Page 26 | Buyers Sellers Roll Call 14

PowerslidePanda · 2021-02-19T08:39:24+00:00

New thread for anyone buying or selling houses at the moment - come join us! The previous thread ran for about 10 weeks and in ordinary (non-stamp duty holiday) times, that's long enough to get a transaction through, so let's hope this thread sees lots of people finish!

Dandelionrarrrr · 02/04/2021 08:14

Hi everyone,
I’m back with slightly more progress. After calling our solicitors a week after accepting their quote (15mins after receiving it) we were informed our case hadn’t been opened yet... why?!

Anyway, he sent us the forms for instruction and we have sent back all but one of them as we do not have the finalised information for our mortgage.

Our broker who we were trying to use to speed up the process is being very slow. Despite meeting with him last Friday he still hasn’t sorted out a deal for us. Is this normal? He sent two options over last Tuesday after a couple of phone calls questioning him. “Trust the process, it can take its time, it’s bank holiday weekend things will slow down” - why are we going to trust a process that is notoriously slow when we are trying to beat a deadline?!

Did anyone else’s broker take a long time? What time scales are we looking at on average?

@tryingtocatchthewind i have heard of people doing up a small part of their doerupper and putting up a temporary partition wall to allow the rest of the house to be renovated while they lived in it. Not sure how that would work with rewiring etc to do as well. Sounds like a big task but if it’s a dream home it will pay off and you will get through it!

Onandoff · 02/04/2021 08:35

@Dandelionrarrrr

Hi everyone, I’m back with slightly more progress. After calling our solicitors a week after accepting their quote (15mins after receiving it) we were informed our case hadn’t been opened yet... why?!

Anyway, he sent us the forms for instruction and we have sent back all but one of them as we do not have the finalised information for our mortgage.

Our broker who we were trying to use to speed up the process is being very slow. Despite meeting with him last Friday he still hasn’t sorted out a deal for us. Is this normal? He sent two options over last Tuesday after a couple of phone calls questioning him. “Trust the process, it can take its time, it’s bank holiday weekend things will slow down” - why are we going to trust a process that is notoriously slow when we are trying to beat a deadline?!

Did anyone else’s broker take a long time? What time scales are we looking at on average?

@tryingtocatchthewind i have heard of people doing up a small part of their doerupper and putting up a temporary partition wall to allow the rest of the house to be renovated while they lived in it. Not sure how that would work with rewiring etc to do as well. Sounds like a big task but if it’s a dream home it will pay off and you will get through it!

It’s not great when they are so slow. I’m on my third attempted purchase and have found a better solicitor this time. Our broker has always been brilliant, she saw us a couple of days after our offer to do a new mortgage application, it was submitted the same day and a valuation survey booked in less than a week later. Hopefully will have the offer next week. The solicitor sent me the pack to complete the same day as we accepted the quote, they then sent off the searches the same day as they received the contract pack.

If it’s going to be terribly slow you might be better to move companies, ask around for recommendations then ask the companies about their current timelines. It can of course all be held up further up or down chains, where they exist, or by sellers and their teams being slow with enquiries and paperwork. But I don’t accept week long delays doing simple admin.

Dandelionrarrrr · 02/04/2021 08:47

Thank you for your reply.
That’s exactly my point, I’m ok about waiting the required length of time for searches and for valuations etc. It’s just the unnecessary time wasting I can’t handle. We are actioning anything we have been given the same day or next day. We also provide emails that are incredibly specific so as to prevent confusion or extra correspondence. Surely we are perfect clients. They can ‘breeze’ through our case, get their payments and move on to the next one. You’d think anyway.

I was also wondering whether searches may be quicker as both properties (ours and vendors) have been sold already within the last 5years.

It goes without saying how much I hate someone else being in control of my family’s fate 😉

Onandoff · 02/04/2021 09:06

@Dandelionrarrrr

Thank you for your reply. That’s exactly my point, I’m ok about waiting the required length of time for searches and for valuations etc. It’s just the unnecessary time wasting I can’t handle. We are actioning anything we have been given the same day or next day. We also provide emails that are incredibly specific so as to prevent confusion or extra correspondence. Surely we are perfect clients. They can ‘breeze’ through our case, get their payments and move on to the next one. You’d think anyway.

I was also wondering whether searches may be quicker as both properties (ours and vendors) have been sold already within the last 5years.

It goes without saying how much I hate someone else being in control of my family’s fate 😉

I know, it’s frustrating. It doesn’t pay well, so they work dozens of cases and if their admin is slow it just adds so much wasted time. I’d rather pay more and get a better system. Searches will take the usual time, normally it’s the local search that holds things up, but check what your local councils timeframe is, some are much faster than others. Depending what they and the property info form reveal, enquiries can be short or long.

10YellowTulips · 02/04/2021 10:06

Gutted! Vendor has pulled out of the sale. They have decided they are no longer selling.
I was right to be concerned about the lack of responses from their side and the agent.
3 month and a lot of money wasted...back to the drawing board :(

tanguero · 02/04/2021 10:10

Well my cash offer was accepted on 7 January, and here we are, Easter weekend, and - despite my not having surveys and searches - still waiting. Seller is moving into a new build, and I did say to his Agent, I'd complete at 'his convenience', so I can't really grumble ! I've never spoken to the seller, so don't know what his situation is - I signed the forms last week; just waiting now for the other side to to exchange contracts, and agree a completion date.

tanguero · 02/04/2021 10:29

10YellowTulips

Feel for you ! Concerned that my seller might do same.

OUB1974 · 02/04/2021 12:07

So sorry Yellow Tulips, how awful for you. What is the market like where you are? Hope you manage to find something else soon. (We had an offer accepted in Aug last year and it all fell apart in December, so I know how frustrating it is to be back to square 1).

10YellowTulips · 02/04/2021 13:33

I'm in N London and market is very busy and not much out there in my price range. I think I'll have to compromise as the one I was buying was a bit of a find.
Seeing something tomorrow that might fit the bill so fingers crossed.

OneStepInTheFuture · 02/04/2021 15:47

We hopefully move next week.... After having offer on our house and offer accepted on another back in January. Buy to let landlord buying ours, we're buying an empty house.
Our buyer has started transferring money to their solicitor (he is a cash buyer who can only transfer so much each day ) which is a good sign.

How do you keep sane these last few days?? I'm paranoid that something is going to go wrong and someone will pull out even this late on.

Everything we can pack has been packed.
Kids are living on their tablets because their toys have been sent to storage.
Everyone is sleeping on mattresses on the floor because beds have been taken down.
Living out of a suitcase each because clothes have been packed away.

Now I'm just sat twiddling my thumbs until Wednesday. Scared but excited.

tryingtocatchthewind · 02/04/2021 16:14

@10YellowTulips that’s awful, so sorry that you have to start all over again

BlueCherryBlossom · 02/04/2021 17:28

Feel for you @10YellowTulips. I do think the system needs an overhaul 😞

InescapableDeath · 02/04/2021 20:40

Sorry YellowTulips :(. Hope your new viewing goes well or more comes up.

Ineedachange · 02/04/2021 21:25

Hello Everyone.
I feel like I'm a bit late to this party.
We had our offer accepted March 9. We're currently in a rental so we're ready to go. However, the vendors asked for a few weeks to find another place to live.
We'd really like all this to be able to give notice at the end of this month and be out the end of June though.

DH is working from home so we can respond to any requests for documents or information almost immediately, but it still seems slow. We felt it would be quicker to go with the law firm recommended by our mortgage broker, they've only allocated us a conveyancer on Wednesday. I'm really, really hoping we haven't made a mistake.

We had 16 weeks when this started. Nearly 4 weeks in and I'm not sure how much has been acheived. It's so frustrating. I daren't get too excited because it stills feels like much could go wrong.

Notmulan · 03/04/2021 17:03

@InescapableDeath I totally agree. I think that if you want to sell you should have the house surveyed , have the opportunity to put something right, then share the outcome with the buyers. Buyers should then put down a binding deposit I.e 5%

Sorry to hear that @10YellowTulips that’s really awful that they pulled out like that.

umbel · 03/04/2021 20:05

@10YellowTulips how awful for you.

We received our survey back this morning. Way to ruin a bank holiday weekend. We’ve been advised to get a structural engineer in to report on possible structural issues. The survey highlighted a bulging external wall and cracks to the plaster inside. It’s an early 19C terrace built into a hillside. Really hoping this is something historical or easily fixed because we really love the house. No idea how realistic that is though. This house buying lark really is a rollercoaster

Bouledeneige · 03/04/2021 21:19

So after lots of bumps in the road we made it and are now in our amazing new home. We completed on 1st April.

2 days before completion at 7pm my solicitor announced that both my university DC needed to sign a mortgage document the next day. At that point one was in Manchester the other in Brighton. Cue frantic messaging and a drive to Brighton returning at midnight. Also that evening the solicitor finally shared with me the completion statement. It was a bit of a shock with £10k more costs than I was expecting. My oversight. I had the money but it means a little caution about spending on the new place.

Anyway after that everything went very smoothly on moving day. We hung around for a while waiting for rooms to be cleared and then set to work in cleaning each room as we could (we being DD20 and I). Then around 2pm we got the call that the sale of my house had cleared and then shortly after that I could pick up the keys for my new home. By 4.30pm the removers were gone and DD and had been hard at work unpacking. Later we ordered in pizza and had champagne. Exhausted.

The honest truth? It was so worth it and we are so happy with our new home. It was sad to leave our home of 20 years but this was the best downsize ever. From a bigger house I could never afford to do up properly to a beautiful two floor flat with garden that has been done up to the highest standard. It’s like living in a hotel! We are so happy - a beautiful home, classic period features and all freshly decorated. I’m in heaven.

I put my house on the market in August. My sale fell through in November and I lost this flat. I got another but lower offer - we pushed them up and my brilliant estate agents also helped me to re-negotiate the purchase of this flat. It took forever and nerves of steel. It was worth it. Good luck to all on here. X

mummymayhem18 · 03/04/2021 22:18

@Bouledeneige. Congratulations to you and your daughter on your new home. It sounds lovely. Blimey £10k more than you were expecting is a hell of a lot of money. Apologies if I've missed any of your posts saying what happened. 🍾🥂🥳.

umbel · 03/04/2021 22:44

@Bouledeneige another safely moved. Congratulations! Enjoy your new home.

InescapableDeath · 04/04/2021 13:43

Congrats @Bouledeneige!

Still waiting nervously to see if we exchange on the 6th, or more likely the 7th. Then I can begin to think this move might really happen. I have started packing though as there won't be time otherwise!

LaMariposa · 04/04/2021 20:35

Email from the estate agents Saturday saying they haven’t issued the memorandum of sale yet as they were waiting for financial checks on the buyer... we’d heard on Thursday they had passed these.
Hopefully it’ll be issued next week and things will start to happen.

Smokeahontas · 05/04/2021 10:58

Just joining in this thread as I’m putting mine up for sale next month. Have a few things to do to get it sale ready.

Excited but also a bit nervous!

EezyOozy · 06/04/2021 08:31

Here we go again!

cathybates · 06/04/2021 09:59

We are allegedly exchanging today and completing on 14th. But I’m not holding my breath

EezyOozy · 06/04/2021 10:07

Good luck @cathybates ! I'm also hoping for news about exchange. It was supposed to happen on Thursday, nobody contacted me all day, at about 4:40 pm I finally got through to the solicitors firm. Our solicitor would not come to the phone but got the receptionist to tell me that we had not exchanged… If I hadn't called I would've been in the dark all bank holiday weekend! I sent an email over the weekend saying I must have information today… It is like pulling teeth.