Fuck. Me.
This is absolutely the most stressful bastarding thing I've ever done in my life. And I've been divorced, so that is saying something 🥴. Here is my saga. And boy is it quite some saga. Settle in with a drink if you're going to read it 😳.
So we went on the market for offers over 180k on 23rd March. Sale agreed 4th April for 191k. They pulled out for personal reasons late April.
Back on the market with new agent to get a fresh listing on RM. Sold 8th May for 193k. They pulled out for personal reasons yet again (after me waiting for weeks for them to sell their house!) at the end of June. That agent wanted to get the sale so kept me hanging about for 2 weeks whilst they pissed about with non genuine viewers and people not turning up etc. They agreed to let me go after the final no show from a viewer.
I went with a new agent again for the fresh listing in mid July although they took so long to get the listing on that I was then at work for a straight run of shifts whilst the kids finished school and we were going on holiday for the end of July so couldn't do viewings until we got back early August. Sale once again agreed on 8th August for £193k. This time they seemed proactive. They had their survey booked. It would have been done the week after offer but I couldn't fit it in due to another holiday until 1st sept. So that was done last Thursday.
Cut to today, and the agent rings to say that the buyers wanted to renegotiate after the survey and they they would send it to me. I told the agent absolutely not. I was not renegotiating as if I did then there would be no sale. I couldn't move with my onward purchase otherwise. I also already knew the outcome of the survey from the discussion with the surveyor last week. He told me the main issue was to do with the sub floor almost being breached on the rear patio which would need to be lifted and relayed lower to prevent long term issues with damp. That patio was in when I moved in 14 years ago. Never been any issues, but obviously someone may want to sort it out. It needs rejoining anyway, and one of the things I would have done if I'd been staying was to put a new patio down anyway. The report states that the issues raised are common issues with houses of this age (1930s) and resale will not be an issue. So no, I'm not renegotiating.
They went back to the buyer who said she wouldn't continue with the offer. I said that's fine, go back to market.
20 mins later I get a call to say they had contacted the other party who had offered and he was willing to offer £187k. I said I couldn't accept that offer but if he would go to 193k then we had a sale.
10 mins later, sale agreed!
In the space of an hour I went from extreme low to extreme high. I feel like I've got whiplash.
In the midst of all this we haven't even covered my own purchase. So my vendors haven't found an onward purchase still. I offered late May. I made my mortgage application mid June as the rates were going up. Was for 1.83%. Lots of fucking about from natwest to my mortgage advisor but basically late July they came back with 10k less than the AIP which meant I couldn't move. Mortgage advisor said only other option was likely to be HSBC but rates much higher (mid 3% range) which obviously I wasn't happy with. So at this point my finances changed a little with a pay increase being agreed backdated to April. We got a letter from my employer 2 weeks later to confirm this which natwest accepted. Late August natwest came back to say they had relooked at the whole thing again and were now reducing the whole offer by a further 20k, so 30k in total! That news came on a Friday evening as we were due to go on holiday that night. I had to just lock it away and not think about it until we returned as I'd just have cried the whole time. It felt like the end of the road. There aren't many high st lenders open to me despite a perfect credit score as some of my income is made up of child DLA which very few lenders will accept as income. The mortgage advisor said she was going to try nationwide. So she did, and the AIP was for the amount I needed. So that is where we are up to with that. Last ditch attempt really. The full application is in, valuation is done, so it is a waiting game. The rate is 3.79 though, which is another £200 a month on the payments which makes me so cross. Fucking natwest bastarding shitheads.
Basically the margin for me to move is so tight, I am very close to being priced out the market. I can only get 210k on the mortgage, 60k equity from mine. I need 9k of that for moving costs. The house I'm buying is £260k. I'm moving from a 3 bed semi to a 4 bed semi as my child who gets dla needs his own room and my house can not do that for him. The 260k is the price of the next step up really. I already live in a "cheap" area. I can't move to the absolute cheapest areas as I can't move my child's school and he needs to be in this area for the high school catchment that has the autism unit attached. He doesn't have an ECHP so we can't have a named school. So catchment is the only way he can get in (yr5 currently).
I am honestly so fucking stressed. I've sunk money in to this house to make it sellable, new kitchen, relaid driveway, new decor in places, etc etc. I want to cry every day. Why is this whole process so fucking terrible?! ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜