Sellers/Buyers Roll Call 7

[MrBobLobLaw]

Stressed vendors and buyers alike: assemble here to moan about bloody solicitors!

Feel free to join at any point

Is anyone thinking of delaying completion until post-budget to see if stamp duty changes? We're a week or two from being ready to exchange and could move in immediately if we wanted and I can't decide if it's worth waiting for.

@Karcheer excellent, thanks. We have had Three valuations, the last of which was today and I think we will probably go with them. The guy seemed really knowledgeable.

The package from this company is 1.5% +vat and includes floor plans, photos, accompanied viewings, video, Rightmove, Zoopla etc and social media marketing. It’s no sale, no fees and it’s not locked into a term and no upfront cost. Does this seem reasonable?

@ricki379 We are hoping for a stamp duty change.

@ricki379 our buyer has requested that we exchange after the budget.

@Alpacathebag I’d ask if they can do 1% the worst they can do is say no.

Joining in, just had the first of three valuation today. Was a bit taken aback by suggested amount.

Not looking forward to getting through this stress fest! But need to move for husbands work.

@CuteOrangeElephant we are extremely relieved and quite happy we do not have to keep chasing solicitors. Now onto the joy of dealing with builders

@littlecontis welcome! I am not sure how long it took but our solicitors contacted the EA directly. From us they only requested things such as proof of ID, proof of deposit etc.

As for the deposit, our mortgage application did not require proof of funds to ascertain the LTV, they took our word that we had that deposit. Our solicitors, however required proof that we had the full deposit and the origin of the funds. I've just checked our emails and they requested bank statements as proof of deposit right at the beginning of the process, within days of being appointed, actually. Although months later they were still confused about if we had the money or not and then so much time had passed we had to send updated statements again, so depending on how much that 2% is and how long it will take you to save it, you might be able to postpone this part a bit.

@BluebellsAndBees Thank you! Apparently the EA had already sent it direct!

And that's great to hear about the deposit part! We are both very excited and have to stop ourselves from going on pinterest all the time...

How long do you expect your solicitor to hold your deposit for? Before seller is ready to exchange? Is it days, weeks, months?

If there is any delay are you able to ask for the deposit to be transferred back at any point? I don't like the idea of my deposit sitting for days with my solicitor for days and weeks.

This is not a small amount, it is 10% of a sizeable house in London so you get the idea!

Bit fed up today. In the phase where it's all with the solicitors and all has gone quiet. Asked for an update on Monday and was told she'd get back to me and she hasn't. Just want to get the exchange and completion dates sorted...it was supposed to be a quick, straightforward sale.

@PineappleCocktail I don't think there's such a thing as a straightforward sale.

Hope you hear soon, this part of the process is so stressful because of the radio silence.

We are in the middle of the process too. The buyer of our house doesnt have a chain however the seller of our new home does and I have asked the EA for the update and havent had one. The seller of new house felt through a transaction recently because it took them too long to move on then they pit their house back to the market and we step in( is there a possible easier way to explain these chain things). We didnt have a chain 10 or 15 years ago when we bought our first then this house so didnt realise that it is this complicated. We have paid 80% of solicitor fee and in our case both selling our current home and buying new home houses. So if this goes sores this is the minimum loss(plus time, mentality etc.).

Survey booked on our current house for next Tuesday. Fingers crossed everyone...

Turned out my solicitor has been on holiday for a week, so no progress. Aaaargh.

Thanks @anon2000000000 I've started pushing it a bit and they're waiting for some certificate to come back then we can exchange. Tick tock muthafucka!

Good luck @Karcheer
How annoying @CuteOrangeElephant! Solicitors are so bloody slow!

We just got a message saying our mortgage has been approved and that is subject to the valuation(very large mortgage). Still havent been able to come to the solicitor in person as they are not near by for identity validation. Hope to have it done this week. The fact that we are in the middle of a chain( both buying and selling) doesnt help

Valuation on our new house is tomorrow. Mortgage approved subject to it so I’m hoping to hear something by Thursday close of business really. Then I can push on solicitors. I’m trying to secure school places in the new area and the sooner we can get proof of exchange the better, but after almost 5 weeks of no progress I’m still feeling very in-limbo-Land!

Valuation survey on our current house tomorrow and housescan booked for our new one on the 9th March.

Valuation on the house we are buying tomorrow but I want to change mortgage provider because a better one has been released today so I’ll need to go back to the drawing board with the mortgage advisor.

Our buyers’ searches were due back this week so they’ll start asking about moving dates I assume? Our searches have only just been ordered.

Our mortgage was officially offered today so yay! I’m getting a little nervous as we haven’t heard from our buyers since the survey was done. Nor have our solicitors. I chased my EA today who claimed to have spoken to their solicitor last week who said they were waiting for all searches to come back before sending out any enquires to our solicitors. Does that sound likely? We’ve been back and fore with enquiries for our purchase even while a search remains outstanding.

I’d really like a date for exchange now.

Just to add, their survey was carried out on 23 January so a good few weeks ago!

We have completed! Keys received on Tuesday and we are now trying to get quotes for a new kitchen. Moving in date is 28th, so hopefully we will have the worst parts done before that day.

Good luck to everyone going through this process. It drove me mad at times, but it was an amazing feeling crossing the threshold of our own home.

Congratulations bluebells!

I’m the other side yesterday the sign arrived in the garden.

Anybody else find the thought of people being in your house when your not there slightly disconcerting?

We’ve just put our house on the market last week. One viewing lined up for today but that’s it so far - I was expecting a bit more interest as agents had told us there were lots of buyers looking for houses in our price range.

For those of you who’ve accepted offers recently, how long did it take from going on the market to offer and how many viewings were there in between?

We’ve seen a house we love and I’m convinced it’ll sell before we find a buyer 😭 I’m so impatient!

Oh Bluebells, many congratulations!
I had weeks of non stopping dreaming, planning when first view our purchasing house. My excitement has now completely gone as now I am so worried about so many things which can go wrong( either from buyer or seller side). We have told the kids, family on both sides but not telling any friends yet.