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!

We're not moving in straight away as there's a crossover between getting the keys and leaving the rental, but thank you x

@WitchDancer congratulations!

Our solicitor is chasing to answer the last few enquiries and we will be ready to exchange... feels like it has taken forever but realistically is 3 1/2months with xmas in the middle and a rather complicated leasehold property (many different management/freehold/leasehold interests)

DH and I had promised each other we wouldn't start viewing houses here again until we had exchanged because it would put us in the best position. We are currently in rented and on a periodic tenancy although about to sign a 6 month AST.

But I've Seen a nice house come up (just) in budget so have arranged to view tomorrow. Might delay signing that AST if we put an offer in, though the vendors are buying something themselves so who knows how long it'll be.

Hello, signing in...

Starting to get nervous now! Accepted an offer from chain-free, cash buyers and FTB, a lovely, simple sale. They've had a previous purchase fall through, and so were eager to be in, which is understandable. So we've exchanged, and completion of our sale is set for February 8th.
We had an offer accepted on our new place just over 6 weeks ago... (on the market since early Sept) but they are still looking for somewhere to buy. They are retired, empty nesters who are downsizing. We'll be staying in a friends' spare room temporarily, but I'll be 30 weeks pregnant and a newborn would definitely complicate things!
Getting to the point of setting ultimatums now - we've paid for searches and a survey, our mortgage is all set to port, meanwhile it seems like our sellers haven't made any progress at all. Would it be wrong to set a pre-baby deadline of an exit date in March? Or is that just playing the pregnancy card and resorting to some emotional blackmail?

Archbishop,

Hmm, tricky one. How motivated are the people you are hoping to buy from? What is their reason for wanting to sell?

Given how long it takes for a purchase to go through, as they haven't identified somewhere to buy yet, it is highly unlikely that they will be exiting the property at any point in March, unless they are happy to go into rented/temporary accommodation of some kind.

Also how much do you want the house? Giving ultimatums can irritate some sellers, which may backfire on you. But given how critical the timing is for you I don't think it's unreasonable to have a clear idea of whether the vendors have any intention of moving before they've found a house to buy.

@WitchDancer That's handy! Good there then is less stress on moving times with removal company.

We are just getting quotes for removals, they all have to do visit and survey what is to be moved so i've blocked out Thursday afternoon for this.

Woo WitchDancer. Congratulations! 🎉 The relief that it's all over must be immense.

Thanks Sandy. The money it costs to move is unbelievable isn't it? The only positive about it taking so long is that it has enabled us to buy a house we otherwise couldn't have afforded & save up a few extra thousand. Every cloud eh?

Don't let fear of what could go wrong worry you MrsPatmore. What will be will be & it all works out in the end. We ended up having to get a different mortgage 3 times. The best way to avoid losing money is to get a product where you don't pay a fee upfront.

Paranormal the vendors agree that they are giving full vacant possession when they sell. If they do not then they are in breach of contract so although not 100% guaranteed theoretically there should be no issue & you can charge the vendors if you need to clear the property before you move in because of abandoned items.

We only did our viewings when we were with Purplebricks Tulips. If you do it yourself then what are you paying them for?

It does seem to of taken forever Tiddle. Definitely a very complex case there. Glad to hear you have somewhere to view tomorrow. Everything crossed. 🤞

Archbishop I can understand the need to get in asap, but 6 weeks is still pretty early days. I'd be firm that you need a full update & I wouldn't be opposed to using the pregnancy card to get things pushed along if it will help, but not in a threatening way, more appealing to everyone's better nature.

7 days to go here till we get the keys to our new home! 🎉🎊😁

@WitchDancer - congratulations! You must be so relieved.

Good news here today, received our mortgage offer. Also had someone round to do a removals quote. Ddog was not impressed, I reassured the removals man that dog would be elsewhere in moving and packing days.

@ArchbishopOfBanterbury - if they aren't found anywhere I think you need to have a conversation about their willingness to go into rented. They just aren't going to find anywhere now and meet your deadline.

Congrats @WitchDancer hope you are very happy in your new home!

I’m faffing about with mortgage stuff. DH did the mortgage in principle ages ago but formalising it is a real pain. I hope approval doesn’t take too long.

I was wondering when I should get moving quotes @sandybayley Last time we paid for packers (we had a 2 yr old and a newborn!) It was great but unpacking was hard- e.g 10 boxes labelled jusr ‘kitchen’!

@archbishop of banterbury you're in a tricky position. It can take longer than 6 weeks to find somewhere, but we were burned by people in a similar situation who just decided not to move... If I were you I'd look for short term rentals. Better to be there than in a friends spare room with a newborn!!

We've been in cleaning today (house was empty so they've let us have the keys). Quite dirty.... I've scrubbed a lot of mould off the fridge and the coir carpets that are everywhere have caused our amazing shark hoover to overheat and stop working but it's starting to feel like ours, it's warmer than we thought it would be now the heating is on and have discovers the oven is a rangemaster!!

rangerlady winner!!!! I hope my vendors let me in to clean early ha...It's Vacant so fingers crossed...

Update on my lease issue....the solicitor finally responded to mine to say he thought the price of the lease was too high and non regulatory...but it's the same as it was when I bought it...and not increased and my neighbours have all bought and sold no issues so it's a strange one...
And we are STILL awaiting "enquiries" this is really dragging on...

I have lost the will to pack or sort anything out...even lost my looking at interior inspo online mojo

@Milly90 Awe Milly i hope they send the enquiries soon and accept the costs of the lease, people can be so annoying in this process.

Well everyone in our transaction has their mortgage offer/ contract pack; they have requested local searches and only two of the people are now waiting for them to come in, enquiries have been sent to each respective solicitor so now we just wait.

Hoping in a 2 to 3 weeks we will be all agreeing on an exchange and completion date.

Everytime i dont hear back from buyer or solicitor same day i get worried that soneone is going to pull out or there is a problem, its such a nerve racking nightmare when you have had it fall apart once and expect the worst all the time!

Just checking in, so pleased to hear there’s light at the end of the (very long) tunnel for lots of people. Everyone else hang on in there, we can do this!

Viewings resumed today, nothing of interest sadly but at least feel a bit refreshed and ready to get out there again.

@MovingNextYearHopefully @MovingThisYearDefinitely wow! Only 7 days, what a journey you've had to get there.

We saw a great house today. Went on the market yday and loads of viewings booked already. That is how crazy the market is here!

We'll offer asking price for it but I think this one might go out of our range quite quickly.

@TiddleTaddleTat thats how the market was in August/ Sept down here (dorset/ hampshire) when we were looking for a house.

We kept wanting to ask questions and be sure before putting an offer in; since we expect to live in it at least 10 years if not more, but we just never got the chance with most of them and the ones we did get to put offers in just got outbid without any chance for us to up it.

There aren't really that many properties for sale here now, so i expect everything in that range will carry on being snapped up quick.

Thanks Tiddle. 5 days to go now. It has certainly been a long journey. 3 years since we decided to sell our house & just under 2 years since we eventually put it on the market. 😮 Can't believe how crazy the market is where you are. Fingers crossed you get lucky with this one. 🤞🤞🤞

@Milly90 those enquiries are taking forever... no wonder you're getting frustrated.

@Movingthisyeardefinitely so close now! Congratulations! Hope the last few bits fall into place and you have a straightforward and stress free move week! At long last!

I feel bad for complaining after reading so many of your stories where you've been waiting months and months. 6 weeks isn't long to expect our sellers to find a place, especially with Christmas and new year in between. Last time I was a first time buyer buying an empty property, chains are complicated!

We heard on Saturday they've offered on an empty bungalow... so I'm hopeful again. I really do want the house - it's lovely. We'll wait a few more weeks and then see about deadlines and short term rentals. It's really not the end of the world if baby arrive before we're finally settled - babies are portable, right?!

I do envy the Scottish system where offers come with an exit date.

Thanks Archbishop. Nothing is ever straightforward right? Its gonna be a crazy busy week. Tuesday I have a hospital appointment with DD to discuss the results of her CT scan after her collapsed lung. Thursday PM both DH & I are going to be models for DD at college for evebrow & lash tinting before the DD's head off to their dads & we continue packing mania.

We get keys to the new house Friday, probably afternoon & stuff will be moved from the storage unit then. We also have a load of stuff in our short term let that we'll be taking down in carloads before cleaning the place up on Saturday. Have to return the keys first thing Sunday morning so its gonna be all go! I'm exhausted just thinking about it lol! Still, this time next week we can relax with a beer or 3.

It’s been three months since we decided to sell our apartment. Only a few people responded to my advertisement placed online. So we are now having to use a real estate agent. I have a viewing later on this week.
My goal is to sell our apartment by Christmas Day this year. We have been preoccupied with other stuff lately. Now that Christmas is over we can focus more on selling and moving.

Morning everyone. Another Monday...always makes me hopeful that things may happen this week!!!

I was speaking to my buyers this weekend and they can't believe how long things are taking...so we have both agreed to chase our solicitors this week to set an exchange and completion date! Fingers crossed

@MovingThisYearDefinitely Busy few days for you then! Hope you excited about getting into your nice new home, you deserve it after all this time.

@Milly90 I hope you get to set your dates soon and the end of this process is in site.

Our chain is progressing quicker than i had hoped, aiming to complete end of February now.

Same here @Milly90 I’m so hopeful that this week we will set exchange and completion dates
Hoping to exchange soon complete end of Feb ( on the house we selling )
And put an offer in on house we like sometime during next few weeks

Does anyone know what you need to put an offer in ? How soon after do u need to get mortgage etc etc?
We have AIP from bank we did online
But ideally we wouldn’t sort mortgage out ubtil we have moved out into temporary accommodation as it will be too stressful moving and sorting mortgage stuff out at same time
So can we put offer in next week then start the process beginning of March ? Or is there a time limit ?

It's wonderful to hear that things are progressing for so many of you. Alas, nothing to report here. All quiet - no more viewings and no more feedback from the people who said that they'd loved it. They've not asked for a second viewing so can only assume they're taking their time or have found something else.

@LookingOptimistic wowzer, they didn't even give you a chance to raise your offer?

Our AP offer went in about 10am and I provided details of our selling agent so they can verify we are sold and close to exchange. We want the house but it's not perfect (nothing is within our price range and in this school catchment). Crossing fingers for this one though. Usually if higher bids come in above the AP then it goes to sealed bids which I hate. I have a ceiling price in mind though which is the top of our affordability so we will see what happens.

@)TiddleTaddleTat Well everything was accepted only 3 weeks ago on both sale and purchase; all mortgages in place/ searches received/ enquiries sent, so not much left for anyone in the chain to do luckily! So its looking promising

Glad to hear things are progressing for some. Hopefully the market will have a spring bounce for those still waiting.

We have had to change solicitors for our purchase which is a pain as he wasn't on Santander's lending panel. Really wanted our sale and purchase with our local solicitor. Anyway, hope it doesn't delay things as we are working to a very tight deadline. Our buyer has to complete by the end of March otherwise they pull out (corporate buyer). All a bit scary as we'll end up in rented then. Stressed out already and it's only week one!