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

[sweetpickle2]

New thread!

Bloody Nora @Bigbangtheory that is nearly 4 months, I am raging on your behalf with the “forgotten” searches. Wtf were they doing?
I hope they pull their finger out and don’t try to renegotiate.

Blimey @Mrscharlieeeee that sounds full on with having to work too. You sound organised and if you are waiting to exchange, work might be a welcome distraction… I hope you get to nip off a bit earlier though! Good luck!

Bad day for me today. My vendors are (to put it politely) just effing about and I've had to issue threats and ultimatums. I am only moving because this is a dream house, so if this all falls through, I'll have to totally drop out of my sale at the point of being ready to exchange. I really hope things can be rescued, but honestly I think my vendors are as thick as pigshit and we may struggle to get any progress at all. Makes me sad. ☹️

Can I ask how you guys get the date of exchange?
Did your solicitor propose a date to you first??
When and how did you sign all these?? Did your solicitor explain the contract/property beforehand??

Thanks

Hello everyone. I've been lurking on this thread for over a year in the hope of one day joining you. Last week, at last, I sold STC.

Now begins the search for my next home. I don't have as much to spend as I'd hoped as needed to take a lowish offer and realising there's nothing on Rightmove that makes my head sing, or even ticks my boxes. But it's early days and I look forward to being part of the waiting room gang, hopefully for not too long though😀

Welcome @Notelongnow and good luck on your search

@Tupster I was in the same position - i.e. only moving because this was my dream house. In a way it makes everything more black and white but I really hope for you that things stay on track - what are the vendors doing?

@Bigbangtheory gaahh these FTB last minute gazundering types... uggh. Again the only upside here is that you actually can't afford to take the hit - therefore it's a hard no and they'll have to absorb it or hold firm themselves. My buyers wanted £30k+ off me, my EA suggested we compromise and try to get some of it off my vendor and 'split the burden'. I refused to pass it on though as didn't think it was fair, and refused to give more than £5k reduction, which was all I could accept. Keeping everything crossed for you.

@Gloriasub all talk of exchange dates came for me via the EA. It's all a bit moot until searches are back and survey results are back (and nobody's trying to get a price reduction). Before that point we all talked around what we would LIKE and what we were aiming for, but I realised that until we reached the point of complete price agreement and being ready to sign the contracts, it was all a bit of a waste of time.

Id like the sound of that thread! My instagram is full of Reno ideas!

@Notelongnow Welcome and good luck finding your new home! How's the market around you? Things by us are so slow at the moment, hardly anything came up that we liked in our budget :(

@newbeliever I would love to join a reno thread :) We completed Friday and we've spent every spare moment since stripping wallpaper, patching up walls, painting and clearing out. Our home has been lived in by an older single woman for a long time, and literally every single wall is papered 😅50% of the wallpaper has glitter in it. I can't live with it! We're moving in officially on Easter Monday and we still have a room to paint and flooring to lay, around husband working full time and me looking after our 2 preschoolers, 7 months pregnant. Its been a busy week, and I'm booking a massage for next week!

@Edgeofthesea oh my goodness, you are sounding so organised!! We have lots of papered walks too, awful fitted shelves everywhere, including a stunning bed side table set up we need to remove. Haven’t attempted any DIY yet as we are still unpacking and trying to get organised. Planning to store stuff in the loft/garage/spare rooms as we have a lot of work to do. Sounds great to get a head start with nothing in there before moving in 😊 I’ll get the thread organised later.

Surveyor was here nearly 2 hours I’m so stressed. I can’t imagine what is going to come up - damp/mould new roof. And with my vendor making threats I just can’t see it happening. Which means I’ll have spent £1500 on searches etc to no avail. Argh 😡

You don't have a specific exchange date planned in advance. Exchange will happen at the earliest point that all parties are ready.

Obviously things like signed contract and possibly deposit need to be sorted and back with the solicitor before exchange can happen, so often the solicitor will say "we're getting close to being ready to exchange, should be some day next week, can you make sure you've signed and returned your contract and transferred the balance of the deposit."

@IronNeonClasp , what level survey was it? If it was a Level 3 then that amount of time is quite standard. I don't think they necessarily take longer if there are more problems. Also surveyors vary quite a bit. I've had two surveys on the house I'm selling, one L2 and one L3, and the L2 took longer.

NB if lots of stuff does come up, it's worth getting your own quotes, assuming they tell you what the issues are.

@Gloriasub , on the exchange date question, a suggested date came to me via my EA, but only after I had chased.

Thanks @ClematisBlue49 it’s a L2. Just on my way to finalise the mortgage but seems a bit fruitless.

‘Lo all.

Sold in a fortnight to FTB, finding our property only a few days later. So from that rapid, exciting beginning… we are now waiting. I forgot how slow and silent things could be! Everyone has done everything they can in our small chain of 3 (FTB, us, downsizers) and we are waiting for the Solicitors to solicit… and stuff, and mortgage brokers to mortgage and stuff.

Hoping to be done by/in July but who knows. Here to hand hold and find joy in such an uncertain, dull process :)

Regretting doing this 5mins before a splurge of bank holidays which will only slow things further! But thankful we pulled a chain together so quickly. Good luck all!

As a woman buying solo it's stressful and sometimes a slight bit of misogyny with EAs

EAs in London lately are awful

I'm the middle of a chain of three (buying a vacant house), and we've done everything. Asked our buyer's solicitor (via EA) last week if the buyer is ready to go, and they just said they need to conduct their full file review, send out their property report and contracts for signing. We're desperate to complete the first half of April because of work commitments in the second half, but they haven't responded to our follow up to learn when they think they'll be ready. Also no idea what our buyer's situation is with regards to moving dates and preference, and our EA can't get hold of them. So annoying 😑

I'm jumping back in the thread! We had a slight blip - understatement of the year - in that I was made redundant unexpectedly 6 weeks ago, but I've secured a new job at a higher salary, and we are back in action. I am so relieved and excited.

Solicitors have started the searches and we are all systems go to get this done. 🤞🥳

I’m just waiting now for our chain to close. So far there’s already 5 in it with the top needing to find somewhere after their onward purchase fell through. It’s been so stressful because I sold and had an offer accepted all within 10 days but then have spent the last 6 weeks waiting on the chain to close.
There’s nothing I can do now and short of pulling out and finding somehow an empty property I’ve just got to hope we hear news in the next few weeks.

Our hopes of moving next week are now zero. There was 9 enquires outstanding. Fuck knows what the solicitors have been doing for the last few weeks. EA are now chasing the bottom of the chain but nobody seems ready to complete even though we were told everything was almost ready weeks ago!

There has been talk of mortgage rates dropping in the next couple of weeks, so maybe all this will be a blessing in disguise?

Packers have been and I'm sitting in very shabby looking old house surrounded by boxes waiting for an early completion tomorrow. I'm most worried about the cat and how I get the place clean before we hand over the keys. Eek.
Bit wistful now but I'm trying to remain positive. Lots of good memories here.

We haven't exchanged. Our buyer's solicitor said they weren't ready. Our buyer said they had no idea and thought we'd exchanged! I could cry. We are exchanging and completing tomorrow. Literally sick and want to cry. Send all the positive vibes!!

The waiting for searches continues. Vendors sent us a list separate to fixtures and fittings, of items in the house he could offer us for free if we wanted it. There's some stuff we've asked to keep as his parents had good taste. He'll be clearing out the house in the next few weeks even though we don't have an exchange date yet. But that's good as we'll have a chance to measure up when it's empty.

Did people see the draft contract and queries before they were sent to the vendor? Our solicitor has been in a back and forth with vendor about queries but i have no idea what she's asked. Assume it's the standard bollocks.

I bought my first place solo - and it felt so empowering so well done to the solo buyers here! Weirdly I found it easier as I didn't have to work around someone else's schedule, or consider their opinions - just me. Might have also felt easier as that was a newish flat rather than an old house like now - all the repairs and maintenance we'll have to do definitely feels daunting!

I didn't get much updates from my solicitor. I didn't wanna bother her by asking her so often (so that she knows I am not a lousy client lol)

Anyways, we know that she has sent out searches and raised enquiries.
She didn't let us know what enquiries she has raised, but then she got some answered from my vendor. She raised another set of enquiries, at that time she showed me what she has asked and what have been answered to sort of updating me the progress.

Somehow I want it to be done asap, but at the same time, I don't want it to be done that fast as my break clause starts in next year in Feb :"(

@Mrscharlieeeee your buyers solicitor were not ready??? I hope they are more organised today and you exchange and complete without a hitch. Not what you need the day before the long bank holiday weekend. Good job you had work to distract you yesterday after all… keep us updated today, wishing you all the luck x

Good luck too@Penelope1703 today, can you pop the cat in an empty room with a litter tray etc this am? Or does anyone you know have a large dog crate you could borrow?
Am sure when I last moved, as the removals emptied a room, I cleaned behind them, it is much easier when empty…

Thank you @noodles44. I know. Absolutely unbelievable given the pressure put on us by our buyers to complete today. I would have happily done the 5th and it would have been so much more convenient for us. I was so cross yesterday I cried. Anyway, we are where we are. Our mortgage funds are with our solicitor, we were all ready. It really is ludicrous. Our buyers didn't even know we hadn't exchanged!!!!