Buying and selling support thread?!

[GinIsIn]

Hi, I know there's a sellers' thread, and a buyers' thread, but I am knee deep in trying to do both at the same time and starting to feel like my head might explode and not sure which thread to visit to beg for someone to send Anyone else?!

Sound frustrating all round.

DH thinks he's able to keep the moving a secret from the kids and that it's acceptable to do so until... Well moving day. This is silly and unfair. It's silly because DS2 has come with us on a couple of viewings and has actually seen the house we're buying. DS1 was not here, so he hasn't. Also, it's not fair to spring a move on them like that, especially as DS1 is nearly 16. I think he has a right to know what's happening and where he'll be living. So I told him and showed him photos of the house we're buying. He liked the look of the giant attic room that he'll get (there are 2 so he can choose which one he likes best) and that he'll have his own bathroom on that floor.

DH's reasons are that it might fall through (he's anxious about that even after exchange) so we shouldn't tell them. But DS1 is old enough to understand that and not be ridiculous. DS2 is only 6 so may not, but he's seen the house! I think we should arrange to take the boys to see the house once we've exchanged. I can't see the buyers objecting to that.

clock it's so annoying, being told you will exchange and then nothing happen. I shouldn't worry about the request to view again. Our buyers saw the house about 10 times! I kid you not! DH said it was because they wanted it so much! I was not sure, but on completion they said how they knew it was the one after seeing 25 properties!

Step I agree that you should involve your 16 year old in the move. It's quite a major thing! I hope it all goes through, but if it doesn't then I'm sure they'll cope with the disappointment, probably better than you!

Hope all goes well for us all next week.

Yes. The kids will almost certainly deal with any disappointment better than DH us. Tbh, the kids and I would happily stay living here for the foreseeable future. It's DH who is desperate to move and cannot behave eve vaguely rationally! If anything goes wrong he's going to be a nightmare to live with (and I'm dreading moving and realising that it's him that has the problem; it was never actually the house).

I hope to see a wave of exchanging on this thread next week too. It won't include us though, as we've still a way to go with the buying process, but I still like to see everyone else making progress (it gives me hope ).

No idea Jeremy as it turns out that the Tennant doesn't even have a contract! The owners are solicitors as well so am have no idea why this would be. They keep saying it is no problem, but until the tenant is out we can't exchange

Can I join?

We've just put our home on the market and are going to start looking as soon as we have an offer (I've already chosen a house I like ) I'm getting really annoyed though, I signed up with my estate agent a week and a half ago and they still haven't listed us on Right Move due to them messing about. It should have been on Thursday and could have been on Wednesday if they'd pulled their fingers out.
We're on a tight time scale as we want to move before our baby is due and this was a big part of the discussions when I signed up. We were supposed to be having a open house next Saturday but that not going to be able to happen now and I'm just so frustrated before we've even started.

Hi PotatosMum, I was in a similar position and was furiously refreshing right move every hour to see where our house was, hope you get some viewings booked in, maybe delay the open house by a week?

Sweep will your solicitor start trying to establish what is going on with the tenants? That's a real pain.

Dh and I have been talking about the house that we offered on Friday, the offer was accepted, which really surprised us as it was a low punt.

I don't want to mess the vendor around and our accountant says that we can borrow money for the deposit from our LTD company for the deposit. We have to pay hmrc interest but it might be a way of not losing the house.
Not sure if the mortgage company will allow it though and it means paying two mortgages until our other house sells, plus higher stamp duty until we can re claim it.

Anyone else drinking far too much during this process? I keep reminding myself that it's a first world problem etc but it's leaving me a nervous wreck.

Hi Potatoes. You'll probably find you get lots of interest as soon as it goes on, so the open day may still be busy (so long as it goes on RM in the early part of next week).

Sweep: that sounds really strange. I hope the tenant moves out soon. Our vendors have their son and DIL and twin babies living with them at the moment (apparently temporarily). They will need to sign something saying they have no right to stay in the house and will move out on or before completion. But tenants without a contract is a whole nother thing.

Jeremys: that sounds very complex. No wonder you're finding it so stressful. I hope you find a buyer soon, as it sounds like that would make everything much more straightforward.

Potatoes was it the EAs idea to have an open day?
Anyone else had one?

Thanks for the reassurance

Yes, it was the EAs idea to have an open day. All of the agents I had round said it was the way to go and that we are likely to get at least one offer off the back of it.
I have a friend who had an open day on her house after a pervious EA had failed to sell it. Having had no offers previously she received 4 after the open day so fingers crossed it's a good way to go.

We have had about 7 viewings and no offers. Two were today so we won't hear right away, and another is booked for next Saturday (not worried about missing out I guess!). Originally we were going to have an open day, but we saw a house we liked and decided to crack on- just put on market and start showing- hasn't worked out and now the house we wanted is gone. maybe an open day would have been better after all? Though it was booked for last week and no one looked at all- school hols have made everything dead and stale.

I am just waiting until the EA 8 week contract is up, then we take it off the market and do more work. The main feedback is too small, so we will get rid of more stuff to make it look bigger!

I think open days may be more common in some places than others. I've never heard of one here, but I used to live in Edinburgh and the EAs were all super lazy the system was that pretty much everything on the market did 'open days' on Sunday afternoons and Thursday evenings. Presumably sellers were supposed to sit around hoping people showed up.

I live south London/Surrey borders 10mins from a tube line and nearly every house is done by open days. We had an open day and got no offers. Did a few individual viewings and got two offers

Interesting. I like the idea of just having to tidy/get kids out for that 1 day but not sure what we would do if it didn't work.

Morning!

Our house has been on a week and a half.

We've had 5 viewings:
1 - love ours, came for a second viewing but need to make a decision about whether to move at all
2 - love ours, want to put an offer in but need to sell theirs
3 - apparently really liked it but haven't heard anything else
4 - love ours, are coming back for a second viewing but need to sell theirs

So we haven't had any negative feedback, everyone seems to like it but no offers yet. It's tempting to say 'please don't come and see our house unless yours is at least on the ruddy market' but of course you can sell in a day if the right person walks through the door, so we won't but GRRRRrrrrr.

So what's the situation if someone who needs to sell puts in an offer?

Do you accept the offer (after the standard haggling to settle on an acceptable price) but leave it on the market?
Do you agree to take it off the market but give a set amount of time for them to sell?
Do you take yours off the market and just sit and wait for them to sell? This seems the most likely but the least appealing as it's quite risky for us due to them having no commitment to our property.

Hi Cartwheels. If I were you, I'd be reluctant to even accept the offer until the buyer is in a position to proceed. Its definitely a seller's market at the moment and someone with a good offer who can proceed is bound to come along soon. 5 viewings in just over a week is already a good start.

I sold my property at the beginning of March and am about 6 weeks into the conveyancing process. I haven't found anywhere to buy yet. There is nothing on the market at all although there do seem to be signs that its picking up. We haven't agreed a completion date yet but I expect it will be some time in early to mid May so its starting to look like I may have to go into rented accommodation. Has anyone been in this position? When did you start looking for a rental property? And any tips for finding somewhere that doesn't require a minimum 6 month term? Thanks

Our estate agents wouldn't even let people look round if they weren't in a position to proceed! The tenant situation is really odd, our vendors seem sure the there won't be a problem, but I'm getting rather nervous!

Sweep, did they have to be under offer to look round? I can see their point but we were looking round, made a shortlist of houses and said that we would make an offer once we had one. I just wonder how the process ever gets going if they are that strict as things can change in a day.

I have heard that people book viewings as weekend entertainment though so maybe they are trying to stop time wasters.

I am getting really hacked off with our letting agent, asking me to mow the lawn, make sure the cleaning is up to scratch etc for viewings.

Cartwheels: Lots of EAs round here will not let you see a house unless your house is on the market (or you have nothing to sell). It saves sellers from people whose hobby is looking at other people's houses that they will never buy.

I don't think I'd have taken my house off the market for buyers who hadn't sold yet. My EAs would have counselled against it. You can accept it, but it doesn't become a real offer until they can actually move forward. So there isn't really any point in taking your house off the market until that point.

Ok, thanks for the advice! We will discuss with the EA if any offers should be forthcoming but I am disinclined to take ours off the market because of an offer from someone who needs to sell so it sounds like it is ok for us to say that!
Hopefully we'll get an offer soon.
Good luck everyone else with their sale/purchase. Such a torturous system we have here

Sticking my head in! Am more of a lurker than a poster but this thread is fascinating and has been a real revelation re: the stresses of moving (and put me off ever, ever doing it again tbh).
Cartwheels we offered on somewhere before we had an offer on ours. They accepted but didn't take the house off the market and were very edgy until we had an offer.

I'm so fed up of this whole process now. I've called our solicitors every Monday for 3 weeks running, and every time, we're 'waiting for one more reply and then we can talk completion dates'. Of course, still no date! Our purchase is ready to go, but our buyers are fucking about - they are cash buyers and we took a lower offer than we wanted for the sake of a quick sale, and now they're pissing about! Didn't get a homebuyer survey done til 5 weeks after they'd offered, and now want us to pay for a load of indemnity insurances and get a load of extra legal stuff done. Cheeky blighters. It's just dragging on and on and on. Plus I'm now 25w pregnant and feeling it. I just want to move! Tired and fat and fed up and every time I think we're nearly there, the sodding goalposts get moved yet again. I know it's par for the course, just feeling sorry for myself this morning.

Four . It is stressful.

We had unecessary mucking about from our buyers, who had nothing to sell. Twice we mentioned, casually, to the EA that we were thinking about putting the house back on the market. It did the trick and got things proceeding again. On completion we found out they were completely committed to the house. A gentle nudge might be all it takes. Good luck.

Been on the market a week today, had 3 offers, 1 offensively low, 1 a bit silly and 1 for the asking price! They only saw the property yesterday but love it, but they're stuck in a chain :( A big, long, complicated, chain.

They can't put a real offer in until their offer on their house is confirmed, but their buyers are waiting for the same.

We're off to see a property tomorrow that would be PERFECT, location and size and everything, and we'd really love to put in an offer. Realistically, it is 15 grand under our budget if we got asking price for ours, so we probably can put in an offer, but it probably wont be accepted cause of the chain.

I was all excited, but now I'm glum :( Plus our potential buyers haven't gone online to put the offer on (we're with an online agent) so there's really nothing even remotely concrete yet :( :( :(

House buying and selling SUCKS.

Bexley- I feel your pain! Every stage is so stressful!

Cartwheels- the house we are buying was kept on the market by the owners until we had a concrete offer on ours. This is despite DH knowing the owners for over 30 years and us having rented the house as well!

We popped over to the house we are buying and have been trying to do so for the last 3 weeks. Our solicitor said we must visit before completion as there had been a very dodgy tenant who had caused lots of damage. We kept being put off and were told that the house was empty and had been professionally cleaned. The "professional cleaners" seem to have missed the entire kitchen which had a cupboard of half eaten easter eggs, mouse poo everywhere, clumps of dog fur, large birds nest in another room. There's also a big leak with water running down which has ruined one of the planks of newly laid flooring in the top floor. Also another huge area of damp has appeared in a room next to the kitchen. The poor house was freezing cold and seems so unloved. We were promised that the house ad garden would be left in the immaculate condition we saw it in last summer. It is abit depressing now! Poor house.

I think we might have to bow out. The surveyor's appeal came back with no change. Still valued at £15k under agreed price. We've had it valued by an estate agent, but they want £2k fees, plus the weeks it would take to sell we would probably lose the house we have offered on . Actually don't know what to do at all. Not sure I can face all the tidying for viewings, followed by pointless feedback like- road parking, or size of a room- all of which is on the details!

Sorry to hear that Huckleberry. You get used to the silly feedback after awhile. One thing I missed after we found a buyer was having a tidy house all the time. It descended into chaos after the viewings stopped! That was one positive thing about the viewings (strange as it seems). You never know you might not lose the house you want. It has been a year since we saw the house we are buying and it is still there waiting for us. We are moving in tomorrow!