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!!

@MargoLivebetter I wouldn't consider those 2 cases to be classed as a dispute.

I'd consider these to be requests, which I assume were complied with. They are not disputes unless the recipient declined to alter their behaviour and it led to further discussions.

I'm joining in too - we've just recieved our contract to sign for the sale of our house - can I assume that means we're nearly done, or can we still expect queries etc?

Still waiting to hear where we're at with our purchase - our vendors have found a place (a new build, they've agreed to break the chain if their new place isn't ready by the end of March) which we had confirmation of before Christmas, but all silent since...

@MargoLivebetter I wouldn't consider those 2 things disputes either.

Yes @Gekko21 all requests were complied with. Thank you and to @Twiglets1 and @Ilikewinter.

We're having a nightmare.

Our buyer has said the mortgage valuation has down valued which I always knew it would as they offered over asking and we only accepted as they showed proof of a large deposit that would easily cover the extra they were offering and some! They have also said there are numerous issues on the survey but the house is 6 years old but have only provided a small snippet of the survey but not giving info on what these numerous issues are, they say they have quotes to the tune of 5% of what they have offered and want that as a discount. My solicitor has asked for more info on issues but agreed we will drop 2.5% if they can confirm we get moving this week as they haven't even applied for searches and we are 8 weeks since offer.

We are going to lose our onward purchase at this rate and our solicitor thinks they may drag their feet and string the transaction out.

So we know nothing about what these "issues" are and 8 weeks in the solicitor isn't even fully instructed by them!

I'm feeling really stressed about it all now and wondering have they been stringing us along the while time.

I'm in a similar boat, my buyer was supposedly a cash buyer, agreed sale in late August, I'm still waiting and sick of it all.

I signed the contract back in November, enquiries only satisfied last week.. it really depends on your solicitor.

@sillysausage92 numerous issues on a house which is only 6 years old? Seems like they’re pushing it a bit, to you agree with the items they’re listing?

I was once a motivated cash buyer with a former partner and we motored through searches / surveys / enquiries and exchanged in 3.5 weeks… so it’s in their power to move faster!

I’ve also come for a moan 😂apparently we’re literally on the brink of exchange, targeting completion on 21st Jan, but I’ve not had anything further from my solicitor to confirm or where to send deposit. Offer was accepted early October so it’s not too bad a timeline but I just can’t wait for exchange & confirmation I’m actually moving next week…!

@surfingdreams 3.5 weeks wow!

They haven't actually told us what any of these supposed issues are! The most annoying part is they asked to come and view again last week and I cleaned the house got it ready and they took one whole hour videoing every room and even in the attic!

Urgh my DP is being a nightmare with rentals. Nothing is perfect obviously but I've found two that I can tolerate but he's got issues with both. Instead I manically check OpenRent and Rightmove 50 times a day and fend off the buyer who wants to exchange next week,

I think it would be a gamble worth taking to just say "no" to everything they are asking for. Sounds like they are chancing their arm, but if they spent that long videoing it, it suggests they are pretty committed to buying so likely to blink first if you let them have a whiff of their messing around could lose them the house. Absolutely wouldn't give money off for unspecified issues - they have to tell you what they are.

Practically there with the legal bits and bobs for the house I'm buying. My first buyers pulled out and I was lucky to get it sold to another couple (cash buyers) only three days later, so whilst I'm all sorted with my purchase, becuase the buyers instructed their solicitors later, that side needs to catch up. The buyers had their survey done on the 13th of Dec, the EA let me know just before xmas that there were a few minor issues with the survey and that they were going to let the solicitors advise. Then we had the xmas break. I finally heard from my solicitors this week on the progress with my buyers solicitors and they advised that the conversations were being had and enquires and answers being dealt with. My EA called me today and said that the buyers want to come and look at the house again as a result of the survey, and then asked to come back to view on the 28th Jan!

Obviously this could be completely innocent and they just want to measure up etc but the 28th feels quite far away, My house is a mess as i've been clearing stuff out, I;ve taken everything out of the loft for example and its all in one room, then other boxes are in another. I dont mind trying to get everything into the garage this weekend to then pretty up the house again, but i/m nervous that this will be where they try and pull something on me like dropping the price or dropping out completely, as we have seen in the history of this thread things fall through alot !!

Sorry for the vent, selling on my own, moving on my own and trying to hold my shit together and not catastrophise any more

Please try not to worry too much.

Firstly don't worry about tidying tok much, they are aware you need to get ready to move and have seen the house already so are passed the point of being influenced by how tidy it is.

Also this thread is mostly populated by people whose sales and purchases have not been straight forward. Those with the straightforward sales/purchases come and go quickly so it can give you a skewed perception of how often things go tits up.

Im joining because everyone I know is sick of me talking about it including my husband 😂. Have been trying to move for 3 years, multiple collapses of various chains. Surprise offer on ours in October, found an onward very quickly, probate came through on that in record time and hopefully exchanging in the next week. However reports not finalised yet and despite nothing to suggest it won’t I don’t really believe it will happen. I’ve had a sense of impending doom for a month…. Posting as I’m guessing I’m not the only one who feels like this here!

@Notadream its completely normal for buyers to want to view a house again close to exchange of contracts. They may have specified the 28th January because they are bringing someone with them like that a builder. As your survey bought up issues I would be mentally preparing myself for the fact they may ask for a reduction in price. That is far more likely than they would want to withdraw. If they do ask for a reduction in price based on fixing problems identified by the survey, it would be usual to agree to knock some money off but that of course is up to you.

Our buyer’s solicitor has AT LAST sent through their enquiries to our solicitor. It’s only taken them three months. It took an email from our estate agent copying in both our solicitor and the buyer himself, spelling out that everyone else in the chain is ready to go.

When the last buyer pulled out it was because of the leasehold conditions on the flat. I’m praying this buyer has already considered this. I feel physically sick. Don’t know whether it’s just nerves, or if the stress-eating of kitkats has something to do with it!

@The3rdWatermelon I am crossing my fingers for you, do any of the enquiries relate to that?

We have heard back from our buyer and they still haven't provided survey or proof of down valuation from mortgage lender.

What they have provided is a spreadsheet with a list of one words and price to remedy

Decorating being one that's listed?! The house is 6 years old and decorated neutrally! Apparently they want a 7% reduction! The list has nonsensical things like windows?! Wtf. The estate agent said the document does not even look legit! We have offered a 4% reduction as a final offer.

So annoyed we are 8 weeks in and feels like total fabrication by these buyers to knock money off at a late stage when we are meant to be exchanging.

We can't hang around and wait for the proof as we have asked 3 times so if they don't agree to this we're out and will re-list!

@sillysausage92 sounds like they are wanting to do any improvements on your dollar!! And a downward valuation is irrelevant if they have a very big deposit and aren't on the limit of what they can borrow. I would want proof that mortgage offer has been lowered and a copy of survey, otherwise I would tell them to forget it - unless of course you can factor in a fair old drop and it not be that much of a big deal for you bearing in mind they offered over asking - it's still a very shitty thing for them to do if it's without good reason -

As it was a lot over asking it was just bonus extra cash for us so dropping isn't going to impact our deposit or anything and if we re-list it will be for less than we have dropped to so feel a bit over a barrel with them. However if we have to sell at asking price they have annoyed me so much I'd rather start again with more trustworthy buyers who aren't time wasters!

Glad you're getting somewhere even if it may not feel like much. Unfortunately I think I've got a solicitor like your buyers! 2 months and no enquiries have been sent. Impossible to get hold of them or get a reply so today my estate agent has gone to the director of the firm to see if this gets things moving. We'll see. 😭

@sillysausage92 I totally get that - my FIL had to drop £10k the day before exchange because his buyer hadn't factored in the rise in the budget in stamp duty ( and he was keeping his existing house to let out) and was at absolute mortgage limit - EA confirmed that as they did his mortgage. Initially he said stuff them ( he is 85) , but then decided he would rather get it over and done with as he had negotiated £21k off his onward purchase when he offered-sometimes it's easier to 'note' and not start again depending on what you are buying and how set on it you are -

I can't get over how many quite useless conveyancing solicitors there are these days . Is it due to staffing levels or the fact anyone half decent doesn't want to necessarily work in conveyancing? Or maybe all WFH and walking the dog etc and it will get done in their own good time??

Damn - and in fact we've just had another enquiry through from their solicitor so my hopes that the selling side was done was obviously over confident! (To be fair, we're only 6 weeks in, and had Christmas in the middle, so its all been fairly speedy really so far).

On the plus side, our vendors have apaprently submitted their paperwork and their solicitors aim to get ours the draft this week.

It all just feels so fragile though - this is the first time we've done this as part of a chain (when we bought this house we were living in rented, and it was being sold by a landlord so no onward chain) and I just feel like I can't relax and feel excited because it could all collapse at any moment...