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....

Thanks for this thread by the way, it really helps! DP and I are sick of worrying each other about it and don't want to bore everyone in RL

Everything has been relatively smooth up until now so I suppose there had to be something. In fairness this only happened on Friday so still only a short time really - it just feels like forever when you're waiting for news!

Hi everyone - me again. Sorry lots of people having so much stress. This is all so hard. So, three weeks ago my buyers let me down when we were all about to exchange. Two weeks ago, my vendor decided that he would buy our house in part exchange and to move things on a bit. He was willing to rent it out. He has been round to check out this house and has bought the previous searches from my original buyers. He seemed really genuine. Now I am waiting for the survey to be arranged, but not heard anything and its been a week and a half. Is this normal? Really anxious again now. I know it can be a long wait, but thought I would at least have had an appointment by now. Had just started to believe we would move ...

thanks Willie, I'll quiz my sol soon about next steps. He's my mum's old boss so I know what you mean about having someone on board who you trust.
You'd think a bit ofcommunicationwould help relieve your vendor's stress too, as it helps when everyone is relaxed and knows whats going on.

Hey, just a quick update from me - I've haven't been around here recently, having a bit of a hard time with my pregnancy so was hanging out on the other boards.

I paid for our house yesterday and we're going to the solicitor's mid-day to sign the contract! So hopefully we'll be able to complete within a few days and have the keys next week. Yay!

Good luck to everyone still waiting or stuck in a chain!!!!

That's great news about the house Bludger!
Hope the pregnancy gets better for you - good luck with moving, exciting stuff!

Argh! Our offer has been accepted!

Now I have to find a solicitor this afternoon...really should have thought about this earlier

Your buyers sound ridiculous Bog. It's not as if walking away is going to get them a place any quicker

Bludger- great news, hope you get a date soon.

Roar- Yay on your offer being accepted :)

Bog- What a pain. Surely a few weeks doesnt make that much diffeerence?

Feeling stressed today! Our buyers have had the survey back on our house. Our solicitor has been sat on this since last thursday apparently
They have come back with a few queries which is fine but also a list of things that need doing/replacing.
They want us to replace all the radiators. They are quite old but perfectly working. The plumber flushed them all when we had the boiler done 5 years ago and said they were fine. Seems alittle extreme to me.
Also want the fusebox replaced. Again its slightly dated but fine.
Theres some roof tiles they want replacing plus the lining replaced. We guessed this may be an issue as we know its knackered but means stripping the whole roof which will takes ages, plus this lining isnt really needed and many houses were built without it.

Weve agreed to sort to loose tiles and get an electrician to see if the fuse box is that bad.
Waiting for their reply... The waiting is killing me. Really hope they dont pull out over this. :( Things were going so smoothly untill now.

ffs bog, have the buyers given a reason for their inflexibility? it can't possibly be the case for them that the only date you can't do is the only date they can do. i hope calling their bluff has worked

pigley i understood that those sorts of things (old but still perfectly functional) were always picked up on by the survey as the surveyors would be covering their backs, and that does seem excessive from the buyers...

Hooray have date for survey next week!
Bog i'm sure you did the right thing - but why are they so hung up on one day??!
Pigley I don't think you have to do all that stuff - sounds like they're just trying it on. I think the surveyor just has to mention all the things that might need doing at some point. Certainly wouldn't change perfectly good radiators.
Congratulations Bludger and Roar.
If I ever move into the house I want I will NEVER move again!!

Solicitors instructed, going to see the mortgage advisor tomorrow to finalise that. Gosh. Its all go isn't it! The apartment has tenants in at the moment who are due to move out on the 14 February so I am hoping to have everything sorted so we can exchange as soon as he is out. Seems like an age away but is only 3 and a half months with x-mas in the middle so not so long at all really.

pig they are being seriously cheeky IMHO. I know I have never done this before but it would never even cross my mind to ask someone to replace all the radiators. That's just madness!

bog do your people have somewhere they are selling or if renting have they given notice on their current place? Maybe they are worried they will have nowhere to live for 2 weeks. Not that this should be your problem, if you can't do it you can't do it.

phew, we have news. vendor was trying to buy a house but that has fallen through, no wonder she was so stressed. she is going to go into rented accommodation (good for us as we are no longer in a chain, and hopefully it will make things much easier for her too)

so we can exchange when she has sorted out rental (please let it be soon!) and we are fixing on completion before christmas. still time for things to go wrong but at least we know what the situation is and can plan accordingly

i feel daft because it's been less than a week of difficulty altogether and other people have been through much more difficult stuff than this, but it was stressful being so powerless and in the dark!

bog have you heard from your buyers yet? they are cutting their noses off to spite their faces to insist on this date. it's not like you're doing it deliberately to mess them around!

hearmyroar, you're right, the time goes very quickly

well we've had our offer accepted on the house we viewed and liked. We got it for under the asking price which is great and we will probably add a conservatory as its a good house in all other ways.

The seller is happy for us to move in 6th december (which is when our buyers want in to ours). The seller is living elsewhere now anyway and doesn't need to hold onto it. Fingers crossed nothing goes wrong.

Our buyers are very young and students which makes me worried about their finances, although apparently she's inherited money. We'll see how it goes.

Bog- What an utter nightmare! Id be going nuts. Really hope you find out soon!

Willie- Glad you sorted things with your vendor.

FCEK- Congrats on the offer. Hope you can get done by the 6th dec.

Well we finally heard back from our buyers about the requests for work. Their solicitor is away till mo so thought it would be an nervous weekend waiting but the EA has sorted it. He emailed them to ask what was going in with their bizarre requests as he knows them personally.
Seems they never requested the radiators to be replaced or the roof lining. They have no idea where that has come from. It would appear that the Sol has added that?! She is actually a family member of theirs so guessing she was just trying things on.
Anyway we clarified that they want the boiler serviced, The electrics (fuse box) safety tested and replaced if needed and the few roof tiles sorted. These should be pretty easy to sort so worry over! Shouldn't really take too long either so shouldn't add any extra time to things. Things are going well with everyone else in the chain so we could be only a few weeks away of exchange. Fingers crossed!

Well now it's starting to get stressful..our solicitor isn't the best and I am on the phone to him every 2-3 days to find out where he is / why things haven't moved forward..

Also am due in Feb and our vendors have just found a house but previously said that they would move into rented not to hold the chain up. So we are desperate to move before Christmas as we are moving 2 hours away, changing nursery for DD etc.

The only date they could do (if they can find a rental property) is the 20th December which we will do but I feel guilty virtually turfing them out of the house just before Christmas! But I need to get DD as settled as possible before the baby comes along and not lose our buyer!

Argh it's very stressful.

Yeah Bogstandard that's great!

I have booked our Christmas shopping delivery slot for the new house(!) for the 23rd of December as they have just been released today and virtually all gone. A little optimistic at this stage it at least it can be moved if needs be..