How long should I wait for buyers to do valuation?

g0dfather

We accepted an offer on our house just over 2 weeks ago. The couple buying our house also had a flat to sell but had already found a buyer.

The EA informed us that the buyer already had a mortgage in principle and so we accepted the offer which was just under our asking price and took the house off the market.

The EA called me today and said that the couple's mortgage application was still being processed and as they were doing this through HSBC the survey would be done right at the end. He also mentioned that the couple had been delayed due to the bank asking for more information and apparently leaving messages on the wrong number (sounds a bit odd to me).

Should I be worried that they are telling me it may be another 2 weeks before the survey is done (this means the house would have been off the market for 4 weeks)?

I'm even more concerned as a neighbour has just put their house on the market for less than ours was on at and am worried we might lose our buyer!

Also, we've had our offer accepted on a new-build house. We're due to pay a £1000 deposit this weekend and there's a clause in the reservation form that we could lose our deposit if we don't exchange within 6 weeks!

Should we be concerned about our buyer and start chasing the EA frequently?

Tassotti

There's always concern with property..Your situation doesn;'t warrant it.

You should have more concern about buying a new-build....

What are you thinking?

tek-monkey

I agreed a price early August (about 6th I think), and my survey wasn't done until last week - received the results on Tuesday. So thats 3 weeks, with me returning every bit of paper on the day its received. My holdup now is the vendors, the survey threw up some issues and we're waiting for them to respond.

nightbuffalo

interesting to see this from another point of view - I recently completed on a house (with my other half) as first-time buyers.

we had a phone call from the EA around the same time, two weeks, after the offer being accepted enquiring on behalf of the vendors as to the progress of the mortgage application and when the survey would be done.

this little delay was caused by our inexperience in these matters and one phone call from us to the bank, the survey and formal mortagage offer was done and dusted a week later.

I appreciate it may not be this quick for everyone, but I'd say there's no need to panic just yet.

an aside - we were haunted every step of the way by phone calls from EA, each time with the (rather menacing) phrase, "They want a quick sale," which rather left an unpleasant taste in my mouth and, to be honest, if we had not loved the property SO much, I was at times considering walking away and not giving them any of my money. add to this the fact that after all our obligations were fulfilled we had to wait on the vendors for various reasons for two months before exchanging, twas not a pleasant experience.

good luck, hope it all sorts itself out.
nb

david29dpo

With all the houses i have sold, i don't take it off the market until the survey is at least booked.

g0dfather

Thanks for the replies - it sounds like I'm getting worried for no reason and will give it another week or two before I chase the EA again!

Is it acceptable to expect the survey to be booked a month after agreeing a price?

Is anyone aware of any delays HSBC are having approving mortgages - are they known to be slow?

g0dfather

I've just spoken to my EA again and he doesn't seem to think there is a problem at the buyer's end, but just said there were some delays in responding with additional information to HSBC.

He did however suggest we wait to put down the deposit on the new house until at least the survey on our house has been done - should i be concerned by this?

Hailstorm

Lenders do seem to take a while to arrange surveys.

The vendor pulled out of the first place I was going to buy so I made an offer on the house I am currently in the process of buying with a mortgage offer already in place. That meant all that had to be arranged was the survey and valuation.

My lender took the new property details over the phone the day after my offer was accepted. It still took them another 2 and a half weeks to arrange a survey though.

[Deleted User]

we were patient and waited 3 months, while probate was being sorted. We sold to these people and at no time did we give bad, impatient vibes to them, so they stuck with us. It takes two to tango and is definitely worthwhile hiding stress. My dd pulled out of a buy because of the threatening tone of the sellers EA.

g0dfather

kittie wrote: »

we were patient and waited 3 months, while probate was being sorted. We sold to these people and at no time did we give bad, impatient vibes to them, so they stuck with us. It takes two to tango and is definitely worthwhile hiding stress. My dd pulled out of a buy because of the threatening tone of the sellers EA.

I'm fine with being patient with the buyers if there are delays, just a little concerned that the survey hadn't been arranged as until then, really the buyers haven't made any financial committment and could easily pull out.

not_loaded

They could drop out very easily and leave you high and dry.

The neighbour’s property at a lower price may be not in identical condition/same facilities as yours. You can ignore it or re-price yours. You should of course know if your price is right.

Go back on the market today. There was never a reason to take it off.