Sellers/Buyers Roll Call No 5...,

[sandybayley]

Starting new thread. Calling all the regulars...
@TiddleTaddleTat
@WBWIFE
@Allhallowseve
@BeauticianNotMagician81
@crispysausagerolls
@dimmu
@Fleabag123
@Farontothemaddingcrowd
@Frogqueen13
@Glitteryfrog
@MrsPatmore
@Smart123

@isseywithcats - personally I think you should engage a solicitor ASAP and not wait for the survey. The only reason to not to do so would be if you are getting a survey done first because there are potential issues with the house which might mean you may not buy it.

As a vendor I want to see activity ASAP and very little can be done without getting a solicitor appointed. For instance the Memorandum of Sale can't be issued which starts the solicitors talking to each other and getting draft contracts out together.

When you say you are a cash buyer do you mean you don't need a mortgage? If so that at least removes the hassle of applying for a mortgage. Lucky you!

@sandybayley no experience of hsbc we are going with Halifax. Last time we were with Santander who were incredibly slow I'm hoping Halifax are quicker.

@balalalala I hope your vendor gets on with things soon.

@afrikat our EA told us the complete opposite. The more pictures the better as less likely to get time wasters that just want to be nosy. Also agree that they need to be good. I got rid of any clutter and put fresh flowers about the house for our pictures.

@tootyfruitypickle After the initial 6 months of renting a lot of contracts go onto a rolling monthly contract. All of my rentals have.

@WBWIFE oh no I hope you exchange soon. I know it's stressful but do try and enjoy your holiday. We are going to put our holiday on hold until we are completed but our vendor is away for two weeks at the end of June.

@TiddleTaddleTat Oh no I hope you get something sorted. Surely your landlords son can wait to move in. We have looked at hotels too as our onward purchase needs some work but with 6 of us it's certainly not cheap. I don't think our budget will stretch.

@LeopardPrintKnickers I hope it's good news on your mortgage we are still awaiting ours. I'm the same I will be celebrating if/ when we get it through.

We had our buyers mortgage valuation done today. They made their offer 5 weeks ago this Thursday. My conveyancer called me last Tuesday and hadn't received draft contracts from our vendor. Everything has gone quiet. We are up to date on all our paper work so I guess we are just waiting for others.

Just catching up on the thread. Glad to hear some of these are moving along and hope the rest pick up soon.

We've had our survey back yesterday and also had the fixtures and fittings list and property info forms through. Very exciting but also a little worrying as there is no mention of the extension... I'm thinking there's no permission but that it's been there 15 years or so so hopefully it will be ok. Our buyers will have had their survey through yesterday too I think. They came over the other week to look at some furniture which went well. They seem really nice which can only help.

@balalalala - that all sounds positive. Bit odd about the extension though. It's probably not a deal breaker but I would want to be reassured it can't be pulled down and/or won't fall down.

Nice to hear of nice buyers out there. I think ours are and I think our vendors are also decent. Neither party have been difficult. I wonder if I sold another house (heaven forbid) I might insist on meeting a buyer before accepting an offer. Just to size them up and look them in the eye.

@BeauticianNotMagician81 - keep chasing! We had the same with our vendors solicitor not sending the draft contracts. It took several calls to make it happen. No particular excuse, just they're a bit rubbish.

Take a moment everyone, we’ve only gone and got a bloody mortgage offer!

It’s taken almost five weeks and been a source of stress and misery, but we’re finally there. Hallelujah!

Great news @leopardprintknickers

@LeopardPrintKnickers excellent!!!

@BeauticianNotMagician81 hope you hear something soon on draft contracts

@LeopardPrintKnickers congrats!!

@sandybayley I think you might be right about eyeing up the buyers! We had a very quick offer luckily so maybe could be picky but would depend on how many offers are on the table I suspect! Would be funny to suggest such a think to the estate agents haha.

Gah! I’m so frustrated!

Bottom of the chain have just picked a date (that we can’t to and are on holiday and have been very clear about from day 1) and exchanged to complete on it!

Now trying to get it changed. Grrr. Worried they won’t and we will have to cancel our trip to avoid it falling through. It’s just 4 days but very expensive and have had family arrange stuff around it too

Why are people like this? Why not check before exchanging?! I could cry and feel so powerless about the whole thing.

Oh amroc, how bloody frustrating. I'm not surprised you're feeling so frustrated and powerless - it's not that difficult to avoid a date that's already been given as a no-no. This process definitely brings out the morons.

Thanks for the congrats. It feels like I can breathe for the first time since we had our offer accepted. You when something just feels a little too good to be true...?

Beautician, rooting for you here. Hope you get the draft contract in the next day or so.

balalala, bet that makes it feel real, doesn't it? Seeing it all in black and white? Ask the question about the extension - definitely better to get it checked now than later down the line.

Sandybayley thank you for that yes my OH has been made redundant from the UNI he lectured at and between his redundancy package and drawdown on his pension (he would have retired next year) we are fortunate enough to be able to pay cash, we live west yorkshire and prices here are nothing like london or the south, its a modest two bed semi

Hope everyone is able to enjoy a little of the sunshine this afternoon.
We heard this morning that the last enquiry had been answered at the top of the chain, so now we are just waiting for all solicitors to agree exchange of contracts.
We have just 2 working days before the proposed completion date, it's all a bit tight for my liking!

@LeopardPrintKnickers - yay! Congrats on the mortgage offer. Another ladder climbed!

@TiddleTaddleTat - hooray. Surely everyone will make it happen now?

@amroc18 - how annoying. Maybe they saw the date you said you couldn't as a date you could?

All looking encouraging for us for exchange next week. The weakest link is our vendors' solicitor who is spectacularly rubbish. All other parties in the chain have sent chasing emails to them today. He must be feeling quite got at. All the EAs agree that they wish buyers would choose their solicitors more carefully. Probably going to our solicitor on Monday to sign various things. Fingers crossed.

Just catching up with this thread, it is all sounding pretty good for everyone which is lovely. Our sale is moving on very quickly and we have the valuation done on our own property tomorrow with a full survey next week. Fingers crossed for the survey especially! Our buyers are very keen and pushing things along very quickly.

I'm determined not to pack anything in the house as it will jinx it, but I did some sorting out in the garden today and emptied pots I want to take, planted things I'm happy to leave and so on. We are moving to a new build with a very small garden, so I shall miss this one even though we haven't been here long.

Is anyone else packing now? I'm going to leave it all to the last minute this time as the packing boxes just about drove me crazy last time. I'm happy to stay up till midnight or beyond to do it, if necessary!

@TiddleTaddleTat & @sandybayley rooting for you both and hope it all works out with exchange and completion. I am feeling a little jealous you are 'that far ahead' haha but I know progressing usually ups the anti and stress so I have no doubt it must be equally stressful!

We have good-ish news, draft contracts have landed at our solicitor, we've yet to receive them but YAY some progress at least.

@Trippedupagain definitely not packing yet but organising and getting rid of things we don't want to take definitely. I'll probably be like you and a bit last min/post exchange when it's a definite!

Another update from Bali..

So first time buyers solicitors are on last enquiry which is regarding our buyers extension built 15 years ago. Planning permission certificates. Online on council website it says planning granted, email confirmation says granted and our buyer ordered new certificates from council to be sent to buyers solicitor. Proof of purchase o these sent, your think youd be able to exchange but no!! He wants the certificates in hand which can take upto 2 weeks.

So fed up of this bullsht process. We have all been ready now for 4 weeks and the first time buyer has had the longest out of the lot of us. so annoying!! The solicitor they're using is in liverpool when we are all in Bristol and they were the cheapest they could find I think. Jobsworths.

Also the solicitor wont ask for funds from first time buyer until all enquiries complete and we still dont know whether first time buyer has sent back signed contracts yet.

I've told our estate agent to tell first Time buyers solicitor that if we dont complete by end of may then we are pulling out, which means our buyers will pull out and the first time buyer will lose their purchase as our buyer only wanted to sell for our house, so she said she will stay put if we pull out.

Hopefully this will give them a kick up the backside.

@Minnie881 - they have been plenty of snakes as well as ladders on the way so don't be jealous. Still plenty of things that could go wrong...

Given our vendor has indicated they'd like a good gap between exchange and completion I'm guessing we'll have at least four weeks to pack up. We did quite a lot of decluttering when we went on the market but there is definitely more to do. We are paying for packing as well but I don't want to take surplus stuff!

I've told DH he can play cricket on Saturdays between now and moving but he must keep Sundays clear for house stuff. Left to himself he'd organise to play tennis as well.

We need to buy various bits for new house and he will need to be involved in decision making.

@WBWIFE - cross-posted with you. How frustrating. As I said earlier, good solicitors are worth their weight in gold and it's annoying when other people in the chain engage rubbish ones. The good ones (which we have paid for!) end up having to work harder.

Hope Bali is lovely and you're getting to enjoy it.

Oh WBWife how frustrating - just try and enjoy the sunshine and the Pina coladas and picture yourself being in your new home - it'll all be worth it, I'm sure.

Tiddletaddle oh goodness, I'm rooting for you here, hoping that you can manage to exchange and complete in the blink of an eye. You so deserve for this to be all over, keep on trucking, nearly there.

Minnie, that's definitely progress, hurrah! Any idea of next steps?

Trippedup, definitely a wise idea not to do too much in advance - we're decluttering and sorting stuff out, but no packing until the last minute. I did it once before and lived out of boxes for weeks - it was miserable!

Sandy, yep, we're having people pack for us too, but I refuse to take anything I don't need. We still have boxes in the loft from when we moved here, 11 years ago! I'm determined to be ruthless. And bravo re the cricket and tennis rules!

As for here, now the mortgage offer's here (at long bloody last), we're celebrating with gin and tonics, and have spent the day playing catch up as to where everything else is. Seems everyone in the chain has offers and valuations complete, searches are being made, and enquiries dealt with and all is well. Our solicitor has received the draft contracts from our sellers, so I'm guessing we'll have sight of those soon, and the estate agent thinks we could be on for a mid June moving date, which would be amazing.

Now, back to my G&T...

Thanks @sandybayley & @LeopardPrintKnickers, have calmed down a bit now but expect to sleep really badly having worries about pushing back on the date now. Hope they don’t pull out. It’s been nearly a year now and won’t cope mentally with having to start again. The last year has really affected me.

Also hate it when people engage solicitors who are ‘too’ cheap as generally means overloaded and slow. To be fair mine have been worth their weight in gold, very prompt at replying and pushing forwards.

Hoping we get a resolution tomorrow and exchange soon.

@WBWIFE that must be so frustrating. Hopefully Bali can distract you sufficiently!

Hello chaps, I’ve been taking a bit of a break from this thread but so pleased to hear some of you have made real progress.
Still battling this lease issue. We are waiting to hear whether the freeholder will agree to a deed of variation which was requested on Monday. Our seller has written us a very long and heartfelt email - he’s trying his best and definitely doesn’t want to lose us or his ongoing purchase, but understands we may need to pull out if it’s not going to work.
More waiting...oh joy! There is very little else of interest coming up for sale

Thanks @Minnie881 and @LeopardPrintKnickers appreciate the encouragement!

Fingers crossed for exchange today. Mortgage has been requested in anticipation, and I've been gradually shifting the cash funds over to my current account. Called my bank this morning and turns out they need a letter from me in order to make the chaps payment - good I called today and not at the last minute on Friday!
The whole legal bit of completion is what scares me, being accountable to deliver the cash on time and not mess it up! Ha

Hi everyone,
Glad to see most of you are having success!
Our flat has been on for 2 weeks today, had a no show and 2 other viewers who did show up. Both were very positive but no offers. Got another viewing this weekend and hoping to get more booked in.

Were risking holding out offering on the house we like as we're offering under the AP and want to be the most proceedable we can be if/when we do offer.

Had the worst EA experience yesterday. The lady was late and then totally rushed me around the house and then told me I'd wasted her time as we didn't have a buyer yet. The house was gorgeous too but she took a massive dislike to me! Don't know whether to complain or not.