Going through the ringer trying to move - anyone else?

[SquashSqueezee]

Ranting post really, feeing so deflated and looking for success stories.

Decided we wanted to move last September, first time buying and selling as we were FTBs when moved into this property. Moving as found out another baby on the way and both working from home means current house no longer big enough.

Put on market in November and sold within few days then had offer accepted on another place in December. Was downhill from there as one problem after another and on day of exchange seller decided to pull out. This was after six months and endless issues in chain.

Our buyers begged us to still sell them their house as they loved it and their FTB was willing to wait. Found something perfect after a month, went to best and final and had offer accepted and then got phone call to say buyers pulling out. Don’t blame them as their new place chain free but just so deflated.

we’ve decided we want to go with a different agent as lost all faith in the old one so they are booked to come round for photos. So a week now of manic tidying to get ready for that.

Its so frustrating after 9 months we are back where we started with a much lower budget because of interest rate rises. Still want to move but the whole process taking it’s toll.

anyone else go through this and have a happy ending?

Took us 15 months to move. Long story short: sold house, took 6 mths to find onward purchase, buyers pulled out, then vendors vendor pulled out, got new buyers, vendors found a new place, right before exchange our 2nd buyers pulled out as were lying about their deposit and couldn't get mortgage, found new buyers and all went through finally 6 weeks later.

I got pregnant with our second in the middle of it all and had baby 3 weeks after completing.

It's a sausage machine even without the economic twists and turns and I know at this point you feel defeated but you will get the house you're meant to in the end.

Good luck!

Same here, stressed and only 5 months into it! Don't think I could do 15 months of this 😞

How did you manage to get it through in 6 weeks after finding your new buyer?

Yep in the middle of similar-

Accepted an offer our house last Sept, put in offer on house a few weeks later. Original buyer pulls out in October, get it relisted and accepted new offer within a week (phew!)

Thought we would be on track to complete Jan time as vendors already had their onward purchase sorted. Then turns out that it is having to go through court as an ex-partner is refusing to sign paperwork

We're still waiting for the courts to force the sale, 10 months later. It's been to court at least 3 times already. We're in a tiny rental as we just wanted ours sold before we lost our buyers.

House price increases/interest rate rises mean we can't get the same space for our budget. And obv now is the time I fall pregnant so we have a timeline as we can't fit a baby in this rental.

We're looking at other houses but all I want to do is cry as none are as lovely (or big) as the one we are trying to buy!!

@naomi81 Our "last buyers" were a month in the process already with their buyers, the vendors were ready to go and we already had all documents and enquiries needed from previous buyers so the only thing needed to be done again were the searches.

Those buyers probably think house buying and moving is a walk in the park but they slotted in perfectly in the chain that was all ready to go.😁

They sound like the perfect buyers, phew. I've been reading that you can buy the searches from previous buyer also to speed up the process. Might end up going down this route.

Sorry to hear rot similar tales of woe but gives me hope it might all come together in the end.

We’ve had a baby in this time, we hoped to be in originally before the baby was born and now we’ll be lucky to be anywhere before her first birthday.

since the baby has arrived we’ve let the house get into total chaos so now have the mammoth clean up before pics and viewings. Been wallowing a bit this weekend but from tomorrow going to just focus energies on moving forward and hoping for the best.

It was ever thus 30 years ago it took us a year to buy and sell and carried 5 week old third child over the threshold. Now we are selling up and it’s taken 15 months finally exchanged. Only difference interest rates are no longer at 13%🫣

The endless cleaning 🙈 we go on holiday next week so looking forward to a break from all the viewings! It's exhausting with little ones.

We're having a crap time with it too. Have been trying to sell and buy since May 2021 and we're still in the old house. 😭All the work that has gone into the viewings, paperwork, cleaning, planning etc just seems a bit pointless because we're still where we started from. The latest sale/purchase attempt has taken almost six months so far and I'm still not sure it's actually going to go through .

The system really is broken.

Everything crossed for you - are you close to exchange??

I know there’s no point dwelling but the amount of time, emotional investment wasted is really getting me down. My husband keeps telling me need to be more positive or will never move!!

Ive managed to get childcare for a few days this week so can blitz the house and it’s going back on the market next week. Market still really fast moving where we are so hopefull will sell relatively quickly, think finding somewhere is going to be the issue. Pretty sure won’t be able to relax until keys in hand!

We’re not that far in compared to some but feeling like we’re going through the mill.

All seemed fairly easy until survey on purchase turned up knotweed so had to pull out. Found and accepted another house less than a week later, thought we were over THE blip and then found our buyer’s buyer had pulled out last week. Desperately hoping they find another soon. If not the chain could well collapse and we may end up paying way more in mortgage payments.

I really really don’t want to go back on the market. We live in a small flat where I work from home (hence wanting the move) so it’s just massively disruptive and intrusive.

Sold house end of June 2021 as split with ex-partner. Was covertly looking for places to buy by myself from April, but didn't start in earnest until June. Offer accepted in mid July 2021, vendor was a lady in her eighties wanting to downsize and move into a leasehold sheltered flat. The purchase dragged on for months as she had no email, or internet, and everything had to be done in person at her house or solicitors office. After 7 tortuous months, on the day of exchange, a week before completion, she pulled out saying she'd changed her mind about moving.

House 2 I took MN advice and wrote letters out of desperation to about 20 houses in the roads I liked, and this one was on the verge of putting theirs on with an agent. Offered the amount they wanted, they accepted in March 2022. Again loads of delays on the vendors side, though this time, they are a family who've outgrown the house I'm buying and appear very serious about selling. Their vendor however If I complete on this house purchase at the end of this month as I'm pushing for, buying a new house will have taken me 13 months. I'm really not too hopeful though...

I've been living with my 2 DC in one room with extended family for over a year now, and we really really need to move!

The system really is broken 😞 it should really not be this hard, how can someone get up the day of exchanging contracts after everyone spending £1000s in fees and then be able to pull out with no consequences, it's not right!

Exactly this!!

im going to be filled with dread until we move but if we don’t keep going there is zero chance we will get a bigger place.

Im a bit nervous of putting ours on with everyone on holiday incase we don’t get any interest but I guess worse case we will just take it off and relaunch once schools are back.

Mass tidy up for pictures starts tomorrow. House is so cluttered as severely lacking space, boxing all the clutter to our storage unit for the pictures/viewings. Accepted going to be a hard few weeks keeping it tidy with the kids but think we can manage it for a short period.

So sorry to hear all that. I know how tough that can be. We once had a 6-month delay for the same reason, but in the end they signed. We were told that if it came to the crunch, a court can sign on their behalf if they were ordered to by the court and refused- surely you must be at that point by now? I do so much hope it works out for you. There were times we nearly gave up, but we were able to hang on and it was worth it for us in the end. Good luck to you and your family.