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 :)

I didn't have a full survey with my current house. It was in a dire state of repair and I decided a survey could only tell me what I already knew!

I'm taking the plunge and joining this thread:)
Dotty, that sounds so stressful. Hope you get organised with a rental soon so you can properly focus on house hunting again.
Front, congratulations on agreeing your sale. Fingers crossed the rest follows smoothly.

We are second time buyers, we're in the process of buying a fantastic family home and will just rent this house out.
We are still waiting on our mortgage offer six weeks on. Leeds have requested one bit of paper work after another, all very reasonable but can't understand why they don't do it all at once. Valuation took place last week and it was valued slightly higher than purchase price. Home buyers report (which we got because the property is 1930's) flagged up asbestos in the roof tile cement but it won't be an issue unless we do work. Mystic, similar to you, I guess we get a specialist to observe any work installing dormers to ensure protocol is followed.
So yeah, just the mortgage then. Then solicitors can start searches before we exchange. We were initially given a completion date of 8th Aug, obviously this won't be happening, solicitor reckons mid August if everything goes quickly from here. So COME ON LEEDS!

Hiya. We put an offer in as first time buyers 2 weeks ago. Solicitors info has come through and they mention three types of searches. sorry for the ignorance but what are searches? thanks!

Welcome MrsCK, searches are where they make enquiries for anything problematic in terms of the local area (planning), drainage and water supply, contamination of land, etc.

We're FTB too and we found it useful looking at guides like on Which or home.co.uk
www.home.co.uk/guides/buying/

Good luck.

Ah amazing thank you!! it's all so confusing!!

Just did a check on compare the market and the cheapest is 133.55... is that good? it's a 2bed terrace house

Do you mean buildings insurance? Ours was 89 with LV for a 2 bed bungalow.

Sorry yes that was quoted for buildings & contents

We were paying about £150 buildings and contents for a 3 bed Victorian terrace with one recent claim. The less said about the new house the better.

We pay £120 for a 3 bed semi and have claimed in the last few years. Haven't even got quoted for house we're buying. Don't like thinking about all the ways this house will cost us more money. The mortgage is just the start of it ??

Just an update on ours. We have stalled as our purchaser has got her mortgage offer that had a retainer on it. Her building society are withholding money for things that just aren't necessary. An example of what they are withholding money for is £2.5k just because the survey says if they ever want to convert the basement they will need to put a sump in. We think this us ridiculous. Of all the money we only agree with 25% of it and the purchasers agrees most of it is ludicrous and is trying to negotiate with her building society, however I'll eat my hat if they agree they've made a mistake. We've told our agent the bottom line we will negotiate too. We've realised they can spend a week chasing it up and not get anywhere. We are now in a position where the house we are buying are pushing for an exchange date too. We are telling our agent today to put our house back on the market today as if we wait for her and they can't get the money together, we add further delay to selling. Of course if she can get her money sorted we will proceed with the sale.

Oh and our solicitor is a lying shit who has been caught out when we demanded dates etc from when he received letters. But we are now stuck with him as can't have anymore delays.

perfect that sounds so stressful. I think you're being smart to put it back on the market. I was just thinking that this is the week when it's all going to happen for a few people on this thread. We're due to exchange on Friday. FTB question here, but technically we've bought the house then haven't we? I've been counting down to completion date as that's when we get the keys but really it's just 4 days to go?

From what I've read there's no going back once you've exchanged unless you want to be sued of course

Hopefully my solicitor will receive the vendors contract today and searches can begin. I instructed them weeks ago, its the vendors that are lagging!

dotty I do sympathise. I found not being able to find a rental house so stressful and the pressure from the buyers was awful. But they cannot reasonably expect you to exchange or agree to a completion date until you have found somewhere to live. So tell them this via solicitors and EAs and reiterate that you are ready to exchange just as soon as you have found somewhere to live. Good luck!

Yes we are stalling. However we have to relocate by the first week in September as do our buyers so it's all a bit shit!

I called the EA and begged them to plead our case with the LL. We'd been rejected because we'd said we wanted a 6 month contract whilst house hunting. We've had a complete change of heart though and would commit to longer term renting. I'm not holding out much hope but you never know

Dotty I think a lot of tenancy contracts have a break clause after six months even if they are for longer. Good luck with your search.

I have paid an inflated sum for insurance and instructed our solicitor to exchange today! It has taken so long to get to this point that it doesn't feel real.

Dotty, that sounds so stressful. I hope the ll has a change of heart and agreed to let to you. Where are you buying, it could be that renting longer term is in your favour?

Mystic, that seems really soon. Good luck for Friday. Then you can start packing, contacting utilities, etc.
Perfect, that seems crazy!! They are buying it as is, surely. So if there are extra costs associated with a basement conversion that's irrelevant. Similarly, we are buying a house with asbestos in the roof tile cement which will cost us money when we want to do the attic conversion, but that's not the sellers issue.
Juney, fingers crossed the searches are speedy. My solicitor won't start ours until they get confirmation of mortgage offer. Broker is forwarding on what I hope is the last of the paperwork to Leeds BS today so hoping for confirmation this week.

Thanks Sheriff.
Good news - we don't have to sign anymore paperwork - the replacement offer and T&Cs from Santander were for information only.

Bad news - we can only transfer £10k at a time from our bank account so we'll have to pay additional fees to the solicitor for each additional transfer over the first two (they only include two in their conveyancing fees) so it'll cost us £108 in fees just to transfer the money. annoying.

Or go to the bank, authorise them to pay it all in one go (gulp!) and pay £30.

Celtic, sorry I missed your post. Hurrah for exchanging today.
Mystic, bank seems like the best (read:cheapest) option then ??

MissMystic the bank fees are a cheek aren't they! They tell you you can't keep the money in your current account and want to charge you for the privilege of moving. We have had time so sent ye olde cheques to keep the price down.

Perfect your BS sound a bit bonkers. Is there anyone sensible you can speak to there? Surely all they need to know is if their money is at risk?

Well turns out all banks are not created equal. Some let you pay up to 25k (everything that day) and Santander 100k! We're busy shifting money around into another old account to avoid the fees. Stupid HSBC. Just one more annoying thing to do.

Celtic our solicitor wouldn't take a cheque. Glad yours would. How are you going to celebrate exchanging?

Well it's Monday and I am dieting, so I'm going to go to kettle bell class and have a cup of tea. I know how to live! I am saving the champagne for completion!

We had the same faffing, working out what each bank will let you move. HSBC were a pain!

Same thing here with the transfer fees - one last thing you don't think of. Crossing fingers for everyone. I am waiting to exchange, all set but vendor gone quiet so really crossing fingers. Solicitor has gone away for 4 days though and I wasn't told but apparently one of her colleagues is checking my case . But will they actually?!!! Can't take the stress much longer. It's a year since we started trying to buy somewhere and I just want it over. Good luck everyone x