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

[Karcheer]

@Whathewhatnow congratulations! enjoy your new home!

[Newhome321]

Whatthewhatnow, many congratulations, so exciting for you! All the best with the new home!

[Newhome321]

No progress made from us today except that we came and checked the manhole( public Thames Water manhole shared with the neighbor), its more on our side of the fence rather than exactly the middle. We think of double storey max to the fence but were told that some houses were rejected as the council says it causes “terracing effects”. Well, right now we wait( the seller is waiting to hear about their exchange date so they are holding it, not us).

[GherkinsOnToast]

YAY @Whatthewhatnow, congratulations.

No news here either... Friday is looking less and less likely.

[Maybenexttime08]

Not a great day for us - we're at the beginning of the whole process, but our buyer has said they earliest they want to complete is 1st October! They have an early redemption on their mortgage before.

Now we need to see if the whole chain above is prepared to slow down :-( . Not feeling positive!

[Mildura]

The 1st of October is ‘only’ 14 weeks away. Not a particularly unusual period of time for a housing transaction to take.

[Maybenexttime08]

@Mildura - just hoping everyone thinks as lovely and logical as you do. Should hear something tomorrow!

[Karcheer]

@Maybenexttime08yes it’s really not that long in the grand scheme of things, at least you’ve all got a date to aim for.

I was assuming we wouldn’t hear anything this week, but our solicitor emailed to say he’d received all the searches now and would review ASAP, the financial advisor said the value of the new house was fine, but has to go to an underwriter but she doesn’t foresee any issues, we should get sign off within a week. And the surveyor who did the structural survey said he’d send me the summary tomorrow ahead of the actual report on the 30th...
Can I get excited yet 🤔

[Whathewhatnow]

Karcheer yes you can. Officially.. fingers xed for all those waiting on developments. It is such a frustratingly slow process filled with potential ... manholes, thames water or otherwise.

My new house is clearly a money pit. I can see that already.... some rather obvious damp in the front room but...meh. Anything is fixable. And it is mine, and mine alone, and I went out and bought a hose and a sprinkler and 12 mugs and I didnt have to bloody explain that to anyone. It was great. I know how to live!

[Whathewhatnow]

14 weeks is normalish, but frustrating for you. Early redemptions can be punishing but mortgages can often be ported to avoid that.... my early redemption was 15k.

[Bouledeneige]

So I had no takers from my 5 viewers on Saturday. Feedback from two of them was that the garden's too small. Its a small garden.

I have 3 more viewers this week. Its possible that the price is a bit strong for the market but we will find out from the viewers. Its a great location in a great area. Keep wondering. And tidying.

[Whathewhatnow]

Bouledeneige I always think that EAs should put realistic garden pics up. Quite often they will stretch them with photoshop and not include any reference to the size of garden on the floor plan.

Honestly, when I was viewing this would have saved everyone so much time. And kot everyone actually wants a big garden. 30 ft is (now) my limit.

[Maybenexttime08]

@Bouledeneige - frustrating when you get feedback and you're like 'doh, I know the garden isn't big' - we got that a lot! Maybe ask the EA to ensure potential viewers are aware before they view?

@Whathewhatnow - yes frustrating but hopefully not a deal breaker - should find out today. We have an early redemption so are porting. Our vendors agent said we should recommend this to our buyers, but I'm not their mortgage advisor! PS. The sprinkler and mugs sound lovely :-)

[notheragain4]

I think some people expect miracles to happen when they view. Our house is small, 780SQFT quite obvious from the photos and floor plan, but we always get the same comments about it being too small. I think people go with wishful thinking hoping it may feel bigger or something might grab them especially as we have a good location with little on the market here. Our buyer (touchwood!) is a single bloke, you've just got to wait for the right person.

To be fair that's what happened to us, we dismissed our current house immediately on Rightmove but loved the feel on viewing. We've grown out of it very quickly though!

[Karcheer]

Our buyers are taking the piss with this Covid cleaning!
I had the lady round last week to quote for the cleaning and she asked about the carpets, I said not to bother as they are only 6 months old.
Anyway, she’s just told me that the estate agent has called her and told her the carpets have to be cleaned.
It’s going to end up costing us a fortune to clean the house.

[BumbleNova]

I need to join and vent! we did have a great buyer, but she has just pulled out. I think she had overstretched herself financially.

the irony is that literally hours before we had finally got to the point where we had our offer accepted (or so we thought) on our onwards purchase. it had only taken a month...

I am so stressed out I could cry. we do have two viewings booked today and tomorrow. but the estate agents for our purchase have also gone completely quiet.

anyone got any survival tips?! i'm pregnant so I cant even drink...

[Karcheer]

@bumbleNova I don't drink - im getting through ALOT of chocolate!

[notheragain4]

@Karcheer that's not your responsibility surely? If they want to clean the carpets they do so when they move in? I'd never expect a previous buyer to have gone to those lengths, when we moved into our current house we had our cleaner come around before we started moving in to do a pre clean and do the carpets (thankfully we were in overlapping rented accommodation)

[Karcheer]

@notheragain4 Our estate agent has for a long time (i feel) stopped working on our behalf and is working on behalf of our buyer (he (my buyer) has a £3m house that he is dangling in front of the estate agent - and im sure the estate agent can see commission £££s).
There have been a few instances where he has sided with the buyer and really shouldve taken our position. I really think there should be a law that says the estate agent can't represent both (even if it was a different person in the office).

[Maybenexttime08]

@Karcheer - that's interesting what you say about the agent siding with the buyer - that's just how it feels for us!

[Mildura]

@Karcheer
Agree with @notheragain4 if your buyer wants the carpets cleaned then it's up to them.

Why is your estate agent in direct contact with the cleaning firm? Very odd!

[Karcheer]

@mildura he gave me her details. I think they use the company for pre-rental cleans.

[notheragain4]

Yes it's weird how they do that. When we bought the EA was so much on our side, we deliberately didn't use them when we sold. But our EA is really irritatingly supporting our buyer and not chasing him to the extent we need her to be doing.

That said, I would not be doing any Covid cleaning! I would nod along to not jeopardise the sale but assuming not written up anywhere legally, not a chance I'd be doing. Polite hand over clean only.

[Newhome321]

Whatthewhatnow: what an amazing feeling that you are in control position and exciting about the future. We thought of this move as forever move too(the £100k stamp duty or something is definitely putting a break in future moving, we tried to postpone the moving as long as we could.
BumbleNova, I had the similar problem, I rejected an offer and accepted another and after 2 months the buyers came clean that they actually couldnt afford it as mortgage providers all rejected their application. We then moved onto the lower offer rather than putting the house back to the market as worrying we might have lost our opportunity with the house we want to buy. Ups and downs the last 10 months and still now I am waiting.
We werent asked about our carpet and also are not asking about the new house carpet but the new house has dog and we dont have pets. I agree that its up to the buyers? We would hire a professional cleaner to clean the day after we move in. In fact I am thinking that we should book couple of nights accommodation nearby so at least we get good night sleep while we unpack and settle. Saving the remover cost could help with this. But again I am thinking too far ahead as there hasnt been any progress.

[DeeplyMovingExperience]

Estate Agents are currently treating proceedable buyers like gold dust. Banks have serious staff shortages and the covid situation is still playing out. According to our EA, they are seeing fewer buyers, but the ones they are seeing are all serious about buying and moving. They are refusing viewings to people who do not have proof of funds.