It’s ye olde buyers/sellers waiting room continued thread…

[ibelieveinmirrorballs]

The nail-biting wait continues….

Hoping I can join in on this one. We're not in the UK so home buying process is a little different (read straightforward compared to some of the things I've been reading).
Offer was accepted 2 weeks ago with a closing date of 1 month! Lots to get done in a month!
Building inspection done and passed with flying colors. Bank appraisal done yesterday and in our favor. Now it's just a waiting game on the mortgage to be underwritten etc.
Assuming there are no issues with this we should have keys to our new house on 25/2!!

Thanks everyone. It sucks, but I think after chatting to a few friends, I will put mine back on the market and try again.
There is no guarantee that after 20 weeks my buyers will (a) get permission and (b) not find another issue. I didn't trust them from day 1 after they kept going silent for weeks at a time when we were trying to have a conversation re their offers etc. They have no urgency to move as live with parents (although that would speed me up!!) So I think I will re-market and see what happens as due to my eldest starting Y9 next year, I don't have the biggest window time wise as want her to be settled before she has her GCSE options.
I am trying to look on the bright side, where I can do some overtime at work in the meantime and try to save for some of the jobs that need doing here if it doesn't sell (oh and my solicitors bill which has already accumulated!)
I just keep telling myself we are all alright, noone is ill, it is just a house move, we will be OK if we don't relocate to be near my parents too. But it has honed the mind in that we all definitely want the move, so alleviates the Mum guilt of me moving us all across the country...

Happy packing this weekend @AutumnNymph I hope completion day on Monday goes without a hitch.

@noodles44 So sorry to read your updates that all sounds so stressful - it sounds like you'll be doing the right thing putting it back on the market, your buyers sound like they've messed you around enough and like you say you don't know if they'll find more issues down the line. Hopefully your next buyer will be more motivated and not cause any issues for you

@cloppyklip So sorry your buyer has pulled out, how frustrating! Totally agree the house buying process is horrendous. Hope you manage to find a new buyer quickly and can still get the house you want

Congratulations to those of you who have exchanged/completed, hope everything all goes well for you!

We were told yesterday that everyone was ready to exchange contracts today so we were all ready to go and then find out late morning that the solicitor at the top of the chain has a day off so they can't exchange today 🙃 they were going to see if someone else could do it but not heard anything since so looks unlikely. Hopefully can exchange on Monday now though so can get things booked for completion which should be 2 weeks today. Annoying but at least we seem to be nearing the end which we thought would never happen!

Argh so sorry to hear this @noodles44 It really hurts to have to start the process all over again.
I'm glad to hear you're being so philosophical about it all. Losing the money IS hard to swallow though.
At last some news for us ... the bit of paper that has been holding everything up (and we were told was submitted on Monday!) has finally been submitted to the Land Registry today.
SO, solicitor is getting us ready to exchange on our sale and our purchase next week!!!!
We seriously nearly pulled out this morning and were going to look into renting because everything looked like it was stuck in the sticky World of Paper chasing between sol, the investor company and the POA.
But it looks like it's actually happened.
Our sol has sent us the Title docs of the house to read and sign. A lot of things are packed in boxes already.
All going well (ha) we can think about a completion date and book the removals for around the 13th-14th Feb if possible.
It's amazing to think it might actually be happening at last.
We've heard the POA has cleared the house and cleaned it. And tidied the garden. What a star x

Sorry to hear that @noodles44 although I have to say I'm glad you are re-marketing, you have been very patient with your buyers and they clearly are in no rush. Maybe the loss of your place will wake them up to the reality of house buying.

Hope you have a great buyer just waiting for your property and the stats align.

Amazing news @Jaq27!!

Hope things turn around for you @noodles44 and you find an alternative buyer.

Great news @Housemove0 and @Jaq27 …

We have a viewing booked in for today, so feeling quite excited again.
plus, apparently if it all happens within a certain time frame, a new buyer could buy the searches from the previous buyers which would potentially speed things up.

I just have a fair bit of tidying to do and some furniture to go too (before 2pm!!!)

I didn’t trust my buyers either @noodles44 - not so much I didn’t trust them but like yours they were just so slow about everything and as though none of it really mattered. They kept citing being busy at work as a reason for not being quick about things - tell me about it, I’m a single parent to teens with issues and also have a full on career which involves travel and is going through upheaval - but I still prioritised signing of docs, instructing sols etc. And then they were happy to lose goodwill between us over the most pointless things. I’m long enough in the tooth to know goodwill between buyer and seller is a precious commodity and to be spent wisely!

I admire your positivity and need to channel some of it - after a lot of drama this week and relisting, this weekend feels a bit flat. My seller was told the news yesterday and the hope is that he’ll give me a bit of time - but there’s going to be a bit of a lull before much happens I think. According to the EA yesterday my buyers were angry and confused about being “cast aside” - this was after them hardline insisting for a large price reduction whilst refusing to share any evidence for their claim I need a whole new roof. After I went back declining but offering a smaller non-negotiable reduction as a goodwill gesture they replied saying “it’s a hard no”. What did they think was going to happen at that point?! EA was due to speak to them yesterday afternoon at their request but I can’t see anything being salvaged. Felt like such bully tactics, and I fear they were being very poorly advised - either that or were basing their negotiating tactics on having watched too many property programmes.

@ibelieveinmirrorballs annoyingly, the bad advice seems to be a trend. Our buyers pulled the same stunt- we made it clear that we would only negotiate with evidence, and then went quiet. None was forthcoming, and a number of weeks later they backed down after we made it clear we would be putting it back on the market at our own convenience (was during the Summer so we would have waited till a better time...plus our onward purchase had some issues and sellers who liked to disappear).

We had the luxury of not having to.move, though, and would have been OK staying.

The only reason we decided to continue was that we were at the very end of the process, and hadn't seen any other places we liked enough to buy (haven't since, incidentally!) They were horrible buyers and I still seethe thinking about it months and months on (we moved in Oct last year). The estate agent said that he had never seen buyers like.it in 30 years (and we ended up with a slight discount on EA fees as they were useless at advising us).

Oh god @ibelieveinmirrorballs they sound like they were pulling a fast one, they can always reconsider and re-offer if they decide they do want your place after all, sometimes the harsh reality of losing the purchase can focus the mind! So frustrating that they wouldn’t share the information in the survey, I think you did exactly the right thing to stand firm.

I was convinced my buyers would try for a last minute reduction, that was the one thing they didn’t do! Once I found out about the likelihood of the planning being refused, we tried to contact them. They didn’t pick up their phones for 24 hours and when they did, they advised that they had literally just paid the planning fee. They asked for me to cough up for that cost! Erm, no. Answer your phones, as had you done, you would not have gone ahead with this, plus ask the council for a refund if only literally just done.

I am gutted, but it is so far out of my control, it is easier to accept it. I think the difficult bit was when I thought it could still happen and was frantically trying to find solutions so I could keep the all important school places. I have reduced the price by £25k and put offers over, so hopefully that will get a lot of people through the door as it was keenly priced before. I went with the lowest suggested price from the variety of agents initially as wanted a quick sale. Plus accepted a fairly low offer as my buyers were cash buyers and FTBs. So am hoping I get more this time and that it can go through quickly. I think as it is a huge relocation for us, the fact it has stalled and all three of us still want to move is fantastic as I had a huge amount of Mum guilt at the move being my decision, but my eldest (who I thought was the least keen) was the most upset.

Now to get on with operation tidy up… I haven’t missed getting it ready for viewing…

Best of luck @noodles44 🤞🏻I really hope they like your house and make an offer.
Good to know the children are on side with it too x
@ibelieveinmirrorballs a bad buyer is a heartbreaker… I feel for you and what you’ve had to put up with. You’ve been more than reasonable with them and they sound horrible and quite aggressive in their response.
We’ve had bad buyer/good buyer over the past 9 months and it’s made such a difference not having to answer 100 pointless questions and be at someone’s beck and call and finding receipts and guarantees from 10 years ago then they pull out anyway because the house is ‘too close to a road’ - like they didn’t view it 4 times and come to measure up and sit in the garden for an hour. Still makes me seethe.
The contrast couldn’t be higher with our current buyer who has been patient and understanding even though she’s desperate to move into our house.
Never squander the goodwill is excellent advice. And keep everyone informed so they know what’s happening. And of course — answer the bloody phone!!!
best of luck with whatever comes next x

I feel the deal could yet be salvaged @ibelieveinmirrorballs & I’m really hoping on your behalf that it can be. Your potential buyers are upset because they believed too much of the guff around it being a buyers market. It is, but that doesn’t mean they have all the power! I think they have learnt a hard lesson now so I hope they can use their common sense to get the deal back on track with a little help from the EA.

Thanks all - I think the EA is holding back from telling me everything because she did say yesterday she thought there was a “slim to zero” chance of resuscitating things @Twiglets1 and I’m not 100% sure why this is, but can only think they’ve told her as such.

Their behaviour has been incomprehensibly frustrating - the EA set out repeatedly what we needed and that we were looking for end of Jan exchange. They faffed around for 6 weeks post survey supposedly gathering their “due diligence” whilst sharing no meaningful information, and then presented it all on 30th January. I think they probably thought we’d all be so keen to get it over the line that we’d just say “oh okay then”. F*ck that - this single parent will not be bullied.

Good for you!

Yeah well done @ibelieveinmirrorballs !
it does sound like they thought they were being tactical and clever - pushing you into a corner so you’d have to accept.
stay feisty :D

Hello, very new here. Lived in the same house for over 30 years and now (due to divorce) planning to move.
Just accepted an offer on our property and now waiting to see what shared ownership houses are still available for me and dcs.
Any tips or general advice extremely gratefully received because I'm still in the house with ex and dcs and this is sooooo stressful
Thank you 🙂

I am really getting frustrated with the EA. Been on market 3 weeks, had an offer which we accepted and then buyers pulled out due to financial issues. We were promised a marketing video, for sale sign, and updated photos as the garden doesn't look great covered in frost. I have repeatedly asked for all 3 and told yes it's being chased. None of these have materialised. Obviously everything was stopped for 5 days whilst we had a buyer. I've asked for it all again but I'm starting to wish I had listed with a free agent and paid for the right move listing as I'd rather be in control.

Am I able to get out of their withdrawal fee by stating that they have not delivered what is in their own t's & C's (I also have had no actual update on stats or anything) am I being too impatient this early on?

Had a second viewing today but really not sure if they will offer or not so have gone from feeling cautiously optimistic to the complete opposite.

It's so disheartening to spend time tidying and cleaning to have the house looking it's best for it not to have the desired effect.

I know the feeling on crap EAs. I think they’ve been so used to houses walking out the door the last few years they actually don’t know how to give proper service atm.

So... the 2nd viewing at ours went well. They like it. But... they still arent on the market.
I feel in such a bad mood today - I want to move, I want a divorce, I want to get on with my life! urgh!

That could be a long wait if they aren't even on the market 😭 sorry it's so shit for you. Do you have any clues as to what their house is like and whether it would shift fast?

I don't blame you - think they are CFs having a second viewing on someone's house when there own one isn't even on the market yet.

Remember you don't have to accept viewings from every Tom, Dick & Harry. You can tell your EA you only want viewings from people whose own house is on the market as a minimum requirement (or preferably in a position to proceed).

@startingoveragainagain we viewed the house we're buying before we were on the market. We got up and sold within 2 weeks of viewing and secured the purchase. Could still maybe happen?!

@startingoveragainagain yes I think it’s a bit cheeky too to have a second viewing before being on the market. I fell in love with the house I’m (hopefully) buying before being on the market but resolved to get close to being under offer before going back for 2nd. The weekend before I went under offer — and knowing I had several second and third viewings booked in on my house — I went back to look again.

Had interesting call from agents yesterday as potentially a couple of enquiries/viewings lined up for next week. They’ve also caught up with one of the people who offered at the same time as my buyers and she is still looking (but was about to offer elsewhere) so is having a think and will get back to us. She was a cash buyer, and one of the enquiries who possibly wants to view on Monday would be too upon completion - and apparently they’re two weeks from exchange and know the house already having viewed it years ago. So — a couple of things to keep fingers crossed for. I’m also going to get the roofer over to do a proper assessment of my (lovely, original period roof) to head off anyone else raising their eyebrows over it.