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!

@TeddyBeans thank you. I will at least get an electrician to go and have a look. Do I contact the estate agent acting for the seller to arrange it and to negotiate the price?

@Grghf Halifax are our lenders and right at the start of the application our broker told us we would need to pay £100 upfront for Halifax to do a valuation, I understood that this was pretty standard for them (although I’ve had mortgages with Nationwide and Barclays previously and it wasn’t a thing with them, their valuations were included in the cost). And actually Halifax went out and did the valuation the next day before I’d even finished submitting all the paperwork!

@Downsizerboomer yes get the electrician to contact the estate agent for access and then negotiate through either their estate agents or directly through your solicitors. We went via the estate agent who then filled in our solicitor on our behalf of the new agreed price

May I ask why only 50-75% of the costs involved when it would cost you 100% to fix the problem?

Purely cuz if they were going to fix it, they would have done it already but they don't want that responsibility. Better 50/75% than footing the whole cost yourself!

I actually want to buy the flat regardless. I like where it is and it ticks a lot of the boxes. I don’t want to do anything that risks it all falling through for several reasons but it’s also going to cost a lot more than I anticipated. I’m looking for a middle way that’s fair to everyone. The price has already been dropped.

@Downsizerboomer it shouldn't fall through just because you ask a question! The worst they can do is say no and then you have to decide wether you can afford to self fund or look for something else. For an easy life, they'll probably accept anyway, was it on the market for long before they reduced the price?

@Downsizerboomer if you are buying through an estate agent, give them a ring and say you’re a bit worried about a couple of things. My agents have links with lots of local traders and send them in to give a quote or second opinion. They are paid a lot of money to help the sale go through so let them earn it!

How soon after the valuation did you get your mortgage offer?

Well the valuation happened right at the start of the mortgage application, then we had a bit of a delay submitting some of the documents but we had the offer within 24 hours of submitting the final tax calculation that was requested. In total it took about 3 weeks, but probably would have been in about a week if we’d sent the correct documents to our broker before he went on holiday

Thank you @TeddyBeans and @Sadteacher . I will have a chat with the buyers estate agent tomorrow. They can only say there’s no negotiating. I don’t know how long it was on the market but it was reduced by £30,000 two months ago. The occupant either went into care or died and it’s the grandson who is selling.

We had a bit of a curved ball thrown at us on Friday.

A "couple" showed up on our doorstep unannounced, claiming to have a 4pm appointment to view our house (they will have found the property on RightMove as we don't have a board). We were thrown somewhat as we certainly weren't expecting anyone (we do have a viewing next week).

the more questions we asked the more suspicious we got. They didn't look like they were there to view a property, He kept looking at his mobile muttering that he couldn't remember the agent they'd booked the appointment with, nor the name of the person who had taken their booking. They gave a bogus address that we know didn't exist (we know our village like the back of our hand). She kept repeating, almost arguing "well it definitely looks like the house in the website" like she didn't believe us (it had escaped her notice that we weren't expecting her and weren't prepared to let them in!).

after them continuing to ramble on about nothing, we asked them to leave the property. They were walking over to their car on our drive, she was continuously snapping photos of the garden and house. At that point DH got his phone and as they were reversing out of the drive, he took a photo of their reg plate and vehicle type. they started shouting at us to stop ( um no, sorry mate, you started it).

we reported them to our EA and the police. One thing's for sure, the fact they knew we had their reg plate details and their identity was likely to be a deterrent if they had any intentions of casing the joint or passing our details to their mate down the pub! Hopefully that's the last we'll hear of it, but we're being very very cautious now.

what could be their motive? We think it could be yet another scam that people think up. Look for nice properties on RightMove, pretend you have an appointment, catch people unaware, gain access and view inside their property and look for things worth nicking and pass the details to their mate down the pub for a "bung". Property details are already on RightMove but what they'll be looking for is points of vulnerability, the points of entry and exit that won't be on the EA photos and just a general 'lie of the land'.

if you aren't expecting a viewing, definitely don't let them in and let your EA and the police know, our EA had never heard of this before, so it may be the latest new scam,

@daisychain01 thats awful. Well done for refusing them entry, it is difficult to challenge people. I agree, probably wanted to case the house out.

Thank you @Sadteacher it has quite shaken me, gosh I'm so glad our spidey senses kicked in and we didn't fall for it!

I hope by me sharing it, it will help anyone else on here who is selling their house.

If anyone questions the value of an EA it's to do things like validation checks on people asking to view their property (we are very clear with our EA that we will only accept people whose property is on the market, and they validate it with their EA) and having someone from the EA to lead the viewing. It's those extra checks that really count.

After 10 months from first contact with the Agent we completed on Friday. money moved to NS&I by 2.00pm.
Phew and breathe

@popovfthat’s brilliant congratulations.

@daisychain01that sounds crazy. Glad they left without too much fuss.

I sent the rest of the deposit money to solicitor on Friday, took forever in the bank, something went wrong with their supervisor approval. Due to complete weds.

Thanks @jay55 Ten months seemed slow to me. Natwest bank have a new system. 1st tier people understand but no one else. Supervisor glitch.

Congratulations @Popovf ! And relax ☕

@Downsizerboomer how's it going?

The electrician is going round today and I have spoken to the seller’s agent to discuss some of my concerns. This thread is great, it’s making me feel more confident.
It’s good to see that some people are almost there.
I’m going to see what the electrician says and then try to renegotiate the price. I know the sellers have already reduced the price so I will try for something that’s fair to everyone.

The house we were going to buy has been sold to someone else so really down in the dumps today 😔 hope you all have better news!

Oh no! I’d be gutted having gone so far with it. I hope you find something even better.

Anyone else having trouble getting an exchange/completion date out of your buyers? The sales progression agent said that I should be the one to suggest the date since we're in the middle of the chain.

I have suggested a moving date and the owners of the house we are buying agree, but it's crickets from our buyers' solicitor.

I don't mind if they want a later date but we really do need a date of some sort!

@AlexFurbison We had this, and the date kept being pushed back and back. There are only 4 of us in the chain! I eventually sent a list of dates over 4 weeks that worked for us and they picked the second to last one 😂

@TeddyBeans Thats really upsetting, but hopefully there is another better house just about to come on the market for you.

We’re supposed to complete tomorrow. Packers came today and most stuff is away. Cats are furious about being locked inside. I’m also questioning my cleanliness standards from the state of our cupboard when we emptied them!

@TeddyBeans that's so upsetting, and I really hope you find an even better house soon. Aug isn't a great month for new properties being released onto the market, but come Sept, you may find a whole new supply of places to view. The right house is out there just waiting for you!

Completed yesterday. Had mild panic on Tuesday as developer rang about some damage done when appliances went in that couldn’t be fixed before completion.
It’s a minor scratch and I can more than live with for a few days. But I’ll enjoy their compensation voucher.

Packers coming Monday, moving tuesday(have rental til end of August).

@PyjamasForeverhow long did your packers take? I’m dreading cleaning the dust under the bed once everything is gone.