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Original poster

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

999 replies

MovingNextYearHopefully · 03/11/2018 18:28

A slight name change for me, as I'm clearly not moving this year. Hmm 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! Confused

OP posts:
Milly90 · 06/02/2019 20:52

Interesting @lookingoptimistic

So really I need them then..... will wait and see what happens then

MrsPatmore · 06/02/2019 20:56

Our vendors also have a Rangemaster which they said we could buy but, although it's a great cooker, it's black which doesn't fit in with the decor. I said we couldn't afford it (which we can't as paying a bit more for this house). When the fixtures list came through it had been included for free along with an almost new fridge freezer! I reckon they couldn't be bothered with the hassle of having it disconnected and moved. We sent our thanks but I don't think I can get rid of my 12 year old Smeg fridge freezer!

Kernowgal · 06/02/2019 21:39

Looks like we'll be exchanging in the next couple of days, and then completing at the end of the month. I've started packing and am now surrounded by boxes. I was a bit panicky earlier in the week but it's feeling more doable now.

Now I just need to confirm moving dates with the removals company. I'm fairly flexible so hopefully they'll be able to do one of the dates.

alc3254 · 06/02/2019 22:15

Hello all. We have just had an offer accepted (then we were gazumped, then we increased...vendor says they are now happy and won't hear further offers Hmm).

I don't think I will fully believe it till we exchange...this is the third house that we have offered and gone through to surveys on.

I sold my house back in April as I thought chain free would work in our favour. Has anyone here benefited from being chain free themselves?

sandybayley · 07/02/2019 08:16

Welcome @alc3254 and congratulations.

Hearing stories like yours makes me nervous, I just wish everyone would behave with integrity (note other thread about 'shall I reduce offer because of Brexit?'.

House buying/selling is a rubbish process and relies on people doing the right thing and not pulling fast ones. I think DH and I are pretty decent people but I fear a lot of people aren't Hmm

Wulfhild · 07/02/2019 08:53

@TulipsfromAmsterdam re: storage units, they do vary vastly in price/what you get and we shopped around for a bit for ours so it is worth getting a few quotes and ofc bearing in mind the opening hours.

We went with 'bright blue box' storage - 24 hours, 10ft x 16ft, £375 for 12 weeks of storage. The rate depended on how long we wanted the unit for - so it is better value the longer you take it for (although one place we looked at the price rose after 6 weeks or something like that). If we need to extend that to give us more time we can and the rate will be cheaper. I don't anticipate us needing to extend but you never know!

Having the storage unit in advance is a big help for us as we are planning on doing the actual move ourselves by hiring a van, so by getting out most of our stuff prior to completion date we're hopefully making it easier for ourselves. There's no way we could have done it all through removals on the day as our non-converted and with dodgy uneven MDF floorboards my DH hammered down attic is accessible only by ladder and was piled to the rafters while we were on the market.

@alc3254 - your move sounds very stressful! I have been living in fear of being gazundered/gazumped. Hope your vendors mean it re: not hearing other offers. Have you asked that the house is taken off the market?

@Kernowgal - sounds like we are aiming for very similar exchange/completion dates - good luck with it all!

Hopefully we will get some good updates before the week is up :)

BifsWif · 07/02/2019 11:17

We’ve just had a phone call from our solicitor, all enquiries are back and we are ready to exchange!

Completion date set as next Friday! I’m so excited! and nervous

woollyheart · 07/02/2019 11:30

I sold my last house, and rented while I looked.

It was a lot easier buying my current house with no chain, and things moved quickly. I didn't start looking at new houses to buy for a month after the move - I waited while dP worked out his notice a few hundred miles away.

Once I started looking things moved very quickly. We offered on the third house we looked at. We were out of the rented house before the 6 month contract was up.

It helped living very close to the area we were buying in. No need to view and arrange to come back for dP to see it. We viewed and offered within a few hours.

So it can work to your benefit.

However, it cost more in storage and paying rent for 6 months. It was double the inconvenience moving twice and changing addresses with everyone twice. Some things we didn't bother with until we knew our final address, such as registering with GPs, dentists etc. So it was very disruptive.

ErickBroch · 07/02/2019 12:23

Update here: on Monday we were told all searches were back, they're just waiting on the local search. They have requested enquiries from sellers solicitor.

I haven't heard anything about how the process of our seller and the place she is buying is going... hopefully ok as we ideally don't want to be in any later than early April. Not sure if that is unrealistic at this stage.

alc3254 · 07/02/2019 12:30

Thanks all.

@wolfhild yes we asked for off the market the first time we offered (the gazumper had already viewed but wasn't proceeedable then sstc and emailed offer asking!! despite the house being on the market for over 6 months...grr). This time we have asked for no more offers to be heard.

Vendors have just asked for a mid May completion date, despite saying when we offered that they were happy to move in with family and for us to progress the sale asap. Confused

I pay £124 a month storage costs for something about the size of a single garage. Usually there is an offer for the first 2-3 months. Always plan to use the storage for longer than you initially think you might need.

alc3254 · 07/02/2019 12:31

*over asking

sandybayley · 07/02/2019 12:32

@BifsWif - that's good news. Fingers crossed it happens today /tomorrow.

So update from us. Asbestos test was negative. I know you all said not to worry but both wall covering and shed roof are negative for asbestos. It also turns out that one of the purchasers (FTB) in the chain is an Iraqi and has money coming into the UK for their purchase and has had to be cleared. They have so all is OK on that front.

DH needs to speak to our surveyor about a couple of issues but I think all is good. Surveyor had flagged electrics as a concern but I don't think they are really - It was this surveyor who flagged asbestos 🤨

I actually think both our EA and solicitor are doing good work and are earning their money!

Milly90 · 07/02/2019 15:51

sandybailey good news about asbestos or the non issue of asbestos anyway!
alc3254 that's annoying. We sold our house as chain free as we were planning on buying a new build which isn't expected to be ready till nov. Then decided that was too long so started looking around. When we found our new houses I said I didn't want that to impact my buyers at all and would still sell as soon as they are ready so they are not impacted by my purchase.

I'm thinking some short term storage would be good idea for us at the min my house is a bomb site disaster

alc3254 · 07/02/2019 21:59

We are now going to slow down and stop chasing things as the vendor has told us we can wait to move in (really quite rude). I don't see any point now rushing to exchange...sigh.

MrsPatmore · 07/02/2019 22:26

Are they definitely committed to selling alc? Maybe look around for other properties too. Good news re; no asbestos SandyBayley.
Well, our buyers are doing a survey on ours on Tuesday - eek. This is where it all fell apart last time with the ftb's. Will be gutted if it happens again. On the plus side, a new Ikea opened close by today! Traffic was a mare but I do love a good Ikea browse.

makingithappen · 08/02/2019 07:52

We are due to exchange today! Fingers crossed...

BifsWif · 08/02/2019 07:55

Us too makingithappen Grin

Fingers crossed it all goes well for us both!

Youreadthebabybooks · 08/02/2019 08:22

@makingithappen me too ! I’m keeping my fingers crossed
We are due to exchange on the house we are selling not bought another one yet
Good luck to everyone waiting for progress today!

Youreadthebabybooks · 08/02/2019 08:28

And @BifsWif good luck today too xx

BifsWif · 08/02/2019 08:31

Thank you youread, best of luck to you too!

tigerbear · 08/02/2019 08:40

Hi all
Please may I join?
I put my house on the market about 3 weeks ago and have had 15 viewings (which the agent says is good for this market - is it??) but no offers yet.
A couple who came to view the other night LOVE it but their place isn’t on the market yet and they need to have a meeting with their mortgage advisor next week to see exactly how much they can afford.
I’ve already dropped the price by 40k, as we fell in love with a particular house and the owners wanted to progress quickly.
They’ve since taken it off the market 😬😬😬, so now my place is on for 40k less than it was 3 weeks ago 😩

ALadyofLetters · 08/02/2019 09:44

Hurray to all exchanging today!! Hope it all goes smoothly.

Hope the survey goes well @MrsPatmore Was it something specific that spooked the last buyer?

Our buyer has had a mortgage valuation done but no one has mentioned a survey yet. Maybe they’re waiting for their mortgage approval. I don’t know!

We’ve got the pack of stuff from vendors and there are some shaded areas on the land registry that relate to unknown easements and covenants. I hope that isn’t as bad as it sounds. They haven’t declared anything on the form so hopefully it is something old that doesn’t really apply. When I googled there were odd ones like you couldn’t salt pork on the premises. I could cope with that!

ALadyofLetters · 08/02/2019 09:47

@tigerbear That is plenty of viewings so that’s good. Re the price it seems to depend where you are whether prices are dropping or not. Have you seen any other houses you like?

MrsPatmore · 08/02/2019 10:02

Best of luck to all exchanging today! Can I be nosey and ask how long the process has taken for you all please?

Youreadthebabybooks · 08/02/2019 10:38

I think we accepted the offer at the end of November so about 12 weeks ?
The buyers have a house to sell but we don’t have one to buy so that has sped things up
But we still haven’t had complete confirmation we are exchanging today I have a feeling it will drag on until next week the buyers solicitor is sooooo slow