FOOL'S EYE VIEW
Keep The Housing Chain Moving

By David Kuo (TMFDragon)
July 18, 2002

Any one who has ever been involved in moving house will know that finding a buyer for your property is quite often the easy part. This is provided you market your home properly. Finding a suitable property that will become your next home can also be quite straightforward if you know what you are looking for.

In a previous article I suggested that during the early stages of relocating, it was not a good idea to get too bogged down with the actual minutia of moving. Your objective at the initial stages was to find a house that fulfills most, if not all, of your criteria for your next home. Once that has been achieved you should then focus on getting the best possible price for your existing house. However once all that has been accomplished you should then start looking a bit further down the road at the people who comprise your housing chain.

The Housing Chain

Most houses in the UK are sold as links in a chain, where buyers and sellers are all linked together in sequence. The chain must also have a starting and ending link in order for it to be complete. These housing chains can also vary greatly in length from just a simple two-transaction chain to more complex linkages where a whole string of separate buyers and sellers might be involved. It is not unusual for chains to comprise of half a dozen or more vendors and purchasers. In extreme cases this could stretch up to twenty separate parties.

For the various sale and purchases to take place successfully the entire chain must remain intact until all the transactions are completed. Sadly, statistics appear to show that almost one in three chains have a nasty habit of falling apart, and often at the most inopportune time. Chains might fall apart for a variety of reasons but there is quite a lot that we can do ourselves to keep that chain linked together. For that reason it is a good idea for you to know as much as possible about the people that make up your chain. Forewarned is forearmed, as they say.

Your Estate Agent Is Your Friend (Honestly!)

You should try to avoid buyers who might be involved in a particularly long chain. The longer the chain, the more likely that something could go wrong and anything untoward happening down the line could make a whole series of deals fall through. If you are in any doubt about the seller's position then just ask your estate agent to look into it. Bear in mind that the estate agent does not get his commission until completion.

The Home Seller's Pack

The powers that be are fully aware of the problems with housing chains. In fact there are plans to introduce a Home Seller's Pack, which would help resolve some of the problems associated with housing chains. Having said that, The Home Seller's Pack is not expected to become mandatory until next year. With a Home Seller's Pack, sellers will be required to provide details of property title deeds, draft sale contracts and any local authority searches. It is hoped that by providing these essential property details to a prospective buyer, any unpleasant surprises can be avoided later on during conveyancing. Although the law does not require a Sellers Pack to be available just yet it is nevertheless still a good idea to gather together as much of the information as possible early on. Anything that can help to speed up the buying and selling process will also help to enable the chain to function smoothly.

It's Good To Talk

It is also a good idea to try and be as truthful and honest as possible with your buyers and also your vendors. And you can only do this through effective communication. By passing on your thoughts and feelings to the parties involved you are helping to lubricate the housing chain. Make sure you have the contact details of both your vendor and purchaser and try to keep in regular contact with them, even if it is for a bit of idle chit-chat. It is all too easy to leave matters with the lawyers and estate agents. Prolonged periods of silence can be very disconcerting and minds do tend to wander. If you don't hear from your buyer for a while you begin to wonder if they perhaps they have lost interest in your property.

Flexibility Is The Key To Success

Try also to solve any minor problems that could hinder either the sale or purchase transactions at an early stage. Bear in mind that the housing chain could break down over something as trivial as an inappropriate completion date for one of the parties down the chain. So try to be as flexible as possible.

Moving house is said to be one of the most stressful activities in life but sometimes much of that tension is of our own doing. By learning to communicate effectively we can make house moving a much more painless and in the process a more pleasant experience. 

> For more on the homebuying process see our Mortgage Centre

The writer is currently entwined in a housing chain.