House selling/buying part 2

[2longinthetooth]

This is the continuation for those on spring selling/buying thread.

@autumnvelvetwhisper welcome, congrats on nearly paying the house off. Good luck with the viewing. Let's us know how it went.

Thank you 😊 Yeah its like a whole new world now 😆

Thank you 😊 We have another one next Saturday - which I'm a little bit more drawn towards. But we will see. All part of the fun lol 😆

Does anyone know if there's a cut off date for when solicitors will put off exchanging and completing on a sale before Christmas? I spoke to my solicitor last week and he said he's in the final stages of enquiries on the house we're buying and things are progressing well. He didn't want to say whether the sale would go through this year or next. I'm not loving the idea of moving in December, but know my buyer's are getting impatient (enquiries have been going on for a couple of months, it doesn't seem overly long to me).

Do you usually get a reasonable amount of notice when they suggest dates? It's my first time buying in a chain and the thought of having to get everything moved and a final clean around in one day is starting to give me nightmares 😆

@hididdlyho some neighbours of ours completed on the 20th December last year. There's no limit if you're determined to move before Christmas

We’ve been waiting since August so I b**y hope not!
Years ago we exchange just before Christmas and moved out on January 5th.
However, I think that was with the old professional solicitors, not the casual mob of today who don’t have the courtesy to reply to emails sent 3 weeks ago!

@hididdlyhoBefore we pulled out of our purchase, I asked the solicitors if it would complete before xmas. They said they do no more conveyancing after the 15th of dec. They then identify who has all the documentation and nearest to completion. They then intensely work on those cases to complete before xmas. I suppose every practice has their own way of working.

Back from our first house viewing. The house was lovely, just a bit too small for us. It looked bigger on the photos. The street was very narrow too which I'm not used to, I'm used to lots of space. So things to consider for our next viewing

@autumnvelvetwhisperits all good, nothing is wasted because you can now focus on your non negotiables.

Yeah you're right 😊 We have another viewing on Saturday for a different property. We've also seen another one we like so awaiting a request for a viewing for that one as well. Other than that, haven't seen any others yet

Hey everyone! Oh wow, I really wish I’d stumbled across this group a few months ago!
My husband and I are in the middle of absolute property madness right now—we’ve been simultaneously selling four houses and buying our next home 🤪
To clarify, we are definitely not property moguls! Life just threw everything at us at once. After each losing our remaining parents and my husband being diagnosed with a heart condition, we decided life is too short and brought our early retirement plans forward.
We’ve tried to keep smiling and look at the positives, and we've actually found a gorgeous new place that we're completely in love with. It’s just this final hurdle of getting the purchase over the line that’s giving us a bit of a headache.
So, thank you so much in advance if I pop up asking for advice, a bit of support, or just to have a good old vent!! Looking forward to chatting with you all.

@RosemagicYou are more than welcome, we are all here sharing the same madness thats is selling/buying. Be it a shed or a mansion, everyone has their hurdles to overcome and stresses. If we can help each other out or just to listen to someone venting, its all good. Vent away.

Im completing today and feel sick. Solicitor just rang to say the money is not in yet, but thats normal, just a courtesy call to make sure we are good to go. Have been thinking did we do the right thing (bit late now 😂). As we have been coming down from the stress, emotions are returning. The thought of doing it all again next yr makes me want to cry.

Hi Rosemagic you’ve certainly had a property journey. I feel some of your journey, we are amalgamating two properties. We are doing it in sequence, we sold the first quite easily. Buying the new house is painful due to our seller’s onward purchase. The final house, which we currently live in, will go on the market after Christmas. I expect more difficulties then.
Past experiences are telling me that no matter how painful, it will be eventually over!

Hi @Beebumble2 gosh sounds like you've got a lot to manage through too!! But you're right, it'll all be worth it once it's done :-) We keep telling ourselves that at least doing it all at once means we're sort of 'in the zone' and just dealing with it all...and it'll then all be done and dusted. Not sure we'll ever move again though 😂 I hope we love our new place as much as we think we will!!!

Hi @2longinthetooth thanks so much for the lovely welcome :-)

Thinking of you today @2longinthetooth its shit moving when you are stepping into the unknown

im feeling totally and utterly defeated by it all right now, need to summon the motivation to kick off yet another week of trying to chase up everyone and actually just want to call in sick to work and hide under my duvet crying at the never ending stress of it all. What a fucking joke.

@HouseMoveRound2 I'm new here, but I spotted your post about having to get a charge removed from your property and thought I'd say I feel your pain!
When we sold Mum's house, we discovered there was still a charge on it dating right back to when she and Dad first bought it, using a staff mortgage through Royal Insurance. Sadly, Dad died very young, just a year after we'd all moved in, and the mortgage was paid off by the endowment policy. But nobody ever got around to removing the charge!
So, fast-forward about 40 years, and there we were trying to sell a house with an ancient charge still registered against it. To make matters worse, Royal Insurance didn't even exist anymore, so finding out who on earth could help us was a nightmare!
In the end, I stumbled across a brilliant forum on MoneySavingExpert, full of people who love getting their teeth into mysteries like this. They unearthed some really helpful information which, to cut a verrrrry long story short, eventually led me to a wonderful woman at Prudential. Thanks to various mergers and acquisitions over the years, they were technically the charge holder!
Thankfully, she was incredibly helpful and we finally got it sorted.
Anyway, I really hope your situation turns out to be a little more straightforward than ours! 😂

So we have 2 viewings on Saturday now. One of them we're really excited about. Fingers crossed 🤞

Ah thanks @Rosemagic will have a mooch over to MSE to see what I can uncover. It’s just so exhausting having to navigate it all, but no one else seems to be bothered enough to push anything forwards so not much I can do about it really apart from either carry on or throw in the towel

I have completed and got the keys! I’m moving in tomorrow morning.
I was also anxious all morning @2longinthetooth , especially as all my stuff was on a removal van.
It was 2.30 when I heard. I’m very glad that experience is behind me.

@HouseMoveRound2 Feeling for you. Wish I could help even more because the stress is real. Especially when the week goes by and nothing moves forward. Ive cried many a Friday.

@autumnvelvetwhisperWow you are going for it with the viewings, good on ya, fingers crossed there is 1 you like.

@Anonymouseposter Congrats! The stress is behind you, all the best for moving in tomorrow. You can now settle down and get on with your life. We completed by noon I was shocked thought it would be later. Not had my money tho, solicitor reckons I signed a 3 day transfer, not sure about that but couldnt be arsed to argue as long as the money is safe. Tbh I thought id be whoohoo but I dont feel anything. Doesn't seem real. Still doing shit loads of work like a mountain of paperwork to sort. I just want a day off.

Can I join this thread! I own a lovely one bed flat in London, been on the market since September with only two viewings! Had one offer then the FTB pulled out with no explanation. It’s share of freehold, conversion with a section of garden! Think I’m reducing by 10k, but don’t know whether to do this now or wait until after Christmas. Also, when you filter flats with garden mine doesn’t appear!

All in all very frustrated as agent doesn’t seem to do much to get viewings (I had it on market with other agents just after Covid and all equally as crap so I let it out)! All the news is full of depressing stats about flats sales! It’s so lovely and well looked after and in a gorgeous part of London! I’m a single mum, so desperate to sell it, so I can stop paying extortionate rent where I live and buy! Sorry for the doom and gloom! Xxxx

Congratulations Anonymouseposter and 2longinthetooth for getting to the end of the awful process called selling and buying in England and Wales. Time the whole thing was overhauled.
Some news today is making us cautiously optimistic for a date this week.
Hi leopardprintandsunbeams I hope you get an offer soon.

I’m downsizerboomer from the first thread! I forgot my name would change back. Anyway I have successfully downsized , thanks for your support and the very best of luck to those of you starting on the process.