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!!

Amazing news - well done!

I once arranged to meet the surveyor at the property immediately afterwards, and we went round talking about trouble spots while it was all fresh in his mind. Just as well, as it took weeks for the written report to arrive, but also just very helpful to be able to actually see things and ask questions.

@DaringlyDizzy yes 21st Feb. It was our request for the delay between exchange and completion as we can't access our rental for a few weeks but the buyer would have exchanged and completed this month if she could.

Congrats @kirinm. It's so nice seeing people exchange each day. Gives me hope my own purchase might eventually go through.

Conveyancing is like that old joke about bankruptcy: "How did that happen?" - "Slowly at first, and then all at once."

Congratulations @MotherOfRatios and @kirinm

Hoping we can join the 'exchanged' ranks soon ...

I'm ever hopeful for this rush of action toward the end that people keep speaking of. Instead, I feel we've been creeping very slowly for months. We then had a step backwards elsewhere in our chain so we now have to wait whilst they catch back up. I just pray for the day we see an email from the solicitor saying the chain is ready to exchange. I feel like our lives are on hold - so many other things we are having to put off due to the delays with our move. Starting to lose the will to live.

Congrats @kirinm 🥳🥳

I don't have a house to buy. I'm selling our old family home now my mother's dead, but have been surprised how much the whole business is starting to nag away at me. We lost our first buyer just before Christmas (like four hours before the estate agent closed up for two weeks.) Second buyer confirmed an offer the same evening (well done, agent!).

Draft contracts have been sent to the buyer's solicitor on the 17th January. I feel twitchy although I know this is no time at all. I can tell that we are getting closer to the five days when we have booked a holiday in the middle of March.

We are 16 weeks in and the estate agent of the place we are buying said that we need to manage our expectations of the process as I said we really should have some movement and idea on date now... should I !?
Our buyer is getting annoyed at how long it's taking.

They can get annoyed as much as they like but things take time.

My second buyers pulled out as they hadn't moved in seven weeks after their offer.

I sold my house in July, July and September and won't move out until March. Unexpected things come along to scupper all the best laid plans and desires.

Sadly it can take a long time - I have heard that 3months is pretty standard even for a simple chain.

I know unicorns do exist and manage a sale in 8 weeks but even when I was fab buying a vacant property it took 3 months.

In a ideal world though it would be worth floating a date you ideally want to move towards and get it floated up and around the chain (if you have one) sometimes it's chicken and egg who will go first to suggest.

Multiple people agreeing to a date to move. Nightmare logistically and everyone has to agree. It can't be I want x date or else so no reason. Compromise has to be made by all parties.

You will get there

Thanks both, I have said Feb anytime to move and I know our sellers are the same.
I think it was just the response from the estate agent, I'd understand if I was asking after 8 weeks but it's 16 so don't think it's an unfair comment.

It seems a long time to me.

How long is the upwards chain? 16 weeks in does sound to me like your expectations are pretty reasonable, but I guess if you have a few further up the chain who haven't been going that long, it may be that you have to count from the time the chain completed rather than from the time you started.

@Itonlytakesaminute i think it's quite fair for you to ask after 16 weeks ! We had memo of sale on the 13th of December and all enquiries were satisfied this week . We are supposed to discuss dates soon so after 16 weeks i would expect it definately

If we complete when we're meant to then it'll be just over 15 weeks from the day our offer was accepted, 17 weeks since our buyers offered.

Just under 17 weeks from offer to exchange with us. Had we been able to find a rental sooner, we would be completing this week.

And that's with a flat which is less straightforward than a freehold property.

We are currently 19 weeks since we were chain complete. We don't have a proposed exchange date yet. I'm hearing that 4-5 months is common though. We are a chain of 4. Obviously, whether your chain includes leasehold purchases and mortgage requirements will have a bearing too. There's no such thing as a standard chain or timeline. Also, you only need to hit one roadblock - issues arising from enquiries, searches, surveys and you can easily add weeks on.

Weirdly nervous about going to see a house in about half an hour. I think I know we probably won't be able to afford it if it's too 'nice' as there are too many people with more money than us.

We really need a property that is liveable but still a project that is off putting enough for a lot of people! Plus I think we may be one of the first to see it and we then have the psychological drama of not wanting any offer we make to be used to start a pricing war.

Even if we make an offer and it's accepted I wouldn't trust that we'd not find ourselves gazumped as that's happened before.

I definitely think buying is more stressful than selling (once you get an offer anyway).

We are at 11 weeks on Thursday. No chain on either side, mortgage in place, survey completed. Still not a hint of paperwork seen. Its so slow and I have no idea why.

Hoping to be completed before the stamp duty change and able to move in over easter.

Then we get to start the long, slow, protracted process of obtaining planning permission for an extension to the new house.

I have a feeling I will be on the housing boards for a long time to come.

Good luck with the viewing Kirinm

My guess would be that solicitors are prioritising files that are close to exchange to get as much over the line as poss before the stamp duty deadline. If they haven't started enquiries or searches then I reckon you'll be pushed to the back. I've no evidence for that btw - just a hunch and it will no doubt vary by solicitor / conveyancing firm.

@Gekko21 you could be right. But they are about to be hit by the persistent nagging of DH so I hope we will get in. It's such a straightforward purchase. There is no reason for delays other than tardiness of the solicitor.

11 weeks seems a long time to have no documentation other than the mortgage and survey. So yes, I'd be nagging quite hard at this point.

Father in law completed yesterday - stuff coming back from storeage tommorrow- he has found the whole process really stressful these days both selling and buying and the amount of stuff you need to provide or prove.