stay safe and hope you’re feeling better soon.

Depending on the asking price for the Bungalow, a lot of buyers are now rushing to complete their purchase before the Stamp duty holiday expires at the end of March, and the price increases to as it was before.
A Cash buyer who has been checked out regarding having the funds available, would more than lightly be able to complete quicker than someone who is relying on third party funding.
Your Solicitor should be able to make these checks on your behalf. It may also be worth asking if the cash buyer is relying on the funds from the completion of his previous property to fund buying yours, or his Cash buyer status is simply due to the fact that he doesn’t require a mortgage in order to buy your bungalow. Good Luck,

My dd when house hunting in the summer was told by 3 different estate agents that people are viewing many houses at a time and putting offers on multiple properties so they have time to pick and choose. It’s all to beat the stamp duty scheme that government put in place until March, then they are pulling out at last minute and causing havoc along the way leaving people in situation you’ve found yourself in. I’d say go with your gut and don’t worry about others as they clearly are playing around. Good luck.

my advice would be, if purple bricks are anywhere in the chain , pull out. my parents have finally moved but it was PB and their legal stuff that slowed everything down and dragged their feet.

Good luck Luckygirl.

It's all so difficult isn't it, people tell lies and the EA have a hard job to prove they are proceedable. My first buyer said he was in rented and had cash - he wasn't, he lived in a £750K house which he still had to sell, wasn't even under offer. I'd jumped through hoops to accommodate him, my son took a day off work for his second viewing as I was away visiting my aunt, I was furious. He withdrew once the EA proved he didn't have the funds. Second EA had to pursue my 'cash' buyer for three weeks to prove his funds, it turned out his ex wife in Sweden had the cash, he wasn't getting any of it, he withdrew.

I wouldn't come off the market until the person can prove their funds.

No. Get on to your estate agent and let them sort it out. That's what you pay them for.

You need to get this completed as soon as possible before the stamp duty "holiday" ends in April. Go for the person best able to complete quickly, which seems like the man who has offered full asking price. Good luck.

Yes, take the offer, but make sure you have a non-returnable deposit in case his buyers pull out. Good luck.

Accept the offer, say that you will take the house of the market after proof of resources and any other verification - ie at the moment it stays on market and viewers are welcome. (Do it all in a very friendly way but don't get into the position of having turned down other acceptable offers from a misplaced loyalty to this one.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Unfortunately the person to whom I have been allocated in the agency is a bit of a waste of space and I have had cause to go over her head before.

But.....I need to stay with this agency as they are marketing the new-build that I want and are mates with the builder - so I need to keep in with them as they have been pleading my cause with the builder.

Yesterday I had a call arranging the third viewing for Saturday, and after I put the phone down I did not feel happy with any of it so rang back. This time I spoke to a man who seemed more on the ball - I asked him to investigate the true financial status of the person who has made the offer. He could not get hold of their agent but said he would do so first thing this morning. I am awaiting a call back.

Of course a lot also depends on the financial status of the other two who wish to view on Saturday. I do not know whether it is appropriate for the agent to look into this as they are only viewers and have not made offers.

Just at this minute I am not keen to have the Saturday viewers as I have a sore throat and a very minor temperature (only 37.5, but usually around 36.8, so high for me).

This doesn't happen in Scotland. If you submit an offer to the lawyer dealing with the property and its accepted by the seller the house is yours no matter what happens. Its so much more simple than the English system.

I agree with those above who say the EA needs to be finding out more about the buyer. Where are his funds coming from, ie what does cash actually mean? We had a so called cash buyer who was getting money from a divorce settlement, but even that got messy with checks on money laundering.
I would certainly keep those other viewings, its only 3 days off. Good luck!

Some 30 years ago we had all but sold our house - the prospective buyers had even come to measure up for central heating. They were held up selling their house and, initially, we weren't in a hurry.

The problem was that both we and my parents were selling to move a long distance. We needed to sell both houses more or less at the same time.

In the end we had to let someone else have the house because they were able to buy immediately. We felt really bad letting the original people down, but we just couldn't wait any longer.

I'd be inclined to go with the offer you have but, if anyone makes a sensible offer on Saturday and can move faster, then I'd inform the original buyer that they're in competition.

Agreed to using your estate agent to do their job (I work in an agency ). By law we have to see proof of funds before an offer can be officially accepted so ask the agent to get the cash buyer to prove funds plus to “chain check “ the other offer and actually ascertain the truth of the status of the chain and how long it will take. Your agent can then call your developer and confirm the chain or cash and secure tour property. Not all agents are bad the one I work in is very professional but as someone else said buyers do lie to agent as well as vendor so get the agent to confirm ALL offers etc and then you will make a fully informed decision.