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!

Our buyer's weasel of a solicitor got strong-armed by ours; he told his client that it's best to exchange the day before completion, and our solicitor basically told him to eff off and be serious. His communication with the chain has been deplorable to date, our solicitors thought this would be too risky.

After all that stress, exchange is supposed to happen today. HE agreed to it. HE was the one who proposed we were ready to discuss dates. However, tick tock goes the clock. He has answered 'yes' to a question from the EA, but otherwise, even the crickets are bored and silent. I have doubts that he is actually ready. Why waste everyone's time with lies...

After some serious levels of stress felt this week, I am also starting to feel indifferent #handhold

God he sounds a right chump. So are you actually exchanging today. Why would he say hes ready when hes not. As for exchange and completion the next day, my solicitor said people ask this and he tells them to give their head a wobble. People😤

@KrankyKumquat oh that sounds super positive and a step forward, wont be long for you now, yey!

... HA! Literally after typing, our solicitor emailed; the process for exchanging today has begun, as the buyer's solicitor has been told harsh words by the EA in contact. Fingers crossed it's successful. Our seller's solicitor has been waiting and was getting impatient.

I am not exaggerating, this solicitor has been truly awful. Our buyer is very sorry. Our sellers have been chill, they just want to be paid but aren't stressed over 'when'😅

Aww amazing news for you, lets hope you will get an email later to say exchange was successful, have they organised a completion date. At least you can now organise your life around the moving date. Congrats!

@GlaceCherryFromThePast oooh hoping the rest of your transaction is smooth sailing now! Congratulations!

We had the new agent around today to take photos so we'll be ready to relaunch on the 29th

I had an email early this morning voiding the house contracts. Bit panicked until the solicitor explained that we’d been delayed so long that the document signing portal had expired them.
Cue another round of signing and asking witnesses to sign. I’ll be hairless by the time this process is over.
Hoping for exchange Monday or Tuesday 🙏🙏

Didn’t get to offer a reduction in the end, the sellers had remedial works done and said they’re not doing anything else. Said we are stalling and they will need to begin considering putting it back on the market. Half tempted to let them tbh.

I managed to exchange last week, completion in 3 weeks. Whole process to get to exchange (from offer) was 3 months, with no chain. Which doesn’t sound bad but my solicitor made a whole lot more stressful with his inaction and lack of information. The EA was surprisingly good. I asked the solicitor for a reduction in fee due to their lack of proactivity and failure to catch major points that I had to deal with via the EA. They have said no due to ‘significant correspondence’ needed. Um, yes, significant correspondence telling me absolutely nothing each time e.g. that they had no idea when exchange would happen as ‘waiting for the buyers to be ready’. Ready for what exactly? I’m going to let completion happen then see how I can pursue it.

So now on to rental and buying! Have a rental lined up, a tiny studio apartment but have trouble getting though the referencing as my wage aren’t enough, and they aren’t accepting my savings statement from Trading 212 as they don’t see it as a bank where I can show evidence that I have built up savings. It’s an ISA, you literally can’t bung £80k in there without it being built up over several years. Buying wise I’m expanding my search area as nothing coming up in my core area, and it’s all overpriced. I did make one offer, which was rejected as they had multiple offers over asking price, which I couldn’t compete with.

You are totally right about the crass comments people make about (to them) just bricks and mortar, but to us, the home we have memories of, tried to keep in good nick and what we've sweated blood to pay the mortgage over the years. One lady viewed a couple of weeks ago, I could have told her it was unsuitable for a single person, so the feedback we got from the agent was "it's OK but I had not emotional connection to it". It's like, of course you don't, you idiot, you haven't ever lived there. It was just a very nasty comment, and she had really rubbed it in with the agent about being a cash buyer and not needing to sell to buy our house. Off you jog then!

I agree that the October budget is unlikely to stop people buying and selling if they need to move for various life reasons (kid schools, downsizing upsizing etc), they'll continue to do so.

the mismatch of valuations is a concern but I think people are coming to the realistic conclusion that they have to 'cut their cloth' according to their level of affordability, it's not like in the buoyant times where there was a bit of extra cash slushing around, everything is cut to the bone nowadays, no spare at all.

ive just seen an update from our EA, apparently a family who viewed ours about 3 months ago are having a second viewing on theirs as they weren't even on the market when they saw ours. The agents said they put their property on with them in a different office, and may want a second viewing of ours. Normally I'd be getting excited but I'm feeling quite meh about it because so much can go wrong, I'll believe it when I see it kind of thing. DH doing a very good ostrich impression all the way through, probably sensible!

We're in that sweet spot now, where if things don't progress in the next few weeks, we will not be forced to move this side of Christmas . As we will be moving into rented, to break any chain, the thought of moving before the new year fills us with dread. I think we'd basically refuse to, it would be soul destroying!

i hope your lot get moving, you're much further advanced so hopefully a November move could be possible for you.

Money safely in the hands of the solicitor's client account yesterday afternoon (spent almost the entire day trying to move over £100k from building society, then sitting in bank over an hour waiting for an appt to do transfer to solicitor!). Exchange expected Monday with move Tuesday/Wednesday (we've so much stuff removals is being spread over 2 days!)

We're now at the tricky part of packing with the stuff we could theoretically need before Wed still sitting around, several meals still to produce, a ton of cleaning to do, boxes getting a bit low and trying to juggle defrosting chest freezer and wash bedding, towels, etc (we won't have washing machine at new place until we buy one so trying to ensure we don't move with a pile of grubby stuff).

I fear my head is going to explode....I don't remember any of this stress when we last moved over 20 years ago so I'm hoping all this pain will soon be forgotten, bit like child birth 😂

Aww so lovely to here there is movement for everyone and light at the end of the tunnel.

@InOut2023 will you still proceed?

@daisychain01 stranger thjngs have happened and move quickly, we were waiting for an offer and going through the grind of viewings, zero expectation of an offer from this young couple then out of the blue they offered. At least you have someone who obv loves your home to want to do a second view. That is a win.

@LivingLounge congrats on tne exchange, now you can move forward with a timeframe, im sure the rental will work out. As for the solicitor you can put in a complaint but i wouldnt be hopeful for any redress. They cover themselves and know all legal framework to do it.

@KrankyKumquat oh thats fantastic news, when we eventually buy im not looking forward to transfering the money. It always worries me something will go wrong or they will input numbers wrong.

Good luck with it all @KrankyKumquat sounds like it’s all going to pull together next week!

my whole chain is waiting for my buyer’s enquiries to be resolved, which my solicitor claims they haven’t seen yet. Buyers solicitor apparently resent them on Friday, so we will see. A quick Google suggests the enquiries take 2-4 weeks to resolve. Nothing seems that straightforward with my buyer!

I know it's not recommended but being able to text my onward seller has been invaluable - I tell her what the hold up is, she prods her solicitor and EA. In contrast we've had zero contact with our buyer, as we didn't do the 2 viewings way back in June, and they haven't reached out since. Luckily our EA has been very good and acted as a go-between. Shame though as we have a lovely elderly neighbour who's understandably anxious about who's coming and we can't offer any reassurance. I feel really bad for her.

@Sadteacher might be quicker than you fear...our searches generated very little toing and froing. But good luck for the coming week or so.

@2longinthetooth yes, you need to set aside a few hours to do the money stuff. We found out that building societies often have max transfer limits so you need to do it through CS or in branch. If you need more than 1 transfer, would recommend getting everything into one, high street account in advance...we wasted over half a day of packing time with all the fiddling plus very stressful when you need it done by end of business day.

Happy new week everyone! Hopefully, this will be a productive, progressive week for us all.

After all that excitement, we weren't able to exchange on Friday (problems with the seller's solictor side this time). Our EA was on the case (both sales are under one EA), and we have happily exchanged today. The best bit is that I now feel comfortable enough to tell my DC. Fingers are crossed that it all pushes through to completion without too many hiccups.

Ahem, we are scheduled to complete on Friday, so I've got a lot to do😶

@KrankyKumquat our buyers approached us and gave us their number. At first we thought it a bit forward, but it's been absolutely key to progressing. We've been pressuring their solictor via them (they're naive to the whole process, but they're couch surfing so want this to be successfully completed asap).

Im glad others are moving along. For us today im starting to feel fatigue with it all, the simplest request is taking weeks. No one wants to push things along. Just feel like pulling out today just to get some peace.

I had a panic at the weekend that if it suddenly surged ahead in the next 2 to 3 weeks I would not be prepared. I have piles of stuff on marketplace I will take to the charity shop next weekend if it hasn’t gone. So hard when we both work full time ( and spend all weekend planning lessons etc too!)

And congratulations to @GlaceCherryFromThePast !

Just learned from estate agent my buyers buyer mortgage offer has expired ffs and now she has gone to a dif lender, nobody is sharing info of where she is in this process so we wont be exchanging now. Estate agent says the rate changed so she went to diff lender. So if she has to apply again we are looking at another month, thats if shes gets offered. 14 weeks they have buggerd about instead of pushing this over the line. To say im pissed is an understatement.

It is so frustrating to feel like the only one trying to actually get to the end of the process. Hopefully your patience will soon be reward with some progress. I still feel very apprehensive about our buyers solicitor's readiness for completion, or, if we will even be able to contact him on the day. I just don't understand how people, especially professionals, can be so flippant about it all. I totally understand your frustration, and wish for the best outcome for you.

@Sadteacher thank you! I really feel like the takeaway ordered on move-in day will feel as triumphant as the tea and toast you get after delivering babies.

We were due to exchange today but didn't (surprise, surprise). Apparently our onward purchase's solicitor needed to see her house insurance policy but couldn't get hold of her. Strange as i got hold of her at 4.45 no problem and she didnt know anything about this - she's 80, already moved out and hasn't got a mortgage so it's complete bullshit about the insurance. I'm assured by my solicitor exchange should happen in the morning - I said I hope so as removers are coming at 8.30 for the first load in advance of main move on Wednesday.

God, this is a barbaric system. I'm too frazzled to suggest how it might be improved...

We've done a load of packing today but everywhere I go, I see something else that needs doing. Just now I found a box which had come down from the attic which contained a 8 demi-johns, a dried starfish and a turtle shell! Never seen it before (me and OH got together 24 years ago and moved here a year later - I can only presume the starfish, etc came from the previous marital home, along with a lot of other junk which he obviously snuck up into the attic without me seeing). This comes after literally weeks and weeks of charity shop and tip runs...why is this stuff still here? I could cry.

Anyway, haven't packed the air fryer so off to make some pie and chips for tea...and open a bottle.

@2longinthetooth wtf!? I'm so frustrated for you!

@2longinthetooth and @KrankyKumquat sending you both positive vibes. This house moving is utterly bonkers. Wine will definitely help.

@KrankyKumquat omfg wtf, I thought my situation was a shitshow but yours is beyond. Yours sounds like a lazy arse solicitor, wtf has your sellers insurance got to do with exchange.
Had to chuckle about your attic find 😂, that would be going straight in the bin, I will trade your attic find with my husbands childhood trunk of trainsets, hes 53 I told him its time to grow up, they are going to the skip.
Crack the wine open, im already on the galaxy choc.
Fingers crossed for you tomorrow.

More pointless viewers who won’t offer saw the house today. I had to show them round as none of the estate agents were free. They were only here fifteen minutes. Didn’t say or ask too much and then left. 🤨 More hours of cleaning and tidying wasted. I’m so fed up of this now. I just want to move.