Home Buyers Support Thread Part 3

[juneybean]

Part 2 here -> www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/a1905904-Buyers-support-thread-part-2?msgid=48420379#48420379

Hope it's okay that I made the next thread :)

Great thanks both.
The house is approx 15 years old and looked in very good condition,of course I am aware things can be hidden!

Shall wait to see what happens with this blooming mortgage then decide!

Aah yes. We are used to selling things that are rather old. Our purchase is the newest house we have ever contemplated, ie, 1950s!!! Just remembered, my first flat was very modern and contemporary - it was built in 1962

Got good feedback from our first viewing but they've not sold theirs yet so no rush. Second viewing has been postponed. We've been looking at houses for about a year and about 90% of the houses on the market last autumn are still on now. Or at least the 4 beds that we are looking at. We want 4 bed and East/West facing.
DP will probably do the survey himself as unimpressed by previous survey, £1k to point out the cooker door was broken.

Reading everyone's stories with sympathy & love for you all. It is a harsh world out there. Buying/selling seems so cut throat.

We own our house and are selling. We followed all the "staging" tips and got a high offer our 4th day on market. We accepted. She is a ftb.

8 days after that we found our dream home. But then just as we were getting excited, he pulled out :-(

At the same time the ftb was dragging her feet on her survey on our house. EA says ftb accidentay gave her passport to her mortgage advisor and there has been a delay in getting it back...? She apparently still wants the house tho.

Yesterday we saw a house we loved and they accepted our offer. REALLY hope we don't lose that, OR our buyer!

Empress, so sorry to hear you lost £1300!

What are the 'staging tips' Beardeddragon ?

Cheminotte - take away all personal pics (so buyers imagine themselves, not you, in the house) tidy as much as possible, ensure no food smells lingering, fresh flowers.

However it is impossible to tell if it had an impact or if we got lucky.

V sorry to hear about your survey woes! £1k for something you could see yourself!

Is it OK if I just straight in? I obviously haven't read the whole thread but I really would like some support (and sharing of knowledge) about this awfully stressful process (as its proving to be) of looking for a house to buy. Am in London, by the way.

meant 'is it ok if I jump straight in'...

Thanks beardeddragon - only one viewing so far but I had removed photos in case someone who knew us by sight saw them. Fresh flowers is a good tip, any excuse to buy those!

stillloving - of course, I haven't read the full thread either.

Stillloving - me neither, only read a few pages.

Cheminotte - good luck!! You can read more staging tips online, there are a few websites. Most of them are much of a muchness. We cleared a lot of clutter because we had the luxury of storing stuff in a relative's house, although not everyone has that objection.

That option*

Can't type..!

Not sure yet empresso hoping to atleast exchange in next couple of weeks as we moved all of our belongings in to the house yesterday! I'm left with a mattresses, wifi and a microwave until we're kicked out of rental in a week and a half, then need to find some sort of static caravan/shed to tide us over!

lara... We've just got our homebuyers survey back, it was pretty thorough for what we needed, it's a 70s bungalow. They looked in loft and commented on the flooring being timber so they must have looked under carpets/lino.

I've always thought that the seller should arrange the survey for their house in order to help as a selling point... It's crazy that the buyers have to pay as there's no guarantee they'll purchase the property if they don't like the survey!

IUseAnyName: just jumping in here, as I said, as I'm new to all this.
Is it true that surveys are paid only by the potential buyer?!

At the moment, DH & I are at the very early stage. Sorting out our exact budget (with accountant), talking to mortgage advisers, and waiting a few months for DH's self-employed work to reach a certain number of years. We did however find a house we loved & inquired whether vendor would conceivably wait & she said yes (under conditions, which we need to explore).

Yes stillloving.... As the buyer you get to choose what type of survey you want (see above posts) and you pay for it. So potentially you will like a house, pay for up £1000 survey, find too much damage/work for your liking and either pull out or haggle price down. If you pull out you then lose your money and then have to buy another for the next house you want! Crazy I think!.... I think they should all come with atleast a homebuyers survey when they're put on the market!

But the the problem with that IUseAnyName is that the contract is then between the sellers and the surveyor. If therefore the surveyor has missed something significant (rampant dry rot or subsidence or damp caused by a broken drain or sewer) then the purchaser has no come back.

Before you have a survey it's important to have a nose for damp when you visit, look carefully at walls, have a look in the loft; at the roof with binoculars, look at the boiler and turn on the taps to check water pressure. Not forgetting looking outside for cracks and movement. If you are satisfied that it's all well or that there are no surprises you haven't budgetted for in your offer then it's worth paying the surveyor.

Says she so happily and glibly as we enter week nine before exchange and our purchasers are being less than straightforward. This will be ultimatum week and they'll either confirm it's full steam ahead or we remarket and probably lose our dream home. But, we aren't prepared to be strung along any more so that a weasel can slip in at the last minute with a "this will cost x and I'm revising my offer because weasel thinks we have no choice". I'd love to put all the antics on here and what is emerging but you never know?

They tried it that way round for a while, not so long ago when you put your house on the market you had to pay for a homebuyers report. It was very unpopular and scrapped quickly.
It's tough for us, but actually the reason we pulled out of the first (and second!) purchases were nothing to do with the survey so it wouldn't have made much of a difference if the sellers had paid for that, we'd still have lost our searches and solicitors fees.
Beaufort, I'm keeping everything crossed you get some progress. It's so stressful at the best of times without people messing you about.

We're still waiting for the mortgage co to get their act together and instruct the survey, hoping it will be at least arranged this week. It's such a slow process at the start, do they not know we WANT TO MOOOOOOVE!

Ofcourse beau.... I guess there's always pros and cons to every situation. I agree with trying as much as possible whilst on viewing.
Hope it doesn't take too much longer for you x

empresso we had to chase our mortgage lender up!

They called this morning but refused to speak to me, only would speak to DH. Once he's spoken to them and confirmed exactly what they wanted, I will be forcibly reminding them that it's a JOINT application.

Empress - how sexist!! We had to chase our lender too... Turned out our solicitors hadn't sent on some paperwork they should have..

All this relying on others is terrifying!!

My fingers are crossed for you Beau.

Years and years ago I went into an estate agent and asked for some house details. The EA said "and how does a young lady like you think she's going to pay for it?". I bought through a different agent and got them to to value when I sold that house - they asked why they weren't given the instruction. I enjoyed telling them enormously.

That is amazing Beau!

I refuse to hire any tradesman who comes to quote & speaks only to my husband when I am standing there too!!

That's awful theEmpress ! DP has only spoken to our mortgage advisor long enough to tell her he was fine for me to discuss his salary etc and then he knew none of the passwords as he's never done any of the online banking! I ruled out one estate agent after they wrote to DP to confirm the valuation appointment although I had made it and they'd never even spoken to him!