The all new buyers/sellers waiting room (x 6!) thread

[Champere]

Welcome across everyone!

We’ve got six nights until we move and the insomnia has set in!

It’s taken us three threads to move and I hope this thread is the one I graduate on….

Best of luck to everyone! May your agents be truthful, your conveyancers responsive, your lenders generous and your chain reasonable!!

Oh my god @TartTartin I hear you. Ours is SO bad.

@yankeeg

Most vendors can't drop because they fear their ongoing purchase won't, so that restricts their ability to accept offers. They just stay and don't move, in that case.

If you want a discount you may need to look, sadly, for distressed buyers. People that have to sell, are desperate to, or a probate property that's hung around a long time and had inheritance tax due on its value. You won't actually know who these are of course, it's numbers game and will probably require some compromise on your part.

Being on the market a month isn't a long time. Especially with Christmas around the corner.

Our buyers solicitor continues to ask questions about irrelevant issues 🙄. I'm hoping we don't lose the sale but am pleased that we probably aren't looking at exchanging until the new year now. I'm hoping bought the rental and sales market improves massively over the next few weeks!

Absolutely! I used to work in a solicitor's about 30 years ago and we never would have left the clients so uninformed!

If all it does is kick it into the New Year, that's not a bad thing generally. We.moved on 30th December and it was a nightmare getting stuff done. Mind you that was 30 years ago this year so maybe with email and Internet there's an improvement in that.

Good luck for the New Year.

Good luck and congrats to everyone reaching the finish line. What a time of year to be doing it!

We have zero progress with ours still. Apparently our seller has lost some deeds to an extra piece of ground and until that can be found the conveyancer will not pass on any information for us to look at. We have had a survey done (no problems) and have our mortgage arranged. So we are ready, just waiting for the conveyancing pack and movement from the seller? I really want to see that Sold sign on the Rightmove listing.

Same here. I wish I could hibernate from now till 2nd January.

That sounds terrible, 0hshutupshirley.
I hope they are all sorted by the end of today. I hate solicitors.

Mortgage application proper going at a snails pace. Have provided everything they have asked for. Good news going into Xmas would be ideal!

I'm still waiting for the lower chain after being told exchange was imminent at the end if November. Apparently lower chains equity release solicitor is really slow. I've lost the will to live . I was hoping for a move before xmas but there's no chance of that. So bloody annoying when I'm packed up and so is my onward purchase. One person holding everything up 😫

Same boat here. The EAs and solicitors have checked out now. You are either in a chain that is completing this week and therefore getting all the focus or you are in the couldn't give a shit about you now until after Christmas basket. We are most definitely in the latter. Bottom of chain still fannying around with more enquiries anyway by the sounds of it so that's that. I agree re hibernating until 2nd Jan. I'm not looking forward to spending yet another Christmas driving 300 miles up the motorway to listen to clueless relatives ask why we haven't moved yet. Especially when the 300 mile drive each way could have been avoided if certain people in the chain had acted earlier on things like surveys and we'd been able to move. Roll on 2nd January and that it brings a renewed focus to get this over the line.

I've given up. Not ringing anyone to check what is happening. Just hope there will be something next month though we are all just waiting for March. My buyer broke the chain and will wait for me.

Does anyone know if solicitors have a cut off date for exchange pre-Christmas? I know latest for completions seems to be 19th, but not sure if this applies to exchange, too. Ever hopeful it might happen before Christmas..

@LadyDancelot our last date for exchange is 20th but that's because our sellers solicitors break up for Xmas. We were aiming for 20th as completion but everything has stalled!

It depends when the individual solicitors in the chain finish for Christmas. Ours finishes tomorrow so that's that really until Jan. Just because the company is open until the 20th, it doesn't mean all solicitors are working until that date.

With thanks @Gekko21 and @Ilikewinter - I’ll assume it’s all off until New Year. There’s no chain either side and buyers were apparently very keen to exchange before Christmas but it’s all gone bleakly quiet..

Hello hello 👋🏾 I lost the thread

I agree about conveyancers @TartTartin

Update on my situation the seller fixed the windows, she wouldn't renegotiate.

We've agreed completion 27th January thankfully!

The EAs and solicitors have checked out now. You are either in a chain that is completing this week and therefore getting all the focus or you are in the couldn't give a shit about you now until after Christmas basket.

Yep, we are in the same basket, still waiting for the last few answers from my seller's solicitor. I want to forget about the whole thing now and enjoy the Christmas break. Doubt I will be able to forget, because family we visit will be asking why we haven't moved yet <sigh>

It will depend on the solicitors. We have exchanged today, which is a massive relief- literally earlier today we were saying we needed to brace for it falling through.

Do you think that removal companies inflate their quote when they think you live in an affluent area/expensive road?

We've hit a snag can anyone advise -

Trying to exchange pre Xmas and we agreed a reduction in price because some work needs doing. The buyer's mortgage company haven't approved the change (although our solicitor says it won't be a problem - it's less than a 50% mortgage)

Anyone know how long it can take the mortgage company to do this? Thanks

@TartTartin our purchase was with an online conveyancer, recommended by an agent. Never, ever use an online one. If he didn’t want to communicate, he just put his ‘out of office’ message on. Deleting the app after we moved, was the best thing ever.

@Littletreefrog we once moved into a house where the couple had split. He’d already moved out, taking lights and leaving bare wires. She had no sense of urgency whatsoever and was trying to move using a Transit van. We shifted her stuff into the (fortunately large) garden, about which she complained, but we pointed out that the house was no longer hers. It turned out to be a money pit too. Despite a survey, some of what had been done was shoddy.

Congrats to everyone who has managed to exchange this week

@MotherOfRatios I wondered where you'd gone. Really glad to hear the window issue is finally sorted and you have a completion date agreed.

No pre-christmas exchange for me. My seller's solicitor told everyone they had submitted a document last week. I didn't trust that they'd done it so I checked with the relevant authorities and they had received nothing! I got the EA to shout at the solicitor for lying and the document was finally submitted today. 🤞 it'll be processed quickly. I really want to complain to someone but since they don't work on my behalf I don't think I can. Really frustrating.

I lost the thread! @ingkir i had to leave a negative review on the website

we had agreed exchange/completion dates and they rang today saying up the chain want exchange/completion this week? I'm fed up of the incompetent estate agents

That's great. Congratulations @LoobyDoop2 I can't quite believe I'm saying this but we exchanged today as well! The most stressful day ever with our seller going AWOL until just before 4pm, literally ignoring emails, phone calls and texts from estate agents and solicitors. My buyer was going nuts, they'd already told us if we didn't exchange today they were pulling out. but we finally managed to exchange at 2 minutes to 5. OMG 😱