Would anyone like an 'in a chain' support group?

[thenewaveragebear1983]

Would anyone like an 'in a chain' support thread? We're selling and buying and it's so stressful!! We've found our 'dream house' and had an offer accepted, had an offer on ours within a week which was subsequently retracted. Wondered if anyone else was finding this whole process ridiculously stressful?

[Mummyme87]

Yes. I hate chains. 5 of us in our chain. Should have exchanged today but last night top of the chain wasn't ready. Their solicitor had forgotten to send a form which they have had gold of for two weeks. So so furious

[Ilikedogs]

We are hoping to exchange next Tuesday so getting there, but you never really feel certain until the keys are in your hands!
We have 4 in our chain and have never been in a chain before... Very frustrating not to be in control of everything. The only reassuring thing is that (one way or another) it will all be done soon.

Hopefully if you got an offer quickly the first time it's likely to happen again. Good luck.

[NarcyCow]

We're in a chain of four currently, having had two purchases fall through already. I feel like every hair on my head will be grey by the time we actually move.

[thenewaveragebear1983]

You all sound much further on than us. The lady who we're buying off has said she'll wait for us to sell as we really want her house, but she won't wait indefinitely. We have a viewing lined up for tomorrow afternoon- the EA has said they will only show people round who've sold already, so hopefully she's keen to move. That would make it a chain of 5, is that going to be ridiculously complicated? The irony is that if, once we get s buyer, it drags on a bit, it's not the worst thing as we can save quite a bit of money in our current house and once we move we'll be skint!

[LauraCD]

We are in a chain of 4 and were supposed to complete on 22nd July, the solicitor at the top of the chain was not ready to exchange for another week. The next week they were not ready because they were missing a guarantee from underpinning work. We were then told it would not be until the 2nd week of August. EA rang to sort out a convenient completion day which all parties agreed on. The week before the date, when we were due to exchange, the solicitor at the top still had enquiries. We now have no date for exchange or completion and are waiting for the enquiries to be answered before exchanging! I don't know how much longer this can take, I'm sick of waiting!! I've prodded my solicitors and EA but they tell me they can't do anything until the top of the chain is ready.

[PurpleDaisies]

Me too! We're now a chain of three after the people we are buying from suddenly decide they were going to buy a house instead of renting (after months of saying "yes, we'll move out as soon as you and your buyers are ready to go"...grrrr!). Dh starts a new job in two weeks in the new area we're moving to (2 hours away so he'll be living in a Travelodge, our buyers are desperate to go as quickly as possible and the top has only just started their purchase. It's great...

Our mortgage is through, we had the survey done on our place yesterday, the survey on our purchase is already back and mainly fine. Just need the top of the chain to get their act together now.

[thenewaveragebear1983]

It's amazing anyone actually ever buys a house really isn't it? We have our mortgage approved provided we actually get a buyer for our house! We're on a mad saving mission as we need to put down 9k more than we originally budgeted, so a bit of a delay isn't the end of the world for us, but we're not going to begin any of the 'process' until we have a buyer for ours. Our sellers seller is on a cruise til 19th August - things could all change then as when they went away we had a buyer and now we don't. I don't cope well with not being in control and with stress.,,,!

[thenewaveragebear1983]

How's everyone doing? Any developments? We've had a few more viewings and another 2 booked in.
Did any of you do any kind of 'Amanda lamb' revamp when selling? If so what, and did it work? My dh has our smallest room as an office and I think we need to put it back to a bedroom. Do you think people really are as blind as she makes out in the show?

[Ilikedogs]

We have exchanged after the solicitors had a mix up at the bottom of the chain. I'm excited but also crying inside at the debt we are about to take on! And I now have a week to pack a 3 bed house with a toddler in tow... Scary stuff!

averagebear I think it depends how 'desirable' your house is as to how much effort you go to. Definitely get all surfaces clear and hide toys/nick knacks dress with cushions and flowers. For your smallest room I think it depends... If he has a huge desk in there that makes he room look tiny then maybe consider changing it but if you can still tell that a bed fits make sure the ea is telling people at viewings that the room fits a double or single etc.

[thenewaveragebear1983]

Hurray dogs you must be relieved/excited! Have you started packing already or is it now all hands to the deck?
Dh's desk is a giant, black glass beast of a thing, covered in dust and blokey stuff like shoe shiner and stapler and ticket stubs and the rest. Also 3 giant tarantulas in paperweights. It's hard to see how a single bed would fit but it definitely does. It does not look like a room you'd envisage your new baby sleeping- but it's going to be difficult because we actually need it as an office. We've devised a strategy to make it more bedroom like and easy to move the desk over to put a z bed out for viewings.

[HuckleberryGin]

We are on the cusp of exchange. We've had nightmare buyers, they are ready and don't seem to understand that concept of a chain. But our vendors were slow at instructing solicitor so we are a bit behind with our purchase.

We are awaiting a Local Authority search and confirmation from our lender on some search issues. I was hoping we might exchange tomorrow, for completion next Friday. But doesn't look likely. We can't book removals or anything until exchange.

I am so stressed

[thenewaveragebear1983]

Huckleberry that does sound stressful. I suppose you just have to wait until all the details are done but that doesn't make it less stressful!
Has the process gone on a long time? What's the sort of average these days? We were hoping to be in ours by xmas but then our buyers pulled out so.....!
Have a viewing today, the lady wants me to be here as well as the agent which I took as being quite promising.
Fingers crossed for you all!

[Ilikedogs]

Huckleberry we were able to provisionally book the removals once we had an idea of completion date and then confirmed it as soon as we exchanged.

Ours is taking 10 weeks since the chain was complete but we took about 4 months to find something so for the bottom of the chain it has taken 6 or 7 months. We were lucky to have such a patient chain!

[thenewaveragebear1983]

Well it's reassuring that people are so patient. We are quite concerned that the lady we're buying off or the people she's buying off will give up waiting for us- although it's only been since 21st July. Perhaps o shouldn't worry too much yet. I strongly believe that the chain is stronger when the people really want the property and are emotionally invested, so hopefully she agrees! Our viewing went well, the whole family came round- they are looking for a granny annexe, we have a brick built garden room with garage so they seemed very keen. The chap was a builder, he was kind of sizing up every room- I'd love to know what they were calculating. Hopefully will get some feedback tomorrow!

[Mummyme87]

Should have exchanged last Friday didn't happen as solicitors at the top forgot to send the land registry form off, should have exchanged today but now delayed for 1-2weeks due to solicitor needing some figure from legal aid with one of her clients. We should have been completing on Thursday. I am livid. I have sent a strongly worded email to be passed on up the chain. This has major implications and could cost us financially and in time 😡😡😡😡

[olafisking]

Me please! I hate everyone in my chain. Only 4 in total, our buyers who are FTB, us, our vendor and their vendor. We are now 6 months and counting since our buyer originally offered. Our vendor has taken ages at every stage (8 weeks to make an offer and didn't instruct a solicitor until just before that, so all paperwork was delayed). A couple of weeks back we were told that everyone was ready to go, the top of the chain moving into a rental and a proposed moving date of 26th August which we were delighted by. However everything then went quiet until beginning of this week when the bombshell was dropped that the people currently in the rental property are... in the process of buying a house. It's empty but they've only just had their mortgage accepted so we are talking several weeks until the top of the chain is likely to be able to move in.

Meanwhile we have had 5 months of our estate agent chasing us saying our buyer won't wait forever, they could drop out etc etc, most recently saying they are ready to go and can we please hurry up the top of the chain (we wish). However today we have received new enquiries from the buyer's lawyer! Two indemnity policies they want, one for an issue that we thought was resolved (by us dropping the price) and one for something we knew nothing about and was never mentioned as an issue when we moved into the house. We are just paying to get rid of them as it amounts to £200 but will be asking for a reassurance that the file is now completed as it sticks in the throat that they are STILL sending through enquiries at this late stage.

All this and we have applied for our son's new school on the basis of the proposed moving date, so could be in the ludicrous situation of him being accepted there before we move which would mean driving him 20 minutes to get there, then driving back 30 minutes the other way (literally past our house) to get to work.

Sigh. Maybe we'll be in by the end of September?

[thenewaveragebear1983]

Ola good grief that does sound horrific! The more I hear about these processes the more it seems like the solicitors have a lot to answer for in regards to delays and issues. Hang on in there, provided all parties are still wanting the property they're buying, then the chain will survive these glitches and you'll move soon!
Buyers who looked round our house yesterday said it was beautiful, perfect for them, they loved it. But won't go any further as we have an access road behind our house to a little unit/workshop. Aaaarrrrrgggfhhggg! They live on our road for gods sake, they know that it's there. It annoys me that the E A are not getting more useable feedback from them because if the house is so perfect then they would see past this, especially as it was no surprise to them before they viewed. I think the EA should be asking them more specifically for feedback and relaying it to us. It's 4 weeks since we went on the market now, I think we should instruct a 2nd agent but dh says we can't as our current agent is also EA for our vendor and their vendor, so it's sort of in their interest to keep the chain going. It's so frustrating.

[HuckleberryGin]

The feedback is so annoying- we had loads that was stuff they could have known or seen without the stress of viewing.

Ola that sounds awful. Essentially our issues have all been caused because our buyers have handed in notice on rented property before exchange. Which is just daft.

[thenewaveragebear1983]

We have had a busy day turning the office into quite a funky little bedroo. The walls were grey already so we've moved furniture to allow a single bed in and got rid of big black shelves in favour of white bookshelves. I have also bought a few cheap yellow and Greg accessories. It looks quite smart. Once dh has sorted all his files out I will post a picture for your approval!
Could be the week when it all goes wrong for us however, as our vendors vendor is back home from holiday and will be told that we no longer have a buyer. They may then at that news decide to go back on the market, therefore so might our vendor so she doesn't lose the place she wants. We have a viewing booked in for Monday though and hopefully a few more will come through after people see the papers. Have seen a few cars driving slooooowly past the house as well, having a snoop!
I feel pretty meh about the whole process right now, let's see what the week brings eh? Anyone moving this week??

[BazHasUnfortunateEyes]

Well our chain fell apart on Friday because the person at the bottom pulled out. Apparently they are very angry because they wanted to be in by the end of August but no-one else can be ready by then. We were all set to exchange next week .
Hoping she might have a change of heart and agree to wait just a couple more weeks. I wish we hadn't just spent £1k on a full building survey on the property we want to buy last week but we had no idea this date was make or break .
Am not sure why pulling out will help her as she definitely won't find somewhere else to buy before this end of August cut off but since I have no direct contact with her, I can't ask
We've already been through hell and back (during this process) with our buyers - long and complicated - and now this.
Am so stressed and exhausted but can't do anything about it, we have been prompt with getting all documents to solicitor and been in almost daily touch with agents, such a horrible feeling to be completely out of control of a potentially life changing decision

Looking forward to seeing the bedroom transformation averagebear those house Doctor (showing my age) progs always suggest showing people what they can do with rooms rather than having to make them imagine it.

[thenewaveragebear1983]

Baz that is awful and must be so incredibly frustrating, not to mention costly. You're right, there's no way she will move by her deadline now, so her choice is wait 2 more weeks or potentially months! Hopefully the EA and solicitor will have told her this and it will all come good.
In the meantime

[HuckleberryGin]

Oh Baz that's awful. Our buyers have been a bloody nightmare all the way through. But we've already had a sale fall through, so have jumped through hoops to keep them happy.

Why do the bottom of the chain seem to have such unrealistic ideas of how long it will take. Surely she'll lose loads of money and never find anywhere else that quickly.

[BazHasUnfortunateEyes]

Thanks averagebear

[BazHasUnfortunateEyes]

I know Huckleberry! That's what I don't understand. I just wish this had all been cleared up sooner (ie before we'd forked out on the expensive survey!)

I'm beyond frustrated with the whole thing. She'll have time to think over the weekend. I'm the master of 'act first, think later' so I'm really hoping she is too and after a weekend to mull it over will come round to waiting a couple of weeks (everything crossed).

If not we're back to square one and the torture of viewings etc and hoping like hell that the house we want to buy/have had surveyed doesn't sell in the meantime.

[thenewaveragebear1983]

Baz has she seen sense over the weekend?