The Wharf: Home Front – July 16, 2009

Q. What is a sale chain?

A. Most property sales will involve a sales chain. This is because most people have to sell their home in order to buy another house. This creates a chain of related sales/purchases

First time buyers normally form the base of a chain, Sale chains can involve anywhere between 3 to 10+ transactions.

How does a chain break?

If any link fails the whole chain collapses.
So a problem with just one sale could jeopardise 10+ other transactions.

Why do sales abort?

A sale can fall through for a variety of reasons:

Unable to secure mortgage/finance
Adverse survey or down valuation
Change of circumstances e.g. redundancy
Find another property
Change their mind about buying

How common are chain break situations and how easy is it to repair them?

Unfortunately chain breaks are very common; especially in a market such as todays as more than one of the reasons quoted above seem to be generally prevalent at the moment in these uncertain times. To repair a broken chain the property that has lost its buyer needs to be resold and as quickly as possible. When this happens the estate agent will work around the clock to try and find a replacement buyer for fear of the whole chain collapsing. In general in the majority of cases most other parties of the chain are prepared to wait at least a few weeks for a replacement buyer to be found rather than start the whole process again.

“I have known Dawn in a professional capacity for a very long time, as we used to work together for a number of years. She has a comprehensive knowledge of the Docklands real estate market, but this is not her strongest point. What makes Dawn stand out as an agent is the effort she puts into every deal, the relationships she builds with everyone and the passion she has for what she does. Dawn and Gabriella have been managing my investment property for more than 3 years. I now live overseas and I feel so comfortable knowing they are really looking after my interest, whilst at the same time always being fair and transparent with the tenants. Nothing is big enough job for those ladies and everytime I say ‘thank you – I am so grateful for what you do’, the reply is ‘It’s my job’. I really cannot recommend this wonderful team enough!”

Daniela WeatherillOverseas Landlord

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Amy Facey

“Dawn Sandoval Residential and associates have managed several transactions on our behalf, and each time they have gone above and beyond our expectations. We trust the team highly, and I honestly couldn’t recommend them enough.”

Neil Chinniah

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Andrew Simmonds – Management Consultant

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David & Ginette Marks