The all new buyers/sellers waiting room (continued x3) thread!

[fromtheshires]

As @movingtoplan has finally flown the nest, I have taken the torch and started a new thread as there are less than 80 replies remaining on the current thread before its full!

We've had lots of completions, exchanges, offers accepted, maddening conveyancing teams, strange requests, and worries to last a lifetime. Welcome welcome.

Catch up here: Previous Thread

Good luck to you, whatever stage you're at in the process.

My update is our onward purchase was completed months ago but due to buyers pulling out we had to start again with a buyer and they are just in the final stages of conveyancing and we are talking dates! I really hope I am not on the next thread.

@AliceinSlumberland I would go with the 'ugly' house with better garden.

Most people don't spend time admiring the beauty of their houses do they?! (Genuine question, we always go for ugly nanna houses with better layout/plot over character) I think the constant thoughts of being watched in my own garden would ruin enjoyment of the house anyway.

Hard decision though when it's a head or heart purchase! Good luck :)

@startingoveragainagain same thing happened to us but with the oven. We went for good brand but secondhand from marketplace (and lots of oven cleaner!). Could that be an option? I find people are always ripping out perfectly good appliances because they're doing up the kitchen or something

Had our offer accepted at the start of June, but now our sellers Scottish purchase is finally confirmed and they have been able to secure temporary accommodation from the end of October, I finally feel confident enough to post in this thread.

It is just us in the chain. And they are buying their future house without the sale proceeds from us.

With any luck we will be out of this godforsaken rental by the end of the first week in November and they will be up the road in a colleague’s air b and b waiting to move to Scotland when the weather lets them in January. Thank you to that air b and b owner for agreeing to let them take their Labrador into your property! I doubt I would have a shred of sanity left come January if we had had to wait that long.

It will be 2 years and 10 months from when we first started looking for a house to buy if this all goes to plan.

@AliceinSlumberland we found our onward purchase by accident- we'd previously dismissed a house in our perfect location because the photos made it look super small and the garden too.
We'd exhausted every suitable house in our perffered area (visited then all) so we decided to view the ones we'd preciously discounted.

Knew as soon as we walked in. The pictures did not do it justice. It felt much bigger, the garden was vast and it had bags of character.

We've just come from a practical choice house where we spent 8 happy yeara and started our family but were looking for something different with the new house.

We have made compromises (4 bed to 3 bed, smaller kitchen, no attic) but funnily enough because of the benefits it brings, the compromises don't feel like compromises. The location is absolutely perfect for us and I can not underestimate the importance of picking location over house asthectis.

I would say if the garden is already bothering you, go back and see it again, stand where you'd be sitting / gardening etc and spend some time walking round. Only you know what are your must haves and what you're willing to give up.

Funnily enough one our our #1 must haves was a super king bed and we absolutely can not for one in our new bedroom 🤣🤣 Still lcan not wait to live there though!

Good luck with your search!

"I would say if the garden is already bothering you, go back and see it again, stand where you'd be sitting / gardening etc and spend some time walking round. Only you know what are your must haves and what you're willing to give up."

This 100%. If the garden genuinely is overlooked, and you feel like that when you're in it, and that's a deal breaker for you, then don't get it.
BUT maybe it isn't really? That's the deal with my house which is why it's so frustrating that people are ruling it out on that basis. It gives the impression it will be but when you get outside it really isn't because the house that should be overlooking it is actually lower down.
Could be the same for you...

My offerers viewed for the second time today. Almost an hour first time, an hour this time. They want the house. Waiting on yesterdays viewers if they want to make an offer.

My incredible friend has found me a house but the vendors are away so she can't view it for me this weekend. The fly in the ointment is there is no garage and the loft is tiny and I have a lot of stuff to store for my DC. Forget the house or take it and pay for the kids stuff to be stored until their dad finds a house and he can have it?

Also, do I drive five hours ish to view it then come home? I'm trying to see if I can get anything else to view and then will go up for one night, maybe two. My friend is trying to view for me to save me going.

Diddly squat happened today. Heard nothing. ☹️

Thanks all re the comments. Viewed ugly house today, it’s perfect for us, everything we need and location is 10/10. Put an asking price offer in within an hour and they’ve had several offers already and got viewings tomorrow 😭 We’re in the NW of England, this doesn’t happen here. Having looked at Rightmove it’s definitely underpriced but we have a limit with what we can go to. It’s on at 350, we’re going to offer 370. That’s the most we can do and a fair price for the house, having researched. Interestingly the garden is still a bit overlooked in this one but it doesn’t feel claustrophobic, perhaps because it’s a bit bigger? And can be fixed with shrubs etc.

So now we wait, a tense weekend. If it’s not to be, it’s not to be I guess.

@Itsrainingten we did go out into the garden, and to be honest that’s what made me feel like it wasn’t doable. It’s not so much that it’s overlooked as it’s all bedrooms really so not too bothered about that, I just felt quite boxed in, like you say @Cheeseandcrackers40 it felt a bit goldfish bowly. I think that the problem is that there’s a house at the back of it that’s quite tall and no garden to speak of, so it feels very close.

Another day. No news. Had to tell removals we won’t move next Friday 😔 and to pencil in the 26th but I suspect it might not be then either given no communication and no exchange date discussed yet 4/6 all ready 😩🙄
Here’s to forgetting about it all until Monday.

@AliceinSlumberland ah good luck, I hope they accept your offer... I'm in north west too (Wirral!)

Ahhh the house we’ve seen is in Formby!

Ooh isn't Formby posh?!

Well, it houses footballers and has a Waitrose! And loooooooong queues to park at the beach when we actually get a summer!

Is it terrible that I hate the weekends atm as there's no progress so it feels like limbo.

Still waiting on searches, should have been back the 8th then was told the 11th, then told today maybe next week. Been asked to do a few idemnities on conservatory, freehold rent charges and outbuildings which we've just agreed to. Everyone on the chain was hoping for a 22nd July completion but this doesn't look likely now. I've booked time off work as needing to use holidays up but feels like a waste and can't carry any more over.

Also I have a 4 year old starting school in September so really want to give him a chance to settle before he starts. Really panicking we'll miss the summer holidays as it needs a load of work doing.

I keep panicking the bottom of the chain will fall through whilst we're waiting, I have no idea how far away we are as our solicitor refuses to even give us a ball park estimate of a time frame. I really hate this. 😩

@Aliceinslumberland oh lovely! My Grandparents lived near freshfields station so really close to the beach/squirrel reserve, spent loads of time there when I was a kid 😊

@propertyshmoperty I'm the opposite, love the weekends as it means I'm not obsessively checking my emails 😂

@winewolfhowls haha yeah too push for us!!! Some bits definitely have some very big houses but the one we’re wanting to buy is much more modest 😂😂😂 not sure how I’ll cope without an aldi though 😂

Which end of Formby are you? You'll have to take a trip to the one in Birkdale!

Haha handily that’s right next to my parents house! We live in Southport currently, and were looking there at houses originally so Formby is a bit of a curveball but the house just works so well for us.

Anyone looked what their new mortgage is going to be and feeling slightly terrified 😂 we can afford it but we’ll have to watch the pennies a bit better!!

Yeah, our mortgage / rent combo takes up everything I was saving before we moved!

We used to be a 5 minute walk from that Aldi, but have moved further away from it. DH nips to it when he's on the school run now, or I pop to the other one when I go to Sainsbury's (I don't like that one though!).

I like Formby beach but I never go because the parking is too busy on a nice day. MIL has moved to Lytham so will prob take the dogs there for their beach excursions now, although she’s currently not talking to us (both of our mothers are massive dramas queens and very bitter about their divorces thirty years ago, and she gets in a strop every time my partner does anything nice with his dad).

I was hoping we’d get an update from our solicitor on all the bad things outstanding from our sale so we could draw a line under it but nothing. We will be staying put so I want to start making plans on how to make our house work. I’m sat here listening to next doors child screaming. Soundproofing is top of the list.

Yep the increase in mortgage does look vaguely terrifying but I went full time in work a couple of months ago and my additional earnings pay for most of the increase - we will just have to be a bit more mindful for the rest but it's not a massive stretch... I have double, triple checked the figures and trying not to think about the actual numbers because they freak me out! I slightly worry about the early months of the year because husband is a musician and it's always quiet in Jan/Feb so have to save any extra earnings from the Christmas rush and always make sure we have a bit extra to cover the fallow months! As it happens he has a regular gig in Birkdale... he follows the money 😂😂 (rarely plays in wirral as no one pays enough!)

How long have you waited for your seller to find a house? It's been 4 months ours has had one offer accepted but that fell through and another offer declined. I am getting very impatient now, we have started looking at other properties but not found something else suitable yet.

What gets me at Formby is how many people get down the slope and sit down almost immediately, making it rammed, when if you walk in either direction for a minute or so, it's a lot quieter and there's loads of space!

We've not been since having the dog though other than the one time which was a disaster due to grumpy children!

Another viewing today. Have spent about 2 hours cleaning and polishing the whole house. God I hope this one is the one. I think we must have had about 15 or 20 and it's such a pain in the arse. Especially with 2 kids . Also the cat puked on the carpet 3 times this morning. Obviously I've cleaned it up but I'm paranoid he might do it again while they're walking round😱