Sellers/Buyers Roll Call 8 and still going

[Fern204]

Hope it's ok to start a new thread.
Bottom of our chain should exchange on Monday and then the top will hopefully exchange a week later. I dont quite understand, something to do with a charge on our buyers house which needs to be released first.
Aiming to complete on 15th July, so hopefully not much longer.
I will never move again, and definitely not in a chain of 10!

@Karcheer congratulations on being in!!! Glad all went ok in the end and how exciting that you’re in! I will also need a grad thread whenever the time comes, pop a link on here please!
@Cluckycluck we’re on the exact same time frame - we accepted our offer 20/06 too and got balls rolling on the Monday! We are selling & buying but will be interesting to see how long our respective processes take re cleaning - it’s incredibly difficult & stressful! I have 3 kids and a not very big house...EA photos & viewing cleans involved a lot of screen time and a combination of threats and bribery 😂 thankfully we sold v quickly so it wasn’t too awful in the end.
@Notyetthere we also got solicitor stuff going before our mortgage offer (or indeed mortgage application!) it’s a risk but not a massive one - our mortgage offer is by no means a given, but worst case scenario we can reapply elsewhere to borrow less if need be, so it might just be that the mortgage ends up holding us up a bit!
@Lemonylemony we’re in limbo too - spoke to our conveyancer the other day and he said neither side’s solicitors had been in touch, so they’re clearly not in much hurry which is frustrating! Feel like there’s nothing to do but wait and I don’t like it

Hi @notheragain4. We are porting but decided to go directly to them as we’ve been with them for years and normally had really good service. With hindsight a broker might have had more luck chasing them down though. They’ve promised 4 different timescales for the first set of underwriting and have missed them all. Still waiting! On the positive side I’ve reached the end of my anxiety about it and feel pretty resigned to never hearing.

This thread is so fast moving now which must at least be a bit of a reflection on the market. Good news for everyone selling hopefully.

Our buyers' surveyor is here completing the home buyers survey. Eeek!😬🤞. I dont know why I'm nervous. I guess it could be because I was shocked by the price it sold at. I expected it to sell at about £15k less than it finally sold for. I don't know whether I would have paid the amount our buyers are paying if we were buying it again but our EA insisted it was worth it. Here's to hoping.

DH is going to call the agent today. We've been on the market for 4 weeks and only had 1 viewing with no response so quite disappointed. Considering dropping the price from oieo 400 to asking 395. Don't know if this is enough of a drop to attract people but we can't afford to go under 390 so need a bit of negotiation room.

@LoisLittsLover that does seem very suspect. Are you happy with your photos, description and floor plan? Have they said what's going on in the area? Dropping under £400 should help because people who search for houses up to £400 won't be seeing it. Do you think it's a fair price for the area? How does it compare to what else is on the market?

@nothereagain4 yes, we asked to change a couple of photos before it went online so overall we're happy with the advert. It did take a couple of weeks to get a sign up. Agents have said that fist and second time buyers are cornering the market at the moment, but the higher end (where we are) is slower, and our experience is in line with that. I wondered if we would get some interest in people wanting to move out of London as we are under an hour on the High speed line.

We live on a newish estate (15 years old) so there are a few of our style of house although obviously each has been developed, or not, slightly differently. Similar houses have sold for around the 375 - 415 Mark over the last year. Ours was the show house so has a corner plot with the biggest garden. My main worry is that we purchased for £215 only 6 years ago and I worry that people think we are being cheeky but we have done a huge amount of work to the house so do think we have added value.

@LoisLittsLover gosh that is a big jump, but if similar houses are selling in the region you're on for there's no reason to not strive for that. Do you have any new build estates near you to compete with? Yes we are moving to an area with a train to London in that time (wouldn't it be funny if it's the same area!) very much on that basis, WFH more, want to be connected to the city but not pay London or Home Counties prices. I'm hoping it'll pay off in the long term.

It's mortgage survey day for my flat today. This is the point i am worried about as worried they'd claim mortgage says not worth that much. but it's lower than anything sold in that block for years (inc less than I paid 4 years ago) so think it'll be ok. fingers crossed. I am so nervous

@LoisLittsLover that is appalling progress from your EA. They should have had the conversation with you with regards to the lack of viewings way before you were chasing them. Whether dropping the price down to £395k will have an impact on your local market is anyone's guess. DH and I decided that if we couldn't shift ours at the price it was priced at we would drop it by 2.5%; which we believe would have had an impact and attracted more buyers. Don't worry too much about the difference in what you paid and what you are asking now. Our area prices have gone up in the last 7 years we have been here without doing work to the house. We sold ours for 65% more than we paid for it 7 years ago. Of that 65%, we spent about 20% (through remortgage to borrow more) of it doing work to the house so really a profit of 45% has been realised to enable our next move. We put in a new drive, new windows and new roof to part of the house. I don't imagine this would have increased the value of the house but it definitely made it easier to sell. I find that people only consider the hard increased value if you have actually added square footage.

Good luck for today Bells! Do they let you know straight away? Hopefully I’ll have one of those soon, does it happen before or after the official mortgage offer?

Thank you. I really have no idea! Apparently they generally let you know within a couple of days usually but no idea really

@Bells3032 I feel you. I feel like this is one big hurdle that once it is done and all is ok then we shall breath a sigh of relief.

Our buyers' surveyor has just left. He wasn't the one sent by the bank though so we still have to go through the valuation survey too. More squeaky bum time for us to come. I swear I am losing weight with all of this nervousness.

@AmateurHour when we bought our current house it was on the same day of the survey in the evening that the bank informed us of a formal mortgage offer. I believe a couple of people up thread also mentioned getting the mortgage offer on the same day of the survey.

I know. I feel the same. the rest should be fairly smooth sailing for us hopefully. it's a chain feel purchase and sale and everyone's motivated to move fast. And hopefully won't try and Guzunder me or anything as they have more to lose than I do

What happens if you pay out for a survey but your mortgage application is denied? I was waiting for that before getting a surveyor in but it seems to be ‘not the done thing’

@AmateurHour the bank will do their underwriting and usually if that is ok, they are ready to issue mortgage offer subject to valuation survey coming back ok. As far as I know they don't instruct the survey until the underwriting passes. They might deny the application after survey if the surveyor reports on something they don't lend on about the house so think japanese knotweed, non-standard construction, etc...

We were discussing this upthread last week as we are also considering instructing other parts of the buying process as the banks are behind on processing applications. I think our buyers have taken the gamble by instructing their surveyor even if their mortgage isn't through yet. If mortgage is denied then they will lose £250 - £550 depending on what they paid but it is not all lost if they do find another bank to lend to them.

Well the agents asked for final offers for the house this morning, one came back at 10k more and the other 5k more we have gone with the lower offer because he is a cash buyer and wants to complete within the next 6 weeks - which is perfect! The other couple are furious and have since offered an extra 15K but they have yet to get a mortgage and are in a chain of 5 other people.

We move into our new property on Thursday having had the world and his contractor in our house since last Wednesday, and I still have so much to pack!

@GherkinsOnToast that's great. I would do the same in your shoes. someone with cash in hand and ready to go is much better. The other one is more likely to fall through and you're likely to have to put more than the 10k into running to home whilst that chain stays together.

I'm hoping when we buy we get a similarly nice seller :)

Just had feedback from the viewing at our house on Saturday. Apparently the garage is too small (it's partially converted and the couple have lots of motorbikes.) Is it just me or is it really frustrating to get feedback like that when the dimensions are clearly on the floor plan?

That's great @GherkinsOnToast I would do the same. The ease would be so much better.

@Pepperwand I agree. We had the same. It really annoyed me!

Today I have contacted surveyors as we'll need a full surgery (I know they changed the term but can't remember what to!) Also removal companies for a quote.

Am so nervous still that it's not going to to through!

• we have completed 🥳

Keys just picked up and away we go!

I’m going to officially check in if that’s ok although I’ve been lurking for a while .

Saw the house we wanted early Feb, our house went up for sale mid Feb, our house went Sold STC last Friday and by some miracle the house we wanted was still available and is now Sold STC to us.

I’m going to enjoy today as it has been tough to get here and then tomorrow I will go back to worrying about the chain collapsing. Luckily we’re in a small chain. FTBs > us > our sellers who have already moved out.

Another one who has been lurking for a while but think its now time to join in!

Sold our house a few weeks ago and had an offer accepted the following week. Started filling in paperwork for solicitor and have submitted our mortgage application as don't want to wait forever for the mortgage to be approved. I go from being excited to an anxious mess daily - has anyone got any tips to not getting so anxious?

Urgh, my house has now been on the market for 8 weeks with loads of viewings but no offer. I am feeling UNBEARABLY stressed about it, and now convinced myself that people will see it’s been on the market for 8 weeks and therefore that there must be something wrong with it (in London, where market seems to be moving fast.) Please tel me I’m being silly? Useless feedback from agents. Don’t know what to do. We’ve already moved for work so it’s just sitting there empty and we’re renting too. Huge mortgage. I’m so stressed.

@bellyislikejelly congratulations!

We've just had the photos of our house taken ready to officially go on the market later this week. The for sale sign went up over the weekend and we've already had someone arrange a viewing!