Buying - Waiting (anyone want to wait with me)?

NewAnon · 2023-06-27T10:15:30+00:00

Hi there, We're first time buyers, trapped in London rents well into our 40's. We found a house, we made an offer, it was accepted. Our mortgage was granted. We appointed a solicitor. The property was valued. They surveyors went in on Friday last week. We expect the surveyor's report this week. And now we wait... We (obviously) have no chain, and the seller has no chain - I know the wheels are in motion, but this state of semi-anxious waiting is getting increasingly stressful. I don't expect the survey to throw-out anything terminal, though I know it'll be written in such a way as it all sounds terrible (to, rightly, mitigate risk to the surveyor). My main worry is that the buyer will pull out (or worse, die), or I'll suddenly and randomly lose my job (no reason to think I will)... it's just the waiting.

good96 · 27/06/2023 11:27

What makes you think the buyer will die?

Original poster

NewAnon · 27/06/2023 11:31

@good96 nothing - they are elderly - but it's more just one other thing that could go wrong (and definitely the worst thing, from a human perspective) - that the house moves from being ready for sale, to needing to allow 16-20 weeks for probate to be granted.

It's just the anxiety of waiting, and having our lives set up around this thing happening, and the off chance that it won't happen.

OP posts:

Original poster

NewAnon · 27/06/2023 11:32

Sorry I meant SELLER will pull out or die.

OP posts:

good96 · 27/06/2023 11:41

Ah, I get you 😊
Hopefully all will be ok!

Wednesdayonline · 27/06/2023 12:55

The waiting also gets to me so i can relate! We have to wait for probate anyway which I'm not too stressed about, but waiting for the lender to do their survey on Thursday is worrying me in case they won't lend for some reason or they downvalue. I have handed the reigns over to my husband, who stresses less day to day and it means I can take a step back.

Riapia · 27/06/2023 13:01

You’re right to be concerned.
Buying/selling a house is a very stressful process.
Your seller could drop off the perch anytime.
😉😁😁

Katscan25 · 27/06/2023 13:19

The wait is so hard! We have finally got our draft contracts through so can go ahead with the survey and searches (after being gazumped on the house we initially were going for!). I'm concerned about the three or four sales below us that are near to completion and have to wait for us upper chain sales (2 more?) to get a move on. What if they get fed up waiting and the whole chain collapses?

Nortam · 27/06/2023 14:30

Can I join please? We are FTB and buying a chain free house so should be easy but I still feel like there are so many hurdles. We've had the searches back, mortgage offer came through yesterday and survey is booked for 2 weeks time.

I'm so fed up with the solicitors already. They reply to my emails by sending me a letter by post?

They also want proof of my deposit which is in my savings account but I can only get an annual statement online so I need to go to the bank to get a more up to date one. They've closed so many branches that my closest one is 40 minutes away.

Katscan25 · 27/06/2023 15:35

@Nortam Do you bank online? I was able to download a PDF and email it to them

Freyya · 27/06/2023 15:46

Also FTB here. My solicitor is great - very responsive - but keeps sending me letters attached to emails, not sure why they can’t just write it in the email?!

Short chain as our sellers are buying an empty house.

@Nortam we seem to be going in a different order to you. We have had our mortgage offer and done the survey, we waited until after the survey was back to start searches. had a few back and the rest are due on 10 July.

bunanarama · 27/06/2023 16:08

FTB here as well, had offer accepted on chain free property 4 months ago, after everything going at snails pace, turns out we were lied to about sellers planning to go into rented while they look and agents have been showing them places to buy. 😭😭😭😭😭 we are waiting to hear whether they are going to sort out a rental otherwise will be pulling out. Had a purchase fall through last year as well after sellers changed their minds so definitely somewhat jaded by the whole process in this country at the moment!

Evergreen101 · 27/06/2023 17:56

Genuinely curious as I'm in a similar position (FTB waiting on final mortgage offer to proceed with searches and survey): Are you all not worried about the property price falling rapidly and being potentially underwater with your mortgage in a year or two?

Recent news have been quite alarming and I'm worried that I'm getting myself locked into a mortgage for a property that is about to lose a significant amount of value. Come remortgaging time when my 2 year fix is up, the bank could say that my LTV is worse than what I started with today..

Evergreen101 · 27/06/2023 17:58

Am I just overthinking things or is this a very real risk and I shouldn't buy at this time?! 😮

Needsomezzzz · 27/06/2023 18:03

Us too, I can't let myself get excited till we get the keys.
Really small chain, mortgage going through 🤞🤞

Asian · 27/06/2023 18:11

Evergreen101 · 27/06/2023 17:58

Am I just overthinking things or is this a very real risk and I shouldn't buy at this time?! 😮

Same here. We are FTB too, offered the property at asking price, this was 3 months back, when the market was not as bad as now. The mortgage offer is on process, searches done, enquiries on but now I am getting extremely tense about the market situation. I do not want to land in negative equity, what if I have to sell the property due to unavoidable circumstances. I was thinking of asking the seller if he can lower the price by few grands, which I don't think is fair and ethically right. But obviously I want to be fair to myself too, hence might just withdraw the offer.

Loobydoobies · 27/06/2023 18:28

In a small chain that completed first week of May (ftb/us/seller/vacant property). The waiting gets old quickly.

Nothing can be as bad as our first purchase- a year in a rapidly increasing market. We just about hung on as our sellers lost property after property...

Freyya · 27/06/2023 19:05

Evergreen101 · 27/06/2023 17:58

Am I just overthinking things or is this a very real risk and I shouldn't buy at this time?! 😮

What’s your LTV now?

We are buying with a 75% LTV and fixing for 5 years, so hopefully won’t need to worry about negative equity when we remortgage. I’d probably be more wary of buying with a higher LTV right now.

We negotiated a bit off the asking price when we offered in May. Would be worried about going back and renegotiating the price now because as potentially we’d have to redo our mortgage deal and get a much worse rate.

Freyya · 27/06/2023 19:06

Loobydoobies · 27/06/2023 18:28

In a small chain that completed first week of May (ftb/us/seller/vacant property). The waiting gets old quickly.

Nothing can be as bad as our first purchase- a year in a rapidly increasing market. We just about hung on as our sellers lost property after property...

Wow you waited a year? Did you just really want the house?

We pulled out of a previous purchase after waiting five months for the sellers to find somewhere. The market changed so much in that time it no longer made sense to buy that house and they just didn’t seem to be serious about moving.

User63847484848 · 27/06/2023 19:09

Good luck you’re well on your way OP, it will happen!
I am waiting to get off the starting blocks and get an offer on our house (that I’m no longer living in - marriage breakdown) so that I can start seriously looking for something to buy for the children and I but it just feels like almost the worst possible timing to try and sell 😞. There are a couple of things on the market that would suit me but obviously no point getting hung up on them with no offer even 😔

Original poster

NewAnon · 27/06/2023 19:43

I'm reassured that so many of us are in this weird limbo.

We got the survey back - all okay - except the dreaded (chance of) ASBESTOS... only in two rooms (old family bathroom and downstairs cloakroom) - but that will push us back while we have it tested, and if required, removed and replaced.

Other than that, the survey was relatively good - and they did say that they only worried about asbestos due to the age of the property (50s) and the artex ceiling in those rooms, so I imagine many people have asbestos mentioned on their survey.

@Evergreen101 I am cautious about the current economic climate, but right now we're paying nearly £3K a month into someone else's property - so it feels like a risk we should take. We negotiated the property down a fair bit, and we both have decent jobs (though obv I'm now terrified of one of us losing theirs).

OP posts:

Loobydoobies · 27/06/2023 20:20

@NewAnon whilst asbestos isn't great, it's in pretty much every house over a certain age. However, it's ulikely to cause any issues if undisturbed- ans a lot.of people live in houses with it without realising!

In most cases, it can just be boarded over and left. It's only when its disturbed or removed improperly that it's an issue, so shouldn't really hold anything up. We are buying a place that has an outbuilding with an asbestos roof- that should be fun if we ever decide to replace it!

Sparklynewname · 27/06/2023 20:25

We are currently desperately trying to Will our purchase through as fast as humanly possible!
Unusual position- mortgage on our current property which has been approved but the solicitors who are handling that need to send out a form for DS to sign and it hasn’t arrived. They’re chasing our ID and the form but until the form arrives we can’t get it signed or send anything back.
We viewed the property Thursday 15th, offer accepted Friday 16th.
Solicitor instructed Monday 19th.
Survey done today. Needs new electrics and gas as all would be classed as red. Full of asbestos. Windows are dead. Bathroom is “dated” etc etc. All of which we said to DD as we walked around the house. So no nasty surprises there. Think surveyor expected more shock when he read through his findings but we were prepared for all of it (well, we hadn’t spotted the rat poo but…!)
We have decided not to ring back EA and reduce offer as we have enough left in the pot to sort these issues with mucho hard work 😬
Now need the solicitors to really work miracles and get this sale pushed through ASAP. DD needs to move in in time to go back to uni.

Original poster

NewAnon · 27/06/2023 21:25

Loobydoobies · 27/06/2023 20:20

@NewAnon whilst asbestos isn't great, it's in pretty much every house over a certain age. However, it's ulikely to cause any issues if undisturbed- ans a lot.of people live in houses with it without realising!

In most cases, it can just be boarded over and left. It's only when its disturbed or removed improperly that it's an issue, so shouldn't really hold anything up. We are buying a place that has an outbuilding with an asbestos roof- that should be fun if we ever decide to replace it!

This is what I understood to be the case, asbestos is only an issue if it's broken/breaking down.

And we will attend to it.

And we're grateful it's only in two rooms (and the garage) - but being a 50's house, the garage is built for much smaller cars than our moderate sized hatchback anyway.

OP posts:

Haveallthesongsbeenwritten · 27/06/2023 21:29

Freyya · 27/06/2023 15:46

Also FTB here. My solicitor is great - very responsive - but keeps sending me letters attached to emails, not sure why they can’t just write it in the email?!

Short chain as our sellers are buying an empty house.

@Nortam we seem to be going in a different order to you. We have had our mortgage offer and done the survey, we waited until after the survey was back to start searches. had a few back and the rest are due on 10 July.

Because someone will be drafting the documents for them and they will be savings all letters in a word/pdf version in “your” folder as a new matter would have been opened for you being the client.

Getoutofherenow · 27/06/2023 21:37

Just had asbestos detected, small amount 2sqm still costs £4.5k to remove