It's all going wrong!

Maggotsticks

Hi there,

Bit of a long one I'm afraid!

I'm in the process of buying a house at the moment - it looked like it was all going so smoothly until about 3 weeks ago, here's a summary of our situation:
We're buying my sisters house, she's relocating, have always loved her house so seemed like the perfect opportunity. Agreed a private sale between us and she had no upward chain (will be renting). We put our flat on the market and managed to sell within a week - first time buyer. All looking good, seemed as if things should go through very quickly given there there's no real chain.

Well, that was back at the end of May, everything was going along nicely until about 3/4 weeks ago. We've had our mortgage offer through, all the searches done on our purchase etc etc basically we've been ready to exchange for a good while now. The problem is with our buyer, it seems as if there's a problem with her mortgage offer. No one seemed to really know what the problem was, the buyer was being very evasive, not answering the EA's calls and her broker just kept saying everything was fine and that the offer was being issued any day now. I started to get really worried last week and started pushing for more info and basically what we've discovered is that she's had 2 mortgage applications turned down and is now on her third. Apparently this 3rd one has gone through fine and it is just a case of waiting for it to be processed but needless to say I'm sceptical to say the least. Her solicitor has assured us that everything else is in place on her side and all we are waiting for is her mortgage offer and we can exchange. It was supposed to be received by close of play Friday - needless to say it wasn't and I'm gutted and now have very little faith in whether anyone at her end is telling the truth.

We've decided to put our flat on the market again and try to line up a back-up buyer. If we do get someone else interested then we'll need to make a decision about whether to go with the new buyer or give our original buyer an ultimatum. You never know, her offer could come in this week but I'm not willing to wait around for another 3 weeks with no one being straight with me.

It's all really stressful because what we thought would be reasonable timescales within which to complete just haven't transpired. As such, my sister is moving away this weekend regardless as she has to start her new job so will have the stress of paying mortgage and rent. Her ex (who she owns the house with ) has just been made redundant so he's very worried that this could now take an awful lot longer.

To make matters even worse, I've been offered a fantastic new job which I've accepted but was planning to wait until we completed on the house move before resigning from my current place. I'm not sure where I would stand with our mortgage offer if I did change jobs at this stage - I know that it is valid for 6mths but now that I've become a complete pessimist about the whole house move thing I'm starting to panic that we won't have completed by then (particularly after reading this site!) If I do change jobs and say the worst case scenario happens - i.e. that this whole thing didn't go through in 6mths what would happen when the mortgage offer expired?

I'm so upset and angry and feel totally out of control. It's so frustrating and I'm starting to feel like I'm jinxed - just when everything looks like its on the up it all goes pear-shaped.

Any words of wisdom would be greatly welcomed.

Thanks so much.

silvercar

Most lenders will be happy if you have changed jobs, particularly with no period of unemployment in between.

Mortgage offers can usually be extended by a single phonecall to the lender.

hethmar

Try not to be too anxious. Sounds to be that this girl is determined to get the place and thats good - if a broker is getting paid to help her, Im sure he will find her a mortgage come hell or high water.

So, do start thinking about putting it back on the market but Im pretty sure you will find it sorts out this week. Have another call to check it out - its your property after all, so it doesnt matter how many times you call, you wont lose a sale through that.

Having said this we sold a house to a family many years ago, a few days later someone equalled their offer but we told them it was sold. Fast forward 2 months and we still havent had a surveyor round. We rang the buyers yet again and asked outright if there was a problem. We found the guy had been made redundant and was trying to get a mortgage stating he would set up a new business once he moved to our large house/gardens.

Yep, gobsmacked, we rang other couple and they had even got their mortgage offer in principle on our place, they were that keen - sale all done and dusted in 6 weeks.

Maggotsticks

Oh my god!!!! I've just taken a call from our EA and her mortgage offer has come through today. I just burst into tears on the phone!! Just shows you that when you think all is lost things can just suddenly turn around completely. Looking to exchange by the end of the week. I'm so happy!

cattie

That's good news Maggotsticks. Now you can get a decent night's sleep. Fingers crossed everything is super speedy from now on.