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.

@StillNiceCardigan that sounds like positive progress, even with the frustrating non-responses from above. Fingers crossed the charge and deed issues are in progress "behind the scenes" as it were 😁

My solicitor is back at work today so I am back to refreshing emails every 30 minutes.

I just can’t wait to move now, this is a whole lifestyle change rather than just a move and I am SO ready for it.

Vent time. Slowly losing the plot here. I long for some kind of online portal where you can see the rest of the chain. When the delays aren't on your own purchase/sale it takes so much longer to find out what's going on! I know that our seller's sellers' solicitors have started copying in our EA person to keep them in the loop. To be fair to them, they do seem to call us as soon as there's news... but they don't seem to be very proactive in contacting people when there's been radio silence for a couple of weeks so there's a familiar pattern of "oh okay, I'll chase them" [waits a week] "Oh yes, I didn't hear back, I'll chase them" repeat].

Small blessings for a small chain of 3 (or is it 4? I never know if it's properties or people/solicitors...) but holy heck I am really starting to wear at my seams today. What is it about Wednesdays that does this to me I'll never know. But our purchase is ready. Our vendor's purchase is ready. The people above? Are the enquiry responses that I know were received last week adequate? Are there more enquiries? Have contracts gone out? Has anyone signed anything? Can we PLEASE all move this month? WHAT IS THE DELAY WHY AREN'T WE EXCHANGING FFS 😡

I know exactly how you feel @spidershavetoomanyknees ! My chain is only 2 properties, mine and the flat my buyer is selling. My EA does her best to chase things but the issue is with the mortgage lender for the person buying their flat, so not her client, and when she does get information it’s not conclusive so I spend ages waiting for an update that doesn’t really tell me anything. It takes so long to get this non-information and then I know that it will be another week before it’s worth trying to squeeze a bit more. Grrr 😡

I know what you mean - ours is a huge change, city to rural, I'm leaving my job, no friends or family, potentially new puppy (!) to pick up and I just want it to be DONE so I can get on with it all.

I know I'm very lucky to have exchanged but if I'm honest it hasn't helped my nerves much! I need the keys in my hand.

I have two viewings tomorrow, and 1 on Saturday. Cross everything...

Sending best wishes to everyone

I've recently discovered a delay....other and of the chain is now renegotiating prices. Why didn't they do this 2 months ago? This will require getting mortgage offers updated I expect which is a week, plus new contracts which is another week and thats assuming they reach an agreement.

@RubyPip
yep that’s us! We are suburbs at the minute and moving to a farm with 8 acres. The horses will be at home, I’m leaving my job and plan to change my career direction slightly (Initially was going to transfer but I’m having second thoughts and applying for a couple of different roles which might give me a bit more life/work balance).

I’m just treading water waiting for it to all happen! No word from my solicitor today

I@spidershavetoomanyknees. We have the emails from our solicitor to the vendor’s solicitor asking for evidence that the charge will be removed on completion that start at the beginning of January. Our solicitor has resorted to “with all due respect this is not adequate” when presented with repeated wishy washy responses. I despair at the uselessness of the vendor’s solicitor.

Just about to join this heinous game of buying a property.
Scared just reading this!
Have been advised that using the estate agents or brokers suggested solicitor is a good idea as estate agents are vested in chasing them up and have direct contact etc... but a few posts above suggest otherwise? Any tips?

Thank you and sending positive vibes for your house sales/purchases!

@ftbuyer I'm not sure thats best. If the agent suggests a solicitor, check them over thoroughly. Some of these tie in agreements are with bigger companies where you have conveyancers doing 200 cases each and thats what slows things down. Don't go cheap either, that 500 pound deal will come back to bite you. Still you are also at the mercy of the other party as well which is outside of your control. One thing I've considered after going through this is is I'd like to vet the other sides solicitors before starting and make changing them if they are clearly poor a condition of the transaction. That still won't help though in a chain.

@ftbuyer sure get the name of the firm they want to recommend... and then steer well clear and go with someone else local with good online reviews if possible.

To play devils advocate, I worked at a law firm where an agent often recommended the head of conveyancing. They had worked together for 25 year when I left. They had a daily phone call at 7.30am before either of the phone lines went live. They updated each other on every single sale and purchase so if someone called, they had the most recent news to share. None of the usual confusion when estate agents get the wrong end of the stick and send people into a panic.

Obviously don't go with a big conveyancing firm if recommended but if they recommend a local firm, it's worth it. They have an established relationship, use it to your advantage.

@starlingdarling that sounds utterly wonderful. Where is this estate agent/conveyancer dream team?

Estate agent recommendations can work well but it depends on just who is recommending whom. My solicitor is the senior partner in an independent and well established practice in our small town. The EA always recommends her and was very pleased to discover that she was already my solicitor. A similar relationship to that described by @starlingdarling exists which is most helpful! That said, I've heard dreadful tales of conveyancing outfits who've been recommended by less than wonderful EAs.

Thanks all. Will consider.

Trying to do all this from a rented property and my landlord is being so obstructive and anal it makes me want to cry. Worried if it all goes wrong I will end up homeless with two kids!

Personally, I'd have many doubts going with the EA's solicitor - I asked for personal recommendations from friends and family, and used a local firm based on those reccomendations.

He's expensive but incredible- answers questions within an hour, pushes things along, if the vendor's solicitor is inept then he steps in to avoid delays (like finding documents to answer enquiries). He only charged 20% of the full fee once when we had to pull out of a sale half way through, he's very human!

I'm hoping you'll hear back today, finger's crossed!

Bedfordshire. I wanted to use them but the solicitor retired last year and the agent sells in a different town to where I live ☹️ I did get an old colleague to contact the solicitor and ask him for a recommendation as they're still in touch through a hobby. He gave her a list of who to avoid and said id be fine with anyone else at local firms.

We let the agents for our sale get a quote from their solicitors when we sold. They came back with two quotes, both several hours away and on looking at their websites they were big firms with 20 odd conveyancers. I decided I'd rather someone nearer so I can go sit in reception and make a nuisance of myself if I need to.

@ftbuyer I hear you! I am renting and looking to buy. My landlord is actually fine (thus far) but don't want to make it known I'm thinking of buying before exchange because so many house purchase seem to fall through and I don't want to be homeless!
Resigned myself to budget for a couple of months of both rent and mortgage for the confirmed transition 😬
Landlord will be able to rent his house very easily, very desirable area.

We just found out one of the solicitors near the top of the chain has been on leave all week... I'm wondering how reasonable it is of me to assume that if a solicitor goes on holiday that someone would take over the case for that week to make sure there aren't delays to the important part of the process. Probably unreasonable. But honestly. Some sort of "thanks for the responses to the enquiries. I'm going on holibobs next week so I'll check them when I'm back and let you know if we're ready to exchange then" would have been nice.

/rant

@spidershavetoomanyknees I posted about that in another thread recently. My solictor just went away for three weeks and I didn't know about it at all. After I found out, I asked if anyone had picked up the file while mine was away and they claimed that was done but I highly doubt it. Definitely don't think it's unreasonable to assume but in reality likely not happening.

Well, today was our supposed exchange date but we haven't even signed the contract yet so there it goes. I have tentatively booked the movers (local firm who luckily don't want a deposit or charge me if I need to change the date), so feel like I made a little progress at least. I should call and chase my solicitor today but really don't want to. I definitely have a case of "Millenial who refuses to use the phone for its intended purpose". If only emails weren't so easily ignored.

@thunderouslug it's infuriating. I think a lot of this is just managing expectations - if I'd known they were on leave and it wouldn't be touched for a week then perhaps my stress levels might not have been on a knife edge all week waiting for exchange news.

And yes, there's probably a lesson in there about managing my stress levels better when I don't know what may or may not be happening but now is not the time! 😡😂

We got an email from our solicitor to say our buyer has instructed a solicitor so they've sent out draft contracts and the information forms we've filled out. We asked if that meant the buyer has only just instructed his solicitor... it turns out yes. We accepted his offer on the 12th Jan so not sure what he's been doing for the last few weeks.

Our offer on our purchase was accepted on 23rd Jan and we went straight to our agents and solicitors to get everything rolling as quickly as possible. We've got our mortgage offer and the searches are done. The survey was last Friday and we're just waiting for the report.

We're moving to a different local authority so I'm hoping the searches our buyer needs to do are as quick as ours were but don't really know.

Fingers crossed @starlingdarling. I wonder whether the EA sales progression team only just got in touch with your buyer - that took us about four weeks to receive contact and their first email said to instruct solicitors etc. Being generous, perhaps the buyer didn't know they had to do anything yet..? Ok it's a stretch, but maybe! Fingers crossed it's all quick.

I wouldn't be surprised if the buyer didn't know he had to do anything. The whole process is a bit of a mystery to me, despite doing it all a a few years ago AND having sat next to a conveyancing department for several years. We've spent a lot of time googling to find out when things need to be done and what they all mean.