Buying and Exchanging

[Mommasoph30]

Hi All,

So sold my house back in July, my buyer has been patient, we found dream house but it fell through, Then found another a few weeks later. We had offer accepted on house about 3 weeks ago and now have just had the valuation back,

What happends next?????

Im being impatient, tell me your completion stories!!!

Do you need a mortgage? Is the valuation for you or your lender? Get a proper, detailed survey done for you. Take things from there.

Hi, We have had vaulation done on our property a few weeks back and the valuation has just come back from the one we buying. I don't know whats happening next!

We were 1st time buyers but this is the process our solicitor emailed us and to understand the process.

House buying process
Offer agreed
Solicitors instructed
Sales memorandum issued by agent
Purchaser applies for mortgage
Vendor's solicitor prepares and issues draft contract
Vendor completes seller's enquiry forms and returns to solicitor
Valuation/survey carried out
Purchaser pays solicitor for searches
Searches requested – chancel check, Environmental, full flood and planning, water and drainage search
Renegotiation of price due to survey findings - if required
Mortgage offer issued
Purchaser's solicitor receives seller's enquiry forms and raises any enquiries
Searches returned
Responses to enquiries
Purchaser visits solicitor to go through paperwork, hand over ID and deposit
Completion date agreed between all parties
Contracts exchanged
Completion takes place

A valuation doesn't tell you about the condition of the property or anything you need to be aware of which may need addressing or cost you money to fix. Please do not rely on just a valuation survey - instruct a homebuyer's survey or structural survey before you proceed any further. A few £100s spent now can save you £1000s and much heartache in future.

Ok thank you,

Yeah I think we are getting all the surveys and everything done.

Cheers

Sophia

You "think" you're getting a survey? A homebuyers report or a full structural survey?
You sound worryingly unclear as to where you're at and what you should be doing.
What's the valuation you've had so far? The mortgage valuation for the mortgage company?
Presumably you're already instructed solicitors for both your sale and your purchase?

We are with an estate agent and they are sorting everything out for us. We have just had the valuation back for the mortgage.

Estate agent won't sort everything out! It is your choice what level of survey you have and what you are satisfied with beyond the mortgage valuation. Is the conveyancing bring done via ea too?

Hi Yeah, the Conveyancing is being sort out by the Estate agent too. The house we are buying is fairly new so i don't think we will need to do a full survey. What else should i be doing then? we have just been waiting on the paperwork to come through

Have you already done the questionnaire for your sale and responded to queries?

Do you have a solicitor or conveyancer for both the sale and the purchase? What have you had from them so far?

conveyancing from the estate agent - you'll be paying over the odds and not necessarily getting better service.

a 'fairly new' house still needs at least a homebuyers report. Many new builds are shoddy, and even if it was perfect it has had wear and tear. You also need to know what has been done since it was built and whether it has been bodged.

what else can you be doing? Ask around the area for planning issues that haven't started the formal process yet. Run some insurance quotes - flooding? Crime? Declutter, get removal quotes.

please do a bit of reading and take control.

You just have to sit and wait for a bit now, whilst things get done by solicitors. They'll send you paperwork as it comes through to them and should highlight anything weird. Don't rely on them though!

Searches will be carried out and sent to you. You'll get a questionnaire regarding what you are leaving (washing machine, curtains, bins, etc) and will receive one from the house you are buying.

Personally, I think on a new house a basic valuation is fine, but read up online and make sure you don't want a more involved survey.

If in doubt, phone the solicitors and ask if you should be doing anything/what they are doing.

You could start to look at removal companies, or hiring your own van.

If you want to get completed any time soon, you need to take control of this and not just presume others are doing it for you.

Are you committed to using the conveyancer organised by the EA? We did this and it was awful. Paid a fortune and they did such a bad job that the whole thing almost collapsed on completion day, with all our possessions in the van waiting to go. If you're not committed, I'd switch to a decent solicitors firm.

Get a Homebuyers report done at the very least, even if you decide against a full structural. Then get quotes for any work that needs doing, which the report flags up.

And familiarise yourself with stuff like who provides the utilities in your house, where the stopcock is, whose boundaries are whose, where your building regs certificates are for any works - just so you're ready for enquiries as they come in.

Thank you for the advice people :)

UPDATE,

Signed exchange docs but not dated them, waiting on some bits form solicitor!

I hope we get to exchange soon fed up of waiting.

Do not exchange based on a solicitor recommended by the estate agent. Serious conflict of interest and they won't be on your side.

Are you seriously exchanging without getting a homebuyers report? Or did you get one done in the end?

we have had the homebuyers survey done,
we just waiting on some final questions back from the seller before we can exchange.

You're exchanging without a full structural survey? Bonkers. How do you know it isn't about to subside?