Sellers/Buyers Roll Call No 6

[Violetroselily]

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@sandybayley thanks. He's being a fool, he was getting a great bargain as it was, there is absolutely nothing similar available in this borough or nearby for that kind of price. A flat identical to ours just came to the market for 70k more than what we had accepted. It's overpriced and in slightly better shape than ours, but not by 70k. He can go to them and see what they think of his latest offer.

Good for you @dimmu

@sandybayley thank you, I've just called agents to say we want to exchange in 2/3 weeks, no chain, FTB, it's been 9 weeks now and all searches / surveys back, just waiting for these enquires, can't believe the solicitor she's using is just so crap!

@dimmu I'm so sorry your buyer is such a idiot, fingers crossed you will get a fast sale, it makes me so angry the system is like this.

Reading and catching up with the thread and shocked at how bloody awful this process can be!

Sounds like the best thing to do @dimmu but sorry that things have ended up this way, it must be so frustrating. Is it a flat in London you're selling? Sorry I scrolled back but obviously not far enough! It took us ages to sell our 1 bed flat in SE London, at least 12 weeks. We were with an online agent tho so fewer viewings. But I think there's so much competition for one beds here and pricing is all over the place I.e some places priced really high (£320k) for somewhere nicely done but tiny and then a bigger, not nice ex council place for (£270k) so we found it hard to price ours. We got £287k in the end which we were happy with tbh.

Is anyone else selling/buying a leasehold place? We're doing both and I wish I'd known to keep every bloody letter our maintenance company sent us cos they want to see everything! The place we're buying is not listed as such but in a protected building or sorts (part of the Dulwich Estate is anyone is local and knows what I mean) and has an original 60s lift which might end up costing DP and I £5k to fix. So glad we found out now though cos we're going to put the £5k aside for that eventuality.

@MrBobLobLaw yes we are buying leasehold - part of the reason it’s taken so long because there was a problem which had to be fixed and has been in process since Easter!

Did you expect there would be any problems with the lease @Fleabag123?
The place we're selling (ex-council purpose built block) should be pretty straight forward but I feel a bit nervous about where we're buying that there might be some complications. What have you come up against?

And sorry that you've been stuck in the process for so long @fleabag - Easter!! Are you almost at the end?

@MrBobLobLaw no it wasn’t an anticipated problem; it was an issue with the wording of the ground rent clause. Our solicitor discovered it and it seems the buyer’s solicitor missed it when he bought 5 years ago. Once discovered he had to sort it out or he couldn’t sell to anyone, which to his credit he’s pushed for as hard as he can and I believe (🤞🏼) we’re nearly there now. Good luck to you!

Oh blimey that sounds frustrating @Fleabag123 but glad to hear that you're hopefully at the end of it all.

I've never bought a house before, DP owns where we are now but he bought as a FTB so didn't have to do nearly as much. I knew there'd be lots to fill in but I feel pretty out of my depth with all the language and expectations of the knowledge of the leasehold! I'm asking the solicitors all my stupid questions though and they kindly don't let on that it's probably very annoying.

Can anyone share how long it took to receive their mortgage surgery/valuation back? Ours got sent on Friday but I read online that it can take 2 weeks. Our mortgage is with Halifax I think.

@MrBobLobLaw our mortgage application is with Halifax and our survey was back in 3 days, we just did a basic one though.

So, after speaking to agents this morning asking them to call buyer and put a rocket up her arse I was promised a call back, didn't happen so will be chasing again Monday.
I'm so tired and fed up of this cat and mouse game.

Oh @dimmu that's so frustrating. House buying and selling can be such a horrible process. Fingers crossed it resells quickly.

3 weeks to go for us. New removal company all booked, childcare sorted, now feeling pretty excited.

Just saw an article re stamp duty and I think a few people were asking about this upthread.
There are rumours our dear new PM wants to abolish stamp duty on sales less than 500k as soon as the autumn. As non FTB this would save us 11.5k on the property we’re buying - but there’s no guarantee it will happen then or even at all!!! I don’t think we can trust this govt but I may be forced to eat my words 😰

I’ve had the estate agent phoning for feedback on my second viewings to see if I’ve made up my mind. And I haven’t. Work has been so busy that DH and I haven’t had time to talk about it. The house sellers must hate us!

Thanks everyone. I feel strangely relieved now, the horrible anxious feel I have for weeks is gone now. Think I just always had a bad feeling about the buyer. Having done our maths even if we paid rent and mortgage for six months and accepted 15k lower offer than his original one, we would still be better off than if we took his stupidly low revised offer.

@MrBobLobLaw Ours is an ex-LA London flat, a very spacious one but needing work. Still a good bargain for the area though. Like your name by the way, loved arrested development.

@dimmu wow his offer was totally insulting if knocking 15k and six month rent off leaves you better off! I'm pleased you have decided to drop him, his lost out on all the money for searches etc, what a fool.

@Ellieboolou27 I know we really had No choice but to tell him where to go with his ridiculous offer. He must have thought we would be desperate enough to take it as it was so late in the process.

How did he take it @dimmu? Or do you not know? Sounds like you totally made the right decision, especially if the finances work out. So annoying to have wasted the time and energy though.

Glad to hear your survey came through quickly @Ellieboolou27, have you finished your application yet?

Stupid question here: but when/if you get a mortgage offer is it like the mortgage in principal where they say we are willing to offer you £X at this rate over this term or does it look different? I really feel so incredibly ignorant for the whole process.. and I've been reading up on all sorts online. I'm not usually such an ignoramus!

@dimmu please update us as soon as you know!!

@MrBobLobLaw ours took about 2 days because they did a drive by. If it’s a low LTV quite often they’re just looking to check the property exists, looks habitable and is feasibly in the region you’re paying for it.

Thanks @PooWillyBumBum, I think ours is a low LTV (36%) and a similar property is currently being listed at £35k more than what we paid for ours so hopefully that's a good sign. DP is worried that our application will be refused but I feel positive we'll get it! How is your process coming along?

@MrBobLobLaw mortgage in principle is different as it's not actually an offer, the offer is the guarantee that you can borrow the money.

I'm just waiting for our accountant to do our tax review for this year and we are set, I just hope the buyers solicitor gets these enquires sorted as I want to exchange in 2 weeks!

@MrBobLobLaw just see what happens, right as we got ours done one came on the market for nearly 100k less (better condition but a semi - it was being sold on after part X so probably v competitively priced) and I was so worried but all came back okay. With 36pc LTV they’ll certainly get there money back should someone default!

Ours has gone a bit quiet, need to chase. We have filled out and sent back the memorandum of exchange and land registry forms (hasn’t been registered since it’s current owner bought in 1954), but I think our buyer’s solicitors have yet to raise their enquiries with ours. Hopefully they’ll be straightforward as we are aiming for mid-late August. In an ideal world I’d like to exchange on one or two weeks, but we shall see.

Still here... 🙋🏻‍♀️

Thinking of reducing our house price down a bit.

Had a meltdown on Saturday when the people who were due to view cancelled ten mins before and I'd spent all morning cleaning. 😡

@maggycool that's so frustrating when that happens

How long have you been on the market?

@maggycool that is so annoying!