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

[sweetpickle2]

New thread!

We stalked the area for months LOL.
Drove up to the house and parked in the street 'just to look at it' a few times. Had tea and food at the local bar/cafe, went into local shops ... I think it's a good idea to get the 'vibe' for a place before you move there.
BTW I am currently typing this in my lovely, sunny seaside home, so if you're going through the Waiting to Exchange Mill, remember it will be worth it in the end. We are so happy to have made the move.

Yes this will be the first home I've ever owned by myself, post (amicable) divorce. I'm so excited at all this solo adulting.

@Penelope1703
great to see there’s other women buying solo. It’s stressful if so empowering, I’m even excited about learning DIY skills too! Bubble wrapped and sorted glasses for ex today who came round to see kids….of course he took all the crystal 🙄 but…it’s cathartic!

Well done @sweetpickle2, @newbeliever and @Edgeofthesea
Good to hear you are in and are very happy instantly.

Good luck to everyone planning on completing this coming week.

We have a survey being done by the buyer on 3rd. They did try to negotiate to get the survey off the previous buyers, but they wanted too much for it (I think they may be doing a L2 rather than L3 survey) so the previous buyers have ended up with what is effectively a useless survey to them when they could have clawed a bit of cash back.
It all feels very quiet here house move wise as my purchase is more or less ready for exchange, my new sale just needs to catch up (& the others in the chain too)...

I am having a panic again about moving my 13yo to a new area/new school. She wants to go, but we just had parents evening and she is doing really well. She had a huge operation in Sept 2022 so doesn't feel she has settled fully as missed so much school, but she does have a few good friends there... I don't think I will feel fully OK until she has settled in, but have read a thread about someone moving 2 reluctant 14yo's across the country and although my circumstances are different, it has hit a nerve.

We're deep in the last throes of packing and have started the big clean. I cleaned the fridge freezer yesterday, washed all the conservatory down and cleaned out kitchen cupboards. About to start washing the rest of the windows down. All clothes are packed bar the stuff we'll wear this week and we have probably one more tip and charity shop run to do. I'm working right up to moving day so need to get as much done today as possible so next week I can just clean each evening. Can't believe we're this close!

After a very long chat between us we are possibly pushing the reject button next week.
Even when we've completed we need some serious work doing the the house before we can move in. Neither job will take long but who knows how long we'll have to wait for tradesmen to be available.
It will be 8 weeks since we were ready to sort a date with the vendors and all we've really had back is 'hopefully soon' from their solicitors.

So by Thursday this coming week either we get clarity as to the hold up and confirmation from our solicitor it is a legitimate issue, this 'issue' has been resolved (it seems to be over a peppercorn rent leasehold) or we have it confirmed that the adult child seller is just continuing to mess about. If it is the last one we will have to pull out because this could drag on and on at their whim. DPs house is well on the way to being sold and we cannot risk having no where to live. My life is already in storage and I'm in this awful limbo.

@Mrscharlieeeee you sound to have been very productive this weekend and also sound incredibly organised too. Hopefully you will find no hidden jobs and can just concentrate on the last clean... Very exciting!

@Laughingravy that sounds sensible. Hope if you up the ante with the conversation, they will pull their finger out sooner than later. Must be so frustrating to have sellers at logger heads potentially.

I have been gardening today and trying to make it look presentable (not my forte!)

Jumping in on this thread, just starting the journey and finding it hard already. estate agent no 3. Coming over tomorrow to value, then viewing first couple of houses this week.

We want to move to a better area - the town here is full of obvious drug addicts laying on the streets. We’ve managed to avoid the centre so far but kids approaching teen years I’m kind of desperate to move so they don’t have to walk around that on way home.

Problem is move to a better area with outstanding secondary means a smaller property overall, or house prices out of our reach. Also nervous about kids not knowing anyone in the secondary so debating if we move them in primary now (we’re having issues with the eldest). So feels like everything at once.

Or we move across town to be closer to good secondary that kids could walk to without crossing town.

It’s hard.

@RandomButtons that sounds a difficult decision. I am moving my children to a new area for a variety of reasons which will be good for us. The eldest is Y8 and wants to move, I am under offer and progressing a purchase too and am still questioning if it is the right thing for her. She hasn't really been enjoying her school and after having an op at the start of Y7 missed so much school, she hasn't settled. But she has 3 really good friends where she is. It is a real dilemma and I guess with your situation you maybe need to view a few places and include your children in the decision too if you can. I lost my sale initially and both my children were really upset and said they definitely wanted to move (& I am still worrying, but I do also think they are excited about new bedrooms to decorate and a seaside location)

@noodles44 yes I think involving them in the process is a good idea. They are old enough to understand things now - where we live my youngest has a box room that fits a bed and nothing else, and he’s desperate for a bigger room. My oldest is thinking about secondaries- we are 18 months off applying but the few friends she has left in the school have older siblings already at secondary so they keep taking about it. There’s been a mass exodus of girls from her class and if any more go I think I’ll have to pull her out - so would love to have moved before it comes to that.

From my own experience I had a lot of girls join my secondary at year 8/9 and it was definitely the right decision for them - they were so much happier. It’s hard, but sometimes you’re better taking the risk.

@RandomButtons thanks for saying that, it is good to know and reassuring. The move is hopefully going to be really positive for us all. I just have too much time to overthink everything on the lead up to it!

The place I am buying has 2 similarly sized bedrooms for my two. At the moment my eldest has a huge room and my youngest has a much smaller one, so it will feel much fairer.

Evening all.
question about deposits as I’m trying to fill in details on the solicitor portal which has now crashed anyway… It’s asking on exchange day how much deposit I will be putting down. I thought that this was released from the bank?! I am purchasing new property with proceeds from sale and porting mortgage across so I’ve no idea of the deposit that would be laid down that day!
Help as I’m buying solo and not done this on 15 years!

Hi @runningmom the deposit moves up the chain usually unless you are topping up with additional funds from savings for example. On our paperwork we stated the mortgage deposit was coming from the equity in our current home and then a mortgage for the rest. We don't have additional funds to top up on exchange.

Congratulations to all those who have exchanged and completed recently.

It seems my purchase is nearly there now. We've been waiting on land registry registration and my solicitor says that it seems like that's nearly complete. A few enquiries outstanding but simple ones. Now, I keep getting new questions on my sale when they were supposedly nearly ready to exchange weeks ago!

Thanks @MrsCharlieD i did think it must be simple because who has £1000s in the bank spare for a deposit??!
Still waiting to hear of chain is complete. My EA said they were chasing that today but they didn’t email back. Another day of waiting I guess. I did do the mortgage valuation £100 as I’ll get my own survey and as soon as it was paid, the portal said my new property was worth what I’m paying 😜 such a scam as it’s just an online formula. But it’s another job done.

So we are looking set to exchange on Wednesday and complete on Thursday. Our solicitor has requested funds from our lender, all enquiries on sale and purchase are now done. We've paid the movers today and I think we're about there with the packing. This feels like some kind of fever dream. Can't believe after 3 months of doing drive bys I can legitimately park on the driveway very soon!

I'm so tired of this process. It's all just so frustratingly slow, but stressful at the same time. My sale is moving way faster than my purchase, so I'm stressed that everything is totally out of synch. But even the faster one still feels painfully slow. I got some enquiries that I didn't understand about 10 days ago - emailed the solicitor with some answer and also a request for a bit of an explanation. Only got the reply from them today. I'm feeling too tired with it to deal with the answers. I just want to go to bed and wake up in the new house, even if it means being asleep for months!

Not a lot of movement with the purchase thats come through me, however it looks like almost all the purchase enquiries are almost complete.

One sticking point with me was when we purchased the house we are selling the solicitors missed something on a search (they are acting on the sale now) which has cost us to sort so I'm a bit miffed as they should have picked it up when we purchased but hey ho.

Still waiting for exchange and completion date talks but the outstanding searches on our purchase should be back this week meaning the end is in sight.

@Mrscharlieeeee that is brilliant news, exchange tomorrow!!!!

I have no idea where we are timings wise. My seller was told towards the end of May by her agent, I still haven't had a conversation with my solicitor since being back under offer, but my agent has briefly. I am definitely at the bottom of the pile urgency wise as my purchase has pretty much been done and they are waiting for my sale to catch up, so I have lost my mojo for getting prepped a bit. Plus don't want to get too carried away incase it doesn't go through again.

I feel your pain @Tupster I could quite happily do the same!

Good luck with any upcoming exchanges & completions...

@Mrscharlieeeee that’s so exciting for you! Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

I still can’t quite believe we own our new house! I keep wandering around it thinking ‘wow’! I thought I was going to be sad about leaving our house of 28 years but I haven’t given it a second thought. Just enjoying being detached, lots of space, beautiful garden and a much better location in town. It’s such a nice time of year to move with the lighter evenings and the garden spring to life.

Hang on in there @Tupster @noodles44 i was in your situation less than a month ago and now we have moved! It seemed to be dragging on and then suddenly everything fell into place super quick. It did catch us off guard as we had lost our packing/clearing out mojo as it felt like it was never going to happen. We have definitely moved stuff we should have chucked and the final week was pretty stressful as we weren’t that organised!

I’m thinking of starting a new thread for those from this thread who are buying a renovation project. I know there are/were a few of us but I can’t remember who they were! It’s a first time for us, not planning an extension as it’s a good size but we need to do electrics, reconfigure layout, knock walls through, plaster etc. If you’re interested, let me know and I’ll tag you in the new thread. 😊

Eurgh having thought the chain was complete, the EA finally got back to me to say that no, the people at the top have lost their purchase so they’re out looking again. This is so frustrating but I know it’s through no one’s fault. I hope they can find somewhere and close the chain soon! My mortgage has gone through and I’m poised to order survey but obviously nobody can do anything.
It’s selfish but I was hoping to move in August as I’m a teacher and can’t then take any time off if we move Sept/Oct instead.
It’s one step forward and two back with house buying 😟 and when you’re anxious and impatient it’s awful!

@Tupster I definitely felt your pain with the enquiries. We ended up stuck at the stage with 9 weeks of back and forth. We literally resolved enquiries last week and all being well we are exchanging tomorrow with completion on Thursday so once you do get through that stage it's quick from then on.

We are all set to exchange tomorrow. I have a bit of packing to do tonight and tomorrow we are just cleaning and then that will be it. I don't know how to feel, it felt like this day would never come ha ha

I had a message from.my agent giving an update for where the whole chain is currently at. The FTB's and my buyers are waiting for the last searches and have started their enquiries. My purchase is ready for me to sign contracts when the rest of the chain catches up and my seller has nearly all her searches back and has the cobtract pack & has done all her paperwork.

They don't want to guess on a date yet as this stage can take a while apparently (no shit!!)
But I feel pleased to know everyone is actively doing something to move and noone is sat twiddling their thumbs. It has taken a month pretty much since going back under offer to get to this stage. First time around my buyers hadn't even started their searches yet! It definitely makes a noticeable difference when the buyers are keen and pro-active.

Good luck 2mo @Mrscharlieeeee and of course Thursday too. I'm not sure I could cope with exchanging one day and completing the next!!

So my buyer/their solicitor not only "forgot" to order their searches, we accepted their offer in early December and have been ready to exchange since the end of January 2024. They are selling to first time buyers. so I thought it would be a quick sale, but their buyers have dragged their feet and are now asking our buyer for 20k off their asking price. We can't afford to accept a reduction on the sale of our house, as it will leave us short on buying our onward purchase. Can only hope

Thank you @noodles44 I think ignorance is bliss to be honest. I was a FTB last time so this process is all new to me. Last day at work tomorrow before the move. Wish I'd been able to take the day off but it was such short notice I couldn't reschedule my day. It will be ok I'm sure. What will be will be!