Sellers/Buyers roll call part 3. Who is still on this treadmill?

[MovingNextYearHopefully]

A slight name change for me, as I'm clearly not moving this year. Well, I am, but not into the house I'm buying.

Went to the development today, had a chat with the girls in the office & updated them. Hopefully we will be exchanging contracts next week should all go to plan. We found a nice house to rent, but its so bloody expensive I'm petrified! As long as we complete within our 6 month rental contract then all will be well, but if we don't then things will get ridiculously expensive!

Hi all, can I join this thread please? I'm a bit clueless and have a few questions too if that's ok?

We have accepted an offer on our house, and had an offer accepted on the house we hope to buy. Solicitors have been instructed by all parties.

Our mortgage offer has been received and the survey is being done this week. Our buyer is at the same stage. Our vendor is chain-free.

My question is... what happens next?! We receive the survey results and hopefully everything is ok? Should we be doing anything else or chasing anybody? I've heard so many horror stories, and am terrified we will have a problem but I'm not sure how long things should take, or if I should be chasing someone for something!

Thank you!

You could check if the solicitors have started searches yet, other than that you should chase the surveyors report in a few days time.

I don’t think there’s anything else you can do at this stage, happy to be corrected though!

Thank you Bifs - am feeling rather nervous about the whole thing! Will ask the solicitor if searches have begun tomorrow.

Me too. I don’t think I’ve slept properly for four weeks! Our mortgage underwriting seemed to take forever, but then things have progressed this week - offer subject to valuation on TuesdayC survey done Friday and searches instructed same day, so hopefully you’ll find that things start moving soon.

It is nerve wracking

A little update from us though we're no further forwards. The two viewings on Thursday went really well. The first couple loved the house but had appointments to see other houses as ours was the first one they'd seen. The second couple loved the house but were still pondering the area. So, more positive than it's been previously, and our fingers are tightly crossed that the first couple might go for it, especially as they've had their mortgage offer through and are in rented, ready to go.

The house we want is still off the market, but that's likely to change in the next few weeks, and I'm terrified it'll go up for sale and get snapped up, but at least then we'll know it wasn't meant to be.

Just hate being in limbo for so long. We fell in love with the other house in September and here we are, in Jan, still no further forward. Pah.

@BiFsWif I usually sleep like a log, but like you am tossing and turning at night worrying what could go wrong!

Been told our buyers survey on ours was fine and they should get offer today.

I've just chased solicitors for an update, and have no qualms in going down to their office (which is local) and staying there till I get answers!!

Fingers crossed for you @UninspiringUserName that the first couple have fallen in love with yours.

What do you think is a reasonable offer on a house that’s on for £450k it’s been on market for ages reduced from. £550k over about 2 years they have an offer on table but they aren’t ready to sell whereas we are about to exchange on ours ? It needs some work doing to it so the more we save the more we have to do the work ?

Do you know how much the offer on the table is for?

I started by offering 10% less than the asking price and worked up from there.

@Youreadthebabybooks you should take a look at sold prices for similar houses in the area. The November stats are certainly up. We did this and used the information to present back to vendors to 'explain' our offer. My DH also worked out square metre price to allow comparison.

Any news yet Milly?

Hi Fireside. If your solicitor hasn't asked for initial payment to cover searches then maybe question that. They could be awaiting survey results before instigating the survey though. Also you will have sellers property information forms to fill in & draft contracts. There will be enquiries raised on all transactions, which can take a while to come back, particularly on leasehold & shared ownership property. Early days. 🤞 for a successful survey result & no need to renegotiate.

It is definitely nerve wracking Bifs. I am glad to be coming to the end finally. It's been a long process.

Hopefully you get some good news this week Uninspiring. All the while the house you want is still available there is hope.

Great news on the survey alifelessordinary. Good start to the week for you.

I'm a bit confused Youreadthebabybooks. Am I right in thinking that you want to offer on a house that has been on the market over 2 years & reduced by 100k in that time, but the vendors are not ready to sell? Why put the house on the market if they're not ready to sell? It makes no sense at all. Personally if they've been dicking about for 2 years wasting time & reducing price because nobody is prepared to go by their timeline which could mean completing in another 2 years then personally I'd walk away. Some people are just weird & enjoy having strangers come over for a chat but no real intention of selling.

Sorry i wasn’t very clear was I ha ha
House been on market for 2 years
Started at £550k
Reduced to £450k in August last year
We want to offer on it when we have exchanged on our current house
There is another offer ( which hasn’t been accepted) on the house we like but the people who put that offer in are not in a position to sell ( whatever that means)
The people who own the house we like are selling and ready to move etc etc

Thank you Moving - we have made the initial payment and returned all their paperwork so it sounds like we are on top of as much as we can be at this point. Survey taking place tomorrow so fingers crossed.

Bifs here's hoping we can all sleep more soundly soon!

I accepted an offer this morning, been to solicitors this afternoon! My buyer is keen to move ASAP so I’m happy to go along with that and get everything moving.

Exciting! Now the worrying begins...

Congratulations Kernow!

Thanks! Fully expecting it all to go wrong!

Oh right Youreadthebabybooks, do you mean the other people are not in a position to offer because their own house isn't sold? So basically they're not a threat to you at all. I'd do as sandy suggests & check out recent selling prices to see what may be realistic & make adjustments based on the amount of work doing.

Everything crossed Fireside. 🤞

Congratulations Kernowgal.

11 days till completion here!

Nice to hear things are ticking along for everyone.

We accepted an offer on Friday and have had an offer accepted on the house we want! I’m so nervous now that it’ll go wrong!

Do we arrange a survey or start searches before we get the mortgage offer firmed up? We have the in principle and an appointment booked to make it a proper offer.

Our buyer’s mortgage valuation people rang to make an appointment today so I’m concerned we’re behind already! We’d love to move asap.

@MovingThisYearDefinitely - the clock is definitely ticking now! Have you got your first night takeaway planned?

@Kernowgal - congratulations. That all sounds very positive.

All going ok with our house sale and purchase. Survey done on our house and survey will be done on our new house on Wednesday. Mortgage company is working on our application and has been in touch to check on DH bonus details but gas confirmed they gave everything else they need. Had to chase our vendors solicitor via their EA to send papers to our solicitor (the big pack of fixtures and fittings etc). A bit irritating as we were told they wanted to exchange in a month!

On the 'fun' side had an interesting chat with an interior designer who will potentially help us design a new en-suite. The master bed has a massive walk in wardrobe which we think can be split into an en-suite and smaller walk-in. I've started a Pinterest board which is more fun than looking at Zoopla

Oh that's good news @ALadyofLetters . The very first thing we did was pay for searches. Our solicitor was keen to get that underway. Have you got your mortgage application in yet? Our survey was booked very quickly after we'd put the application in.

Thanks @sandybayley Exciting to be planning your new house. I’m desperate to start some Pintrest boards but I’m nervous I’ll jinx it!

I’ve got an appointment on Thursday with the mortgage people to formalise it so presumably they then do the valuation. Do we have to book a homebuyers survey separately?

DH emailed some solicitors then has gone on a work trip so that’s unhelpful. I’m going to finalise the solicitors tomorrow then hopefully they’ll get some searches underway.

@ALadyofLetters - we have got our homebuyers survey through our mortgage company. It worked out cheaper that way as they're deducted the valuation survey fee from what we pay. The company doing the survey are a big and reputable national one so I'm happy we'll get a decent opinion.

@movingthosyear I spoke to my solicitor and they sent a very direct email to my buyers solicitor stating that they emailed us on the 9th of Jan staying there would be enquiries and still nothing and this matter must now be settled.
She also advised them we need to work towards a March deadline and why. That was yesterday at 12 and shocker no response!!
Take 3 today of trying to get our mortgage survey done as well.... I'll believe that when it actually happens...the last 2 have not happened and the surveyor blames the estate agent and vice versa

@ladyofletters get on that Pinterest! I have created so many boards in the last week or so it's unreal

@sandybayley that sounds amazing your new master suite will be gorgeous!

Congratulations Kernowgal!

3 days until we get our keys. Shame I'm laid up in bed with the lurgy 🤧

Everything is looking very positive on here so well done to all who now have offers/ready to exchange.
We found out yesterday the 4th people to offer had gone off the radar. We accepted their offer in Dec after 2nd viewing in which they spent an hour taking photos and looking about with family members. Yesterday discovered they had sorted their own sale but won’t answer calls from agent regarding our house.
I am almost ready to give up. Have one more expected offer from buyer yet to sell so fingers crossed.
Good luck everyone.

Namechanged. So glad it's going so well for so many, it's encouraging to read that many of you are finding things are falling into place.

Just in case anyone out there is lurking and despairing, you're not the only ones - our second lot of buyers have pulled out after we had to declare an issue with our neighbours who have started some spurious (according to old solicitors, new solicitors, home insurance legal bods (who won't cover us but that's another story) and free legal advice via work) legal action that isn't even aimed at us but does involve our house, and by extension, us. The ins and outs are complicated and not everything is clear still, as the actions taken so far don't make much sense to anyone. I'm beyond frustrated, it's not the easiest house to sell anyway and we've lost the sale and are having to pay legal fees for something that is not our fault. It actually makes me mad that someone can impact someone's entire life and cost them money just because they want to. Needless to say we've taken the house off the market and will have to wait until this is resolved and see how the market looks then, but with is being so slow and with this issue I don't hold out much hope. If anyone wins the lottery and is feeling generous...