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Original poster

Buyers Sellers Roll Call - 13

999 replies

lachy · 28/11/2020 13:37

Staring a new thread!

Come and say hi 👋

OP posts:
Silkiechickscat · 14/01/2021 13:04

We are really struggling to find out what is the exact issue with the buyers-buyer sale and the estate agent won't let us make direct contact. We are going to try to write to their address. Our buyers are lovely - our estate agent is hard to get details out of and all we are getting is there is an issue with their sale and its probably will be OK. We are going to write to them.

Doilooklikeatourist · 14/01/2021 13:56

Goodness @Silkiechickscat
That's madness , DH and our buyer WhatsApp each other to keep up to date
That's how we found out the surveyor would be with us on Sunday ( was cancelled at short notice earlier in the week )
I'd enclose your mobile and / or email in the letter so they can contact you easily ( I'm sure you were going to anyway )

Silkiechickscat · 14/01/2021 15:32

Thanks DoIlook Yes card posted now with our phone and e-mail. We are quite worried about buyers sale but can't get any sense out of estate agent and message via our solicitor just said our buyers are very frustrated with their buyers but no clue as to why. I'm worried there's a finance issue.

MollyButton · 14/01/2021 20:29

Hi everyone - sorry that more of you haven't completed by now.

My vendors sent me a copy of their email chain and that did help us speed things (although he wouldn't admit his solicitor was a bit slow passing things on).

I am very pleased to have moved- and so far away. First the buyers seem to keep trying to get money out of us, first for "professional cleaning", then we got a request via the Estate Agent that a third party was wanting us to get the hedge between the house and the public path next to it cut. Both requests have been turned down - but I'm very relieved we don't have to deal with the new owners. (And they got a big discount on the purchase price in the first place, plan to do lots of rebuilding and we were inconvenienced on numerous occasions by surveys and architects).

Good luck everyone and I hope things don't get too much more complicated.

Gyptian · 14/01/2021 20:39

Our vendors solicitor appears to have gone awol. Our mortgage offer expires in two weeks -the vendor/estate agent/my solicitors are all chasing with zero response. 😡

ballsdeep · 14/01/2021 20:44

@BrieAndChilli

We are in wales so I’m hoping they will decide not to close house buying!! We’ve had survey etc done and mortgage is sorted so only things left are solicitors enquiries etc (searches are back) so hoping that as the house we are buying is empty and we won’t be moving in for a month as currently renting plus will be moving ourselves bit by bit that we would still be able to do everything and exchange and complete as apart from collecting keys etc nothing else really requires human contact!!!
Me too and we've just accepted an offer on our house. We need to view to buy!
Silkiechickscat · 14/01/2021 20:44

I've been pestering our estate agent a lot to try and solve this and driving him nuts as he is super laid back but we need this to go through and our buyers are selling through Purplebricks and their solicitors so not dealing with high quality professional service.

Asked on another thread and apparently Purplebricks checking buyers finances is an optional extra. Hmm Was quite worried as we had been told it was a straightforward purchase at the bottom of the chain to live in with mortgage agreed, survey and searches done then suddenly after that transaction taking 17 weeks already we get told they can't exchange or complete as they are making their flat into a limited company for buy to let. Confused Our EA was la-la-la it'll probably be OK but no-one can give a timescale.

Then we had message via our solicitors that our buyers were very frustrated with their buyers and there would be delays. Our buyers are super nice and not likely to be very frustrated without very good reason plus stressing about lockdown. Have finally got out of EA what is happening after 20 or so e-mails and a week of tearing hair out. Buyers-buyer is a GP who is buying our buyers house to live in as they have a new job there but last minute decided to turn their flat into a limited company to avoid some tax so their deposit is tied up until that transfer completes and the transfer is taking longer than expected. They think delay now will be days. Phew

MotherofHeathens · 14/01/2021 21:11

So glad you got some sort of answer @Silkiechickscat Sometimes, even if you can’t do anything to speed things up just knowing what is going on is helpful!

Our survey was done today and there were no shocks - thank goodness. Waved at the vendors through the window when I met the surveyor, such a lovely couple but elderly so we’ve not been able to do more than shout hello and wave at each other! Need to chase our solicitor tomorrow to see where we’re at paperwork wise.

Had another removal company quote today £1600 (plus another £500 if we want them to pack)! ConfusedThat’s double what we paid to move Oxford to Sussex about 7 years ago and we’re only doing a mile down the road this time! I’m blaming the accumulated plastic tat that goes along with having another kid!

Silkiechickscat · 14/01/2021 21:19

Thanks Mothers Glad you had a good survey.

We moved all our stuff ourselves and packed ourselves - never again though that does seem a lot for 1 mile. When we moved to our old house it was £500 but that was 15 years ago. Though at least its a chance to get rid of rubbish but even that isn't easy at the moment. Especially paint cans.

propertyhell · 14/01/2021 22:02

@Silkiechickscat fingers crossed it's all sorted by next week! I'm sure things would be much simpler if it was deemed acceptable/normal to communicate with your buyer or seller.

catfeets · 15/01/2021 14:51

Getting really fed up with the lies from our buyers solicitor now. They've led us to believe they've done things they haven't even started and are constantly lying about paperwork and when it's been sent. They're absolutely useless and are holding the chain up but there's nothing we can do.
I get more and more anxious every day that the whole thing will collapse.

Silkiechickscat · 15/01/2021 14:56

I hope things will get sorted - if what has been said is true it sounds more hopeful but as it went through Purplebricks nothing has been checked. I'm annoyed with my estate agent as I asked him to check at the start and now I asked again and nothing has been checked so just hoping buyers-buyers are honest. We will hopefully hear from our buyers when they get our card and get an e-mail. If I can get buyers-buyers name and postcode can at least check a few things but not sure they will give it me though our buyers will have lost one cancelled removal and are very stressed - all so a higher rate taxpayer can tax avoid if the story is true.

HouseyHouse21 · 15/01/2021 16:09

Anxiety levels are pretty high here too. Our buyers have arranged for 6(!) different additional surveys / investigations this week alone. None of them are individually suspicious I suppose, and it's fine that they do their due diligence, it just seems a bit excessive overall. And not nice to have so many workmen traipsing through the house at the moment!

Vendor's EA is annoyed as he thinks they're making a case to renegotiate and has advised buyer's EA to 'knock it on the head'. I haven't ever met the buyers so it's hard to say what their intentions might be.

In the meantime, I've rented some storage space and will be emptying the house as much as possible over the weekend, so it's just the bare essentials left by the time we exchange.

Doilooklikeatourist · 15/01/2021 18:14

We've had a geographical surveyor here this week
I'd never heard of this before , apparently it's to look at the boundaries ( we have some land in the sale )
Viewing a property on Monday , just hope we like what we see 🤞

ballsdeep · 15/01/2021 21:46

We are going to look at a house we really like this week. The EA have said there is someone viewing after us. If we decide to offer there and then, what is the protocol for this? Will the other viewers be allowed to view? I have no idea of how this works!

Silkiechickscat · 15/01/2021 21:49

Often they do let people with a viewing still view. They did in our case and used it to start a bidding war. They generally take off after you have taken all your proof of finances in but ours was still allowing viewings for a week or so. Something that's been on a while and not had offers may stop much more quickly.

Catmummyof2 · 15/01/2021 22:02

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

ballsdeep · 15/01/2021 22:07

@Silkiechickscat

Often they do let people with a viewing still view. They did in our case and used it to start a bidding war. They generally take off after you have taken all your proof of finances in but ours was still allowing viewings for a week or so. Something that's been on a while and not had offers may stop much more quickly.
Thank you. I'm hoping a bidding war won't start, it's stressful enough! We are in a good position. Our buyers are good to go and no chain under us.
Silkiechickscat · 15/01/2021 22:17

We're all ready to exchange apart from bottom of chain who apparently 'needs' to do a higher rate taxpayer tax avoidance scheme first as a seperate linked transaction which he springs on everyone at point of near exchange Hmm Our buyer is as livid as us about it and phoning them everyday, been holding exchange up since 6 Jan so far.

propertyhell · 15/01/2021 22:31

@ballsdeep the property we're purchasing was taken straight down and viewings cancelled but we were in quite a good position.

We had hoped to exchange today but had to add some last minute covid clauses. Everything set for Monday hopefully, vendor just as keen as us to exchange now.

ballsdeep · 16/01/2021 08:07

Im in the early stages of house hunting and I'm getting everything in order. Obviously with Christmas there has been a bit more spending from my account . We have also been paying large chunks off our credit card which is now cleared and paid off our car loan. Will those big payments or the spending affect my mortgage application? We still had money in our account and didn't overspend but I've been reading online and am now worried!

InescapableDeath · 18/01/2021 14:57

We've now got back nearly all the enquiries/searches from our solicitor for our onward purchase. They are really organised and have given us gas/elec certs and everything.

What seems to be slow is our buyer, who won't have the pressure of the stamp duty deadline. Their sol doesn't start enquiries until after the searches are in. Our sol is really local and expedited the searches - not sure theirs will...

What's the best way to nag a buyer?! I'm really worried they will be the ones to slow everything down.

Do you normally start talking about exchange dates after the enquiries? I've always thought this will all fall apart, but maybe it's actually headed in the right direction...

Yippeeforme · 18/01/2021 15:35

We're in!! So happy, loving the new house and so are the cats. Doesn't quite feel real.

january29 · 18/01/2021 15:56

Awaiting enquiries.... any ideas how long this takes?! Nothing particularly challenging.

And then is it just sign the contract and exchange it? Does it take long to figure out completion date-who drives that?

Congrats @Yippeeforme bet it’s a relief to be in!

MsBubbles85 · 18/01/2021 16:04

@InescapableDeath we started talking about exchange date and completion date once we had our mortgage offer accepted as we are currently renting.
Our seller's estate agent was the one doing our the follow ups with us and our solicitor.