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Some people, esp young FTBs don't fully understand what's involved as they've never done it before.
And they're in a rush to get into their new home.
And they live with mum/dad so have few arrangements to make - no tenancy to terminate, no huge lorry-load of stuff to pack/book etc
For most people though, the number of things which need doing after exchange and before completion means a decent gap is helpful.
aka they are being selfish. Taking every account of their own personal wishes and no account whatsoever of someone else's need.
Hence your buyers "difficulty" in explaining why they wanted this - as they didnt want to say "I want it because I'm selfish. I don't give a toss about you".
The buyer of my last house was an FTB - and was living with parents. They "stamped their feet and threw a tantrum" - but I knew from the outset that I would be having 4 weeks between Exchange and Completion (whoever my buyer was) and they had to accept that I had lots of "needs" for arranging everything - removal van/etc - as well as my personal wish not to move across country until the last possible moment. They just had their personal wish to move asap.0 -
Personallly, I like a bit of a gap between exchange and completion. Useful time to sort practical things out and put the stress of the conveyancing process behind you.0
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Interesting points raised here. The obvious situation that would make it somewhat tenable is if there is no chain at all. I hadn't considered 100% mortgages before. Does that mean someone selling to a 100% mortgage buyer would generally have to take that risk of exchanging and completing same day?
It doesn't seem like having a gap is a "nice to have for practical reasons" in my opinion. It's a necessity. Yes, there is the practical side, but there is also that massive risk. Who wants to pack up their life into boxes, arrange for a removal service, take a day off work, sort out home insurances, and organise change of address with banks, with the risk that it may not happen that day at all. It's absurd.
The angle I was coming at this from in my OP is that I don't understand who advises these people when there is a chain. I doubt there are many people undertaking their FTB without speaking to relatives and friends. Where are those people telling them that they can't expect a seller to take that risk just because the buyer is excited to get into the new home? I just don't get it.moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »aka they are being selfish. Taking every account of their own personal wishes and no account whatsoever of someone else's need.
Hence your buyers "difficulty" in explaining why they wanted this - as they didnt want to say "I want it because I'm selfish. I don't give a toss about you".
Indeed this is exactly what my buyer was like.0 -
I dont expect there are many/if any people telling the FTB what the position is for "the other party" concerned.
Back those many years back when I was an FTB - my parents came and shared my second viewing of the house concerned and confirmed they thought it was a suitable one for me and I could see my father walking round mentally listing to himself the DIY work he intended to do on it. Apart from that - they kept absolutely totally quiet about it until the day I moved in. I found out subsequently that my father had been talking to the vendor behind my back and making sure they didnt "do the dirty" on me and let me down (as my parents knew a vendor had already done that to me on another house).
But they didnt say a word to me - apart from "We agree with this house".
That may be because they knew me well enough to know I had done quite a lot of research myself and was busily leaping up and down at what a good mortgage deal I'd found for myself (I had:)) - so they assumed I knew everything else I guess....
I'm guessing it's much the same with your buyer - and that their friends are busily telling them every tale they can think of how they "stomped their feet/threw a tantrum" and got what they wanted out of a vendor and not telling them about the times the vendor decided they were being unreasonable and was firm with them in refusing. Bear in mind that it does rather look to me as if a lot (not all) of this generation have been brought up to put themselves first - whereas older generations probably havent been (mine certainly wasnt given the chance to only take ourselves into account.....).0 -
moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »aka they are being selfish. Taking every account of their own personal wishes and no account whatsoever of someone else's need.
Hence your buyers "difficulty" in explaining why they wanted this - as they didnt want to say "I want it because I'm selfish. I don't give a toss about you".
The buyer of my last house was an FTB - and was living with parents. They "stamped their feet and threw a tantrum" - but I knew from the outset that I would be having 4 weeks between Exchange and Completion (whoever my buyer was) and they had to accept that I had lots of "needs" for arranging everything - removal van/etc - as well as my personal wish not to move across country until the last possible moment. They just had their personal wish to move asap.
Good to know you weren't being selfish.You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose but you can't pick your friend's nose.0 -
The buyer becomes liable for the property once contracts are exchanged, so rather than leaving this in the hands of the seller the ultra-cautious sometimes insist on same-day exchange/completion. This reduces the risk that the seller burns the house down, etc.
Also if the property has been unoccupied for a while then (I think) this can cause insurance issues.
Personally, I think a week or two is fine as most sellers don't want to burn the house down. My most recent mortgage company wouldn't allow it anyway, since they required a week to process the funds.0 -
How did this thread turn into a young people bashing one!
First time buyers can be of all ages and situations."You've been reading SOS when it's just your clock reading 5:05 "0 -
One reason for people not wanting a gap is if they don't have the 10% deposit in cash to put down at the point of exchange (which can often be the case if they are upsizing).
There have been a number of posts on this board in the past where people haven't appreciated tht you need to do this, and that the deposit at exchange isn't the same as the deposit that they are expected to demonstrate to the mortgage company.
Of course, you can agree with your seller to have a lower deposit, but this does leave the seller on the back foor if the completion didn't go ahead for any reason....0 -
I had simultaneous exchange/completion when I bought repossessions. It made sense for those purchases, and I also wasn't selling anything.
For my house purchase in 2015 though the lender insisted on at least 5 working days between exchange and completion so it wouldn't have been an option however much the buyer of my place might have stamped their feet!
I suppose some might be scared of anything going wrong with the house inbetween, or are just impatient!0 -
I suspect it's misunderstanding/over caution, although I'm not sure it actually makes a difference to risk whether it's immediate or not - in the very rare cases when a buyer exchanges but then can't pay up I don't see how it could make any difference whether they can't pay up on the same day as exchange or if they can't several weeks later.
My brother's brother-in-law did have the nightmare situation of pipes bursting and making the house uninhabitable between exchange and completion, but that is also a rare bit of bad luck, and at least the insurance provision meant they were covered and alternative accommodation paid for over the six months or so it took to make the house liveable.0
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