when will exchange happen??

[SparkyUK]

All offers accepted and chain in place in late February and we still haven't exchanged. I'm going a bit crazy as our buyers have been saying, since this time in May (!!) that exchange will be any day.

To be fair, it is not them but their buyers that are dragging their feet (paying deposit by cheque, not returning phone calls, etc) but I am starting to get v frustrated. I know in the grand scheme it hasn't been that long but I don't know how many more conversations I can take where our buyers call to reassure that exchange should be tomorrow or day after. We've had over a month of those.

The place we are buying needs quite a bit of work, and I've got a LO on the way due in October so I am really beginning to feel the pressure of my immovable deadline. How much longer do we go on like this? Is there ANYTHING we can do to move things along? I'm feeling so powerless. Last time around we completed in 6 weeks so am feeling completely flumuxed at the delays...

Sorry, I know this just seems like a rant but seriously, I would love any advice on how we can get buyers to exchange.

not alot you can do really. call their and your solicitors to see why there is a hold up. hope it happens soon for you.
x

We are waiting too. It is beyond frustrating. Argh...

tbh alarm bells would be ringing for me about those further down the chain - clearly something is not right (mortgage offer, survey, their situation etc) and you need to know asap. There is nothing you can do per se but the information as to what the hold up is may give you a better idea as to whether you should be looking to remarket.

Everytime the exchange is pushed back, there is a new excuse. Once it was that they couldn't get a hold of the buyer becasue she is a shift worker, then she paid deposit by cheques so we had to wait 10 days for that to clear, then that she had to cash out her ISAs and we needed to wait for the money to reach her account... I am worried that she is actually looking at other options and is going to pull out. Our sellers (probate sale) are beginning to get spooked by all the delays and are sniffing around, doing things like sending in surveyors for further valuations so they too may pull out if we don't get things going quickly.

Can we do something like say that if we don't exchange by the end of the week we are putting the house back on the market and our buyers will need to exchange before we get another offer?

Part of me is like there is no way that getting a new buyer in at this point is going to be faster than just waiting it out, but the other part of me says, well, we've been waiting to exchange for about 6 weeks and we have no way of knowing if they are going to drag it out for another 6 weeks. And if they are going to pull out, I'd rather be ready to go then caught completely off guard.

My sympathies to you. I'm going stir crazy waiting for our sale and purchase to reach completion and it's only been a few weeks. Solicitor will give me no indication of how long it will take and ours seems relatively straight forward. Our buyer is a cash buyer and wants to buy to let and the guy we are buying from can move into his parents. I'm so worried that our buyer will drop out if it takes long and find somewhere else to buy and we've found a fantastic house that we don't want to lose as there is nothing similar on the market.

So no advice for you, just wish I understood the process a bit better.

that sounds positive mrs magnolia. our buyers just pulled out after 2 weeks, looks like we may loose property we offered on, but hoping we will get another offer soon.

hoping you get it all sorted and exchange soon.

i want to sort new school for boys and had begun to do that then our buyers pulled out tuesday. its a nightmare. im so stressed and depressed by it all. actually went back to bed for 3hrs today when i had dropped kids off as i havent slept that well and it did help, but its so unlike me to be so down.

it really is ridiculously stressful isn't it? I have always been a bit sniffy when people have moaned about the horror of moving house... but now we're doing it for the first time in many years i understand perfectly... it's the open endedness of the process and so many factors beyond your control that is the killer.... our buyers agreed to exchange by mid may.... here we are a month later and like you everyday there is some new issue somewhere in the chain that means it cant happen "but any day now / definitely by the end of the week / etc etc" aaaaagh. is doing my head in. my only advice is to pester and pester and keep pestering. your solicitor needs to be asking some direct and pointed questions about the reasons for delay and the realistic timescales to resolve anything outstanding. you cant rally threaten your purchasers unless you dont mind losing them.... good luck (and to everyone suffering in this way).

aaagh. another friday i caqn see drawing to an end and still no exchange.... unbearable!

Me too, though this time it's the people we are buying from. Their solicot is on holiday and no one else in the firm will deal with it.

hope you both exchange soon, we are just hoping another buyer comes along this weekend!

any news on your exchange, controlfreakery? We're still waiting, on our sellers now. But to add a bit of fun to a mix, have found out that our buyers' buyers - the ones who have been dragging things out for the last 2 months - well, their mortgage offer expires at the end of the month. What fun!

Still, I really really think the exchange will happen tomorrow. really really.

hmmm. fingers crossed for you tomorrow.... don't want to dampen your enthusiasm but yesterday we were told it was "100% certain" that exchange would take place today... guess what? apparently it really will be tomorrow.

oh dear, are we in the same chain? More delays more delays... any news on your end?

tomorrow apparently (again...)

Is there an emoticon for

fantastic news! me too, about an hour ago... i'd really given up all hope.

Just bumping in the hope someone might be in the same position we are in for some mutual hand holding!

Accepted an offer on our flat nearly 5 weeks ago and still waiting to exchange contracts. No chain in either direction and our solicitor seems to have been quite on the ball but every day it seems there is another apparently random enquiry from their solicitors for us to answer. I'm just so fed up and beginning to think this isn't going to happen.

5 weeks, pah!
Ours took 10 interminable weeks.... with purchasers who promised us in their offer to exchange in 4.
It was torture.

yeah I've been following above CF - how are things now post exchange?

its more the endless questions that are getting to me - there is no chain at all to consider so I really thought it would be quicker than this and every week it takes is another week we can't sign a rental agreement, plan nursery admission or even have DH at home (his new job has already started)

I'm just moaning but argh!!!! so stressed!

OMG I think I might have been in this chain too! We have just exchanged after 6 months of slow progress people pulling out, people threatening to remarket if exchange didn't happen etc.......has been very stressful and I have to say am very unimpressed with estate agents, some I have spoken to seem to have never been involved in a sale before from ridiculous questions they have been asking.

Good luck for those waiting to exchange and good luck for completion.

I hope to never sell in a downturn again.