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!

Drove round to the estate that the house we want to buy to find that the plot that we have expressed an interest in has a sold sign. Gutted is an understatement. There are 2 other plots that we are interested in but they are later in the build plan, and the agents are being really cagey about timelines at the moment, and don't respond to our enquiries. I understand that things are a bit slower with covid etc, but a timeline will really impact on our childcare decision at the end of mat leave (November) ie will we use childcare in our current area or new area, as I don't want to have to settle dd twice. Basically I'm just getting a little frustrated with lack of communication, and we haven't even sold yet. I need help!!

Ugh sorry to hear of everyone’s frustrations. The whole process is ridiculous really isn’t it.

@Cluckycluck I’m coming round to the idea of paying for movers, we also have time and can borrow a medium sized van.... but it’s just such a faff, and I have some injuries so can’t do much heavy lifting myself (DP is very strong tho!). I’m thinking we’ll move small stuff ourselves gradually whilst work is being done on the house pre-move, but hire movers for the final actual move of all the furniture.

My solicitor actually phoned me today! She’s a real human that talks and everything! I was very impressed. She was apologising for lack of communication their end - she’s been on leave and minions dropped the ball - and they’ll have more for me on Monday following the vendors response to our questions. Yay! Although she said there are still some things the vendors will need to clarify further. Boo. So no real idea on timescales still.

My summary:
FTB
Coming up 7wks post offer accepted
Independent survey done & follow up EICR done as well so I’m happy with the purchase.
Mortgage offer almost there - valuation has come back fine, underwriting is kind of done with one further query so hopefully will be sorted soon.
Searches my end all completed
Just quite a few (24!) queries we were waiting for the sellers to respond to, so some more solicitory work there before we’re ready for contracts and things.

It is such a strange system when everyone involved finds it stressful and frustrating. I've decided I have too high expectations about the pace everyone else in the chain is working at

Do you mind me asking what sort of queries you have @Lemonylemony? I'm pleased you've had contact with your solicitor, its reassuring being able to talk to them!

@PavoReal Buyer number 5 No wonder you have insomnia! Stay strong and fingers crossed that will be over for you soon.

@luvabellawilleatme welcome to the rollercoaster and like fourfor most likely searches are next.

@FourForYouGlenCoco When I saw the house again I felt that I didn't want to move there - joy most definitely sucked out. DH and I were not going to speak about the move today but have decided to discuss adding some control over the process as we both feel we are being battered from all sides. He is going to speak one last time to the developer and see if they will honour the incentive. If the developer says no then we accept that's just how it is. But to the buyer, if they can't agree completion and to have moved by the 27th August we will pull out.

Our house has been on the market since Feb and it feels like this entire year has been spent talking about moving, dealing with a pandemic, there is no quality of life anymore so we want to reclaim it. I guess we have endured the roller coaster over a much shorter period of time to other people, but there does come a point where enough is enough. We have held off doing things like dentist appointments, opticians, getting cars serviced (obviously COVID hasn't helped) etc so we either move before school starts, or we don't move.

@notheragain4 I know, half of something is better than nothing, to us it's a lot of money and could pay for a shed & base and patio, maybe even get a gardener in to do something with expanse of turf. Hopefully this week will be better, it is a roller coaster! xx

@Cluckycluck certainly worth paying for movers not matter what distance you are moving. In my youth house moves done DIY but not now, far too old for that!

@LoisLittsLover are there any other developments nearby that work with your timeline? You have every right to be frustrated with lack of comms. Do they even want a sale?

Mostly things where the vendors have given inconsistent answers on their property information questionairre, or where what they are saying doesn’t tally with other evidence, mostly about boundary responsibilities, access rights/arrangements and previous work done to the house. None of it is dealbreaker material we just need accurate consistent answers to move forward.

@Lemonylemony really jealous you actually spoke to your solicitor, mine takes a week to answer an email!

@LoisLittsLover that is tough. Sorry to hear that. Not sure it will make you feel better but when I was on buyer number 1 last year and I was under offer on a place which fell through, looking back for various reasons I am so, so pleased it did. Is it possible the EAs can't update you on the other 2 plots as they don't know themselves? Maybe the developers can't confirm dates until they have sold the first batch.

@Cluckycluck I'm only moving 5 minutes down the road too. I'm going to hire 2 men and a van rather than professional movers to shift the heavy stuff - they will also deconstruct furniture etc. It saved me around £400 last time, and again I'll move all the smaller stuff. Think it took about 10-15 car trips though, it's surprising how much stuff you have. Ahhh I like talking about stuff like actually moving! Maybe it will happen.

Ahhh we saw a house today and put in an offer and accepted. Oh dear lord that happened fast!! What have we done. So excited but so terrified. We debated holding out for something bigger at the top end of our budget but the locations perfect and the price means we can afford to live a nice lifestyle in the meantime.

It's completely crazy and I feel exhausted.

@Lemonylemony I also have injuries so am pretty useless too. We're currently in a bungalow and I have an ongoing knee issue that has flared up so I'm now getting a little nervous about moving to a house with stairs 😬
A little personal contact goes a long way, I wish all solicitors would pick up the phone a little more.

@LoisLittsLover Oh that's tough, hopefully if you push they can provide some kind of timescale. I get what you mean regarding childcare, the stress of settling twice is unlikely to be worth it. DD is due to start a new nursery at the beginning of September so we've agreed with the seller to push back completion until end of Sept as moving at the same time as settling as nursery will be too much for her.

@PavoReal We hadn't thought of using van men, I'll look into that. I really resent paying for movers for such a small journey and such a small amount of furniture. Although I'm cheap so I resent paying for most things 😂

Can I ask a quick question. When those of you who had offers got offers, were they usually on the day of the viewing or the day after? I get the impression that serious people offer on the very same day but I may be wrong

@Bigoldwimp - I think it really varies - the two offers we got they viewed on the Saturday and offered on the Monday or Tuesday. Our first buyer had two viewings and our current buyer only viewed once.

I agree that it completely depends on the property and the people viewing. Our buyer offered the very next morning. We didn't offer for a few days as were still working out finances.

We offered on 3 properties and were serious each time. Offers were sent on the Monday after a Saturday viewing, Wednesday after a Saturday viewing and a few hours after a Saturday viewing. Sometimes you have other properties to see etc.

Thank you for your replies. I will retain hope :)

@Bigoldwimp we went on the market on Friday morning, 2 viewings on Friday evening and 13 viewings on Saturday (we left the house with the EA for the day). One of the Saturday morning viewings left us a bunch of flowers and a letter on Sunday morning with the letter saying they had offered full asking on Saturday(we were out). They knew about another 3 offers on the table that had also been made on the Saturday. They knew more than we did. We picked them anyway as while we had other offers, they were in the best position.

@pavoreal thank you, I keep telling myself that itvs not meant to be for a reason, and maybe the next one to be built will have out future best friends as neighbours or something like that. I do understand that building isnvt an exact science especially at the moment, but the agents stay stuff like 'let us check with the site manager and get back to you' but they never reply. I'm guessing it means site manager said 'I don't know' but it just feels like we are always chasing. Still, I guess we are the most invested so will keep in contact and just fingers crossed.

@cluckycluck unless a miracle happens and the available plot falls through for a third time And we sell out house within the next week, we won't be moving now until.i am back at work. So my options are to settle dd in childcare near work and hope that we eventually move, or settle her near our current house in the knowledge that if we move we'll have to resettle her. But if we never move I don't want her to.commute with me every day. Ahhhh!! I'll drive myself mad overthinking this as it's all I have control over at the moment

@LoisLittsLover developers are so frustrating with plots they've not yet built. There's an estate due to be built in the village we are in, we've been waiting 4 years for them, they were due to be released June but then Covid happened. We chased them weekly, they just wouldn't update, nothing has started, so we have given up in the end and moving 20 miles away now.

Dear goodness @Notyetthere that’s amazing

@Kakfor I don’t think you live in the States given you mention translation but suffice to say I imagine we’re all a bit green with envy at your story. I mention the States as your post reminds me of that TV series with those twin property developing brothers - might be called Buying and Selling. It doesn’t compute with me, the people always buy a place before selling their current one, and then when they get an offer it’s all ‘woop woop, congratulations you’ve just sold your house’. Then follows lots of hugging etc. Not one person eyes them suspiciously and says ‘hmmm well we’ll see, eh?’

Anyone else probably going to have to accept well under asking to get the thing done? Next doors house which is identical went very quickly, ours went on the market for more (same estate agent advice) the week before and still hasn't shifted. Have had one low ball offer and they have moved up but we need at least 75k more out of them. Going to counter offer I think. Feels totally like the wrong way round but we need to be exchanged before the start of school and are planning to move to the other end of the country

Butterflies in my stomach as we should find out about our buyers survey this week - if we get through that then things should be looking ok.

Its an old house so not a certainty - she got the mortgage valuation through fine and that was a house visit so I'm hoping that's a good start as they obviously didn't think it was going to fall down! Hope my logic holds?!?

@Happydaysandhappysmiles do you have a plan B? Just that exchange in 6 weeks when you don’t have an offer yet would be way faster than average if you go by the people on this thread. We’re 7 weeks post offer being accepted in a no-chain situation and still no sign of an exchange date being agreed, things just take time.

How do other countries do this quicker? Is their more responsibility on the seller to have the survey info etc done and available before sale?

Ooh good luck @Maybenexttime08 - your logic makes sense to me I’m sure it will be fine.

I’ve got myself in a big tizz this weekend stressing that our buyers won’t get a mortgage (they need 90 LTV) so the first thing we did this morning was contact and ask for an update as it’s been pretty silent from them since we agreed the offer. I don’t understand how people can buy/sell and still think about other things - it literally consumes all of my thoughts