Sellers/Buyers roll call Part 4 Keep strong everyone!

[alifelessordinary]

Thought I'd start a new thread as previous one had hit 1000 posts and wouldn't let me reply!

@LookingOptimistic why do solicitors have to be so difficult at times? Hope it gets resolved for you soon.

The indemnity policy came through this afternoon, so we're hoping we might be exchanging sometime next week...unless something else crops up!

Quick update from me...
Tense times as we approach exchange. Freeholder is proving very very slow and still hasn't confirmed they will allow the lease deed of variation, but timescale likely to be several weeks just for a draft.
Have asked EA for buyers contact number so I can try and strike a deal. Rather than the deed of variation hold up the sale, thinking I can take the £1700 off sale price so he can apply for the DOV himself after completion.
Not sure how well that will go down.
Scared it's all going to fall apart just before exchange !

Feeling happy this morning. I did a second viewing on a house yesterday, put in a cheeky offer and it was accepted. The vendor has no chain and my buyers aren't in a chain either so the process should be fairly straightforward. Now the waiting game starts as solicitors start the paperwork. I don't expect it's going to quick.

So glad I found these thread as it looks a great place to support each other in this stressful time!

Thanks for your replies. This process is just soul destroying.

Do you think that as Brexit has been delayed again that the market will pick up?

@WBWIFE yes, weeks ago solicitor said we would complete before Easter although that was before it took so long to get searches back. Buying and selling at the same time is so stressful :-(
@TiddleTaddleTat good idea to strike a deal rather, i think at this point anything to avoid further delays is a worth a try

Can I join? We are back on the market having been on for 12 weeks last year we came off again in November and have put the house back on a month ago. We've had 5 viewings so far. Last time we only had about 4 viewings in 12 weeks. All viewers have loved the house but said bedrooms are too small. They aren't small and the room sizes are on the ad so I don't know what people are expecting. We've gone with purple bricks as the biggest selling agent in our area came around and said purple bricks are the next best selling agent in the area. We bought through them and didn't have a problem.

We are looking at new builds but have kind of fallen in love with a house. We just need to get sold. We have just dropped the price by £5000 but we were realistically priced in the first place 😢

@beautician ah, I hope something comes of these viewings. It's nervewracking getting the house sold.
@tiddle good luck, that sounds like a good idea.

My purchase is still stuck at the top of the chain. The vendor lives abroad and is couriering the last bits over. Hopefully they'll get here this week so we can complete next week. Otherwise we're looking at after Easter which is not what anyone wants...

Slow progress here. DH actually went round and spoke to our sellers last night to politely ask them to get out! It seems that despite all promises and reassurances that they would leave as soon as the legal process is complete, they have entered into a chain and won't move until their new house is ready. Wouldn't that be nice.

However, they hope to exchange this Friday, 29th March to complete next Friday, 5th April. So that'll be 34 weeks, including 4 weeks living in a hotel and £4K spent incorporating my own garage into an incomplete lease.

The new house is absolutely beautiful, but the whole process has been beyond horrific. And an exercise in proving that not everybody is the same as you, not everybody is as honest, and just people say that they're going to do something, doesn't mean that they actually are.

Tokyosushi Unfortunately ' we will go into rented' seems to be the house seller's equivalent of 'the cheque is in the post'!!

Feeling so low here.
My sellers solicitor wants to hold money back from the sale, after getting a couple of quotes for the neighbours chimney,should the neighbour not carry out the works, they keep my money and do the job themselves.
I've said no to this and that if rather knock money off asking price, and that depending on quote to pay for the job or go half's with my buyer...
Seems an awful deal as neighbours get their chimney repaired for free..
But I guess if I want this sale to go through its the price I have to pay..
I've had a builder go round and he's said around 2,600 so now buyer is getting a quote then we go from there.
My buyers want to be there for Easter, can't see that happening now..
But if I end up paying for this chimney I'm pushing for exchange ASAP...

Smart123 I suppose it depends on how much that represents as a percentage of the price and also there is the hassle of having to do the work, scaffolding, builders etc. I'd be inclined to agree to it to move the chain along.

Hello everyone, we're considering selling our place and I've got 2 valuations so far. They are 12% apart which seems quite a lot. Is this a standard variation in your experience?

@Smart123 - I think you probably need to suck it up to get things moving. Obviously it's not you problem but it is impacting on the value of your house so it sort of is. The problem isn't going to go away.

@Level75 - 12% does sound quite a big day deference. I'd get another chance me and then average it out. I don't suppose the high one was an EA beginning with 'F'? Everyone I know who's had them in to do a valuation has had a ridiculously high value. Flattering but quite insane!

Thanks @sandybayley. It feels like quite a lot as it's a difference of over 100k. I think the higher one is wrong. I told DD both figures and now he's got the higher one fixed in his head and thinks our house is worth more than I think it is!

I've got a third agent coming tomorrow now so I can pitch it properly. The lower figure is from an agent we used before who underpriced (in our view) our last house. We liked them so we just went with the top end of their estimate and it ended up going 25k over the asking price.

@Level75 - I see! I think the higher value properties are much harder to value for EAs to accurately value.The house we're selling is a bit of a 'commodity' house - hundreds of very similar terraced houses in similar streets in SW London so not that tricky to value as they change hands every week.

The house we're (trying!) to buy is more expensive, relatively unique and not much to compare it against. Hence it originally finally went on the market for £300k more than the price it had dropped to when we viewed - and we'll hopefully pay about £100k under asking.

Your DH really mustn't get fixated on a 'value' - the value is what someone is willing to pay not what an EA says!

"Your DH really mustn't get fixated on a 'value' - the value is what someone is willing to pay not what an EA says!" Exactly @sandybayley. We want to sell fast as well so no point starting at the top end of the guide prices.

Level75 is it similar to any others in the area. Have you looked at recent 'Sold' prices (as any prospective buyers will probably look this up). It's tempting to go with the higher value but EA's use this as a ploy to hook you in. If you need a quick sale then you have to be sensible about it all.

We've pulled our offer as the vendors weren't accepting it despite it now being their asking price. They didn't even give a counter offer just said they wanted more so felt like odd games before you even enter into the proper process. Now facing the fact that there's nothing on the market that we're interested in.

Hi everyone, was on here a while ago. Unfortunately our sale fell through at the last minute- vendors pulled out the week before exchange. I’m so fed up now- nothing coming up we want. I’m on maternity leave and I’m so sick of renting!

@MrsPatmore there's not really anything similar to compare it to.

Do people check their zoopla estimate prices? I think we plan to price below that.

@Level75 just go with what you think. It depends on how fast you want to sell it and what you need/want to move on. We checked our Zoopla value and priced ours at now £28,000 below. We aren't anywhere near the same figure as you though at £265,000.

@balalalala it wasn't the right house for you. Something will come up. I don't understand the whole game thing. I just want my house sold as easily as possible.

@Paranormalbouquet something will come up I'm sure. All our local agents have said around Easter is a popular time for people to list.

I am also going through this process and it is sooo stressful! My first buyer dropped out and now I have another buyer but who knows if this one will work out? I am trying not to keep thinking about it all but it's a horrible experience.

@beautician that's what I keep telling myself... let's hope something comes up soon.

OMG Tokyo, you are still here!
We started the buy and sell process in October last year, one fall through in November and found another buyer two weeks later but the offer was £5000 less than the previous one. In January we found out our buyer did not even instruct their solicitor to start the process! (A whole six weeks were wasted) Finally in February they carried out a survey and came to see our house again after whole 12 weeks! In the meantime, the house we are buying appears to be a good leasehold (we were told from the right beginning that the house should be freehold), so trying to get the vendor to pay for an indemnity insurance to cover any unseen titles. Now here we are, after near 5 months, everybody on the chain is ready to exchange on Friday with possibly complete on next Friday or late April as we are going on holiday next weekend.

Yup, still here, since 13th August 2018

Two more viewings booked in. Eek. I just want an offer.