FTB loosing control of the whole thing. Advice needed please

Idiophreak

queenieplum wrote: »

Hi - I think its best to communicate through your solicitors rather than directly to each other as thats what you are paying them to do rather than taking it on yourself.

I just bought as an FTB and was thankful to be buying newbuild (boo, hiss, I know...) - as I had the builders to deal with. Whenever there was something my solicitor was waiting for, I got straight on the phone to the builders, who were straight on the phone to their solicitors - being able to push things along from both sides was very useful...Also, for small questions, going straight from A (us) - B (seller) was much easier than going A - C(our solicitors) - D (their solicitors) - B - D - C - A

Don't know how common that kinda communication is tbh.

Was also good that our solicitors used some software called eConveyancer - so I could log-in online and see what stage we were up to, what we were waiting for, ask questions and so on...

Soot2006

We've just completed and thank god the EA held out little FTB hands through the process (and the vendors were First Time Sellers ) -- He warned us, after the survey, that we would most likely hear nothing from anyone until the mortgage offer was received. Our solicitors operated a "no news is good news" attitude and although his secretary was easy to contact, he himself did not want to deal with clients unless face to face. Luckily we knew this about him from the start as we chose him for his reputed efficiency . The weeks between survey and mortgage offer were horrendous; I thought I was going mad. I think I annoyed anyone (EA, solicitor's secretary, mortgage broker) as felt so out of control, like other people were making my decisions and I had no say in my own future (!!). Then we got a call from solicitor the day the mortgage offer arrived, basically saying we should transfer 10% deposit and come to his office to sign the contracts. Next day we exchanged, 7 days later we completed. Couldn't beleve how quick everything suddenly went. Again, out of our control but at least this time in the right direction.
I think it's such a stressful purchase, it's normal to feel a bit lost?!

(should add that we arranged our insurance via the mortgage broker and no questions about window locks were asked?! Is that normal?)

rs82uk

Soot2006 wrote: »

We've just completed and thank god the EA held out little FTB hands through the process (and the vendors were First Time Sellers ) -- He warned us, after the survey, that we would most likely hear nothing from anyone until the mortgage offer was received. Our solicitors operated a "no news is good news" attitude and although his secretary was easy to contact, he himself did not want to deal with clients unless face to face. Luckily we knew this about him from the start as we chose him for his reputed efficiency . The weeks between survey and mortgage offer were horrendous; I thought I was going mad. I think I annoyed anyone (EA, solicitor's secretary, mortgage broker) as felt so out of control, like other people were making my decisions and I had no say in my own future (!!). Then we got a call from solicitor the day the mortgage offer arrived, basically saying we should transfer 10% deposit and come to his office to sign the contracts. Next day we exchanged, 7 days later we completed. Couldn't beleve how quick everything suddenly went. Again, out of our control but at least this time in the right direction.
I think it's such a stressful purchase, it's normal to feel a bit lost?!

(should add that we arranged our insurance via the mortgage broker and no questions about window locks were asked?! Is that normal?)

I think this is what is irritating me I too was warned there is a lot of waiting until the mortgage offer is in. However we had it agreed in principle before we had the offer accepted, and I had notice from my solicitor that he had received confirmation of the mortgage offer within 2 weeks, 6 weeks later still no sign of contracts being exchanged.

Sandra2

Hi.
I agree with the posting about finding our from your solicitor what is outstanding and then working through that list to tick stuff off. You should be aware that if you are transferring deposit money you will have to pay £25 to transfer it same day (called TTF), or wait 5 days for a cheque to clear as you need cleared funds. We have the phone number of the people we are buying from and they are lovely and it's made the whole process very smooth. Our buyers have refused to deal with us directly which has slowed things up lots. It depends on if your sellers want to be in contact with you or not, sometimes people don't want to talk to you as it's too difficult for them, so be sensitive.
I would check telephone/broadband suppliers as well as gas/electric and water (is it on a water meter or not?) and also things like what day is bin day as that's also useful. We are moving areas so also asked for a list of who they recommend for car servicing, window cleaning etc which they were happy to provide for us too.
In terms of timescales, it is possible to exchange and complete by the 31st if all the paperwork is in and okay - once the report on title has been done by your solicitor and you've seen it and are happy they you can exchange if everything else is done. It is stressful and it does feel like things are out of control but do what you can, make lists of things to do - and enjoy owning your own home!

CharleneUK

Hi OP, do come back and update us.

I hope your meeting this evening was useful

charliee_3

hi, we have just moved into our house as FTB too. I am a bit of a control freak when it comes to stuff like this and i wanted to know exactly what was happening and nothing seemed to happen as quickly as i wanted. we were trying to get in to measure but the vendors would let us until the contracts had exchanged. they just kept putting us off.. i think they thought we were stalling and holding it all up and that would speed us up. the house insurance, you can do it without all that info.. just choose the highest risk option so if it says 'what door lock' chose the most likely one.. (if its UPVC door prob at least 3 point IMO) if not UPVC then put the lowest type of basic lock.. you may end up paying a bit more for your premium now but you can call them back and change it if it turns out the locks are better than basic. you wont be able to exchange without proof of insurance, but as long as all the docs are in order, the solicitors are all focused and the whole chain wants to complete on 31st i dont see why it would be a problem...
see if you can speak directly to the vendor though.. it turns out that the EA was manipulating the whole thing.. making us all panic, telling lies about what the rest of the chain had said, etc .. to suit them.. surprise surprise.. would have been a lot less stressful if we'd spoken to the vendors direct...

samroo

I think the OP is confusing buildings insurance with contents insurance. Buildings insurance does not require info about door locks, alarms, etc.

gemstars

Hello.

Well I'm feeling a lot happier and calmer after seeing the vendor last night.

They were quite frosty when we got there (I think they'd got the impression we were going to pull out). I did as suggested and got a list of everything that was outstanding from our solicitors (which they are going to chase up with theirs - online firm :rolleyes:) and the EA definately had not been passing on my queries so once all that was explained they were a bit more friendlier!

We've exchanged email addresses now so we'll be able to keep each other updated on what is going on.

Thanks for your replies.