At our wits end…
My family has had a shocker of a year, leading to a relocation to Devon to care for my mum who has terminal pancreatic cancer. Due to the move we put our property in Sussex on the market in September.
First sale: sold within 3 days of it going on the market to the first people who viewed it. They then proceeded to ghost us for 10 days before pulling out.
Second sale: sold again within 4 days of going back on the market. This couple went through the whole conveyancing process before pulling out a few weeks before exchange (Feb 2026) due to a family emergency.
Third sale: Again, sold super quickly after going back on the market. Sold for slightly under asking this time to what was apparently a ‘highly motivated’ buyer. The buyer is cash from sale of her house (selling due to divorce).
This week we have finally found a property in Devon we want to put an offer in on… and yesterday, the day we’re speaking to the onward estate agent to make the offer, we get a call from our estate agent selling our house saying that the buyer of our buyer’s house has pulled out because the house was undervalued.
The current buyer of our Sussex home and their solicitor have been ridiculously fussy with enquiries - our solicitor told us he’s never had so much pushback on enquiries for a new-ish build freehold property - but we’re nearing exchange, especially considering the pressure is on to get on with it now.
They have 2 viewings scheduled for this house, one of which doesn’t have a property to sell.
So. Do we wait for this seller to sell her house and hope it happens quickly? And use the fact that we’re going to wait for her as a bit of negotiation power/pressure for her to get a move on and stop with the incessant push back on enquiries?
Or do we go back on the market for a fourth time and hope we fjnd someone with no chain?
We can’t have our offer accepted on our onward property until we have a complete chain so we need to move fast.
Thanks in advance for any advice or guidance