Spring house selling/buying support thread

[PyjamasForever]

After quite a lengthy time on the market I finally have an offer on my house and have had an offer accepted on a house I want to buy. I’m feeling a bit uncertain it will happen with the current financial situation and wondered if anyone else in a similar position wanted a thread for a bit of moral support?!

We’ve instructed solicitors, filled out our TA6 and TA10 forms, applied for a mortgage and have some documents to send them… I then find the next bit the hardest bit about buying and selling when you have all those uncertain weeks with searches/surveys etc and it could all fall apart at any minute!

Well im a bit confused as im a FTB so not sure how it works, but the estate agent asked for my MIP and then I got an automated email saying my offer had been submitted, and literally a minute later, another email saying my offer had been rejected. Is that it then?

What’s MIP?
I haven’t bought / sold a house for a very long time but DD is FTB - she’s put offers in on 2 houses that were rejected. The first house was odd as they rejected it after a couple of days but didn’t counter offer and the EA didn’t seem to know if they would or how close she was. A couple of months later the EA rang her and said there’d been another offer on the house but would she still be interested so she offered the same amount again, assuming the other offer was for less. Didn’t hear anything for a day or two so called EA who said the vendors had gone with the other ppl. I’m thinking they used DDs offer to get the other guys to up theirs. DD felt messed about.

Ahh Mortgage in principle! Of course!

I was expecting to enter into a discussion with instead its just automated estate agent emails? Confused!

The automated message was from the seller's agent? If you feel strongly for this house, you should call their local office if that's possible. It's worth having a chat anyway, so they are aware of your specs + budget, and might call you if anything similar comes on the market. That's something we have experienced anyway.

Our listing went live yesterday and we've had 8 viewings booked in, one for today and the rest for Saturday. Our EA says we'll be looking to negotiate a deal over the weekend, but I have no idea how to proceed now. Is it normal to expect your sellers to wait to complete the onward chain and how long is it reasonable to expect them to wait? I don't want to lead a buyer along, but also don't want feel pressured into to buying a house we're not really happy about.

Is it worth going in person to estate agents on the areas we want to buy to explain our situation and see whether they have anything, or is that an outdated approach now? I seem to be getting sent very mixed messages from the EA who's selling out house in a 'hot' city market area to the EA we originally hoped to buy from, where the typical market is slower and more rural. He basically told us to bugger off for daring to request a viewing without being under offer, but still hasn't (on rightmove or his website) sold this 'in demand' property 6 weeks after it went on the market.

Thanks in advance to anyone who shares their words of wisdom and experience in the crazy world of house buying in England!

That’s a lot of confidence that you will get offers at the weekend from your EA! I’m in a similar situation, went live about a week ago, had about 8 viewers, but no offers, a lot of ‘nice but not right for us’. Have about 6 more for this weekend.

I think your buyer will understand you have to find somewhere. Whether they will hang around for months is another matter. If I manage to sell I plan to go into a rental so I don’t have to rush the next purchase. If I then had a seller who took forever to find their next house, I’d possibly look at moving on to a different purchase.

We’ve made an extremely cheeky offer on a 4 yr old house that’s being sold on a new estate near us. Brand new houses of this type are going for £350k. We viewed this and it’s been badly knocked around in the 4 years it’s been built, paintwork is awful everywhere, scuffed skirtings, holes in plaster and the kitchen is already falling apart. It’s been slowly reduced to £320k over the past 5 months. It’s being part exchanged as the owners are going to a bigger new build house on the same estate. With the view to it needing a new kitchen, a full redecorate and new carpet we’ve offered £305k. I’d be very surprised if it’s accepted but if you don’t ask you don’t get. The builders may be able to absorb the lower offer in their onward purchase maybe (not really sure how these things work)

The 305 was rejected. Could go to 310 but I’m really not that fussed on the house to up our offer. The market is DEAD. Nothing coming on at all.

We’re sitting amongst boxes! Our buyer has the funds from their sale, according to our solicitor. We’re in the Scottish system and waiting for their Missives. Were were told to expect them any day this week and here we are at Friday.
I'm on the verge of calling it all off and going back on the market. I think I’m being lied to! We have already a house to go to.

@Beebumble2 how frustrating - hope you're on the move soon!

We've had our contract pack from the sellers...there's a restrictive covenant on building any sort of outbuilding and changing the external plan of the house... They've added a fuck off massive shed to the garden and a full length lean to. Solicitor has raised an enquiry as to whether they have covenant consent for said buildings. My guess is no, they don't. But once we know for sure we can see whether indemnity insurance is possible, otherwise it'll be applying for retroactive consent which will all who knows how long to the timeline 😤😤😤

@Beebumble2 hope it’s ended up ok for you? The Scottish system is not what it used to be.

Thank you TeddyBeans and Mum5net. I hope you can get the indemnity insurance TeddyBeans. Why aren’t people honest from the outset?
DH is very upbeat and confident it will go through. Just had a consoling evening in the local wine bar!
Also saw a Hedgehog in the garden, which was very uplifting.

We completed the chain a few months ago. Our buyers received their survey results on our house about 4 weeks ago. They are still trying to bottom out a potential issue that "might" need fixing in which case that "might" cost tens of thousands to fix. Apparently the buyers will want to renegotiate price if there is a problem that needs fixing (which is not unreasonable). So now waiting for them to book in contractors to quote. I've been clear we need clarity that the issue actually needs fixing and what the fix should be before we can negotiate. Worried this is going to drag on another couple of weeks, by the time they get anyone round and get more than 1 quote. Our vendors are chain free, ex rental and obviously they want this sorted quickly. All the lawyers are holding off until we sort this potential issue. The problem is that I'm not sure it will be possible to conclusively agree on whether there is an issue that needs fixing and what the fix is if so. I think that could take more time than we all have. Presumably at some point we will need to try to come to a sensible agreement with both parties accepting that stuff is not fully known? I am trying to hurry the buyers up. However, they aren't taking an unreasonable amount of time and I don't think they are wrong to want to understand the potential costs. At the same time , arrrgh.

Mortgage offer finally in the inbox. Should be able to set an exchange date this week, I hope. The relief is immense.

Hi can I join. We are waiting to exchange. Should have been last week but are still waiting. The chain is short. Just three of us but I have the suspicion my buyers are having second thoughts. They were really putting the pressure on to get things moving and we did everything they asked for. Now it's all done they are coming up with silly queries and the estate agent has gone quiet as well. I feel sick. We are meant to be completing next week.

We got a new mortgage rate yesterday! It's only a tiny bit lower so not much off the monthly payments but everything helps!

@Fedupofthisgame fingers crossed they're just being extra cautious and not getting cold feet. Would suck to have it all fall apart now

@newrubylane good luck! Hope it all goes well!

@TheLette that's frustrating, hope they pull their finger out and get it sorted quickly so you know what you're dealing with

I feel for you Fedupofthisgame we’re selling in Scotland and expected to Conclude the sale today, so sitting waiting . The buyers solicitor has put in a ridiculous clause in the contract, so it was sent back yesterday, thank goodness for email!
We look like we’ve lost our second slot with the removal company. Our buyers are homeless now, due to their solicitor’s incompetence.
Hope everyone gets results today.

@Beebumble2 😱😱😱 are you in your new house now!??

No still waiting for the amended sale contract! ☹️

can I join please? We were told our buyer’s buyer is a cash buyer. Got ourselves ready to exchange and now turns out they need a mortgage and fire risk assessment.

our agent lied to us only last week saying they were definitely cash buyers at the bottom of the chain.

Are you in now @Beebumble2 ?

In a word no! I think I’ve mis communicated on here. We’re selling, fortunately have a house to go to, eventually.
The buyers solicitor is in ‘meetings’! I’m tempted to go to their office and check if they’re there. This is all delaying tactics, to what end I do not know!

We have a second viewing this evening, they only viewed it yesterday. The agent said it sounded very promising after speaking to them. 🤞

Oh sorry I misunderstood. Still very very frustrating! Hope you get word soon.