Exchange in 48 hours?

RX-78

My Mortgage offer alone took 18 days from application (and I already had mortgage in principle so they had our detail already!) to offer letter reaching us. And thats for being a premier customer - my friend is still awaiting underwriter's decision and its already over 3 weeks from application.

So 48hrs exchange would mean cutting out alot of details. Would you buy a used car which you haven't test driven, not checked MOT/service history, not got car loan in place and not seen the V5 document? And if your used car salesman was telling you "today only deal" and pushing you to sign the contract, would you sign it or run a mile?

Io07

thank you to everyone who has replied...well, we have decided not to go thru'. Feeling quite upset by losing the house but maybe for the best. The issue was there were other buyers who were ready to offer the asking price and y'day it looked like there was either going to be a bidding war or a "first past the post" situation. I don't know why the first buyer faffed the seller about; all the EA told us was that the seller was v nervous as he didn't want the sale to be dragged on for months this second time around. I honestly don't belive there were any issues with survey, etc.
never mind, plenty of houses out there!

motherof6

This brought back memories, 10 yrs ago we saw the house of our dreams, a rambling country house set just outside a village on the edge of Bath. The EA wouldnt let us look around as it was a friday and he had several developers who had made offers and a contract race was on for completion by the following monday. My husband told me to meet me at the house and we peered through the windows, all very dark and gloomy, vegetation overgrown and we could barely get to the windows. He is a chartered surveyor and told me then and there this was where we would be bringing up the kids. We sat on the lawn whilst he rang his sister who happens to be our solicitor, he gave her the name of the vendors solicitor (deceased estate) and told her he wanted exchange by the end of the day. We did no searches (we were cash buyers) and apart from looking at the outside of the house had not even been able to get in.
Well not only did she manage to get exchange done by the end of the day we had arranged to complete within a week, as we were planning on moving straight in and it needed heating, bathroom, kitchen etc we also arranged for the vendors to allow us to put in a team of builders in on the following monday to start putting in a heating system and do the electrics with the condition that if the sale did not complete the heating system etc stayed put.
On the monday our builders had started work when 2 sets of developers turned up wanting to know what the hell was going on as they thought they were buying the house and exchanging that day!!
What a house, when we first opened the dining room door there was a bat on the window sill!! Well we stayed there for 7 yrs before moving. We paid £82000 and sold for £475000!!!

Thrugelmir

Saw the house of our dreams. Victorian, double fronted. Refurbished throughout. Only 2 bed but room for 2 storey extension at back.

Offer accepted at £207k.

Due to age , had full structural survey done. What didn't get a mention.........

Value £183k after allowing for remedial works.

Large national estate agency chain. Manager refused to talk to us.

Had arranged mortgage through their finance arm. They chased us for survey fee and threatened debt recovery. We just laughed them away, pointing out publicity wouldn't have been good for them.

Never ever rushed into a house transaction ever again. Its what you can't see that matters.

motherof6

Yes i do agree with the above poster, I wouldnt reccomend you rush into it just because the seller wants you to, we were in a very different position, We were cash buyers, with a solicitor in the family. We are also developers and had our own team of builders who work for us full time and we could just pull them from other jobs to start this one. My Father in law came out that evening (after we had exchanged) looked at it and said '' well if it falls down we will just have to put it up again wont we'' . mind you how many people have you met who exchange on a house that the estate agent wouldnt even let them into !! lol

clairehi

I think youve done the right thing.
The seller is being unreasonable. no sensible person would expect you to exchange in 48 hours. Either he is bonkers and/or there is something majorly wrong with the house - not worth taking the risk.
As my granddad used to say"Its amazing how often once-in-a-lifetime opportunities come along"LOL