The all new buyers/sellers waiting room (continued) thread

[sweetpickle2]

New thread!

Oh blimey, doesn’t sound likely that we’ll be in on Friday does it! Anyone been number 7 or higher and got in on completion day??!!

Hi all, I’d like to join if that’s ok!

We started looking in November and after loosing out on one house, put our house on the market at the end of January. We accepted an offer within a week from buyers who were willing to go at our timescale. We have answered two sets of queries from their solicitors and their mortgage valuation (in person!) was yesterday.

We had an off market offer accepted on our purchase at the start of this month. Our mortgage valuation happened on Thursday and our mortgage offer is now live. Our solicitors received the initial care pack for our purchase on Friday so all is a go!

Unfortunately our sellers were gazzumped on the house they had an offer accepted on so still waiting for them to get something secured. We’re in no particular rush as our current mortgage term runs until the end of July so hoping for an August completion date!

Congratulations @ShittyGlitter - glad move day was not as stressful as anticipated. I think the build up and stress of will it/won’t it happen means usually most of the stress is on the lead up to it generally. I hope you are enjoying being in your new home and the unpacking is going well.

Great news @newbeliever - looks like a busy weekend ahead! @Mrscharlieeeee not far behind for you hopefully too.

Joining the boiler debate, I serviced mine when I first went under offer as it was over a year since it was last done (4 year old boiler)
I am trying to do a few odd jobs too, eg oven clean, cleaned a carpet, have purchased a year of garden refuse collection, that kind of thing. I plan to fill and paint where some of my picture hooks are, but will leave the main ones. I am paranoid that the paint work will all look scruffy when my furniture is out, so am just trying to do a few nice little things to distract from that!

Plus my new buyers seem lovely and are a breath of fresh air (still) compared to the first ones I had. I cleaned the top of my kitchen cupboards this week as did a deep clean of the kitchen, I don’t think I would have bothered for the original buyers! My cupboards are much emptier too as have thrown out old jars and out of date stuff, oh and a fairly unhealthy stash of GU ramekins too (@Jaq27 )

Have a good weekend prepping and packing everyone! (Or unpacking if just moved!)

@noodles44 I’m about to attack the kitchen now and your Gu ramekin comment made me laugh … I think I have a similar issue too! You sound like you have done more than enough for your buyers. I haven’t even considered making good where we take down pictures etc.

I had tried to arrange a deep clean of the property we are buying but couldn’t find a firm with availability. After exchange yesterday my husband popped round to look at the house and bumped into the sellers (it’s a probate). They said they were spending the whole weekend there to get it clean for us which is nice to know - it’s been empty for over 18months.

Welcome @CherryBlossomNo1 I hope your sellers find a property soon.

@newbeliever that is nice to know re your onward property. My seller has told me that she is doing an oven clean and is booking cleaners to do a one off clean too, so I feel very grateful as the last 2 places I have bought have not been in a decent state when we moved in. My current house just needed a clean, but the one before had been rented out and they must have moved out and literally left half their belongings behind, including kitchen crockery, wardrobes etc. Luckily we didn't need to move in on the day of completion and so we spent a weekend clearing it and doing tip trips!

Gosh, your previous purchase sounds a nightmare! Your new sellers sound lovely, makes such a difference doesn’t it. Moving day is hard enough, emotions running high, without the added pressure of the house being a tip!

So our buyers want to push to complete 28th March. Their buyer is getting angsty. We have 2 enquiries outstanding on our purchase. If we can make it happen we will and this save us an extra mortgage payment on our current home and reduce the interest for our first new mortgage payment. This would get us in before Easter which has long been our goal. Fingers crossed!

It’s totally possible but make sure you get removers pencilled in now. That was the most stressful bit for me earlier this week as the whole chain had removals booked apart from us and I was struggling to find someone.

We still had some enquiries outstanding at the beginning of this week too so all possible. It certainly focuses everyone once a deadline has been set. Exciting! I was just thinking this morning, it’s a lovely time of year to be moving, lighter evenings, the gardens will be springing to life and lots of bank holidays to give time to work on house/garden 😊

You know what, I'd go for 27 March.

Reasons: I bet the world and his wife are already moving on 28 March and everyone getting removals may be challenging; and 28 March is pay day for loads of people. This can really slow down the banking system for transfer of funds, and you don't want it to go wrong the day before a long weekend of BHs! At least if you aim for Weds, you have Thurs as a working day to sort any issues.

Well done to everyone who has exchanged recently and best of luck to those preparing to move 🎉😃

I've been renovating my future home and it is pretty much finished on the inside (the garden is a different matter!). I've decided to move in straight away, even though I still haven't exchanged contracts on my house sale, so I've booked the movers for 8th April 😲. It feels very real now after a very long project, and I am madly sorting / clearing / preparing for packers, which I'm quite enjoying.

The shower leak in my bathroom which caused much angst over the past week seems to have been resolved - faulty grouting apparently. I still find it hard to believe it's fixed though so I am showering very gingerly!

The big unknown is the sale of the house. Turns out the lack of response was due to the buyers having been abroad. I just hope there are no silly games or a sudden change of heart. I've become accustomed to constant low level stress (punctuated by periods of high level anxiety) as I await further news. I'm planning around three scenarios - a smooth move / delayed completion / having to re-market (which I would not relish, but I will leave various bits of furniture / mirrors etc., so it still looks reasonably inviting, and will come back to prepare for viewings / deal with maintenance).

Well done to everyone who’s got over the exchange line 🍾🥂
Our buyer was such a dream we wanted to leave the house perfect so filled in all the picture holes and repainted too. Oven was professionally cleaned. We did a thorough blitz of cleaning from top to bottom. Left flowers, fizz, a card and loads of helpful info on the house etc
I’ve moved 7 times and will never forget the depression of moving in to a dirty house with broken toilet lids, dangerous wiring etc it’s so tiring after you’ve packed up and left your old house pristine. Especially when you have children … I’d not want to do that to anyone.
@noodles44 i did manage to fit in all the bloody ramekins thanks 😂 but half of my cooking paraphernalia is still in boxes in the garage… the kitchen here just isn’t big enough for my kitchenaid, air fryer, skillet, magimix etc
we’re planning to create a storage/utility area in the double garage …
Good luck with the packing everyone 📦

I suspect I may have a similar issue with my kitchen gadgets @Jaq27 my new kitchen is smaller, although it is much better appointed, so more cupboard space and generally a better use of the space. There isn't a huge amount of work surface though, I had thought about getting a little lavazza coffee machine, but am holding off until I have moved and know how much space I actually have. I did have the idea of one of those pulley things for my pans, but I probably only have one pan that is nice enough to be visible!!
That sounds exciting to be converting garage space into a utility though. I'm so pleased you are settling in well, it is lovely to hear how pleased you are to be in and the plans.

I cannot wait to get to my new place, I spend far too much time looking at potential colour schemes and wallpaper. The interior design challenge with Alan Carr is back on (I love that show) so I am hoping to get some tips from the show (to do and to avoid!!) I have seen a very fancy gorgeous metallic paint in a coppery colour which I am wondering if it will go on the lounge chimney breast. I will have lots of mood boards to move at this rate too!!

We had to buy two more kitchen cupboards after moving in as although we had more cupboards, the wall ones are more shallow than our old house, so it was actually less space! Thankfully it was easy to find the supplier for the estate and order. Not cheap though (at least we had the doors from removing the integrated white goods to use, as the carcasses alone cost enough).

Following on from my post about my buyer not ordering searches 12 weeks after we accepted their offer. We have now been told that the searches won't be back for nearly 3 weeks, on 3rd April.
We were expecting to exchange last Friday and complete on 28th March. I had my removals booked together with boarding for my dogs; now cancelled. So we no longer have a completion date.
My buyer is cash from proceeds of sale. I'm sure if they needed a mortgage we would not have got so far along the conveyancing process without them ordering their searches.
Their solicitor won't even return my solicitor's calls/emails to them, asking why the searches weren't done and pressing them to expedite the process. Sat here surrounded by packing boxes. Fed up with it all now! I just want to get moving!
Just needed to rant.

Oh god @Bigbangtheory that sounds a nightmare. Have they definitely started all their searches now? Did they do a survey already? I wonder why they delayed, have they explained or apologised even?

My first buyers were cash buyers from an inheritance. They moved at a glacial rate, I am pretty sure for personal reasons as they lived still with Mum & Dad (mid 30's) so were in no rush. I, on the other hand, had booked school places for our new area and had everyone like removals primed. They made a decision on the lack of a dropped kerb at the point we should have been exchanging (having mentioned it at the point of viewing 4 months earlier and were seemingly happy with the answer given then, nothing changed) and pulled out. I accommodated them far more because I thought they were the most desirable buyers, but they had no oomph to move. I now have a buyer who wants to be in and is asking questions, getting measurements, doing another viewing and generally sounds keen, which is like a breath of fresh air.

I hhope your buyers realise the impact of their inaction and pull their fingers out asap.

@NoWordForFluffy that was fortunate that you could source the kitchen doors still. My kitchen is currently quite large. The only cupboard I will miss is a pull out larder cupboard as I dont think there is one in my new place. I decluttered my worktops drastically for the property photos and viewings, so have tried to do without much of the clutter being out, so maybe the work surfaces will be pretty clear after all...

@Bigbangtheory horrendously frustrating for you - do you think they were holding off until they were satisfied the survey was okay? Totally agree it’s normally the first thing that happens but of course it’s a £500 outlay from the get go and wonder if they thought they were being “sensible” 🙄 Sounds like it’s been compounded by them having useless solicitors.

It's a new build, thankfully, so the supplier takes your details and tells you what kitchen you've got!

@noodles44 @ibelieveinmirrorballs Thanks, no apology, no explanation other than their solicitor "forgot". They had their survey done 6 weeks ago, but even that was late in the process. I'm a person who likes things to be organised, I paid £500 upfront as soon as I instructed our solicitor, had the survey booked in less than 2 weeks after our offer was accepted on the house we are buying and I've been ready to exchange on our new house since February! Our estate agent describes our buyer as "scatty".🙄

@Bigbangtheory I’m the same as you - especially very early on in the process as I’m always keen to demonstrate that I’m a serious buyer.

Hello everybody!

congrats@newbeliever on your exchange!

@Mrscharlieeeee its looking promising for you! Hopefully you exchange and complete before the end of the month! Got my fingers crossed for you.

Been a hectic weekend here but with all the family helping we are in and pretty much all out of box’s.
husband has now left to move back to where he works and it’s just me and the kids during the week. House was spotless and I love it even more than the first time we viewed it.

good luck to everyone hoping for exchange next week!

Thank you @PC96 and so glad you're getting settled in your new home.

Another week begins, hope it's a good one for all!

@PC96 this is super exciting. Keep us updated!

I’ve been catching up on the thread and have noticed a lot of us are now aiming to complete on the 28th! 😅 On our final 4 queries with our buyers’ solicitor who was delayed coming back to us as was off sick again last week. Hoping they will come back and confirm today that we can exchange this week…I think they will as our buyer seems fine, but has just made an unfortunate choice in conveyancer 🤦‍♀️

Fingers crossed it goes smoothly for all my fellow 28ers this week. Got my moving company deposit paid.

@Bigbangtheory so sorry to hear about your buyer too. They seem fairly inexperienced by the sound of it! I hope the searches are quicker than expected 🙏

Great news @PC96 - that is impressive to be out of the boxes already pretty much too! I hope you get some time to put your feet up this week inbetween finding the right homes for all uour stuff.

Good luck to everyone exchanging/completing in the coming week. Fingers crossed everything progresses as it should...

I am hoping to hear something from my solicitor this week, I am figuring as my exchange is so far off now, I am at the bottom of the pile. I would like an ipdate and to check if there is anything I need to be doing to avoid any delays...

Slow moving here : - /.

Had one viewing on Friday, the feedback from the weekend is that the house requires too much work (it's priced to reflect that, or so I thought!).
Two more viewings booked this week so fingers crossed.

Good luck to all the exchangers this week! I have been reading all the messages but honestly think I've still got PTSD from my last few weeks so can't bring myself to get too involved in thinking about the stress before exchange again 😂 But know you all have my sympathies!

Full steam ahead here for Friday's completion. Doesn't feel real!