Buyers / sellers exchange waiting room continued...

[NoWordForFluffy]

New thread for those of us still waiting the dreadful wait. 😩

Deposit sent. Next step: exchange.

@NoWordForFluffy very exciting!!!

i've had a completion date of dec 18th and all agreed down the chain.
now i need an exchange day - preferably before the buyers come in again to measure up...another request this morning

Fingers crossed you exchange soon. Can't be long if you have a date!

I'm just waiting for confirmation they got the deposit. Lunchtime wasn't a good time to send it! 😬

So exciting to see some proper movement and exchange dates. Keeping my fingers crossed for you all. Nothing from us yet 😭 but keeping positive!

Sounds super positive @NoWordForFluffy! Fingers and toes crossed for you.

No movement over here. We are still waiting for our buyer's buyer to agree on the completion date. It's now past 3pm, so we don't expect we'll exchange today. More likely tomorrow. But at least we are finally getting somewhere.

So the estate agent has been badgering everyone since my email on Friday. My ex basically wants me out ASAP so I've explained that I really need to exchange by month end. Everyone appears to be on the same page.. so fingers crossed it'll happen soon.... please wish me luck... !!!

from EA: I have advised everyone of your situation and everyone is pulling out all the stops, hopefully it should be doable ...... but obviously I cant say for absolute certain.

I'd be happier if they'd confirm they have the deposit! Though it went to the same place as my test fiver, but maybe it's just slower due to value. 🤷‍♀️

Sounds promising, @loopyloo52. Good luck!

That's frustrating, @MillTree.

@sweetpickle23 I have an old Victorian house and my nervous FTB survey picked up lots of things but a lot was just to cover their back, rather than good maintenance. But it’s good to have them as all houses need something. I dropped the price for them just to get the sale. Hopefully yours will be OK - it might be good that they asked lots of specific questions, before offering, as they can’t then say they didn’t know.
@NoWordForFluffy it sounds like that home stretch is in full view! Fantastic.
@MillTree I can’t imagine how fustrating it must be to be in a long chain. It just takes one person/solicitor to be slow and everything grinds to a halt.
@EmilyMay89 sounds great well done!

I actually got a call from my solicitor today! I think my email asking for some real help this time meant action. I don’t think either my or buyers solicitor understands building regs or planning regs - I feel like I know more than they do at this stage. So it looks like I’ll just have to take out an indemnity insurance just to get this to sold - even though neither repairs needed these certificates in the first place.

Has anyone just taken out indemnity insurance just to get it over the line?

How much is it, @HopefulSeller? I probably would, begrudgingly.

It would be around £100, which considering how much I’d paid out to make the house better, is a drop in the ocean!

@HopefulSeller we did on our previous transaction 5 years ago, best £85 we ever spent!

Do it! Peace of mind that it's not going to fall apart because of the (non-) issue.

We are now waiting for confirmation that the vendor is ready to exchange and they agree our date for completion. Feels like barrier after barrier! 😩

@onthefence23 thanks! I’ll just go for it then. I haven’t sold in years and hadn’t heard of indemnity insurance!

Oooh loads of good news on here today, things are moving!
Nothing for me today but my solicitor has been on a long weekend annual leave so I didn't expect anything. Hoping for an update this week though!

So we’re going in to sign contracts tomorrow 🥳

It's like somebody pulled out the bung which has been stopping us all progressing today!

So much action today!

Good luck for all of those on the edge of their seats! @MercyNursey @NoWordForFluffy etc etc!

@HopefulSeller one of my massive bugbears about the whole process is the number of times you are taken to the edge of a nervous breakdown by the solicitors etc who make you feel like if you can't pull out a guarantee for your toaster from 1979 they'll have to pull out. Only to then reveal at the 11th hour that for just 99p you could take out insurance and the whole thing will be just fine. WHY DO THEY NOT JUST SAY THIS FROM THE START?! I've already said to my solicitor this time, just take out a job lot indemnity insurance, I don't care, just do it! 😝

Anyone worring about the Autumn update and the impact it may have on your purchase/sale?

@Jayknow I saw something about possible tax cuts (stamp duty?) so haven't thought about any negative implications - what about you?

In theory stamp duty changes should have no overall impact but I worry about everything.

Say the remove stamp duty and you are in the process of buying a £600,000 house. Currently you'd pay £17,500 in stamp duty.

My view is if they remove the stamp duty. In theory the house would just go up by the stamp duty amount. So now you are buying a £617,500 house but paying no stamp duty on it.

Overall financially no better or worse off.

I guess it would just extend the buying process slightly as you would need to do a new mortgage offer to reflect the higher house value (and higher deposit).

I think.....

I don't think anything would change in your example, you just wouldn't pay the tax. Or am I misunderstanding you...?

I think the value would ostensibly stay the same for the purpose of the transaction, so it wouldn't hold anything up. I would absolutely love it if I didn't have to pay the stamp duty!

I don't think you'd renegotiate the price up during the conveyancing process. It might affect the value of houses yet to be sold, however.

We'll keep an eye on it, as a raised threshold may take us out of the bracket.

I'm glad so many people have made progress today

For those following the complete mess that is, er, my life, I've exchanged today too. Please don't say congratulations, which my EA and solicitor were dumb enough to do. I had a good cry and a lie down and I'm ready to move on now.

I have, in theory, secured a small sum of money from the buyer for the emotional distress/certain practical matters relating to the fact I pulled out and thought it was over. However, this money is not part of the transaction so I suspect might never reach me.

It's kind of not their fault that six months has elapsed on a chain free sale, which was enough time for my life circumstances to change to the point I didn't want sell any more. But I needed a reason to go back to the table.

As I have been using the old flat, it needs a wee bit of cleaning. I'm not going to do it, I'm exhausted. I also firmly believe he's not moving in, he just said that to get a homebuyers mortgage rate rather than a BTL one.

Tomorrow I will post the keys via Special Delivery. I can't face the train journey. A neighbour has kindly offered take a photo of meter readings as it's in a cupboard where everyone has the combination.

I am definitely not well enough to be a landlord, even if I wanted to be.

In the end, as I'm not in a fit state to work, things are probably best this way but what a sad ending.

I just hope nothing happens inbetween now and completion to bugger it up more as I'll not cope. Like him going bankrupt or something.

Good luck to all...I will crack on and make the best of things.

I think a 'Phew!' is in order, Emma. That will suffice.