The 4 Most Common Reasons Your House Purchase Can Fall Through
House purchases rarely go as smoothly as you want them to. Were you aware that over 30% of all property sales fall through before completion? It happens far more often than you expect – and it could well happen to you when buying your dream home.
What makes a house purchase fall through? All manner of factors can bundle together here, though it’s normally down to one of these:
Being Stuck In A Chain
Property chains are the bane of most house purchases. It’s not always enough for you to be ready to buy a house; you also rely on the seller and their next steps. They may only want to sell after securing their new home, which leaves you in a chain that can break at any moment. If their next purchase falls through, they won’t sell their property. This leaves you waiting around and could result in the home being removed from the market entirely. You can try to avoid this by searching for properties without a chain.
Picking A Terrible Solicitor
Your solicitor is responsible for facilitating the house purchase and will handle everything from reviewing and writing contracts to transferring money between parties. If you pick a bad solicitor, this can result in communication delays that irritate the seller and encourage them to back out of your offer. Make sure you find the best house buying solicitors in your area to deal with your home purchase. Good solicitors will help you speed through the process and secure your dream home ASAP.
Getting Gazumped By Another Buyer
Being “gazumped” means another buyer has slipped in with a higher offer than yours before contracts have been exchanged with the seller. It’s a no-brainer for the seller to back out of your deal and proceed with the new one because they’ll get more money. This kind of goes back to the solicitor problem as one of the biggest mistakes when buying a home is not exchanging the contracts soon enough to prevent gazumping. If you exchange contracts with the seller, they legally can’t accept another offer without at least paying compensation. Move to this point as quickly as you can (if you’re happy with the home) to stop other buyers from swooping in.
Problems With Your Mortgage
Most home buyers will require a mortgage, and this throws up all sorts of problems. The obvious one is finding a home and then not managing to get a mortgage. Sellers probably won’t accept your offer unless you prove you can provide the funds – which requires a mortgage in principle. In simple terms, this is a statement from a lender explaining that they’re willing to let you borrow x amount of money. It shows the seller you can get a mortgage, so the sale shouldn’t fall through.
Having said that, make sure you turn your mortgage in principle into a proper mortgage as quickly as possible. Avoid making any big financial changes to your life after getting the principal mortgage statement, as this can alter what you’re allowed to borrow and cause complications that force a seller to back out.
Know the troubles you might face, and it’s easier to prevent them. This lets you set yourself up for more success when buying a home, as there’ll be less chance of the purchase falling through because of something annoying!