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Original poster

Buyer support thread?

40 replies

MondayClub · 20/07/2018 16:36

Would anyone be interested? There's a seller one, so why not a buyers.

DH and I are first-time buyers. We've squeaked a 10% deposit but it looks like prices are going up and up here.

Viewed a house on Monday, but the vendor isn't accepting offers yet (Hmm).

OP posts:
wherewithal · 20/07/2018 16:54

They’re going up and up in our area, too. Not much selling though; or when something does, it just pops up again soon after.

DBoo · 20/07/2018 17:00

Dp and i are part way through the process of buying a shared ownership property from a housing association. It's a new build i thought it would be straight forward and they would want rid asap but i feel like they are taking the piss out of us.

Been dealing with then three weeks now. They had all our documents worked out the figures told us dp could buya 25% share. We saw a mortgage advisor got an agreement in principal sent it across and they then had to go through the figures?!?! Apparently by their reckoning dp can afford a bigger share fortunately our mortgage advisor has told them he can't which resolves the issue.

Now we can't move any further forward until we have seen the property however we can't see the property because the housing association dont have the keys and even when they do because their office is 12 miles from the property they want to do group bookings so we are expected to wait until everyone interested im the properties is available at the same time.

I'm really scared there's something going on behind the scenes.

ToBeClear · 20/07/2018 17:27

We’re buying in N Leeds and it’s a bubble here - prices are mad! We just had an offer accepted today though, and the buyer has no chain and neither do we so fingers crossed we’ll be in before Christmas 😂

DBoo · 20/07/2018 17:32

Exciting news #tobeclear. Hope it all goes smoothly from this point forward!

Original poster
MondayClub · 20/07/2018 17:57

How does that work dBoo? Do you gradually buy more of it as you live there?

Congratulations tobeclear! You can talk the rest of us through it! Getting the offer in and accepted is difficult enough, I haven't even begun to think about what comes after that bit Shock

Just performed my last weekly check on Rightmove and a house that ticks all our boxes has come up.... fingers crossed!

OP posts:
MeMeMeow85 · 20/07/2018 18:03

Great idea to have a buyer thread 😊 We’re a month into the process of buying our forever home, which we love. We were the first viewers (the day after it went on the market and agreed 9% below asking).

Looking like it will take 10 weeks in total to complete, even though we’re chain free and the vendor moving into an empty house... Both solicitors are slow slow slow! Good luck everyone

fruityb · 20/07/2018 18:12

We’re waiting on the local authority search and have been for about three weeks now. Nothing is moving fast at all and I am so frustrated with the whole process!!!

Plus we’re on holiday next week - we hoped to exchange before this but obviously can’t till this fucking search turns up.

We’ve given notice on our house and have to be out in two weeks. I am at the end of my tether!!

ToBeClear · 20/07/2018 18:26

Having the offer accepted was so easy! The vendor is using Yopa - so we submitted the offer online straight to the vendor and they accepted 2 hours later! No EA involvement so hopefully it will be smooth sailing. Had to provide proof of funds, mortgage in principle and solicitor details and home is already flagged as SStc on Rightmove!!

wherewithal · 20/07/2018 18:38

Be careful of shared ownerships. From a recent Money Box:
“Technically what you’re getting is an assured tenancy. You don’t actually own the property. Your 25% is in effect a promise of what you would get back from the equity in a sale.”

Original poster
MondayClub · 20/07/2018 18:48

Congratulations MeMeMeow! You were so lucky :)

That sounds awful fruityb, fingers crossed for Monday morning. Can you stay in your current house any longer?

The vendor is using Yopa - so we submitted the offer online straight to the vendor and they accepted 2 hours later!
Oh this sounds perfect for me, I sound like a child on the phone and get all tongue-tied.

OP posts:
Scoogle · 20/07/2018 19:01

I'm a FTB . Very near exchange..We are so excited. Owing our own home has been our dream for so long. Added to that I'm a property lawyer, which is good in some ways and bad in others.

DBoo · 20/07/2018 19:15

Yes basically we purchase 25% of the overall price then as and when we can purchase more until we own the full property. We pay rent on the remaining share. I know it has some pitfalls but at the moment it is our only chance of getting out of old damp street houses.

The house will cost around about £425 a month all in. Where we live there are old damp street houses which rent between 425 - 500 or nicer houses which start at 650 a month. We're stuck. I'm on a dmp. Dps credit isnt great. We dont have a deposit and mortgage companies have requested 10% on a mortgage of £41k and would likely want more for a larger mortgage e.g. if we were buying outright.

It's a crappy position to be in but is a way we can guarantee we will live in a nice house in a nice area with good schools etc.

Alexalee · 20/07/2018 19:52

Scoogle
Why does everything take conveyancers so long in this country?
Surely it should be doable to offer and complete in a couple of weeks but always takes 2 months and more.
I remember watching Kirsty and Phil once and they did offer exchange and complete on the same day with both sets of solicitors sitting with buyer and seller... what is this called and why isn't it more common?

Fluffypinkpyjamas · 20/07/2018 19:57

Thanks for starting this OP. We are hoping to exchange next week and complete at the end of the month! It’s been very nearly 3 months since our offer was accepted. Just can’t wait! Smile

Original poster
MondayClub · 20/07/2018 20:14

Oh you are all much further down the line than us. Very jealous. This is hands down the most stressful thing I've ever done!

Scoogle have you got any top tips, as a professional like?

OP posts:
HopefullyMoving · 20/07/2018 20:27

Hello!

So we are ready to exchange on our sale... it's all eyes on the purchase now.

Hoping to complete 31st August. So fingers crossed for us.

Just waiting for the mortgage to be confirmed and sellers solicitors are being sllloooooowww

fruityb · 20/07/2018 20:33

We may be able to come to an arrangement with our seller once we’ve exchanged to allow us to get in there before completion as there’s no reason why anything should take much longer.

We have an option to stay somewhere else with relatives but it means putting all our worldly possessions in storage and living there with our two year old and I cannot think of anything I would rather do less!! We can’t stay here any longer either.

Why the hell it has to take this long to do anything I’ll never know!! Im so past it now and just want to get moved. It’ll be eight weeks since we instructed them and it’s been a bloody slog ever since!

I am never moving again!

ToBeClear · 20/07/2018 20:57

The time it takes us mad and there really is no need. We sold in the US in June and it took just 6 weeks from offer to exchanging contracts. Everything is very low energy here and the business model for house sales is not very incentivizing. There needs to be more skin in the game here for involved parties.

Notmorewashing · 20/07/2018 21:02

Awful process here in England don’t know how anyone moves, offered in March still not exchanged.

Fluffypinkpyjamas · 20/07/2018 21:04

Agreed re the ridiculously slow solicitors process. Although our seller was at fault for the issue that held it all up for it longer than needed. My advice is chase all the people all the time Grin

fruityb · 20/07/2018 21:10

They’re like grumpy teenagers!! “Have you done this yet?”
“No not yet”
“Have you done it now”
“No but I will”
“How about now”
“Yes it’s done”.

Do it the first time!! I fail to see how a local authority search has to be a) booked in and b) take so bloody long!!

We are renting and the sellers have moved out already. There’s no need for this hold up!

zebrapig · 20/07/2018 21:36

Our offer was accepted at end end of May; we were the end of the (very long) chain as our seller wasn't buying anything else, perfect as the chain wanted it to all go through in 6-8 weeks. We had problems with our mortgage application which has help stuff up by a week but not the end of the world. Last week (6 weeks down the line) I got a call from the ea to say our seller has now put an offer in on another house but it's ok as it's vacant and it can move quickly as she doesn't need a mortgage. Our sale is ready to exchange next week, yesterday the ea called me with "bad news" it turns out the house isn't vacant - it's tenanted and the tenants notice period ends on 3rd September. To say I'm pissed off is an understatement, I don't think the rest of the chain will wait that long. Two sets of people below us have ended up moving in with relatives to ensure that it's gone ahead. Our seller is refusing to break the chain despite being the one to cock everything up. I think we're going to have to break the chain in order to keep our sale (it's nearly a year since it first went on the market) and I have no idea where we're going to live for 4/5 weeks in the summer holidays with a 3yo and a 7mo until we can complete our sale. Aghhh!

Original poster
MondayClub · 20/07/2018 21:52

God some of you have been mucked around something awful Shock

OP posts:
Fluffypinkpyjamas · 20/07/2018 22:26

They’re like grumpy teenagers!! “Have you done this yet?”
“No not yet”
“Have you done it now”
“No but I will”
“How about now”
“Yes it’s done”.

Oh Fruity that’s made laugh, so true! Grin

That’s awful Zebra! So wrong to make everyone else suffer.

zebrapig · 20/07/2018 22:55

It's awful, I lost so much sleep over it last night. I've put the ball in the ea court and left it with her over the weekend to see what she can do. We were supposed to have another viewing tonight to measure for furniture but I cancelled it as I said I didn't want our 3yo to be disappointed if it doesn't happen soon. I'm desperately hoping the tenants decide to move out ASAP rather than wait until their notice is up and then hopefully it can all go through at the same time (although this is probably wishful thinking).