Buyers/Sellers Exchange waiting room new thread

[thoughtsofmoog3]

I noticed the last one was full, so here we go!

Hello to the newcomers and welcome back to those who are still working their way through the joys of house buying/selling.

Helloo, joining the lurking here in the last minute limbo of waiting to exchange… we are all supposedly working towards a completion date of Friday but we have Premier Property Lawyers in our chain so exchange hasn’t happened yet… fingers crossed it does tomorrow. At this point I think I’m a bit delirious so just trying to trust the process but it feels very precarious to be in a house full of boxes with no exchange yet…will it ever happen??

@Tasha1989 good luck, and poor you for having them in your chain. The best advice we ever got was never to cheap out on legal advice.

Also in a short chain that seems to have been happening for ever. Hoping to exchange today, complete next week...

Hi guys … what comes after the searches have been done and answered - this is where my buyers are at.
Is this when they would request a survey if they want one ?
I accepted their offer in early May and the house is vacant so it’s all taking a long time

@Housesellingnightmare yes they have their mortgage all in place . They are first time buyers and had some gift deposit too so that’s all sorted .
maybe they don’t a survey then .
what comes normally after searches ( I haven’t sold before as u can tell !)

thanks

That’s good to hear as the enquires from the searches have all been dealt with now .
Looks like they aren’t going to do a survey then.

hopefully an exchange date will come soon !

Why is this process so tediously slow? It's unbearable

Finally have money in my current account from a building society [in the far south east without completely naming and shaming!] that will never get my custom again - not that I'll have a huge amount left after this to put in any bank!

It's all horrendous, there is surely no need for it all to take so long these days when everything is online. I often suspect it is so solicitors can justify their enormous fees. We had a terrible time with our seller earlier this year, what a peevish twat he was, whinging about our stalling when all we were waiting for was documentation from him, but he had to be asked many many times - we were renting and so no chain or holdups, cash buyers. Idiot.

Sorry to hear that, @Housesellingnightmare . What awful buyers. I hope you manage to get things back on track soon.

My buyers have also pulled out, after 3 months, having attempted to secure a huge reduction in the price based on a range of quotes for largely unnecessary works, and to replace a boiler that works perfectly well.

They may have calculated that I would fold in desperation, but in fact a delay suits me, as the renovation of my new home is delayed. So there is satisfaction in telling them where to go. I'll see how the market is next year.

Well done @Housesellingnightmare . Glad you are holding the line.

All of the various builders and surveyors who inspected my house on behalf of my former buyers said that the house was fine for its age and that nothing needed urgent attention, apart for one damp patch, which would have been about £2K to sort out. The main survey also stated that the house was reasonable value at full asking price. But they then go ahead and stick everything they can think of into their quotes, and buyers can then use them as leverage in a difficult housing market.

I feel for people who are forced sellers and / or trying to keep a chain together, but sometimes you just have to let the sale go.

A lot of these flaky buyers, probably will end up going for new builds, but of course those seem to have problems of their own. No house will ever be perfect, and there will always be ongoing maintenance costs and repair bills.

Finally Exchanged late afternoon for completion tomorrow 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨 so glad it’s nearly over !!

I'm still here. Week 21, with ftb on one side and no onward chain on the other. It's unbelievable how long this has taken, I know it's a totally different time but when we moved into this house a decade ago it took 6 weeks!

Latest is waiting on the housing authority to make some changes re: the annual estate charge we have to pay, at the requirement of the buyers lender. This has cost us an unexpected £1k. That was paid over 3 weeks ago now, and I was advised it would take 3-4 weeks. So I feel like surely we must be almost there!!

We got the info pack through last week, and have 1 thing left to arrange which is a gas/boiler inspection as its been empty for a year, so really hoping that doesn't flag up any problems!

Congratulations!!!

Nice to see some exchanges and completions happening! Think we are nearly there on the purchase side (only waiting on solicitors summary of enquiries), but no idea about our buyers (and their buyers, and their buyers...we are buying top of chain and they have no onward purchase) - do we need to be chasing the estate agent in that respect, or our solicitor to find out - I'm assuming EA? What should we be asking to see where things are / get things moving? It was only early August where we closed the chain (as far as we know) so has been quite quick on our purchase. Thank you!

Hello! I've been reading for a bit but not joining, as we've only recently sorted somewhere to buy.

After looking at a few doer-uppers (which needed tens of thousands spending on them, which would've taken total spend well over the ceiling price for the road) we've plumped for a shared ownership new build which is much larger than anything older we could've afforded, and should have nice low heating costs.

Anyway, we submitted our mortgage application on 7 Sept and instructed solicitors the same day. We signed the lease / contract last week and the mortgage offer came in today. So now it's just completing the legal side and we can talk dates! I'm not known for being patient, so hopefully it doesn't drag on in the way so many of you have suffered.

I'm gutted to say I'm leaving the waiting room as our buyers pulled out today! After weeks and weeks of stringing us along, they've finally admitted that they won't be able to get a new mortgage offer.

@TFMinx I'm so sorry!

Onto day 4 of almost exchanging. Everyone is ready but the sellers seem to have disappeared (a theme throughout)

There seems to be too many of these I’ve had a few, one of which was telling me the house was flooded (it’s in West London, W3.. the Thames is a fair distance away..), the wood was rotten, he was going to have sooo many legal issues bla bla.. so I told him share the survey report with us, including a copy for your solicitor.. but no apparently he just wanted an £80k reduction and for us to trust him and only him .. on interpreting that report.. told EA to tell him no.. he kept coming back later to see if I changed my mind.. told EA no and telling him.. just for him price has increased by £20k.. he made me suspicious when he suddenly wanted a survey last min, day before signature.. EA said oh no he always intended to have it and not to be concerned told him.. someone who always intended to have it would have done so sooner and let us know he intended to..