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....

[Bakingnovice]

Any news turnip? Fingers crossed!

[flow4]

Thanks Turnip. I AM cautious and sensible, but I'm struggling with the feeling that I might be doing something reckless and stupid right now!
I hate waking up from dreams about waking up... For a little while it's hard to work out if you're really awake, and the emotions feel more real and their harder to shake off. I've had a little cry this morning and I'm going to go swimming in a mo, then sort out some cupboards... But I'm feeling so overwhelmed, I barely know where to start!

[Turnipinatutu]

Do you have a couple of friends or family members you could draft in to help try and get on top of the more practical stuff? If you were local to me I'd be happy to help (would take my mind of my own worrys!)I'm South East, not London.
I always find list making helps. Get the problems, or potential problems, down on paper and come up with some answers and plans in case any of them arise.

And open the wine tonight and remind yourself why you want to do this.

[flow4]

Aww, thank you Turnip, you're very kind! I'm up north, so I can't take you up on your lovely offer, but I do have friends (not family) to help. It's the waiting and total powerlessness that gets me... I was sort of hoping we'd exchange today, but we can't cos searches aren't back and my solicitor's away, so I'm faced with another week of limbo... It's not the end of the world, but it's stressful...

[Turnipinatutu]

Our buyers have now pulled out. Probably for the best, under the circumstances, but I'm so pissed off.
We are coming off the market until we know what's happening with DH's job in 2 weeks time.
Anything else coming our way?!

[doglover]

WE HAVE EXCHANGED!!! MOVING NEXT FRIDAY!

[Misty9]

turnip oh no! Have they said why? Maybe for the best for now with all the stress of the uncertainty. Big hugs, sounds like you've got a lot on your plate :(

dog that's brilliant! Hopefully we won't be far behind you. Wow, you've got a lot of packing to do in a little amount of time!

Our sol has asked us to go in and sign mortgage deed, and local searches are back. What else is there to do? Just how often do these things fall apart...? It sounds positive...is it? :)

[Bakingnovice]

Dog lover I am delighted for you. And a bit jealous. Please pass on packing and moving tips won't you?

Turnip - oh no. It's bad news but maybe it's for the best given your situation. Will you remarked at some point? Here's hoping dh gets better job with better pay, you get buyers with a higher offer, and the house you likes drops its asking price and falls into budget! If anyone is long overdue some luck it's you! Why did buyers pull out?

Flow - I wish I had words of comfort but I don't. I worry too. Do you think you're stressed because you are bearing exchange? Just focus on the end result. If anyone can do this, you can!

[Bakingnovice]

Misty it sounds positive but until exchange anything can go wrong. Fingers crossed for you too.

[Turnipinatutu]

Dog - Well done, you can relax now....at last!

Misty - Fingers crossed youre nearly there.

Our buyers got fed with waiting for us and found somewhere else.
They are in London, where apparently houses are popping up all over and don't understand how quiet the market is round here.
If DH's job is ok we may go on again in a couple of weeks, in the hope of getting the nice overpriced house. But if that house goes we may try and find something before selling.
At the moment we need to pray for the job!

Good luck to the rest of of you, hopefully we'll be back on board soon.

[Bakingnovice]

Any news buyers?

No update here. All scarily quiet on the solicitors front. Still waiting for surveyor to come out. Nothing from vendor. Getting very scared.

Misty, dog, flow, turnip, toomuch, sammi any news?

[flow4]

Well, not really. Except now I understand why we didn't exchange on Friday as I'd hoped. Basically it's because my deposit is coming from a let-to-buy mortgage on the house I currently own, and that is conditional on a concurrent purchase of a new house, so I can't get my deposit 'til the sale/purchase goes through, which means we'll be exchanging and completing on the same day.

Did that actually make sense to anyone other than me?!

It's all very nerve-wracking.

[doglover]

Hi everyone. Just a very quick update. Yes, we DID exchange on Friday and are moving this Friday! Massive amounts to do - hence this short message - and very little time to do it! As we're downsizing, we're frantically ebaying furniture, taking car loads to the tip and trying to clean in this sapping heat! Normally, I love the sun ............. not this week . I'm at work on Wed/Thurs so am feeling a tad stressed by it all.
I would like to say an enormous thank you to all of you who've offered so much advice and support since March. We're nearly there ..........and then have a year of renovation to undertake!!
You've helped provide perspective, wisdom and smiles for which I'm immensely grateful.
We've no internet access when we move in but will be back to update as soon as I can.

Thanks to you all.

[Turnipinatutu]

Good luck for Friday Dog!

There won't be any news from us until a week Wednesday, when we find out if dh still has a job or not.
If the news is good we will start over and get the house back on the market in the hope of catching the overpriced house when it comes down in price again.

There are things we have learnt for next time...
I think it may be an idea to try and exchange contact details with buyers/sellers in the hope of building a bit of a rapport between everyone. Perhaps they are less likely to dump you so easily?
I would also not be so considerate as to suggest they don't organise a survey etc until we've found something....this I think was a big mistake, as they weren't invested in the house at all.

Does anyone else have any pearls of wisdom they could share?

[Bakingnovice]

Dog I'm so pleased for you! Please report back with moving tips when you are settled.

Turnip - I think encouraging them to do a survey is a good idea. As is manipulating the truth a little by saying you want a fast completion and they need to get their searches sent off. Having spent almost £1000 it would be difficult for a buyer to back out. Also, it is a good idea to get to know your buyers/sellers. I took the kids to the viewing of our house and blatantly played the 'young family need family house' card. It seemed to work as our seller cooed over the kids and kept saying how her kids grew up in the house and how she was that young kids would be living there again.

I've got my fingers crossed for your hubby.

I had a horrible wobble today. There were tears. Just felt so overwhelmed with the figures and finances. It's just so nerve wracking!

[Misty9]

Hi everyone
Good luck for Friday dog!

Excuse quietness- started new job this week and first time working since 22mo ds born so a bit of an adjustment period! We're basically ready to exchange, bar a couple of small enquiries. Unfortunately, our vendors are nowhere near ready to exchange on the property they are buying :( so it looks likely we'll miss our early August deadline (for handing in notice). Keeping everything crossed, but their searches haven't even been sent off yet not exactly sure how theirs is taking so much longer to get going than we did

We really want to avoid being pushed into completing earlier than we'd like as it would mean rent and mortgage in the same month. But, are we better off exchanging asap and pushing completion later, or leaving exchange until we are ready to complete 2-3wks later?

Also, our searches flagged up a chancel issue - we have to pay for an indemnity against our local church ever asking us to pay towards repairs! Dh did a check and in 2003 some poor sods actually lost a court case on this (they evidently didn't have the indemnity policy) to the tune of £450k so we will happily pay £63 for the policy!

Turnip - hope you get some good news soon.

[Misty9]

Baking - when you say you're waiting for the surveyor to come out, do you mean to survey the house you're buying? Is your survey through the mortgage company then? We instructed ours independently and despite being slow with the report he sorted out the visit within a few days.

If you're worried about what's going on, I'd ring the ea. I call ours once a week or so as they seem to be the ones with a finger in every pie, iyswim. It's in the their interest to not lose you as a buyer!

[Bakingnovice]

Hi misty.

As you are renting I would go for exchange with completion set for a few weeks later. This would then give you the certainty to hand your notice in. Also re searches, yours are a bit late as i will bet your solicitor was late in submitting them.

Our surveyor is coming from the mortgage company as we are getting a buy to let mortgage on our current house to release equity for our new purchase. As the new house will be mortgage free we will instruct a surveyor independently. Can I ask you how you found your surveyor? Also are you doing a homebuyers survey or full structural survey?

[Bakingnovice]

Congrats toomuch. So happy for you. Our vendor paid 22k for a new roof 2 years ago and my dad was saying dont bother with a full survey as he's a look round the house. Not sure whether to do one or Nora's they are usually pointing out the obvious with many caveats.

Can I ask, did you release equity from your house to buy like us? Hope you get all the problems resolved quickly.

[littlecrystal]

Hi, can I join in? My house is under offer (has been for the last 5 weeks). I am buying too, but my mortgage offer for the house I wanted to buy came back short by 6.5k and in the end I had to pull out.

Then had a rethink of my strategy and decided to slightly downsize to a better area, so that I can reduce my mortgage slightly and be comfortable financially. When I tried to put an offer on a smaller house, the agency said they have had other 2 offers, one of them very high(but the house is stilll on the market which seems strange). The agency agreed to pass on my offer which is possibly so so high, but the fact that she agreed I am hoping it is a positive sign.

So now waiting since this morning.. a couple of times thought of calling the agency and upping my offer but this would probably be silly and if they want to go into a bidding war, they would let me know I guess.
If I can't get the house in question, then I will pull out of the sale and take my house off the market for the next few years.

Good luck to everyone in the process!

[littlecrystal]

• The agency agreed to pass on my offer which is possibly so so high.
  Sorry for typos.

[littlecrystal]

Toomuchtea, very useful tips and I envy you being mortgage free. I have 120k to repay until I am in your condition.
No news yet. I am really tempted to play a game though. I have now offered lowish amount because I am almost certain that the house will need a new roof, will likely have asbestos and has a stair stepped crack on the outer wall which not everyone may have noticed. Perhaps I should have offered more and negotiated down after the survey..

It is very weird though that the agency is "collecting" offers. Is there a big chance that all offers came today after the house has been on the market for exactly 52 days?