Would you walk away

[kirinm]

Offer made on 7th March. Delays and delays. Memo of sale issued on 20th March. Since then all that has happened is a fixtures and fitting form has been sent to my solicitor.

We were told it would be a quick sale. Estate agents won’t pick up the phone to us - I know they work for the seller but they were our agent and also our agent for the rental we are currently in (having agreed to go into rental to facilitate our sale).

We asked them to find out what was going on with probate on 7th March. We still don’t know.

We were ready to exchange 10 weeks in on our sale. Being nearly 8 weeks in and having made basically no progress and not getting any updates doesn’t seem okay to me.

DP wants to walk away. We’ve been lied to so many times which hasn’t helped. I’m sick of the whole thing but the housing market is extremely slow where we are.

We’ve been told that there are no tenants - just a large family of multiple generations. I have no idea if that’s true.

I've seen a couple of previous threads by you about this property and the problems you have been having. Unfortunately, it doesn't look as if you are going to get anywhere here so you may need to pull out to save your sanity.
Given what you say about your local market, which is very unusual at present, I can see why you have held on such a long time. It sounds as if you have been very unlucky.

@KievLoverTwo I thought you were towards the end of a purchase last year. Did you not buy in the end?

@rainingsnoring last summer we were - the vendors started being difficult which made me really scrutinise my loyalty to that actual particular house. Folks have a tendancy to think they can tell first time buyers how things are going to work and what they will/will not do, will/will not leave. That never works well with me because I don't care enough about anybody's house to have terms dictated to me as though I'm a teenager being told how to buy her first bra.

Shrug. We didn't buy it.

We ended up moving counties to the area we want to buy in. You'll remember the last rental was horrific. This one is also pretty bad, but in different ways (£500 a month energy bills, anyone?). So we started looking for houses to buy within 3 months of moving in, as I already felt I had reached my patience limit with the landlords.

But - our situation is somewhat better. We don't have to drive 2.5 hours for each viewing now. It's generally 15 minutes. And the actual house itself is much nicer.

Turns out I have more patience than I thought.

We'll get there!

Please keep everything crossed for Tuesday for me. The house is now on with the best agent in town, and it's empty :)

I'm sorry the previous purchase didn't work out in the end. Good luck for Tuesday!

No, the family living there (if that is what they are) are the family of one of the executors / beneficiaries (one of the children of the owner).

Have been told my solicitor has been sent property information form too but no draft contract. Why would the draft contract be delayed?

They will be the owners once probate is granted and assets distributed- or rather one of them. I guess they could technically be squatters at the moment.

Yes one of the occupants is an executor and beneficiary. The executors are three siblings one of which lives in the house. I assume (but do not know) that they are selling to a. Split the asset but also b pay IHT.

this is what I meant by this (part of the process) is meant to be the easy bit. The probate stuff and establishing if the beneficiary living in the property is actually going to be happy to move, is where I foresaw difficulties / delays. I didn’t expect the early paperwork part to take the best part of 2 months.

Oh my god. Just had another viewing and it seems all estate agents are awful. Was told on arrival that the house is so popular it’s now an open day and we are fortunate to be the first ones. 🙄 and there’s been a price change.

Put it up because of the apparent demand?

Move to Cornwall. Our next door is a lovely place and it's just not selling!

It's got fab neighbours...and it's really sunny!!

seems sensible

i assume so. Houses on the road were selling for £800k last year. Now they want £1.0m. It’s ridiculous.

Wow, that's crazy @kirinm. That is the opposite of what is happening elsewhere. I think you have been very unlucky. 😪

That sounds like down here during COVID!

Lots are going for over asking as well.

To give an example of how insane the market is. These two houses are on the same road. I viewed one of them but they’re all very much in the same condition as each other. Same footprint, same side of the road so the garden gets the same sun. Same estate agent. Only difference is one was on in Feb and the other in March. (Oh and the extra £100k), sold within a week.

pictures have come up in the wrong order!

I’m not sure why it’s happening - I can only assume it’s because it’s ‘cheaper’ than other areas.