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!

So still no exchange today. Buyer at the bottom still not ready for some reason. My spidey senses are telling me theres something up. They have stalled for a month now.

@WWBWBapparently I am also living in a constant state of waiting to hear something is wrong too. Not that we are close to exchange yet, but our tentative date to complete was tomorrow!

I was really hoping to hear good news from @KrankyKumquat …. Hopefully she is too busy with moving to update us

Oh Fibrous I really feel for you. We’ve moved 6 times having met several liars and cheats on the way. I do hope you’re in your new home soon and the torturous journey is soon forgotten.
We’re waiting for completion of our purchase, but are in the fortunate position of not having to sell our current house yet. When we do I’ll be back on here stressing!

@WWBWBapparently contact your solicitor and demand answers, what exactly is holding up exchange, why aren't they ready. I was getting edgy because it was radio silence despite my buyer asking us to exchange 2 weeks ago, transpired their buyer wanted to change lender. Literally gave my solicitor secretary chapter and verse of the whole timeline, told her communication from others side was poor and tbh im at the end of my tether. She must have felt sorry for me and emailed me the info that afternoon. I said no one is interested in their personal info, I just want to know why exchange has not taken place, what are we waiting on.

@Fibrous gosh it sounds like your purchase was a nightmare, 👏 for hanging on in there. We also have 2 dogs and ive rung a few estate agents who have said landlords will take dogs, plus im praying if I say we will pay for 6 months upfront it will sweeten a deal. We have not seen anything we want to buy. So will be in rental for a while. We looked at airbnb but wow they are extortionate prices. Failing that we will have to live in a travel lodge. Sending positive vibes for Friday!

@Beebumble2 it's horrible when people lie during what is already such a stressful process. I had months of sleepless nights questioning my instincts but in the end, as soon as I told the estate agent we were pulling out, I felt massive relief. They put the house straight back on the market and failed to sell in the end, as they'd really screwed things up. It went onto the rental market instead.

The house we are buying now is much better, anyway, and we've had no doubts about it which has helped. It's been a pain to get over the line but I'm sure we will be happy there. There are so few houses we were interested in within our price bracket, the market was so dry.

@2longinthetooth Even though living in temporary accommodation has been hell, I am glad we broke the chain. Our chain wasn't massive, but it was still stressful trying to keep everyone happy. We thought we'd only be in temp accommodation for a couple of weeks, but I massively underestimated how stubborn and slow solicitors can be. Ours argued over a single point (slowly) for nearly six weeks!

We were lucky to find an airbnb who took unlimited animals and was reasonably priced for a bit, i then found a really cheap and rundown hotel, but then luckily one of my friends went on a month long holiday and lent me his house. If it wasn't for that, I'd be completely broke by now!

It’s a delay in the funds apparently. This is a supposed cash buyer mind….weve also been lied to along the way

@WWBWBapparently reading old posts (because im bored) seen you were in south wales, so are we.
Delay in funds. Sounds dodgy. Id push to find out why the delay and do they really have the money, thought shit like that had to be confirmed by solicitor from the outset. We will be cash buyers and solicitir informed us that we have to keep a paper trail of the money and given to them when we eventually purchase. Its a money laundering requirement.

Honestly I think ive lost the plot with this sale, ive just received an email from estae agent to find out there is another level to the chain 🤯. This level are completing tommorrow, wtf are these people?????? Plus my buyers buyer still have outstanding enquiries, wtf have they been doing for 4 months. I literally have no words. My exchange was never a thing, so ive been bs for months. Exchange probably be another month odd.

Supposed to be exchanging on Monday, still some lose ends to tie up with our solicitor which is going to be the death of me. Also one possible big issue further down the chain that their solicitor just isn’t responding to them about.

clinging onto hope that it comes together by Monday but started to feel the stress levels creep up even further 😫😫

Also, sympathies to everyone else currently being messed around so close to the end, absolutely shocking how awful this process is, I’m struggling to get my head round some of your situations and not sure how you are still functioning

I’m keeping everything crossed that krankykumquat got over the line today. It’s like a marathon that you have no guarantee of completing isn’t it.

I’m quite shocked at how people are kept in the dark about things and the lack of information from solicitors. I can’t believe people would be unavailable on the day they’re supposed to be exchanging. I hope kramkykumquat has moved today and the people being messed around get some answers.

Im so sorry! Your buyers sound awful.

we sold earlier in the year and were also lied to about the chain. It worked out in the end but was an awful experience

I specifically asked who was in the chain at the start, yet people feel that because we are top of the chain we dont need to know everything, plus you have parties like estate agents and solicitors with their own agenda, middle of august my estate agent banded the exchange word around and now I have proof they were meddling because we were no where near exchange. No it had got to 12 weeks and now the estate agent wants their money. At least i can take the breaks off packing and sorting because looks like completion wont be until nov.

@2longinthetooth yes south wales not far from Cardiff. Really hope you get sorted soon, this process is awful and really there should be more regulation. Not sure if adopting the Scottish system would be the answer but something along those lines is needed for sure.

I hope it all happens sooner than you’re expecting!

@WWBWBapparently we are up the valleys.

Scottish system equally grim. Well, it was in February.

We didn’t find it so bad. Sold our Scottish house with 3 cash offers in 9 days, completion in 10 weeks.
i suppose all experiences are different, but we preferred the Scottish system of the seller getting the Home Report ( survey ) first.

Meant to add all done between April and July this year.

I straddled both systems as was leaving Scotland to go south. For me the Scottish system took a very painful 18 weeks before missives concluded… and just 15 hours before our removal company arrived to start packing …
However, DC, a first time buyer with no chain in England has taken 20 weeks to exchange which they have been told will happen tomorrow.
North or south there are no guarantees it will run smoothly.
The decreasing staff count in solicitor offices is what’s doing it

We STILL havent exchanged but according to everyone completion is Monday.
I have put my foot down and said I will not take the risk of exchange and completion on the same day. Either we exchange today or tomorrow or we do not complete Monday. I've honestly had a gutsful now. Happy to pull out altogether at this point.

Hey, everyone! We made it! Exchange and completion late last night, everyone worked late to get us over the line and we've had 2 removals deliveries so far, so actually slept on, not quite in, a bed last night ( no idea where the duvets are). Haven't eaten a proper meal in 2 days but we're going to find some chips or pizza shortly. Shite phone reception (5g hasnt arrived here) and no WiFi set up, so communication is tricky which is just what you need at a time like this but hey ho. The dog is exhausted, I've been gripping him on a lead for the best part of 3 days now as people have been in and out...

Our removals cost over 3k - worth every penny, the lads have played a blinder. When we started loading, we hadn't even exchanged, but they made sure we had at least the basics.

I know lots of you are equally traumatised by your moves, sorry not to be able to do more than send all my best wishes and hope you get there shortly ( if anyone's in Oswestry, Shropshire, give me a shout, and we'll help if we can).

Excellent news @KrankyKumquat! Enjoy your new house, and even try to enjoy a little of the chaos that comes from knowing where nothing is 🤣.

Fingers are crossed for you @WWBWBapparently , it definitely should happen the way you've outlined, because there's no real reason exchange shouldn't happen tomorrow, provided all are committed to this sale!💐

We are due to complete tomorrow but my anxiety will not rest until our buyers solicitor has at least made himself contactable in the morning. Until then, we'll be packing and cleaning waaaay into the night, with our fingers crossed 🥲