booboo1

Ive heard about people who say they will buy your home and then right before they exchange they decide to hold you to ransom. If you dont reduce your price then they will pull out of the purchase.!!!!!
I think I,ll just say we are going into rented and not mention our intentions of moving to Aus as this may spur some of these types on.
Has anyone else heard this sort of thing happening?

BooBoo:scared:

booboo1

I mean ROTTEN rumours , not rooten. I got my rooten,tooten
spelling wrong!!

BooBoo

joh117

Not quite the same but my husbands house buyer offered then did nothing for 5 weeks (no money to solicitor for searches and had not applied for mortgage) when asked he did not want to pay for a survey ummed and aghed but said he still wanted the house! We put it back on the market but fingers crossed things are looking better and he has pulled his finger out.

He tried to hold us to the Oz thing when some essential repairs were brought up but we said no way was the price reducing we would get the repairs carried out.

Are we the only ones trying to sell 2 houses at once?

Sometimes think we must be mad!

Jo

Andy_Hanrahan

I've heard about this happening, but I guess you have to find ways of tipping the odds back in your favour.

I think not mentioning the Oz thing could be a good idea. We've been mentioning it, but playing it cool, making it seem like we can move "whenever". (most non-migrants know nothing about validation dates!)

One of the agents we are with is quite pro-active about people having a mortgage sorted out etc. They also insist on a £250 deposit from the buyer when an offer is made, if they want it taken off the market. Apparently, people who are grudging about paying it, are often the type to pull out anyway

Also, I did hear also about someone in the position you described, who called the buyer's bluff and said "fine - we've had another offer" The buyer then hastily backed down, so this particular game of Russian Roullete can cut both ways.

Andy

mashiraz

We thought about that too and it remains to be seen, however it was farr too confusing to lie to prospective buyers. Couldn't keep track of who we told what and anyhow they'll find out and you'll just look shify if they end up honest!

No win scenario..
Basically we decided if they pull out we'll rent it. No great shakes to us...

Mash...

Megalania

In Aus, to use a quaint Yankie expresion: "money talks and bullshit walks". Buyer puts down 10% non-refundable deposit to have the property taken off the market for a specific time, usually 1 month. No conditional "chain" clauses. No completion, buyer loses the dough.

etlniwd

I second everything this poster says. I've been through the house sale and emigration process and out the other side last year. By all means tell people you are emigrating because it comforts them to know that you're are not in a chain and that you aren't just selling because there is something wrong with the house. However, it really helps to be laid back and to tell people that you have no set date to move and that you are prepared to wait as long as it takes to sell the house.

Don't be blackmailed. Pull out if somebody tries to get money off at the last minute. If the potential buyer knows this in the first place then there's less chance that they'll try it on.

Insist that your agent thoroughly vets any potential buyers. I had a cash buyer but I wouldn't take my property off the market until my agent had been shown the bank statement to prove that they could afford it.

Cash buyers and no-chain buyers are king. It's worth knocking off a few thou to secure one of these.

Chris000

hi, yep, this happened to us.But we made the bad, bad mistake of assuming that the buyer was a nice guy- first time buyer, single,no chain.But when push came to shove he was still messing us around on the day we flew here, refusing to sign contracts unless we dropped the price.Estate agents phoned him at work, he promised to sign the next day- didn't.Could have killed him.!!!!!eventually he signed three weeks later, four thousand pounds less than we agreed originally.We were just so fed up with E-mailing the Estate agents daily, no replies that we gave in.I don't recommend letting the greedy *******s win but there comes a point where you are just so sick of worrying that he will pull out that we chose the lesser of the evils.
I will never reveal to the potential purchaser any of our plans again, we told him what we were doing and he used it to his advantage. Lets hope that the rising damp is still rising.!!!!!