Buyer's support thread #5

[scribblegirl]

Sorry for breaking the last one

and for all....

I think a wobble is perfectly sensible, even if it's not something as big as no sockets to plug anything in in the kitchen. As Palomb says, it's a total leap of faith. At least you know about it now (not on moving day) and have a plan to sort it out.

Kirin: what's your EA done?

Heyhey: that sounds like a total nightmare. I'm glad everything's back in track now.

DH and I are fed up with it all and just want it over with. It was OK while stuff was happening and there were things we could do, but we're just waiting for a response to final things. Our buyers must be even more fed up than us, as they've been at this just waiting point for a week or so (except they're just waiting for us to get our purchase in order). I just want to move. The house we're buying is really lovely and there's so much space for everyone. I just want to get moved in and get on with my life!

I don't know how people cope when it takes 6 months or more.

Stepaway - I meant that maybe it was time for Temp to be rude back. I don't have an estate agent ( not selling anything) but the vendors estate agent is okay. Not exactly the brightest button but he's nice enough!

Ah. Yes. I agree. Temp can definitely be rude to that agent!

Hahaha my wobble is over. I think I was very, very tired and hot.

I have a plan! I was going to move in and live with the dodgy, socket deficient kitchen and now I've decided hell with it, I'm going to get a new kitchen. So I'm very, very excited again and spent last night playing with kitchen designs.

How long did it take your solicitors to do anything? And are they keeping you updated. All we've received is client care letter which we have to sign. They've taken a small amount of money for disbursements.

I have no idea what they are supposed to do and how long is reasonable to leave them. Given that the mortgage was agreed within 72 hours, I'm finding the solicitors really slow.

Mine have been quite quick; I transferred money last Monday to do the searches and they contacted me on the Tuesday to say that they have sent for them.

I did get a quote from another firm and they are being a bit odd. They weren't on the panel for my mortgage co so I went with a different firm. A few weeks later the first lot sent me a letter with all the details, including the wrong amount for stamp duty. They were out by £4500! I didn't twig that they were the first firm. Anyway, I've gone with the second lot but the first lot keep contacting me even though I am not using them.

In the past I have kept in touch frequently with solicitors to remind them I am wishing to progress quickly. It seems to work if you behave like bit of a pain in the arse...

I do know that searches where I am are taking 5-7 days so that's good :-)

I got in touch with mine last week pushing for a response but they got a bit defensive. They've said they're waiting for a draft contract from the seller? No mention of searches.

A new kitchen sounds great, Temp! What kind of vibe are you going for?

I'm dithering on whether to be a pain in the behind with the estate agents for the house we're interested in. No acknowledgment of an email sent early last week saying we needed answers to a couple of questions but that we'd be interested in making an offer subject to those answers and a second viewing. I'd expect a quicker response from an ebay seller, let alone when discussing the potential purchase of something as expensive as a house!

I'm probably just being stupidly impatient. But I just want to start moving towards an offer!

I would ring them. EA are notoriously incompetent. I was willing to set aside prejudices when we started the process, but no. None of them have proved to be trustworthy.

Fridddaaayyyyyy! Although the way things are going we may not be in the house until Saturday. I hate waiting.

Catch - where are you based? Here, we didn't get the opportunity for second viewings generally. The one we are buying is the only flat we saw twice in our 6-month search. I think it only remained on the market because they were expecting £50k too much. Everything else we offered on we saw for a max of 5 minutes, once!

We had a second viewing after our offer was accepted, which was an excellent opportunity to speak openly with the vendor about a few things - notably that they didn't give two figs whether we used the EA's recommended solicitors or not, in spite of the EA telling us the vendor wouldn't agree to the sale if we didn't use them. Cheeky liars. We saved about £700 by using our own firm.

I'm looking in rural Scotland, place has been on the market for several months and was up for two years a few years ago (with the same vendor). Not the most high-speed property market.

It's also an older property with some level '2' issues on the Home Report (things that need to be fixed but not absolutely immediately) that we'd like to look at more closely and possibly get quotes for pre-offering.

Tbh I'd be quite happy to offer without a second viewing but would like confirmation from a roofer that we won't need to replace the roof within a year of purchasing.

It would be nice if the market was like that here! Is it different in Scotland in that once the offer is accepted, you're locked in?

As far as I can tell (FTB desperately trying to figure it all out - didn't know we'd be buying a house until 3 weeks ago!), the contract is legally binding once missives are exchanged but I think this generally happens quicker / earlier in the process than down in England. I'm quite anxious about a potential rush to get the mortgage offer (we have an AIP) as you can't apply for the full offer (afaik) until you have made an offer on a specific property, but you also don't want to have it go to missives until you have the money in place. But because of the shorter process I think it is more important to have all the details (second viewing, quotes for work etc) ironed out before viewing.

We also have a fairly short window in which to move and I was trying to get informal confirmation that the vendor would be willing to consider that timespan. Maybe that's the kind of question I should have asked via a solicitor but if so they could have just replied straightaway saying so!

Is there room for one more on the buyers' bench?

Just had an offer accepted this morning. Was beginning to believe we wouldn't find anything as the market is moving very quickly and with DH working away we weren't getting to view stuff before someone offered on it.

Anyhow we used our chain free position and the fact that the house was a little overpriced to negotiate a deal.

We've been renting for 3.5 years while relocating and then trying to sell a house that our tenants trashed. Can't wait to live in our own house again!

I got a little carried away with the kitchen and think I might go for aubergine and white units with crazy tiles. Or I may just go for white units. I don't know. Off to look at the showroom tonight.

I've booked the carpets (grey) throughout and the fitters are coming before I move our stuff in. It's all very exciting.

Ooh. Jealous of kitchen shopping temp. The kitchen in the place we're buying is perfectly good and relatively new but I really want to replace (and probably extend) it eventually but it won't be for a few years, but I'm building up quite a set of bookmarks of kitchen porn!

kirin we instructed our solicitor straight after offer (first week of May), it took about a week to get the draft contract from the vendor. Then we held things up for a week until we had confirmation of mortgage (still pending formal offer which should be today/tomorrow, but broker said it's going through). So I prompted searches on Fri, they're out there and she's sent all the contract and paperwork through today for review. Sounds like you're waiting on the vendors sols though, so might not be yours being slow. They can't start without the draft from the selling side.

Yay reading - i don't envy the actual moving as it will no doubt be extra stress but once you're in and have the kettle on it'll be great!

Welcome new posters Sorry to hear about your tenants Cankles

So exciting Reading!

Kirin and There you have my sympathies. I guess we have to remember that for THEM this is not a big deal...although they seem incapable of remembering that it is a huge deal for US.

Feel free to show us a picture of your kitchen inspiration Temp

Thanks tits - I'll have to give him a little more time then. I am 100% going to become a pain in the arise though. I haven't ever had to instruct a solicitor so I'm seeing it from the other viewpoint now. It's normally me giving the advice!

Arse not arise.

Hmm so we thought we were near the end, given that we returned signed contracts and paid out the deposit and sols fees last week. Got a letter today to say our vendors can't commit to any exchange/completion dates as they're waiting for a mortgage offer and answers to queries on their purchase. So disappointed. We were told by the EA that they were at the same stage as us. Clearly not!

Oh no! Isn't it so frustrating prickly this house buying malarkey is absolutely hateful. I don't know why a person would choose to move any more than is absolutely necessary... Apparently
Some weirdos do it every year!

I've been having a bit of a nightmare since receiving my survey last week. It's raised major damp problems where the damp-proof course has failed, the chimney breast has been removed and a gallows bracket installed (no planning permission), and there's a giant loft extension (no planning permission/no building regs). The lintel support is too small around some of the windows. That's just the major stuff. Since there's a partially flat roof, there's likely to need to be work done there too.

All in all, I'm starting to think I should pull out, but I've spent almost £4k to get to this point!