Buyers support thread - stressed? Worried? Stuck in a chain? Gazumped? Well come and join us here

[Bakingnovice]

I can't see if there is already a thread like this so here goes..

We finally upped our offer enough for it to be accepted on our dream house. It's been stressful so far and this is just the beginning. We have had so many let downs: vendor changing mind, vendor getting higher offer etc and we hope this sale goes through smoothly. We've been looking for years. Come and join me if you're buying and equally stressed....

Can I join you? We're just starting the buying (and selling) process. We're currently having huge dilemmas because we found a lovely house on our first day of viewings and can't decide what to do. It is in a really good area, has a really lovely feel and good space downstairs but the third bedroom is a tiny box room. I think we'll probably make an offer but I'm worrying that I might regret it and wish we'd gone for more space in slightly less expensive area. I don't know whether to put an offer in now or wait to see what other people offer first. Aargh, I'd forgotten how stressful this process was!

Hi Hefner. Personally I would prefer size over location but if you love it go for it and offer. Let us know what happens.

Hefner depends if you need the third bedroom or not , we went to see something that sounds the same 2 big rooms and 3rd was tiny box room which I doubted a bed would even fit in. Downstairs was fab though but decided against it because of bedrooms as we have 3 kids.

Thanks for the replies. We don't need the third room now but hopefully will in future if we have more kids. The box room in the house we've seen is definitely big enough for a single bed and small wardrobe but thre wouldn't be room for anything else. In theory our options are a 3 bed semi in v nice area (like the one we've seen), or a terrace in a slightly cheaper (more studenty) area which would have a much bigger third bedroom in the attic, but no offroad parking and possibly slightly less downstairs space (the house we've seen has a tiny study and a downstairs toilet which the terraces don't have) . Unfortunately there aren't any suitable terraces on the market at the moment so I'm trying to make a decision on the house we've seen without being able to see an example of the other option. I'll let you know how it goes!

How is everyone else getting on?

Could you do a loft conversion or extend? If it ticks all the boxes and is still usable as a bedroom then I wouldn't rule it out especially of there is a lot of loving space

How's everyone getting on? I'm just ignoring those who have completed because I'm jealous

We're starting to get nervous, sellers have done nothing about getting any paperwork to their solicitor or finding anywhere to live and we've just going out they've gone in holiday for 2 weeks, we're worried they're not actually serious about selling and it's not going to happen arrrgghhh

Hi graduand that's bloody frustrating did you not give entry date in offer?
We got letter today saying our house sale has exchanged but the one we are buying we realised the solicitors hadn't included consent for the massive extension that was built so got to wait on that before we exchange on it,
Bloody crapping ourselves they are maniacs who built a two story extension without planning but know its unlikely.
Eek

Didn't agree a date on offer, we just said "quickly" we knew they had to find somewhere to live so were giving them a little bit of leeway for that.

Good luck with the building consent. It's all a nightmare.

That sounds frustrating graduand, maybe they will get going once they get back from holiday.

We've decided to make an offer on the house we like, although I doubt if we'll get it as ours isn't even on the market yet. Someone else has offered around 10% under asking (which was rejected), and we've decided to offer about 5% under asking price. Fingers crossed!

50shades, hopefully the lack of consent was just an oversight by the solicitor rather than anything more sinister!

We now have 3 viewings booked over the next 3 days. Spent hours and hours tidying and cleaning like a maniac today. I'm absolutely knackered!
Looking around, I can still see things that need doing. It's never ending....
Getting up early tomorrow to do some more.

Meanwhile, the house we want is still for sale but the new photos they've put up have increased their views on Zoopla
Keeping fingers and toes crossed!

Hopefully Hefner the sellers seem sensible and its all professionally done so I doubt anyone would be that bonkers lol

Good luck Turnip

Ooh good luck Turnip!

Hi everyone! This process is never-ending, isn't it.

The building society called yesterday to say that they had lost all of our documentation (pay slips, bank statements, copies of our ID, cheques for valuation and arrangement fee - the lot), so we need to send it all again and the process is delayed.

I'm furious that our personal information is 'lost' so easily. Rah. Our buyer's mortgage is taking forever too, so doesn't look like we'll be going anywhere quickly :(

Anyway, sorry to come on just to rant. Good luck with the viewings turnip

Woo the building consent for new house arrived in post today so hopefully going to swap missives today yaaaaay fingers crossed that's it all done.

Ahh ? its so bloody frustrating!

We had an offer accepted on the house we?re buying in February and finally managed to sell our property and get the chain completed early June, but we still haven?t exchanged.

We were very lucky in that that people we are buying from were happy to wait for us to sell, but that in itself upped the stress levels as they only waited for 3 months (fair enough) and then put it back on the market. Thankfully we found a buyer and they were selling to cash buyers ? great only 3 properties in the chain as our vendors aren?t buying, so should be simple and quick, right? Wrong

Found out last week that the cash buyers aren?t actually cash buyers anymore as the first buyers were changed after two weeks, but they didn?t have anything to sell and had their mortgage in place. Found out Monday that not only are they not cash buyers, but they also have a property to sell too and no one can give us any information about the status of the person buying theirs.

Are you keeping up?

So, the upshot is that at the point of exchange ? the top three in the chain have all signed their contracts and have no outstanding issues ? we have gone from a chain of three to four with five interested parties, one of which is a complete mystery! And our sellers are threatening to forget the whole thing and stay put if we don?t complete by the end of the month, and we?re only moving because we want this particular house ? not stressful at all

It seems most of the problems and secrecy stems from one particular estate agency playing silly buggers and playing people off against each other and favouring those who are going to take out a mortgage via their financial services ? shouldn?t be allowed IMO. Our buyer had four people wanting to buy their house at one point and it took over a week for them (their agents) to agree on who was going to buy it ? only for it to change two weeks later.

Sorry for the long ranty post ? but I feel a bit better now!

Good god Clara that sounds like a nightmare can you get tough with them and see if they can get a kick up the bum.
So am
I right in saying that the first people in the chain lied about having property to sell?

Either they lied, or the estate agent misled everyone, which is probably more likely. Unfortunately there's nothing much we can do. Our solicitor has managed to get contact details for the very first buyer's solicitor, but hasn't been able to get any response. Apart from chasing our contacts every day we're a bit stuck - and very frustrated.

It'll probably all turn out okay in the end, but I'm never doing this again - unless I'm in a box feet first

Hope they get their fingers out, a shit solicitor in a chain can really slow things up ridiculously

It can.

Good luck with your move 50shades !

Hi all
We're STILL here. Shit solicitors can indeed slow the whole thing down! Even more frustrating when they're nothing to do with you or your vendor. On the positive, it's looking like exchange next week is likely...on the negative we can't actually move out until October now. Or at least we have to pay rent until then. Sigh.

I feel like I'm almost the only original person left from this thread - all the others have moved! Other events have at least eclipsed this one for now

Oooh lots to catch up on here it seems!
Clara, that situation sounds like the stuff of moving nightmares. Are you in touch with the majority of the chain via email/phone? Could you all gang up on the crap EA?

Toomuch, congrats on the move, but a flooded house?! Poor you

50shades, glad you got your consent forms ok. Phew!

Bumble, have you had any viewings at all? Is the market around your area generally slow? Does our property have any issues at all?

We had our first viewing today. Apparently she totally loved it, but was put off by the fact that if she listened really hard, while sitting in the back of the house, she could hear the road outside... EA said she couldn't hear anything herself, but she couldnt talk her round.
So hopes are now pinned on the 2 remaining viewings tomorrow and Saturday......

Hello Misty, we crossed posts. I'm still here too!