The all new buyers/sellers waiting room (9) the one where we start to wonder if we'll move by Christmas..

[NeverGoingToMove]

Huge apologies if I have missed this thread, I have searched high and low but don't think another was started after number 8 ended in May.

After a seriously stressful encounter with building control, I think we are almost ready to exchange. After going on the market last July, I'm hoping we'll move before our year anniversary!

How is everyone else doing?

@ErlingHaalandsManBun I’m so sorry to hear this. I really hope that you find something better and you love more and that it all works out in the end.

If you had pulled out of a sale that had been ongoing for 5 months and had previously been very obviously a good buyer, would you expect the estate agent you emailed to respond to your email in a timely manner?

@ErlingHaalandsManBun so sorry to hear this, what an absolute nightmare you are having. Do you think you’ll re list your house? Or just see what happens?

@kirinm to be honest i don’t know? When our buyers pulled out previously we just got notified by the solicitors, don’t think the estate agent really had any involvement with them from that point. Have they not responded?

Not at all. These estate agents sold our flat, are the managing agent of the house we are renting and have been sadly involved in our lives for over a year. They’ve ignored emails - which is one of the issues - and have basically been zero help.

An acknowledgement to confirm this has been passed onto the sellers wouldn’t be too much to ask.

@kirinm oh yeah that’s absolutely awful! They should definitely respond!

@unicornpower I think we will relist but not until we have had a bit of breathing space to recover from this stressful nightmare!! It has put us off a bit, but the upshot is, we DO want to move, so eventually we will have to go through the process anyway. Hopefully the next buyers will just want to crack on with things a bit more and not give us the run around.

Put my dream forever home on the market today . Health issues suck.

Just wanted to get a few opinions - should the estate agent have told me I was the bottom of a chain of FIVE at or before I offered on a house? Some of the four above me are still looking for somewhere to buy. I'm thinking I should look elsewhere!

@HangerLaneGyratorySystem well, ideally yes they should have told you, did you ask the buyers situation before offering? A chain of 5 is fairly common, most people can’t move without selling theirs so I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a disaster, but depends how long they’re all going to take? Surely they can’t all be looking for somewhere to buy? It wouldn’t be a chain if they were.

@unicornpower I met the vendor's son in law he did the viewings, and he told me they were ready to go ahead being cash buyers on their new property and with those vendors in turn being able to proceed. But I couldn't swear exactly to the wording he used. Then I rang the agent and said could he check their timescale as I was thinking before Christmas and he said yes sounds fine but never got back to me, then I chased him after the offer was accepted and only then did he reel off this list - so there's me, my vendor, then their vendor has found something but then the top two in the chain aren't ready to proceed (trying to visualise how that might look?) which is making me think in fact the chain is far longer than 5. What do you mean about they can't all be looking for somewhere to buy? It sounds like some of them are in that position. It all sounds very tenuous!

@Pasithean - I had to leave my home of over 30 years, last year, due to divorce (and got very little equity out of it!) so I can empathise but I am very sorry to hear it - sounds like you had no choice?

@HangerLaneGyratorySystem as in, a chain is only a chain once everyone has found their onward purchase, if they haven’t got a property to purchase then it’s not a complete chain. I would get a clear chain picture from the estate agent, that is their job to do that before spending any money on surveys etc, if the person at the top hasn’t found anywhere yet then it may not be realistic by Christmas. I say this as someone at the top of a chain of 5 and we started this process in April and no moving date yet!

God I am so pissed off. We offered on a house about two months ago, no chain- it's a probate property and we're proceedable. House had been for sale with no offers for two years! So we are ideal buyers for them. Have spent money on surveys, searches, mortgage broker etc, and have filled in all the paperwork... and I've just seen that the house is a "featured property" on RM today, and they're refusing to put it "under offer" on there until we get our survey report and searches back.
Have sent an email to the agents, but I'm so pissed off with feeling like we're doing them a favour by buying their house.

@KimHwn Hmmmm I am wondering if they are still listing it as for sale until your survey comes back because they know something you don't know? Well, don't know yet anyway. Possibly they think something will be picked up on survey that might make you want to pull out?

Just a thought?

We are having the opposite problem. We have buyers who made an offer back in May. Asking us to practically jump through hoops with one demand after another, taking each small issue and just dealing with one thing at a time, sorting that, then they come back with the next one rather than just sorting it all in one go. Only applied for searches 2 weeks ago!!! And refusing to book a survey. Have made no commitment to us whatsoever despite that amount of time that has passed that has also, may I add, cost us our own forward purchase as our sellers got fed up waiting.

This process is terrible!!! I feel for you. Its so annoying!!!!

A bit of a turn up for the books. A house we offered on a while back has come back on. Not sure we can actually afford it as they need an increase in price but we will speak to our broker and see.

Estate agent hasn’t even acknowledged our email pulling out of our purchase - 1 week on.

@KimHwn did you tell them your offer was contingent on it being taken off the market and other viewings cancelled etc?

@HangerLaneGyratorySystem we are in a chain of 5 too. The slowest factor in the chain by far is our seller’s solicitors! The chain hasn’t been an issue for us so far but I am pulling my hair out that the solicitors are sitting on stuff for weeks before sending it to us. So you never know, that could have been the case even if there had been no chain above!

Oh man I must have missed when you decided to pull out, I know your purchase was really slow going and there were problems with the probate (I’ve been hanging around these threads for a while!). Hope you’re not too disappointed. Crap of the EA not to acknowledge your email!

Yes the lack of communication combined with the surveys pushed us. To be honest, if they’d have come back with anything concrete (timeline wise) and agreed we need to renegotiate then we may still be buying it but as it is, we’ve heard nothing at all. It’s really poor behaviour.

We’ve accepted an offer on our house over the weekend. Our buyer is a cash buyer currently in rented accommodation and yesterday we found a new build which we’ve pre-reserved. Our ID checks have been done, I’ve instructed a solicitor today and we’re waiting on the memorandum of sale for our finances check. We’re due to sign the full reservation and pay the fee on Wednesday and we need the finance check done before then.

Our estate agent emailed over the weekend to ask on behalf of the buyer if the new build we want (I’d mentioned to the estate agent doing the viewing that we’d be looking for a new build) is ready to move into or is still being built as she’s very keen to move as soon as possible. The one we’ve found is ready now. I had another email from the estate agent at 9.15 this morning, saying that the buyer had already been into the office to have their ID checked.
We’re also cash buyers.

Yes I need to be over 200 miles away. I’m gutted feeling awful.

Hello! Please can I join?

Our house sold at the end of July after some back and forth negotiation with the buyer. Nearly 2 weeks on, our buyer still hasn't appointed a solicitor but has returned all forms to the agent and is apparently waiting on quotes to come back. Should we be concerned/put it back on the market? In my experience, getting solicitor quotes was almost instant and I'm concerned that she's messing us around.
I'm due to call the agents tomorrow for another update, but would it be unreasonable to allow viewings again if no update by Thursday? It's been taken off Rightmove so would go back up I assume.

@VimtoQueen90 I would give it a bit longer. There is a lot of waiting around for people to do things while you are buying a house so you do need to be patient! Are you in a chain?

@canyon2000 thank you, you're probably right! I've heard such horror stories from friends moving that I think we're getting spooked the buyer is gonna take ages to do everything and then just pull out and we'll have missed the last of the summer selling months before Christmas 😫
Yes, in a chain! Our first time selling and buyer below us is divorcing, selling a property and buying ours and we're hopefully going into a new build

@VimtoQueen90, I'm of the opposite opinion. Two weeks is way too slow for getting a solicitor. If they're still getting quotes, they haven't yet been through the online ID hell required to even get the process started.

I've always had quotes within 24 hours, max. I think they're dragging their feet (potentially issues with the divorce / one party not wanting to sell).

@NoWordForFluffy this is what I'm concerned about! Surely she should have a solicitor if she's already selling? Also solicitor quotes are almost instant these days! We were told when she put the offer in that her sale was about 6 weeks in so I would have thought time would be of the essence for her!