Buyers/Sellers Exchange waiting room

[spidershavetoomanyknees]

Currently waiting for exchange, stuck in a never-ending loop of "there's been a couple more enquiries higher up the chain" and "we're nearly there now". Wondering if there's anyone else who would like to join me here in the waiting room of doom to vent into the void.

Next train for Exchange (line terminates at Completion) is currently delayed and they'd like to apologise for the delay.

That’s a hard one @MrsBlondie. I was in the same position as your buyer but I didn’t wait until exchange as I knew it could take at least a month to secure somewhere. Rentals (the good ones) tend to come on at least a month before they are available. I was told before Christmas we would be ready to exchange early January so I secured the rental then. It’s March and we’ve moved in but still not exchanged.
Are the vendors actively looking for somewhere or waiting until exchange - it sounds a bit chicken and egg!

Had an update today that all contracts are signed and will be with the respective solicitors on Monday. 6th of March is the agreed completion.

I presume Monday / Tuesday the exact day the exchange happens will be settled. Probably Thurs or Friday. Our buyers have asked for early access to our garage which i've granted for next weekend so they can start moving ahead of the 6th.

That’s great progress @Sousuke !
My only update today is that the outstanding document for my buyer’s sale will be sent on Monday and that there should not be anything else outstanding. I will not hold my breath though, I’ve been at this point many times. The only good thing is that we are getting updated rather than kept in the dark. Time to put the whole business out of my mind as much as I can for the weekend.

Great progress @Sousuke

No soil results. Been told Monday. Soooo going to be stressing over it all weekend.
Maybe Monday we will know if we’re actually moving.

I’m clinging to sanity by a thread.

Still haven't exchanged. Turns out, buyer at the bottom of the chain can't transfer the deposit while abroad because his is apparently banking with a bank that's stuck in 2010. His bank requires a card reader for online banking, which he forgot at home. I honestly couldn't even be angry anymore when the estate agent called me today, just laugh. Again, who goes on holiday abroad when they're meant to exchange on a house purchase without notifying anyone beforehand and without thinking even one step ahead??

Double post to say sorry for the weird sentence structure. I'm so exhausted I can't even form normal sentences anymore. Haven't even had a gin yet!

I can believe anything about ridiculousness of overseas money payment after the last couple of months - at one point our HK based buyers were on about having to transfer the money a few £k a day to get around money transfer stuff!

@thunderouslug That sucks. The agents for our purchase sent us a questionnaire for our offer. It included dates we would be unavailable and/or out of the country (none because we just want to move ASAP). When our offer was accepted the confirmation email also asked that they be notified of any holiday plans made before completion.

Our buyer appears to be slow. He's a first time buyer so I cut him some slack when it took him over 3 weeks to appoint solicitors. Now we're at 6 and a half weeks and his solicitors have said he's still sorting the mortgage so there is nothing to report. We offered on our purchase 10 days after he did and we've already got our searches, our mortgage and our survey. Our solicitor is at the enquiries stage now. I don't understand people who plod along without any sense of urgency.

@Inapicklee I'm clinging to sanity by a thread too. Living in limbo, the money, emotions. I wish we'd never bothered now as my kids are non stop asking now "when will we move"

@PleaseJustText I don't get people being alow either. Just get on with it!!!

Not sure if relevant to your situation- I am a FTB so coming from that perspective. I found a house three weeks ago, got offer accepted and was expecting to wait a while for the sellers to find, potentially a long chain, etc - the EA gave no indication they had anywhere in mind and all friends stories have been saying things take ages at the moment. Tbh, waiting a while would have suit me as am plugging away savings and I'd also get an entirely free £1k from LISA bonus if it doesn't all happen til end of May. But - the sellers found somewhere within the week, the chain is complete and it's all systems go. I was kinda flabbergasted!

Have also been shocked not to get the amount for my mortgage I was expecting - every EA makes you speak to their mortgage people even if you have an AIP, so I have spoken to MANY mortgage advisors who all said I could get 4.5 times (I got 3 AIPs last year for that amount as they kept expiring). But now I come to apply and nowhere will do more than about 4.1. I don't really understand why as even with the higher rates this is still nearly half what I've paid monthly for rent for years. So... that was a shock. Am fortunate I can still make it work as the house was £20k under what I thought my budget was, but it if wasn't, Id have been in a very embarrassing situation.

Though I'm not going to mess anyone around, it really would have suited me MUCH better if this all took a bit longer - for a start I'd be £1k better off!

So - there are reasons people might be dragging their feet!

We heard on Friday all the enquiries are in and we should exchange this week, and complete the next! Been hectic packing and getting all sorts of admin sorted since.

Now trying to work out logistics for getting in a locksmith on completion day. Heard too many horror stories... But who or what decides what time we get the keys? We're the bottom of the chain so should complete first in the day. Or do I just book them for the afternoon? Any ideas?

Honestly - unless you're buying off Hannibal Lector - I wouldn't stress the insta-locksmith thing too much... you're likely to be physically IN the house unpacking the first day or so, plus if they're UPVC type doors - it's honestly a piece of piss to just take the lock barrel out and down to your local DIY store and put a new one back in - it's literally a one-screw undone and pop it out job (I've done it myself when my ex was being a twat).

Cheers @CoffeeWithCheese that's a good point. Unlikely to be burgled that very day! Can probably wait until the next day which would be less stressful. Unfortunately they're not uPVC doors they're big wooden things as it's a 30s house so I'd rather get someone in to be sure!

Still - do we just hang around on the day and wait for keys or what?

@spidershavetoomanyknees Good point about the locks. It's not on my priority list for moving day but will have to do eventually. Also good question about when you get the keys. I'd love to know too...

I had booked a mover for last Friday, the day we were meant to move. Called to tell him last Tuesday that it wasn't happening and I'd let him know when I'd know more. So then on Friday we were told it'll be next Friday. I called him and now he's of course booked for this week! I've been calling around all weekend and almost everyone is booked. Found three to give me quotes tomorrow. The quotes we had previously gotten were all ridiculously high except for the guy we booked with originally and someone else who's also busy now. I'm talking several thousand pounds difference in quote. So if these new quotes come out just as high, I'll have to be that person and tell them we won't agree to complete Friday. Really hoping that won't be the case. I don't think my employer and clients will accommodate yet another week of "yes we're moving, oh wait no, we're not".

I'd be interested to know about keys too.

Hope you find a moving Company @thunderouslug

Anyone else relax more over weekend as you know nothings happening. Just seems a other week goes by and we seem no closer!

We didn't change the locks last time we moved... oops.

We were sat in a car park near the estate agents waiting for keys. They laughed when DH showed up 2 minutes after the call to say we could collect them. Our movers had everything except the fish from our fish tank. They were in the back of the car so we had to turn the car on periodically to warm it up for them. Thankfully we don't have a fish tank anymore but we'll have two cats to move.

Thanks for your perspective @EstherHazy Our worry is that the buyer is struggling to get a mortgage now.

Re: keys timing - on our contract is says 2pm so we'll book the locksmith for the afternoon, after 2. Our solicitor has confirmed that the seller needs to be out by 2, so hopefully that's it really.

I guess it depends if they've booked a single huge moving van, or have already moved stuff into storage, etc. The movers we will likely book have a three day schedule, and day two is just "load the van" when day three is "unload at new place" so I'm assuming most companies do this too and there's not much loading on the day itself. There are of course plenty of stories about people turning up with the keys to find the vendors still there packing, but I'm hoping that's a minority..........

Great news @spidershavetoomanyknees
I had a bit of a curve ball this morning. 5 months in and my buyers have now said that they can break the chain using a gifted deposit from a relative. It’s a hefty gift as they only needed a 50% mortgage. They seem to think this will mean we will be able to exchange within days but I understand that there are quite a few checks and hoops to go through with solicitors and mortgage lenders? Does anyone have any experience of this? I do know that they don’t have a mortgage on the property they are selling.

Our contract said 2pm but we didn’t actually complete till 4pm as our purchase was the last in the chain. The first transaction only went through at 1.30pm so we had no chance of being in at 2pm. Fortunately we paid for late key collection insurance with our removal firm or we would have had to pay a huge charge. They took a couple of hours to unload so were quite quick. They said the worse job they’d had was a completion at 4.55pm.

@StillNiceCardigan crikey. We're the first ones at the bottom of the chain, so hopefully we won't be waiting too long.

Apparently we should be exchanging tomorrow, with completion pencilled in for next Thursday. I didn't realise my stress would increase at this point...

I've had confirmation that all solicitors in the chain have acknowledged and agreed 6th completion. No word yet on which day they are exchanging. Probably find out tomorrow.

My vendors solicitor has responded to all of my solicitors queries today. Theres no chain above or below us. Does this mean the end is in sight? How long is it likely to be now?

@TeaChocKitKat there are a few factors. If their person is good and they are satisfied you are probably under 2 weeks for exchange. There is a chance they want further clarification which might add a few days. If they are slow you may still have a month or more.

Last time we didn't change the locks - the door knob broke off on the front door after we moved so we had to change the whole bloody thing (damn hamfisted DH!)