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!

Newyearnewsocks congrats on your offer being accepted and how good your FTB accepted the day after your house. Market has definitely slowed down in London (considering Brexit and all) so interesting reading that houses do still go quickly.

happychange we are in S London too, our estate agent recommended a surveyor perhaps try yours? We are also hoping to move by May, but our property is a doer upper too so goodness knows what the report will bring up!

sandybayley How exciting if you exchange by end of Feb. Could the restrictive covenant delay it?

Davethecat2001 we are also going with agent’s surveyor. Will you go for a full buyers survey? We will because it’s an old property and don’t want any suprises..

Hello all,

Welcome new people! I used the surveyor from the mortgage company and they did the valuation at the same time.

Mortgage offer is back so that’s good. Still waiting to hear that the covenant and easements are. I hope it isn’t a dealbreaker! Solicitor is waiting for her copy of the mortgage offer to arrive before applying for searches. I wish they wouldn’t do everything by post. Surely a mortgage offer can be emailed? I’d love to complete by the end of March. Both offers were made mid Jan so I don’t know if March is realistic or not!

Solicitor is waiting for her copy of the mortgage offer to arrive before applying for searches

Why?

If speed is critical, tell you solicitor to get the searches applied for. crazy to wait for mort offer before applying for searches.

So..my buyers are questioning how much it will cost to purchase the freehold to our building (2 maisonettes) as they want to do a loft extension at some point.

I have sent the figure over that the freeholder quoted me in 2016, and hoping that it isn't going to put them off...I get the sense from the agent that they might be jittering a bit as they are FTB and it is a lot of money to spend, but really buying the freehold isn't something they need to look at immediately and our place has plenty of room for a couple (3 bedrooms).

Feeling a bit stressed...sigh..guess this is the nature of the process though isn't it, buyers can pull out at any time..we just REALLY want the house we are buying!

davethecat you must think I'm the bringer of sadness but the stress you are feeling I have had since end of Nov! There is light at the end of the tunnel but until exchange it's not going to go away!!

In regards to my purchase all is done!! All enquiries done!! Ready to exchange!! But I cant do until my current house has exchanged and still 2/3 enquiries outstanding which should be sorted this week I think!

Soon as those enquiries are done then we can all exchange I'm still hopeful this will be this week

Fingers crossed for a smooth conclusion for you @Milly90..must be nice being on the final strait!

I've been here before but it's been a good few years, and I can't remember wanting somewhere as much as the house we are (trying to) buy!

What sort of timeframe do people think is the average from offer to completion? I know it varies wildly/depends on the speed everyone gets stuff in/any problems that are thrown up along the way etc, but for a fairly straightforward transaction with a FTB, seller/buyer in the middle and seller who is not in a chain etc?

3 months? Sooner?

@DavetheCat2001

12 weeks is pretty typical from offer to exchange. But, as you say, there are always a large number of unpredictable variables that can affect the speed of things.

"An army marches at the speed of its slowest man."

Right now it's probably difficult to identify precisely what the slowest component of your particular transaction might be, but whatever it is, that will determine the speed.

After reading the previous posts wondered what people are moving from and to?
We are in a gorgeous 4 bed Victorian semi with a back yard to a 5 bed modern townhouse with a garden. Feel both happy and sad as love our house but need a garden for our ds with additional needs.
That’s if all goes to plan anyway.

We are selling a 3 bedroom, top floor Victorian maisonette, and (hopefully) buying a 4 bedroom semi-detached Edwardian house just up the road.

Love our current place but we have vastly outgrown it.

I'm moving from a 2 bedroom coach house to a 4 bedroom detached house.

Its about 12 miles away from where i am now but moving from Dorset into Hampshire (grew up in Hampshire, so glad to get back there!).

We could exchange this week; all contracts signed in our chain except our purchase contract, however this will arrive tonorrow and il get it signed and hand deliver it back to my solicitor.

Couple points we are hoping to get resolved:

My purchase - getting confirmation from lender that they are happy that 15 to 20 year old dining room extension hasnt got copy of building control certificate.

My buyers sale - getting lender to confirm they are happy with indemnity policy to cover bit of land in front of house which has been used for last 20 years, however on plans nobody knows who owns it.

My buyers buyers buyer - having received leasehold pack for flat, no more queries are going to be raised.

I should get an update tomorrow on how likely this is, so fingers crossed.

Sounds good @LookingOptimistic - fingers crossed.

We're moving from a 4 bed mid-terrace Edwardian house with on-street parking to (hopefully) a 5 bed detached house 1930s house with drive.

The main attraction is the drive and the fact it's detached! Plus extra space downstairs - lounge, kitchen-diner / sitting room and study - currently ours is all open plan and the piano, guitar and PS4 drive me mad!

Less than a mile from where we currently are but not quite so urban and close to 2 of the lovely open green spaces of SW London.

@sandybayley New place will have a drive to fit 3 cars on; currently we have 1 space in front of our garage where my car is kept, which is such a pain because my partner has to move his car everytime i need mine!

We are also utilising the other three bedrooms as games room (we have so many consoles)/ office/ gym - guest room so it will be great to have this space too.

Great to see that there are still people going towards completion! Our buyer has gone very quiet and I'm getting nervous!
Also it's been 4 weeks since we accepted the offer but the buyer hasn't done the survey yet 🤔
Although the estate agent has said her mortgage offer has been approved? How can they approve her mortgage without a survey?

@happychange It is possible without a survey, the lender just needs to have done a valuation and some do drive bys rather than going into the property but i would get this confirmed by your EA.

@happychange - are you sure your buyer hasn't had a valuation (can be drive by!). Our buyer did their valuation (did involve a visit) and then a HB survey 3 weeks later.

Also are you sure you're not getting the agreement in principle confused with the mortgage offer?

Yes think I should chase the estate agent again. From her email, their mortgage application has been approved .. so that sounds like the mortgage rather than the application in principle

We're in Oxfordshire, moving from a 1 bed terrace to a 4 bed (3 bed originally, with converted attic) semi.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for everyone, particularly those close to exchange @LookingOptimisitic and @Milly90 - don't despair if exchange doesn't happen as soon as you hoped - it ended up taking a couple of weeks for us after the last enquiries and we even had a call asking for verbal permission to exchange and ended up not exchanging that day as we 'ran out of time' (I assume solicitors couldn't get in touch with all parties?). I got quite nervy towards the end and over-anxious! If you all have your deposits ready and a completion day fully confirmed with all parties though, then it should run smoother.

@Wulfhild Thanks :)

Its just very nerve racking and since my sale fell apart once before; i wanted it over before it had time to fall apart, and its only been 7 weeks.

We have two agreed completion dates by all parties; first is 25th Feb, and 2nd is 11th March (my buyers buyer is away from 28th feb to 9th march).

I have confirmation that the last bits referred to both my lender and my buyers buyers lender are sorted, so that only leaves whether the couple at the bottom of the chain are going to request any further queries on leasehold pack.

All contracts are signed so its so close
! But the waiting is so hard...i am so glad i wont be moving for at least 10 years.

Could I ask if anyone has been refused a mortgage post valuation even if the valued amount is the same as the agreed sale price?

How long does it take between valuation and the formal offer of mortgage?

Being refused would be unlikely unless your circumstances have changed.

Searches have now been sent off. Still awaiting news on what the covenants and easements are. No news on whether our buyer is planning a survey or not.

Hi to all the new people...welcome to the nerve jangling process that is buying/selling!

@Milly90 you're so close now, you must be very relieved!

We are still waiting to hear back about our indemnity insurance as they are trying to do a bespoke policy to cover it. I just wish they would hurry up!

We are moving from a 3 bed bungalow close to Heathrow to a 4 bed semi in a nice village not far from Weybridge. Hopefully we won't hear as many planes out that way!

@ALadyofLetters I hope the process goes as smoothly as possible for you.

@alifelessordinary Hopefully the indemnity policy is all sorted, i expect you will hear a lot less planes from your new home :) we are not far from Bournemouth airport currently but we dont hear much as its such a small airport and they tend to take off in the opposite direction!

Well we have signed and sent back our purchase contract now. Just getting a little bit peaved with solicitor dealing with my purchase as she is chasing a planning query which seems irrelevant to me.

Its a small rear extension which was built 15 to 20 years ago (not by current owner); it is within the dimentions and specifications of the 'permitted developement' rules so didnt require planning permission, and this is why current owners solicitors didnt raise queries when he bought it - yet my solicitor seems adament she wants a building control completion certificate and has written to my lender stating that we dont have this.

I said just get an indemnity policy to cover it; solicitor says thats last resort, however lender has come back and said they would be happy with an indemnity policy if our solicitor believed there was any future posibility of enforcement (though solicitor hasnt even offered a policy yet). Plus she insisted Halifax would only accept notifications/ queries in the post but i spoke to them this morning and they confirmed they have specific email and fax for the conveyancing department which they will accept anything through!