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

So we decided on a mortgage today after meeting with our advisor. Requested the home buyers survey through that so that is now on its way.

Now we just wait for the vendors solicitors before anything else happens. So far finding this part a lot less frustrating and stressful than I did with finding the house and having our offer accepted but I feel that will soon change!

@sandybayley so sorry to read about your mum. I hope she is ok and you too. That's rubbish regarding your vendors. I hope it all goes through ok. I'm sure with him on the case getting and court order it shouldn't be too difficult to get Mrs Vendor to sign. Surely she won't want to go to court.

@LeopardPrintKnickers ooh I can't wait to see all our paperwork starting to come through. Things sound like they are going really well for you. Good luck. I will send you a pm with what we are buying.

@Ellieboolou27 the same happened to us. There were 4 houses on our road for sale at the same time. Although two were smaller and ours was the last to go. But it wasn't on for the longest. Some had been for sale for almost a year. I think the market has definitely picked up.

So things have finally started moving again here. On the sale side all searches are done we are just awaiting buyer enquires. On the purchase side contracts are received and we are awaiting searches and the financials so hopefully we have our mortgage offer by next week. Vendor is pushing for 17th June completion. I'm not sure this will be possible but I've been hassling the solicitor today to try and push things along to make it happen. If it doesn't happen vendor will be away in America until the end of July. Unfortunately my MIL passes away almost two weeks ago after a long battle with cancer. She has left her children the estate to be divided equally and DH is so consumed with grief and everything else going on that he really just wants our sale and purchase to be done so he can get his head together before he has to go through another house sale in a few months time 😢

*passed

I'm sorry to hear that @BeauticianNotMagician81 how sad :( really hope this one goes smoothly for you and can meet your June date, end of July feels so long to wait! I'm not too hopeful by end of June for ours at this point but we shall see :)

@Minnie881 thank you. I'm not holding out much hope for a June completion as there still seems like soooo much to do. It should be simple as there are only three of us in the chain. Ive been on the phone most of the day chasing things up as I know things won't happen over the bank holiday

survey report arrived today and no major problems so solicitor phoned and retained so hopefully all will go smoothly from now on

Mortgage offer came through yesterday afternoon so that's another thing off the list. I've also received contracts and transfer from vendors solicitor so they will be sent off today

WBWIfe congrats! What a relief!

SandyBayley sorry for the news about your mum but so many things have biopsies on them, so hopefully you'll get good news soon. As for the vendors - I thought I would have this problem with my ex and my sol told me a court date would take about 3 weeks but would be straightforward .

I'm after some thoughts on this from peeps ?

We've just viewed a 2 bed bungalow. The pictures are gorgeous, but it wasn;t quite so nice inside! Pros are:

• nearer to the small town (we're in village where have to drive everywhere) , walkable .
• lovely footpath off a main road, quite idyllic looking
• absolutely gorgeous, SW facing garden.
• 1930s, some nice features.
• kitchen is fairly new and needs nothing doing - it's exactly what I hoped for with a breakfast bar and a dining room leading off it (and open, so you could chat to people)

Downsides are confusing me:

• It definitely smelt damp. It's probate, so could just be that ,but there is definitely a damp issue there. Obviously would check out pre spending any money and see how fixable it was.
• roof looks a bit knackered
• Bathroom super tiny and interior so no window. Would need replacing.
• needs full redec including removing fitted (old) wardrobes in both bedrooms and artex removing from bedroom ceilings
• boiler looked old so would probably replace
• needs re carpeting throughout
• no parking , it was easy to park this morning but road off the footpath is very busy and gets gridlocked at rush hour, plus major development of houses a little further up (200 houses) so it's only going get busier.

Agents said there had been a high level of interest (it went on yesterday) and multiple viewings today. But I feel that they always say that!

It's on at £375k. Was bought 18 months ago for £360k. zoopla says £330k. Bungalow bit further down has 3 beds and all "done" sold for £365k a year ago. Prices have dropped here with many properties reducing by 25k after a few weeks.

I reckon the work that needs doing (excluding any damp/roof) would be about £25k for full redecoration , recarpet, new boiler and removal of water tank, new bathroom, removal of artex? So I think it is overpriced. I reckon £345k max but obviously they won't take that now. So the issue is do I just wait....

Also, we both came out a bit flat, we liked the garden and location, but we found it difficult to come out of a damp and clearly old person's house full of excitement . I can see it could be lovely , but do I have the energy...

Not sure whether to just wait and see if it drops / have a second viewing and see what we think?

@tootyfruitypickle we have just bought a bungalow and it is old and everything needs replacing. Boiler is old but been serviced and looks fine for now.

Is there a front garden that you could change into off road parking? Is it detached so you could extend and rejig floor plan to make a bigger bathroom?

Was there any obvious signs of damp except the smell? Mould anywhere? Wet patches anywhere on ceiling? Did you get in the loft for a look, if roof looks old maybe there is a leak causing the damp?

Thanks WBWife no chance of parking at all as it is off a sort of footpath so you definitely couldn't get a car up there. And this would be an issue for resale (but obvs price reflects). It's not too far to where you can park on the road though.

It seemed like the smell was mainly in one bedroom at the front. I felt the walls and they seemed dry. No mould including in build in wardrobes. I didn't see any wet patches or discolouration and it wasn't freshly painted so no covering up. So yes perhaps just a roof issue, I'm no expert but it had a few tiles missing etc.

Yes it is detached but the lovely big lounge and lovely big kitchen are either side of bathroom , plus i wouldn't have the funds to extend , at least in the short term. But yes in principle you could and perhaps it'll be snapped up by a developer. You could also extend into the roof I think.

My dd absolutely loved the footpath up to it and the little front garden with steps up to the house. Then I think she went a bit flat cos of the smell and just how obviously it was an old person house. However the house we've just sold was too and was very musty and we redid and obviously was completely different - but she's too young to get that. I think i'd have go back on my own for a second viewing, or take a friend. If I could reassure her about it all being fixed she'd go for it.

We're renting with a 2 month notice period so in principle could fix a lot of it before moving in. I reckon though even done it'd had a ceiling price of £360k simply because of the parking , but i could be proved wrong if it sells quickly. However I think i just need to work on basis of what I think and not get pressurised by the agents "there's lots of interest".

the detached thing and the lovely garden are very big pluses though. All the other places I'm seeing are a) terraced on busy roads (don't want this as have cats) b) semi tiny garden still very near busy road. By busy road I mean a major a road.

there's something a bit depressing about going into a probate sale property that I can't quite get past but I know that is ridiculous.

And the kitchen was perfect. layout worked apart from the bathroom which if we redid to be pretty would be an acceptable compromise I think.

Just - seems a lot of work . I'd want to get a damp survey before the proper survey as that would be my major concern - my buyers got one (free) on our property as the survey had flagged up damp but he found none, so i feel that this guy is honest.

@tootyfruitypickle - the damp smell would put me off but wouldn't be a deal breaker. The deal breaker for me would be the limited access. We're moving got get a front drive but even now we can generally park outside our house or pull up to unload/ load. How on earth would you move in? Carry all your furniture up a footpath?

Feeling really up and down about our purchase. I want to be positive but in my head I feel like it's unrealistic to expect a quick court decision - or at least one quick enough to keep our sale. Have been chatting to a few friends today who have some experience and they say timescales may be longer than we've been told by Mr Vendor.

Mr Vendor is adamant that he has legal grounds to compel Mrs Vendor to sign but even if that is the case I'm dubious about a judge forcing the issue when Mrs Vendor has 3 children (one of whom is autistic) living at the house who are under 16. I'm furious with Mrs Vendor for stringing everyone along but I obviously don't know her circumstances or the full back story. Potentially £2k loss to us in survey and mortgage fees. I'm inclined to send her the bill for misleading us.

It's very obvious for our communications that Mr Vendor is incandescent with rage. In a way I guess that is positive and means he is motivated to follow through to court. On the other hand I'm nervous he's possibly a bit unhinged / unrealistic. My solicitor reckons a single court appearance could be £10k.

I do hope Mrs Vendor is getting some sound advice from a good friend this weekend. I hope she has someone to talk to. Everyone needs a friend who speaks the truth not just says what you think you want to hear.

Does make me think how lucky I am to have a lovely DH who loves me very much. Worth much more than any house.

Off to see DM on Monday. Also much much more important than house rubbish.

Today I feel really stressed about it all for the first time. We are waiting to accept an offer officially due to an issue with the buyer’s mortgage agreement in principle that we are told should be sorted this week. We haven’t found anywhere to move to yet. And our neighbour has just put their house on the market for less than our offer so now I’m terrified the buyer is going to back out completely. How do you all deal with house selling/buying stresses?

Just caught up and @sandybayley crossing my fingers for all to be well with your mum . Horrid about the position you are in with your vendors too, hope they get it sorted. Is house 1 that you wanted originally but was back off the cards as a back up?

@alwaystimeforcakeandtea - no real advice other than to distract yourself as much as physically possible!

@tootyfrootypickle it’s a difficult one but would always go with my gut in this situation.

@BeauticianNotMagician81 sorry to hear what you’ve been through but glad all
ticking along on the house front

@amroc18 thank you. I am slowly starting to allow myself to get a little excited about moving now. It's helping with everything else being kept so busy.

@tootyfruitypickle I too would go with your gut. You just have that feeling when you've found THE house. Our current house was a do upper. It needed everything doing but we could see past that and the room sizes are great for us. The house we are buying just had stuff everywhere when we viewed. It wasn't clean and needs a fair bit of work but it could be a beautiful house. Luckily DH and I both agreed that we loved it after our viewing. We are looking for our forever home though. So we are seeing the bigger picture. The smell of damp would put me off but it could just be a smell from not being lived in for a while. I would have a second viewing and investigate further. I agree I wouldn't take any notice of the agent. They all say the same thing. The house we were told would be snapped up and had loads of viewings booked when we first started looking is still on the market.

@sandybayley I hope all is ok with your mum. I'm sure the house stuff will all come good. Hopefully Mrs vendor will have time to have a think over the bank holiday weekend and realise it's not worth all the hassle and just sign the paper.

@alwaystimeforcakeandtea How to cope? Alcohol 🤣 or failing that distraction. I'm quite busy at work now so that keeps my mind off of it all.

Thank you SandyBayley you are right about the access, the main feedback on the house we just sold was that it didn't have parking, even though you could have put a driveway in, so I think somewhere with no chance of it plus a difficult access would be very difficult to sell in the future. And I think for me the damp is a deal breaker actually, it just gives the house such a depressing feel.

Amroc18 and BeauticianNoMmagician81 thank you for helping me listen to my gut! You are right, DD and I came out super grumpy and I think that does tell me all I need to know. Just when there is so little on it's tempting to jump in too early but I do need to wait and make sure I make the right decision. I'm also looking for my final forever home, I don't want to do this again, I've had to move twice now from lovely homes due to relationship breakdowns and this will be a place for me and I will not be moving from it!

I'm going to try and not take DD to first viewings now, which is difficult logistically, but where I can go on my own I will as I think there is so much coming now with evident problems and she's just really fed up with it, and she's only a child so I'd rather present her with a solution than drag her through all the problematic viewings. We have established that we like, and dislike, the same things, so what I like should be easy to sell to her.

SandyBayley what bad luck you've had , being dragged in to other people's personal lives - but don't give up all hope yet, there is a chance. Just based on my experience - if the divorce is finalised there should be an agreement to sell the family home in the order, and I think you're buying quite a high value house, so Mrs Vendor should be coming away with about 75% of that, so it would be difficult for her to argue in court that she'll be left homeless with 3 kids - that would be more in the case of a lower value home where there just isn't enough equity to rehouse two people. The time to argue that would have in been the divorce proceedings anyway. Plus my ex did try to be awkward about selling a few times (although not at the end) and did sign in the end, it was all posturing - and this is the man I had to take to contempt of court hearing for refusing to turn up to any of the divorce hearings.....

alwaystimeforteaandcake I don't know how I have coped to be honest but it's just a case of taking each day at a time and knowing that eventually you will sell your house , it may not be quick but it will happen!

Hi all, just checking in and reading updates from everyone. We now have a provisional completion date that we have all agreed and are working towards as our buyers are renting so want the end of the month to avoid paying for another month rent and we want to move into our new build asap. The builders have said they are 'confident' the house will be ready, but the house hasn't been signed off yet, so obviously still time for things to be held up. It feels as if we will be ready to exchange in a couple of weeks, so fingers crossed!

Can anyone advise on our situation please. So the house we are buying was listed as no chain. When we first viewed it, the estate agent told us that the vendor hadn't lived there for quite some time. Strange situation, it's like they just up and left and left all of their possessions behind. There is stuff everywhere. Furniture, piles of clothes, toys bagged up, a table set out for Christmas dinner, fridge full of mouldy food and a full wine cabinet. It's dirty and you can't see some rooms for stuff. We were always under the impression that the vendor would clear the property way before we exchanged. We offered low if he wanted to leave his stuff there and we would take the hit on skips. He said no he would clear it and we got the property £10,000 lower than asking as it needs some work too. Now he is pushing and has been from day one for a quick sale. We go around a few times a week as it's only a 5 minute drive, expecting to see a skip outside or at least a car. Considering he wants us to complete in 3 weeks we thought there would be a skip there today as it's bank holiday so perfect time to clear the property. Still nothing. We can only see in one room and it's exactly the same as it was before.

Thanks if you've got this far. What would you do? I don't think he has any intention of clearing the property and I don't want to run the risk of waiting until completion. Would you threaten to pull out?

@BeauticianNotMagician81 - have you exchanged yet? I seem to recall that one of the standard clauses in a contract is for vacant possession. This means vacant of people and chattels (i.e. stuff)! I think if the clause isn't complied with on completion(you move in and it's full of stuff) you can make a claim against the vendor hit the costs of removing it. Of course it would be better not to have to do this so maybe your solicitor could post an enquiry reminding the vendor of the expectation of vacant possession?

@sandybayley no we haven't exchanged yet. We wanted to do a key undertaking to do some painting but I think there will be too much in the way

That sounds awful! I have no advice but what does your solicitor say?

@BeauticianNotMagician81 I would refuse to exchange until the property is clear and you go round to confirm it is clear

@sandybayley no real advice just hoping it pans out for you this week.

@BeauticianNotMagician81 I’d second what sandybayley said and make either that or a further price reduction a condition of exchange if you can.

Our buyers came round yesterday-it was a bit odd as first time we’d met them but they seem nice enough.

Can’t believe it’s just a few days til we go. It’s a bit surreal really as we’ve got the packers coming although have spent a lot of effort decluttering so has been an exhausting weekend. Luckily the kids have been with the grandparents as being 5 and 3 they just want to play with everything leaving the house!

Hope the bank holiday brings lots of interest for viewings next week for those still trying to sell