Buyers sellers roll call 12

[Bells3032]

New thread. Hopefully the last one for us!!

@Simonsaysitschristmas @Lilothblos woah! No idea it was just desktop or kerbside thought they'd be coming in every time. That's a relief and most likely what I saw happening today. Although my next door neighbour has also sold so maybe they were taking photos of their house 😂

Mortgage appt is allocated 2.5 hours! What takes so long? As I'm porting they've told me I don't need to provide any payslips or bank statements etc so trying to work out what we will spend that long on haha. I've prepped all of these docs just incase, hoping it's all straightforward.

Hi all joining this time after a bit of lurking! We are due to complete on our house we are selling in next 2 weeks (FTB is practically shoving us out!!) and then we are going to put all our stuff into storage and stay with family until our purchase is ready to complete. We’ve got our mortgage offer and searches sent off but where we are moving too there is a HUGE delay on searches so we are hoping December!

Hi, joining thread. We accepted an offer and had an offer accepted on a new house the end of September. People buying ours are cash buyers and the people we're buying off already have another house. The survey was done on our current house last week, survey on the new one today so just waiting for the reports. Searches already been requested, so waiting for those to come back along with our mortgage offer. Really hoping to be in the first week on December.

Checking in, having joined last thread. I'm thinking we are going to miss out on the stamp duty holiday at this rate.

Hi, can I join? The house we're selling has been down valued by 7% following the survey. It would be a hard property to value as there are very few similar ones in the area, and obviously few sales in the last 6 months to look at. Not sure what to do now.

We just have a sale as bought before - just agreed a deal at the weekend , a little lower than we had hoped but just very relieved to have an offer as market has gone quiet. Took 5 weeks and a price reduction so about 91% of original price.

Got memo of sale through today and see our buyer has sold through Purplebricks and using their solicitor, oh joy. Could be here for some time. I appointed a really good solicitor. The estate agent side of it doesn't appear too bad as our EA could get through to theirs OK so that should be OK but reviews for the solicitors firm Premier .. aren't great at all. They have a deal agreed 5 weeks ago on theirs which has had valuation survey done, and that's end of chain. Know nothing about that deal but at least has solicitors and survey and searches applied for. Just hoping it all goes through though things seems slow atm.

I have been lurking for a while, up to week 14 of my sale and purchase. Been ready to exchange for over a week but at the last minute after having previously said they were ready our buyers discovered some issue with their deposit.
I have been hugely disappointed with the whole process. Solicitors and estate agents seem to do nothing unless I phone or email every day. Communication is rubbish and the threat of pulling out contributes so much to the stress. I can’t make plans for new school/removals/purchases for the new house until we exchange as that’s the first time it’s committed on all sides. What can be done to improve it??? I understand it’s different in Scotland with commitment earlier in the process, that has to be better (although not for wine sales!)

@KoalasandRabbits we have lots of PB in our chain too. Thankfully not us. Our estate agents have essentially taken the hit and are doing their work for them.
My main worry would be the solicitors. I guess you need to make a decision. If you're happy to continue with the sale, then just ensure you get regular updates and you respond quickly to everything.

@LandlockedBlues

Hi, can I join? The house we're selling has been down valued by 7% following the survey. It would be a hard property to value as there are very few similar ones in the area, and obviously few sales in the last 6 months to look at. Not sure what to do now.

This is my fear! We are waiting to see if our buyers get their mortgage offer, but I am worried oir house is overpriced. The buyers offered over the asking price, seems to be a bit of a demand where I live. Hopefully will find out at the end of this week. I've heard the saying 'a house is only worth what someone will pay' but I am more inclined to think that a house is only worth what the bank will lend 🤞

Thanks Bax We are happy enough with everything apart from their solicitors being Premier Property Lawyers who are anything but premier and seem to have a track record for being very slow. I've just sent a message to the EA and our solicitor to that effect and asking her views. There's a risk the stamp duty deadline could be missed if they faff around too much. We are only selling so that doesn't bother us but could cause the small chain to collapse. It does seem to vary by what PPL person you get though so getting our solicitor to try and make contact. She is amazing and will pick up the slack but she can't control the other sale and there's a limit to what she can do. She's been messaging me on Sat and Sun so know she goes above and beyond. I've also requested they apply for searches now as there's delays, apparently they often don't until have mortgage. I also know nothing about the transaction to buy there's but that's our EA. Our EA isn't great but that is manageable. Once we lowered price we sold in a week to second person who viewed but DH thinks we'll get no-one else. It has gone quiet but think we would though prefer not to risk it. My main concern is it drags on for months then collapses.

@Silenteyes @LandlockedBlues

We also have this worry. The house we are buying was listed for £500 two years ago (but that sale didn't go through) and we are buying at £520. There is nothing comparable in the area and when it last sold it was for half the price only eight years ago (prices have shot up here for detached houses). Obviously as the buyer we are in the opposite position to you two.

We have saved 10k back from our sale (ie not used it in the deposit going forward) for problems with the survey on our own house or in case of a down valuation. However we did flag to our seller that we thought it was overpriced (we are buying as there is nothing else in our range at the mo, and it does tick our boxes) and we would be screwed if there was a big difference.

I'd hope they would make up some of the difference, but they can only do that if they have the money, right?

@InescapableDeath from a sellers point of view, if a surveyor says that's what it is worth, then that is what it's worth. If my buyer has extra money that they would like to offer then I wouldn't turn it down. But if they dont then we had either have to sell at the value, or not sell. I think if the house is down valued,then the next buyer would have the same problem 🤷‍♀️ I'm pretty relaxed about it, but only because we have been offered more then we thought, I suppose it depends on the outcome and now much it could be down valued at

I also think the house we are buying is overpriced but as it's a low LTV I dont think the lender is too concerned! It was just a desktop valuation for the one we are buying. The homebuyer report hasnt brought up any problems so we are happy to proceed.

@Silenteyes in the same situation. think it's a tad overpriced but we also have a low LTV mortgage. The mortgage company did do a full survey and just ticked it was fine (think they're not too worried they won't get their money back). It's a pretty safe bet for them.

Everything came out clean and we honestly haven't seen anything else we remotely like in the area we want. Plan to stay there a good 10 years at least so not too worried about overpaying.

I have also been through this as a buyer when we bought this house in 2014. In that case the gap was £15k and the seller reduced the price by £10k (the roof needed replacing on the survey) and we paid the extra £5k from cash. There are certainly buyers out there who will fund some of the difference, if they really want the property and in the context of a competitive market, but doesn't seem that my buyer is able to. The thing with this situation is, we don't need to move as such. We quite fancied moving out of London, but we were already struggling to find anywhere suitable in new location with a budget based on the original offer price, so I'm really doubtful that we'll find somewhere based on the reduced price. So now wondering if we should just knock it on the head for now.

Can I join now, having lurked for a bit! We had our independent survey through yesterday on the house we are buying and it pointed out a few issues, nothing terminal, but downvalued it 25k. I'm now worried what the mortgage co will say next week. As for our buyers they don't appear to be in any sort of a rush which worries me a little - we accepted the offer mid September and they haven't booked a survey yet but apparently intend to - there is a wait of around a month at the moment so my hope of being in by Christmas is looking unlikely!

Mortgage application is in... 20 working days is the current turnaround to an offer (nationwide) annoyingly they have me wrong info with my mortgage in principle so have had to decrease my LTV by 5% but never mind. Anyone else applied with nationwide recently? How long did yours take to get to offer? Need to work on my patience haha

So our sellers emailed their solictor yesterday to say they were ready for exchange. They are buying a chain free house and we are also chain free.

Their solictor said this morning he emailed both our and their sellers solictors yesterday. My solicitor says he hasn't received anything and has called and emailed their solicitor with no response.

I hate solictors. Were hoping we'd exchange today. why does everything have to take so daaaaam long.

facepalm

It's week 10 for us now. There's still some queries going backwards and forwards but the EA has been in touch with all parties to try and suggest possible exchange and completion dates. I've also got a removal company coming round to give us a quote this week. Might be getting nearer the end sometime soon!

I know solicitors are really busy at the moment but how long is reasonable to expect a reply back? Our solicitor knows that we were aiming to complete next week but she hasn’t responded to our last email (and gets annoyed when we call). We haven’t even exchanged yet so it all feels really tight. Even if she just emailed and said “next week isn’t doable anymore, we will aim for X date instead” would be better than the silence.

I'm joining too - meant to be exchanging on our sale today - hope it happens! We first put the house on the market in March so it feels like it's been a long haul!

@lollypop345, yes, I need to work on my patience too! And the fact that I have no control on outcomes.
Reading this thread helps me understand the process and realise it isnt all bad.
Our solicitor emails roughly once a week with an update, but there isnt normally too much to update on. I really wanted to be at the end of this month, but now I've relaxed a little and will be happy just knowing we will be in at some point 🙂

We've had to book a drainage survey for our buyers, I really hope nothing comes up!! We'd be happy to drop the price to match the estimated cost of fixing anything but it's just so nerve-wracking, just that horrible thought of "What if this is the thing that ruins the whole sale?"

Our buyers have said we can have another week! We’re viewing 4 properties - all have a lot of comprises.

Anyhoo. Wish us luck. Viewing one tonight that’s very small, with a huge garden in the perfect location. But the vendors are probably going into a long old chain.

Ahh

Viewing my dream house tomorrow - don’t think I can afford it but will offer £10k under asking price.