Buyers / sellers exchange waiting room continued...

[NoWordForFluffy]

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

And yy with too much adulting, I don't feel like I should be allowed somehow.

I have a horrible feeling my solicitor has cocked up a key document and now I'm going to be fretting about it all weekend.....

Oh no, Emma. I hate it when you think about something at the weekend. I hope (in the nicest possible way) that you're wrong.

Thank you, I really want to be wrong too!

Poking my head in to join!

Accepted an offer on my property 2 weeks ago, and have today had an offer accepted on the house I want. FTB purchasing my property, and the vendors have already found somewhere chain free (they had a buyer earlier this year who pulled out) so not a huge chain.

Now the fun part begins...

Oh no @EmmaEmerald what do you thinks gone wrong maybe we can put your mind at rest?

Thanks for the thought

it's to do with selling a high rise though, so all about the relevant Building Safety legislation?

I can't find out if he's overlooked something till Monday morning though....I'm normally very on the ball and ask them to send me tracks of everything they do, but being ill, I didn't do that this time.

though tbh I don't think I should have to.

A viewer from yesterday put a note through the door today saying thanks for the opportunity and how much they love the house.

From what the EA said today, I think they've put an offer in, but there are some checks they have to do first before they present it to us.

The note was quite sweet, they have family nearby, and the house is beautiful and would be their forever home, etc.

It is a nice house, and it's a nice feeling to think another family could live in it long-term.

Would you be swayed by a note, though? I don't think I would be, necessarily.

We have 3 more viewings booked next week. I'm quite surprised at how quickly the pace is going.

Congratulations! We are at almost the same point and same length of chain - mine being bought by FTB and no onward chain with my vendor as he’s already bought and is renovating his onward property.

You must feel happy to have now found your onward property and had offer accepted - hurrah!

@MovingToPlan that’s fantastic and bodes well for upcoming viewings. I would be interested to see what they offer, as it sounds like that’s what they’re about to do. We went to best/final offers and the ‘winning’ offer also wrote a long note - thankfully theirs was also the best offer (marginally) - so I didn’t need to be swayed by it. I do think there’s something to be said for it showing they’re committed as buyers but in itself I’m not sure it would convince me to accept much of a lower price.

In your shoes I’d be waiting to see what happens with upcoming viewings - the EA will hopefully be letting them know it’s proving a popular listing which should encourage them.

Thanks @ibelieveinmirrorballs - I'll definitely wait and see what the EA comes back with. It's all a new experience for me, so it helps to read other people's stories.

Sorry for the long post that follows. Not looking for sympathy but just need to get my thoughts down …

Feeling very sad and frustrated this weekend.

Back in August our ‘dream’ house came up for sale in the local area ( Scotland - 30 mins outside Glasgow). Our house was not on the market at that time. We put in an offer and it was accepted ( we offered below home value report - house had been on market for at least a month). We were slow to put in offer as we wanted to be confident we could afford mortgage repayments, got broker involved etc. We were fully upfront with the sellers when we put in the offer that our house was not yet on the market. It would only be going on the market so we could buy their house.

We quickly got the home report and marketing organised and had our house up and ready for sale in just over a week. Throughout that time the sellers’ estate agent was constantly on the phone to us and our solicitor badgering us for details. They were keen to emphasise that we must move things along quickly or the sellers would pull out.

We sold our house within 7 days. We accepted the home value report figure as it was fair and we had to make a quick sale or face losing the house we wanted to buy (the area we live in is ‘in demand’ and very likely we may have received a higher offer had our house been on the market a little longer). Our buyers didn’t have their home on the market yet. They had been waiting for a house like ours in our school catchment area to come up. They sold their house in 2 days! No hold ups caused by them.

Anyway, with the purchase of our house a chain of four families now existed (one above us in chain, two below us in chain). Things suddenly went very quiet at sellers’ end and although on Rightmove it stated their house was ‘under offer’ no adjustments were made to the board outside the house to show the same. Every other home in the area that is marketed by this particular EA has its signs adjusted to ‘under offer’ immediately. So to passing traffic, the sellers’ house was still for sale …

Anyway, on Monday our solicitor got in touch to try to sort out exchange dates for all parties. 1 December was the suggested date. Sellers’ remained very quiet. My husband got a phone call on Friday. Our sellers have decided to pull out. They have had a ‘change of heart’ and are not happy because they cannot find a house that they want to buy.

My emotions vary between sad to absolutely livid! Our family and the other people in the chain below us have paid out for Home reports, EA marketing and will also have to pay for solicitors fees and yet will have no new house to show for it at the end of the day. We have looked and there are no similar houses for sale within our budget at the moment. Anyway, our house was only on the market so we could buy this particular house.

Our sellers were never happy that we offered below the home value report figure but at the end of the day they accepted it - no one forced them to. My husband and I are highly suspicious of them and their EA. We think their house will be be back on the market very soon … All well and good for them but everyone else is out of pocket. No missives have been signed so we have no come back … the delights of the Scottish system!

@Mrsjrewing3 my god you must be so upset. I don’t fully understand the Scottish system - how much time has lapsed between you offering on their house and where you are now..? It must have been awful to know their sign still showed as being on the market - did you question it with the agent? It doesn’t sound as if they’ve even asked for you to up your offer - would you have been open to that?

I’m in a similar position in that I only put my house on the market for one specific house - if it falls through I don’t know if I’ll proceed as right now there’s nothing comparable available.

@Mrsjrewing3 I don’t know about Scotland but I read that 1/3 of sales are falling through, it’s a big problem. Many because of a change of mind rather than technical issues. I’m sorry it sounds really awful for you. I do think some buyers / sellers are not serious enough, although how can you pay for solicitors and surveys without being serious? I don’t really get it. Unless something big comes up with the surveys or solicitors, it’s not morally OK to pull out because it does affect a lot of people.

I’m at an awful last stage where the buyer might pull out. They are spooked by some repairs I had done which don’t have a warranty. They think it is structural and therefore are talking about building regulations but they didn’t need them. I think solicitors don’t understand buildings and just spook the buyers about everything.

The surveyor spooked them as well. They wanted to have planning regulation certs and building certs on the roof which was retiled 20 years ago. It’s still in great condition but they told the buyer that it was ‘new’! And no it doesn’t need planning regs and didn’t need building certs. Surely the surveyor should know this!

My house should have been relatively simple, but it’s a young FTB.

I am dreading similar happening with my young FTB buyers @HopefulSeller - what a nightmare. I have no warranties for any of the work I had done - nothing nefarious about it but no idea how that’s going to go down. I’m going to have to rely on everything being able to be solved by the last minute “or you could just pay for indemnity insurance!” get out of jail free card.

@Mrsjrewing3 so sorry to hear this how devastating for you. We also are only in this for 1 house and the seller is being very hard work and I really wish there was another similar house in the area but there isn't.

The way house buying/selling is done is bad.

The point in which someone is legally bound to a purchase/sale should be moved far earlier in the process, caveated for survey results or something.

I am in a short chain, have my searches (hopefully) coming back next week. The person i am buying from seems very eager - pushing for an earlier and earlier completion date. And my buyers seem committed (having waited several months already) and are happy with an ever (earlier) moving date and expressed no concerns.

But I am naturally pessimistic, focusing on what could go wrong and it is driving my crazy.

Sorry to everyone who is dealing with this stress, agree @Jayknow- I don't understand why surveys aren't done upfront in advance of offers, if someone's going to get cold feet/try and offer less based on that I'd much rather know upfront. Then there should be a legally binding bit much earlier on, it seems far too easy for people to just change their minds and pull out and leave the whole thing in disarray.

We have FTB purchasing our property and they've made all the right noises about being keen and wanting to move quickly etc, but I also know that as FTB who are used to rented they will probably be asking for all sorts of information that we either don't have or isn't relevant. Its barely even started yet and I'm stressed!

To add to this, @Jayknow, all parties need to commit to doing everything possible to progress the transaction quickly. We're ready to exchange, other than our seller's solicitor, a) being slow to get a lease plan change sorted; and b) failing to agree (so far) to expedite Land Reg. paperwork, which only they can do. Surely the seller wants exchange / completion ASAP? Why wouldn't they have just applied to the LR without us having to beg / wait for a response? The mind boggles.

We wanted to move this month. But no chance due to them being terminally slow / awkward twats.

@silo6823. My son applied for a cheaper / new product rate with Halifax as the rate had dropped and they automatically extended his mortgage from the end of Jan -end of May

But if he had applied for an extension nearer the time they would have made him re apply - this is with Halifax

@ibelieveinmirrorballs we put our offer in during the first week of September. It was accepted the same day. The only time paying more money was discussed was when they wanted us to pay an extra £2000 for the second hand fridge-freezer to be left behind. We politely declined …

I informed my solicitor about the ‘for sale’ sign on the 16 October and was assured they would contact EA. I’m now doubting the solicitor actually did contact the EA so will be having words with them tomorrow too!

@Kentlane I’ve got my fingers crossed for you that everything works out.

@HopefulSeller Such a horrible stage! Hope you will be out the other end and in your new home sooner rather than later.

Would love to join in! We accepted offer to sell our house 3rd October and had our offer accepted on purchase 4th October. Started a bit slow as the sellers still needed someone to buy. They then decided to break the chain mid October which was amazing. Dragged their feet a bit with initial paperwork. But now everything seems to be moving well, almost too well. Our solicitor sent enquiries Wednesday and we received some on Friday. Just hope everyone answers everything quickly and it's all easy stuff then we can talk dates right?

Can I join please? I went on sale mid Sept and accepted an offer from FTB's mid Oct. I have had an offer accepted on a property at the end of Oct, so now the fun begins...

I am relocating 200 miles to be closer to my parents. I have been, so far, very low stress as it all seems to have slotted into place well. Although my buyers went quiet for long periods initially after viewing and a low offer, so am not fully confident. I was relieved when they organised a survey tbh.

However, my FTB's had their survey last week and although the surveyor said there was nothing major (old house so was a relief) I am worried they will change their minds or try to offer less.

I also need to transfer with work due to relocation and thought it would be simple when I asked initially, but am still waiting on a reply, the silence is not filling me with confidence! I am mid process of organising a wfh job in addition to this, so hope that I can easily port my mortgage due to this if the transfer isn't forthcoming.

Suddenly it seems to have got a load more stressful! I have asked my solicitors to give my buyers time to read the survey before they send off for searches incase they pull out, so no money is spent unnecessarily.

I also need to apply for schools for my children. There is one space in both of their year groups in the schools I am hoping they will go to, just hope this doesn't change before I can apply!!

And breathe!!!...