A property sale can fall through at any point before contracts are exchanged. Sometimes the reason is obvious: a survey uncovers a serious problem, somebody's circumstances change or a buyer can no longer get the mortgage they need.
Quite often, though, there isn't one dramatic moment where everything goes wrong. A transaction simply gets slower. Something sits unanswered for longer than it should, the chain loses momentum, the buyer becomes frustrated and eventually somebody decides they've waited long enough.
Not every fall-through can be prevented. People change their minds and circumstances change. But good sales progression can make a difference to the ones that happen because something was allowed to drift.
Why do property sales fall through?
There are dozens of possible reasons, but most will involve some combination of the chain, legal work, finance, the property itself or one of the people involved.
1. Something changes elsewhere in the chain
One of the frustrating things about property chains is that your own transaction can be progressing perfectly well when another sale falls apart.
If somebody further up withdraws, their seller may no longer be able to proceed with their purchase. That affects the transaction below them, which affects the one below that, and eventually the problem reaches your buyer or seller.
You can't prevent every chain break. What you can do is keep an accurate picture of the chain so you know when something changes.
Regular contact with the other agents helps here. If another transaction is having difficulties, we'd rather know about it early and understand what's happening than discover it when everybody is trying to agree completion dates.
2. The legal work takes longer than expected
Conveyancing involves a lot of moving parts. Searches need to come back, enquiries need to be raised and answered, documents need reviewing and third parties may need to provide additional information.
Some of that simply takes time.
The problem is when waiting becomes drifting.
If a solicitor is waiting for a document from their client, somebody needs to know. If replies to enquiries have been received but haven't yet been reviewed, that's useful information too. If everyone simply knows that "it's with the solicitors", it becomes very difficult to tell whether the transaction is progressing or has quietly stopped.
That's why useful sales progression goes a little further than asking for an update. Establish what's actually outstanding, who has it and what needs to happen next.
3. The buyer's mortgage runs into a problem
A mortgage can introduce delays or uncertainty at several stages of the transaction.
The lender might need further documents, the valuation could come back lower than the agreed purchase price or something about the property may need investigating before they're prepared to lend.
Mortgage offers also have expiry dates. On a longer transaction, particularly one involving a chain, it's worth keeping an eye on how long the buyer's offer remains valid.
The mortgage broker will normally handle the application itself, but from a progression point of view it's still important to know where things stand. You don't want the legal work reaching the finish line only to discover there's an unresolved mortgage issue.
4. The survey changes how the buyer feels about the property
Surveys can uncover anything from relatively minor maintenance issues to something that genuinely needs further investigation.
The report itself can also be intimidating. A surveyor's job is to identify defects and potential risks, so even a fairly ordinary report can look alarming to somebody who doesn't deal with property every day.
That doesn't mean the agent should dismiss the surveyor's findings or try to give technical advice. But there is an important role in keeping communication going.
Does the buyer want further investigations? Are they asking the seller to carry out work? Do they want to renegotiate? Is there some history behind an issue that the seller can explain?
The sooner everybody understands what the buyer is actually concerned about, the sooner they can work out whether there's a way forward.
5. Somebody changes their mind
Sometimes there isn't a procedural problem at all.
A buyer might decide the property isn't right for them. A seller's circumstances might change. Somebody might lose a job, separate from their partner or decide they don't want to move anymore.
There isn't a progression process that can eliminate those fall-throughs.
What you can sometimes spot is a change in behaviour. A previously engaged buyer becomes difficult to reach, stops asking questions or starts taking much longer to respond.
That doesn't automatically mean they're going to withdraw. It does mean we'd probably pick up the phone and check how they're feeling about the purchase rather than assuming everything is fine.
The difference between a delay and a problem
This is an important distinction.
Not everything that takes time is going wrong.
If searches are expected back in three weeks and you're currently in week two, you're waiting. If nobody knows whether the searches were ever ordered, you have a problem.
If a solicitor has received replies to enquiries and told you they'll review them over the next few days, you're waiting. If two weeks pass and nobody has checked whether they've been reviewed, the transaction has started to drift.
Good progression isn't about relentlessly chasing everybody involved. It's about knowing when something should happen and noticing when it hasn't.
That allows you to put your attention in the right place without creating unnecessary noise everywhere else.
Communication matters more than constant updates
Buyers and sellers don't necessarily need an exciting update every week. Property transactions simply don't produce one.
They do, however, need to know what's happening.
There's a big difference between:
"No update this week."
and:
"We're still waiting for the searches, which are expected back next week. There's nothing you need to do at the moment and we'll check again once they're due."
The underlying position is exactly the same. The second gives the client some context.
This becomes particularly important when a transaction takes longer than expected. Silence leaves people to make their own assumptions about what's happening, and those assumptions aren't always particularly positive.
Where agencies can make the difference
Keeping one transaction on track is relatively straightforward. Keeping 30 transactions on track, all at different stages and with different things outstanding, is where sales progression becomes difficult.
One needs a solicitor chasing today. Another has searches due on Friday. A seller needs to return a document. A mortgage valuation needs following up. Another file is completely ready but waiting for the chain above it.
None of those things takes very long to deal with individually. The difficult part is making sure the right thing happens on the right file at the right time.
And that's where an agent can genuinely influence the outcome.
Map the chain early. Know where the mortgage is. Keep track of what's outstanding with the solicitors. Deal with survey concerns when they're raised. Speak to buyers and sellers regularly enough to notice when something has changed.
Most importantly, don't confuse a quiet file with a healthy file.
Sometimes there genuinely is nothing to do. That's fine. You just want to know that's why it's quiet.
Good sales progression can't guarantee that every sale completes. What it can do is give you a much better chance of seeing the problems while there's still time to do something about them.