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Original poster

By my calculation, there are at least 8 houses in our chain. Please come and share my misery!

20 replies

puffylovett · 19/05/2011 09:21

been waiting since January, were supposed to complete today originally :( Only found out on tuesday that top of chain hasn't even instructed their solicitor yet!
Am in the middle of reception school place appeals as obviously we didn't get offered a local school.
All this us making my Pnd and headaches come back....
Please come and commiserate / hold my hand / profer alcohol and chocolate!!

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lalalonglegs · 19/05/2011 09:26

The top of the chain hasn't even instructed their solicitor yet - on so many levels. You are paying your estate agent to sort this kind of thing out - bawl him/her out and find what the hell is going on.

Original poster

puffylovett · 19/05/2011 09:42

To be fair to the e a, they have spent the last week trying to get the two liars vendors who originally agreed to break the chain if need be, to actually break it. Only they are now denying they said that and refusing.

I know it's just circumstance, we are second from bottom and in current climate why look until you are under offer? But still soooo frustrated.

Thankfully our buyer is happy to wait and save money for work on our house. It's us who need to get in ASAP

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myron · 19/05/2011 10:18

Feel your pain but you will survive! We have recently sold and it took 9 months and 2 sales falling through to get there. No.1 sale was to no chain buyers who lied to us about not needing to sell their house to buy ours so we wasted 2 months/took the house off the market for them. Why did they do that? To haggle a better price! They put their house on the market once we accepted their no chain offer and what they hoped to do was to be under offer quickly and then link it to their purchase of ours i.e put it in a chain. We were p* off to say the least when they admitted that 5 weeks later. We were back on the market and had accepted a higher offer by the time they had an offer from theirs. They actually came back and made a lower offer the 2nd time round even though we had already accepted a much higher one! No.2 sale was a short chain of 2 houses - ours and our buyers so on the surface, it would've been quick. 3 mths later, our buyers' buyers pulled out just before exchange. No.3 sale was a chain of 3 houses and we completed stressfree 3 mths later. It's definitely worth taking a lower offer from a shorter chain to minimise the risk of the chain breaking down.

Original poster

puffylovett · 19/05/2011 10:26

Oh god that sounds horrific! How did you stay sane?
I must admit to reading lots of past threads about lengthy chains, it has calmed me down somewhat to know it's a common occurrence !

It's just frustrating to have buyers who are chain free and vendors who were originally going to move in with her daughter to now all of a sudden be stuck at the bottom of a slow moving leviathan :(

Thanks for the wine lala :)

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myron · 19/05/2011 13:17

We had already relocated to a new area across the country so it didn't impede us from moving. The downside was obviously paying both mortgage and rent at the same time. Now, at least, we have a major advantage in offering for our next house. We've bought and sold 3 previous houses in the past 12 years and this has definitely been the most tortuous occasion.

angel1976 · 19/05/2011 22:59

We are in a chain of 3 (or so we thought!). Our buyers got to the stage of ready to exchange last week. We got to that stage yesterday, so just waiting for our buyers on their purchase. Their agent called me to give me an update today and waffling about how the people who are selling their house to our sellers are getting on with their house purchase and I was like 'Say what??? I thought that was the end of the chain.' The agent said 'Well, I thought so too!' So we are now in a chain of 4 but should be ready to exchange next week. I will believe it when it happens! There should be a limit on the number in chains...

Original poster

puffylovett · 20/05/2011 12:39

Yy you're right, there should. Or the whole bloody system needs to change.

Fingers crossed for exchange next week problem free for you :)

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angel1976 · 20/05/2011 14:15

Well, the latest update is that the agent selling our house is spitting as she only found out today (when I emailed her about the delay due to the extra house in the chain!) that we are in a chain. WTF? How can she not know? I thought that was their job... She thought we are buying somewhere chain-free but I certainly never told her that and she made it clear she has been in touch with our seller's agent (which is literally across the road from them on the same bloody street) so I assume they would have talked about things that actually matter?

angel1976 · 20/05/2011 14:16

puffy Any good news on your end? :)

Beanbeany · 20/05/2011 14:26

Oh, no, Angel1976, I thought you would have moved in by now. I remember you on my thread about a small garden - you were the London me! We had our offer accepted on the small-garden house and now slogging through the conveyancing process. I haven't actually dared to ask how many are in the chain

Puffy, sorry to hijack your thread. I'm expecting to feel your pain any day. For now I have my head resolutely in the sand. Good luck and a few more - it is Friday, after all!

angel1976 · 20/05/2011 14:40

Bean Nice to 'see' you! :) Oh, you know what? I've been so philosophical about everything. Been pretty chill so far and we actually have a really good solicitor who is really on the ball (but then again, she should be as we are paying through our noses for them!). Our buyers have been a real pain (retiring vicar, church pension board buying it and you should have seen the number of f**king questions they sent us over and over again!) and the people we are buying off have been so non-committal about dates etc and now we find out why!

I can't believe you don't know how many is in your chain! LOL. Burying your head in the sand is ONE way to deal with things I suppose...

angel1976 · 20/05/2011 14:46

bean Just went back to re-read the old thread and just wanted to say that on the plus side, we went to see the house again on the weekend and love it just as much or more since we saw it last.

Also, they are leaving an old playhouse (broken persplex windows but we can easily fix that and paint it, DS1 wants it pink... ) and the old trampoline (which is absolutely fine as it just needs the padding that has disintegrated replacing) so you can come to my house anytime!

Beanbeany · 20/05/2011 15:02

Angel Thank God you still love the house. My DD would love to play on that trampoline! Funnily enough we also have the 'non-commital' issue although, touch wood, a great buyer.

Don't worry about the chain thing. DP knows exactly how many but I'm too much of a worrier and would never sleep at night if I knew the truth. My technique is to wait until there's some conveyancing "crisis" (about twice a week at the moment) and go into a flat spin while DP remains perfectly calm!

Sorry again, Puffy.

angel1976 · 20/05/2011 15:21

LOL beany You made me laugh... It's good to be able to laugh isn't it? When are you hoping to complete or is it too early to talk about this right now? Will it send your stress level soaring?

Beanbeany · 20/05/2011 16:37

I honestly don't think I can even say the word completion until I have the front-door key in my hot little hand!

angel1976 · 20/05/2011 22:26

Beany You don't want to hear what's the latest with our house, it will make you weep and be glad you are not in our chain... The latest is that apparently the people who we are buying off has never intended to complete till end June because their daughter's exams are in mid-June and they don't want to disrupt her, which is fair enough, BUT WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING ARRGRGHHHHHHH! But oh yes, they claim they told everyone right from the beginning. That's the first I've bloody heard about it. I want to poke my eyes out with a sharp stick. Just send a rather sharp email to both our and the seller's agents to tell them to go and sort it out. I've had enough.

IHeartKingThistle · 21/05/2011 00:24

You have so much sympathy from me. We moved in December after a torturous 8 months. We were lied to by the top of the chain (they told us probate had been granted when it hadn't even been applied for) and lied to by the bottom of the chain (the day before exchange we found out our buyer's buyer didn't have a mortgage offer). It was horrible but we got there in the end. It will happen!

But it's ridiculous, the whole goddamn system's out of order!

gettingeasier · 21/05/2011 06:51

Much sympathy from here too

I moved a month ago and was in a chain of only 3 had a weird situation of my xh buying the house of the people buying our marital home but it made life easy

Sadly though I wasnt able to use that to reduce my offer on this house a little and still had to pay almost the asking price however it did mean none of the sort of pain you guys are describing and a only 2 months from offer to move

I did deserve some luck though after this 18 months so dont hate me !!!

Hope you get some good news soon, people who lie or lie by omission in these situations are sooo selfish

ginmakesitallok · 21/05/2011 07:22

Reading this makes me so glad I live in Scotland. Here once you accept an offer and agree exchange dates you are tied into it and are responsible for other party's costs if you don't exchange on that date. No worries about chains. How on earth does anyone ever manage to buy (or sell) a house in England????

Original poster

puffylovett · 21/05/2011 10:23

No more news from here. Noone is budging into rented so e a says June, as the top of the chain is empty. Might be worth checking about the probate thing though.... I don't see how it can be mid June, but shall wait with baited breath and bank as much money as possible in the meantime!!!
Thank you for the support ladies, half a bottle of Pinot gringo went down extremely well last night :)

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