Property buying/selling timeline - currently into week 21
04/12/20: Both properties listed for sale
11/01/21: Offers
accepted on both sales & on our joint purchase
25/01/21: Identity checks completed, solicitors instructed
27/01/21: Purchase survey & valuation complete, mortgage offer
received
05/02/21: Reduction agreed on partner's sale (under-valuation) & on
purchase. Mortgage offer amended
08/02/21: Buyers pack returned to solicitor - sellers packs already returned
26/02/21:
Partner's sale contract signed
10/03/21: Purchase searches all back
16/03/21: My sale contract signed
28/03/21: Purchase enquiries satisfied, Title
Report & contracts issued, contracts signed & returned
11/05/21: Still waiting on final enquiry in the adjoining chain to be resolved. Consent to break the chain granted, instruction to move to exchange given.
17/05/21: All parties agreed to June 3rd for completion
27/05/21: Exchanged on my sale only
28/05/21: ALL EXCHANGED!
03/06/21: Completion
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pinklady21
Posts: 870 Forumite
We have been trying to sell our home since March. Have sold it twice, both sales failed to complete. Turns out both buyers were being economical with the truth when it came to their true position (or our Estate Agent either didn't ask the right questions, or did and concealed the true picture from us - so we have parted company with them, not surprisingly!)
The first buyer wanted a date of entry within 3 weeks, which we could not commit to at that point, so withdrew their offer (despite my former EA telling me they were super keen and absolutely committed to the purchase......
The second, who had supposedly "sold" their house, and wanted an 8 week date of entry, then turned out to be part of a complicated chain. In the end, they prevaricated for over 4 months, promising every two days to my solicitor that they "were just about to complete their sale" yadda, yadda. As they had demanded a date of entry of mid August, which we had agreed to, we then set out to try and find a suitable property.
Finding anywhere was hard, we looked at a very wide area, and rentals as well as purchases.
We finally found something that we liked and could afford, albeit it needs serious repairs and doing up, but we offered and our offer was accepted.
We even managed to find an additional smaller property nearby that we could move into straight away while we repaired the other one. Our offer on that one was accepted too.
Happy days - until our buyers, having shifted their "essential" date of entry twice, at the last minute decided they had changed their minds and would not be buying our house after all.
So..... we advise the sellers of the properties we want to buy, that there will be an unexpected delay. Seller 1 (the doer-upper)
promptly put that house back on the market, despite us saying we should still be able to proceed, but we would now have to raise a mortgage, so could they be a little bit flexible please.
No joy there.
Seller 2, we ask them if they would consider renting to us instead, until we have managed to get a new buyer for our house.
Thoroughly embarrassing all round.
Anyway - roll forward a couple of weeks, we now have a mortgage in place so we can proceed to buy the doer-upper, subject to an up to date valuation.
We have fired our (hopeless) Estate Agent, and remarketed our property with a different one. Been on a week and no viewings, which is a further worry.
Oh and because we thought we were moving in a hurry, most of our belongings are now in storage.
So... from being in pole position to get cracking on an exciting house project, we are effectively back at square one.
The house we hope to buy is apparently attracting interest from other viewers, we have really upset the owner of the other one we would be living in as we cannot yet commit to a date to move in there, as this is contingent on sealing the deal on the do-er upper..... and we don't even know if we will be able to make the move at all.
I feel so upset to have messed other people around through no fault of our own.
It feels like every step of the way has been a struggle! I am hoping it is just a run of bad luck and we manage to sort this all out as so far we have overcome just about every hurdle.
So much has gone wrong that is totally out of our control, and we are now so stressed we can hardly think straight!
At least on the plus side, with the wait for legions of super keen buyers.... our house and garden has never been so tidy! (although we cannot seem to find a thing!)
Anyone else found themselves on a similar express train to stress city when trying to find a new place to live in?
It might help to know I am not alone!!
The first buyer wanted a date of entry within 3 weeks, which we could not commit to at that point, so withdrew their offer (despite my former EA telling me they were super keen and absolutely committed to the purchase......
The second, who had supposedly "sold" their house, and wanted an 8 week date of entry, then turned out to be part of a complicated chain. In the end, they prevaricated for over 4 months, promising every two days to my solicitor that they "were just about to complete their sale" yadda, yadda. As they had demanded a date of entry of mid August, which we had agreed to, we then set out to try and find a suitable property.
Finding anywhere was hard, we looked at a very wide area, and rentals as well as purchases.
We finally found something that we liked and could afford, albeit it needs serious repairs and doing up, but we offered and our offer was accepted.
We even managed to find an additional smaller property nearby that we could move into straight away while we repaired the other one. Our offer on that one was accepted too.
Happy days - until our buyers, having shifted their "essential" date of entry twice, at the last minute decided they had changed their minds and would not be buying our house after all.
So..... we advise the sellers of the properties we want to buy, that there will be an unexpected delay. Seller 1 (the doer-upper)
promptly put that house back on the market, despite us saying we should still be able to proceed, but we would now have to raise a mortgage, so could they be a little bit flexible please.
No joy there.
Seller 2, we ask them if they would consider renting to us instead, until we have managed to get a new buyer for our house.
Thoroughly embarrassing all round.
Anyway - roll forward a couple of weeks, we now have a mortgage in place so we can proceed to buy the doer-upper, subject to an up to date valuation.
We have fired our (hopeless) Estate Agent, and remarketed our property with a different one. Been on a week and no viewings, which is a further worry.
Oh and because we thought we were moving in a hurry, most of our belongings are now in storage.
So... from being in pole position to get cracking on an exciting house project, we are effectively back at square one.
The house we hope to buy is apparently attracting interest from other viewers, we have really upset the owner of the other one we would be living in as we cannot yet commit to a date to move in there, as this is contingent on sealing the deal on the do-er upper..... and we don't even know if we will be able to make the move at all.
I feel so upset to have messed other people around through no fault of our own.
It feels like every step of the way has been a struggle! I am hoping it is just a run of bad luck and we manage to sort this all out as so far we have overcome just about every hurdle.
So much has gone wrong that is totally out of our control, and we are now so stressed we can hardly think straight!
At least on the plus side, with the wait for legions of super keen buyers.... our house and garden has never been so tidy! (although we cannot seem to find a thing!)
Anyone else found themselves on a similar express train to stress city when trying to find a new place to live in?
It might help to know I am not alone!!
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Comments
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Hmm you seem to blame your buyers for the issues, but the evidence seems to point to other areas.0
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Ouch - Harsh!0
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Oh yes, it has not been a simple ride for us either and we seem to go from one hurdle to another.
They do say it's one of the most stressful things you can do, and you just have to hope that it will be worth it in the end.
Hang on in there!0 -
I'm afraid it just can be and usually is very stressful. You are not alone if having a few fall-throughs, especially with a lot of mortgages not coming through despite an in-principle offer (though TBH, I do wonder if some agents and would-be buyers are using this as a convenient excuse when someone changes their mind).
While we were selling ours, in the space of about a fortnight we lost one buyer and one house to buy, my husband was at risk of losing his job and he wrote off our car. But it is amazing how fast the memory of the stress fades once it's all over. Good luck.0 -
especially with a lot of mortgages not coming through despite an in-principle offer (though TBH, I do wonder if some agents and would-be buyers are using this as a convenient excuse when someone changes their mind).
Aaaarrrrgggghhh, please don't say that! I literally just found out that 4 weeks in and our buyers' mortgage offer is still not officially approved as they are awaiting a reference. They have a meeting with the lender tomorrow. We are meant to be exchanging next Friday.
Property buying/selling timeline - currently into week 21
04/12/20: Both properties listed for sale
11/01/21: Offers accepted on both sales & on our joint purchase
25/01/21: Identity checks completed, solicitors instructed
27/01/21: Purchase survey & valuation complete, mortgage offer received
05/02/21: Reduction agreed on partner's sale (under-valuation) & on purchase. Mortgage offer amended
08/02/21: Buyers pack returned to solicitor - sellers packs already returned
26/02/21: Partner's sale contract signed
10/03/21: Purchase searches all back
16/03/21: My sale contract signed
28/03/21: Purchase enquiries satisfied, Title Report & contracts issued, contracts signed & returned
11/05/21: Still waiting on final enquiry in the adjoining chain to be resolved. Consent to break the chain granted, instruction to move to exchange given.
17/05/21: All parties agreed to June 3rd for completion
27/05/21: Exchanged on my sale only
28/05/21: ALL EXCHANGED!
03/06/21: Completion0 -
Aaaarrrrgggghhh, please don't say that! I literally just found out that 4 weeks in and our buyers' mortgage offer is still not officially approved as they are awaiting a reference. They have a meeting with the lender tomorrow. We are meant to be exchanging next Friday.
Dare I say it, I don't think it's helpful to have a specific date on which you're expecting to exchange. There are a great deal of moving parts involved in a house purchase/sale, many different variables and lots of elements that can affect timing. It is incredibly difficult to accurately predict when you're going to exchange contracts until such time as nearly all of the elements are completed.
Setting a date early in the process and then becoming more stressed as that date draws closer does not help, in my view.0 -
For us I think the stress has been because we feel that others have not been fully open with us about their circumstances. We have been absolutely clear with everyone else, and honest! Had we known the full picture, we may well have made different decisions, and so might not have ended up on the express train!0
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pinklady21 wrote: »For us I think the stress has been because we feel that others have not been fully open with us about their circumstances. We have been absolutely clear with everyone else, and honest! Had we known the full picture, we may well have made different decisions, and so might not have ended up on the express train!
That is of course a huge problem too.
Some people inadvertently mislead, because they don't fully understand the process, or encounter unexpected difficulties, or their situation simply changes.
Unfortunately others deliberately deceive, for reasons best known to themselves.
I may be biased, but I believe that is why a good EA is so important - they know what to look for, know what questions to ask, and can sniff out potential problems and try and avoid them.
The easy bit is often finding a buyer, the hard bit is getting from the day you accept an offer to the day you hand some keys over. Few sales are entirely straightforward, and it helps to have an expert there to help navigate the process. A process few people are completely familiar with as they may only go through it a handful of times in their lifetime.0 -
Agree -but our EA was woeful! It was my solicitor who had to chase the others buyers' solicitors. The EA even told me the first buyer was 100% committed - just before he withdrew his offer having bought something else.....
My gripe there is that an experienced agent should have got an inkling something was not right.
They let the second buyer prevaricate for weeks on end with no contact with anyone. Eventually we got them to remarket the property, but at our request. Again, I would have expected a competent agent to be far more "on the ball" - after all they have the vested interest to get the sale to complete so they can be paid!0 -
Sounds like your agent was !!!!! Well done for firing them.
The vast majority make the rest of us look bad!
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