Sellers/Buyers Roll Call No 6

[Violetroselily]

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Thanks for the probate info @Violetroselily and @BeauticianNotMagician81 I have no idea about the probate grant, totally naive here! Think I'll give their EA a call tomorrow and ask her about all of that as it sounds like something that could really hold up the sale.

@Karcheer my main tip would be to massively declutter. No nick nacks or trinkets out on display. If there's a coffee table then remove all coasters/photo frames/books and just have some flowers or something. Same for window ledges. Completely clear off your kitchen countertops. Put all the lights on for the photos and blinds/curtains fully open. You just want it to look bright and spacious so don't have too much stuff or furniture in any room. Good luck!!

It to but in ... the house we are currently rly buying is going through probate. We are FTB so no chain other than the probate.

Our EA seemed to think it would be around 8-12 weeks for the probate to go through. We are hopeful it will be sooner though!!

Fill your car with stuff!

hello all!

I'm so excited and have no-one to tell! I am busy buying a property and my offer has just been accepted and 24 hours later, I've got my mortgage approved subject to valuation.

I only have 7 days to get the valuation done as there were so many other people bidding for this property that the sellers gave us 7 days to show we were serious - i.e. appoint solicitors and get the survey done.

I managed to appoint solicitors yesterday (though haven't heard back from them) and got the mortgage offer through today but I will need to push the valuers to get the valuation done in a week. It's all a bit stressful as I'm trying to work full time too! Argh!

Starting to feel like my solicitor is on a go-slow, still haven't had my search results back and the timeframe for the relevant LA is 4 weeks...

The EA says that they already have the grant of probate so that's good news and she seemed confident that it'll all get sorted before the end of October so here's hoping!! Sent off for mortgage valuation #2 today so really hope that's not another £200 down the pan.

@Dinosauraddict how long have you been waiting ? Ours only took a few days as far as I remember. It's so annoying when they hold you up!!

Welcome @DayDreamingAway! That all sounds exciting. Must be a v buoyant market where you are!! Just a word of warning to not throw too much money at the purchase too soon if they're playing the 'so many other people are interested' card, though I'm speaking from bitter experience of loosing £££s because we were gazumped in similar circumstances. Are you a FTB?

@MrBobLobLaw searches were started early July. No idea what the hold up is, and my solicitor is being less communicative as time goes by!

Searches are getting ridiculous in my chain - small chain of 3, all in the same small town, two on the same street then me about a mile away. Offers all agreed 3rd week in July - search on my next house came back within 10 days, search on my house for my buyer came back on Monday, searches on my buyers house still not back!!! How on EARTH can this happen? Its the same Council ! Same water company same everything.

Hi @MrBobLobLaw I don't think in a buoyant area at all but this property comes with quite a bit of land. We want to live in the property but there were other bidders who wanted to buy it to develop we believe and they were in a good position to buy.

We are not in a chain either but obviously aren't professional buyers!

We got in first with the offer - it was an 'offers in excess of' property. We offered 10k over the asking price and the vendors asked us to pay an extra 5k and have the solicitors appointed, valuation booked and searches ordered in 7 days for them to take it off the market. Fingers crossed we manage it. I've had to pay for the valuation and I've appointed solicitors (which I guess we will wherever we buy) though not paid them yet so I guess at the moment we stand to lose the mortgage arrangement fee plus the valuation. Fingers crossed it works out!

@Blobby10 that's so ridiculous and inconsistent! On the third attempt today I finally managed to get hold of my solicitor. Apparently searches have now come back and he'll be reporting to me tomorrow (yay)!

Blimey that really is a long time to wait @Dinosauraddict! I'm frustrated for you!! Hopefully the news tomorrow is good but it seems strange that they took sooo long!

Fingers crossed you get it all done @DayDreamingAway. If it gives you any hope we got our solicitors sorted, full mortgage application accepted via our broker and searches completed all within a week so it is possible!

@MrBobLobLaw
I'm impressed you managed to get yours done so quickly . You're aiming for a 9 week turnaround aren't you? I have bought (and sold) a house in that time before, but this one is already on week 10 and I don't seem to have progressed very far! Our DC1 isn't due until early March 2020, but as I'm buying a new build/conversion, I think baby might be ready before house is. (When we reserved plot they said December, but now they're saying Feb/March...)

Welcome @Karcheer and @DayDreamingAway
@Hawkmoth have you had a positive update now? I know things had gone a bit quiet...

@Dinosauraddict its barking mad isn't it!! Fingers crossed for you that you get good news today

@Karcheer hope your photos went OK - please don't be afraid to criticise them when you get to see them for the brochure/website etc. Some photographers are better than others! I told the EA I was planning to use that their photos were too arty farty (close ups of taps etc!) and to please make sure the ones they did of my house just showed it all the rooms at their best! He may have taken my comments on board as the photos I've seen since are much less arty farty . Didn't get to photo stage with my house as sold to a friend

Thanks @Blobby10!
And @Karcheer to add to what Blobby said, also check the draft brochure text and scrutinise the draft floor plan. Every time I've sold a house I've sent back errors in their text, or noticed that things are missed off the floor plan (smallest being a cupboard under the stairs, biggest being an actual bathroom...). It's a good proof-reading exercise - EAs aren't generally known for their accuracy.

Thanks @dinosauraddict. We just heard back after asking estate agent to chase. Their solicitor is going to send everything through all at once. Whatever and whenever that means!

I really feel like we're owed some good luck.

Vendors onward property (the probate one) has now come off the market due to a dispute between the sons over selling/keeping it. I've had enough!!!!!

Hoping that they'll consider renting but I don't think they will tbh and I expect they'll want to stay and remarket.

Gutted.

2 enquiries left for me. Apparently the vendors solicitor are having trouble getting a response from the freeholder, so I'm not sure what happens if they never get a response...

@Hawkmoth sounds like they're taking their time. @MrBobLobLaw that's such a nightmare. Can their EA help smooth the dispute over? Are you going to start looking elsewhere?

I will read back in a bit but wanted some advice. We had our building survey done today and the guy has charged us less as the only thing he can see that's going to be a problem is that the chimney needs to come down or it's going to fall down. So he's recommended a structural engineer going in as he can't get to the stack in the loft as it's covered by framing.

What do we do negotiating wise. Mortgage is approved. We had already knocked £12,500 off the asking price and that's exactly what Halifax valued it at. Not the upper figure. Unless they are just saying that's what they agree they can lend not sure how it works. DH is in the building trade and estimates the cost of an engineer at about £1000 and the works at about £10,000. If the vendor agrees to lower the price do we take that out of our deposit so give them less deposit or do we need to get our mortgage re offered?

@BeauticianNotMagician81 I took my reduction of the mortgage, not the deposit as I wanted the smaller mortgage payment and have the cash in the bank to pay for the work.

Do you have 10k spare to pay for the work when it needs doing?

If you agree a reduced purchase price then the mortgage offer will need updating anyway (at least it did in my case) so I dont think you can avoid needing a new one even if you dont change the loan amount IYSWIM

Thank you &@Violetroselily we will have a spare £10,000 as DH is due to get inheritance. Probate was actually granted today on his mums estate. However, he wanted to use that money to do others works to the house and to leave a large sum in the bank to add to as we don't have much in the way of savings. I just hope the mortgage offer comes through quick then. Will they need to see extra paperwork? So annoying as DH asked the vendor about the chimney as he could see it was falling (I didn't notice) and the vendor assured him he had it checked and was told it was fine and wasn't going to collapse anytime soon.

So the vendor has said either we pay it ourselves or he will put the house back on the market as he already reduced once. I love the house but I'm scared it's going to end up being a money pit 😫

@BeauticianNotMagician81 if it's just a change in purchase price then it should be quick (mine wasnt but thats because ny broker ballsed up), but be mindful if the new LTV will put you into a different band because that might mean a rate or product change. If no change to rate or product then they dont need to do a new affordability assessment or anything because you're not increasing your loan amount.

Waiting for my buyer’s buyer to do their survey and then if ok and they don’t pull out or quibble I’ll book the survey on my purchase. Then we should be able to get moving with things. Sellers solicitor has been v quiet apparently had been on hols so I hope all ok