Any advice on getting to exchange quickly?

vet8

It looks like we have a buyer - I hope. Great, but now the faffing around seems to start. I am concerned that around here houses go from For Sale to Sale Agreed and they stay on that for months and months. Then the SOLD board goes up and that stays for months until someone new moves in. We do not have the time to wait for ages. I want to speed things up.

The last house we sold was my dad's after he died and it went with vacant possession, to a first time buyer who was in rented accommodation. It could not have been an easier sale, but that took about 4 months all because the solicitors messed around. The buyer's solicitors would send my solicitors a form to be filled in, they would send it to me, I filled it in, sent it back to my solicitors, who would send it to the buyer's solicitors. Each form took about three weeks to do the rounds and then they would send another form.

A friend recently bought and it took six months to get from agreeing to buy to exchange of contracts, he said it was all the fault of the solicitors.

Our EA has already said that as our house has not been sold for years the buyers' solicitors will ask loads of questions, can we speed this up? Fortunately, our solicitors have already given us loads of forms about the property and the inventory etc. I have done those already. I have told both the EA and the solicitors that we need to move a.s.a.p. Is there anything else I can do?

poppysarah

Speed = good solicitor, cash buyer and a will to complete.

How long did it take me last year? Not very long (was it two weeks all in from viewing?)

qball101

If the buyers are FTB they may well be taking the agent's advice on solicitors, who should ensure that they pick a good one. To be honest though their solicitor will probably wait until yours makes the first move, so make sure that the paperwork get sent over quick. unfortunately FTBs are a bit clueless about the process so often don't realise when they need to be nagging their solicitor. Make sure the agent covers this base as they'll probably be more interested in moving onto the next unsold property. Remember you're paying them thousands and sale agreed doesn't mean they can forget about you.

TBH the buyer probably wants it all done and dusted asap so as long as you both keep pestering the solicitors it will happen as quickly as possible. The squeeky wheel gets the grease and all that.

However, you can't control the mortgage company or what the survey shows up, so you'll just have to keep your fingers crossed on these aspects. 8 weeks would be fast I reckon.

lostinrates

Our seller has given us a time frame in which to exchange, if we do not the house becomes available to other buyers who made a higher offer : I guess its risky for a seller: but we're going to exchange on time for certain!

Doozergirl

Get a really good solicitor.

And vet your buyers. Decent deposit confirmed and a mortage agreement in principle before you even consider removing the house fromthe market.

Make sure they get their survey carried out within 10 days or get reasons for any delay. And speak with your buyers and agree about anticipated exchange, completion and also any personal commtments that will prevent completion happening in the next few months, regardless of your agreed date these things do slip. Don't dictate or you will be disappointed - it's about compromise and trust.

Use email with your solcitor. Talk to your solicitor using it as they are able to reply to you as quickly as they are able to rather than trying to get them on the phone and they can send documents over to you quickly to be printed off and scanned back in etc which saves an awful lot of time.

Avoid chains. Recipe for disaster.

G_M

Chains slow things down.
Surveys with problems slow things down.
Mortgages slow things down.
Relying on post to move documents between solicitors/clients slow things down.
Overworked cutprice conveyancers slow things down.
Leases, questionable Title, ambiguous Plans etc slow things down.

diddly74

Last time we moved which was 10 years ago - we put our house on the Market in August, sold in October/found our new property by chance the week we sold. Told my solicitors I wanted to be in by Christmas - he laughed and said I would be lucky.

I think in total it took 6 weeks. We moved in on 19 December! I phoned him every other day and demanded updates on where we were with things. It worked.

You need to be on top of your game if you want speed - yes you can't control everything but you are paying your solicitor for a service and sometimes you have to "supervise".

Make a friend of the buyer too - if they are pushing from their end and are keen to move too all the better.

pawpurrs

Agree with all of the above.
To achieve a quick sale, you need first and foremost a buyer and seller who act efficently and good soliceters on both parts, a cash buyer with cash sitting waiting, or at least a quick mortgage company. Reply by email to your soliceter and answer any queries immediately.
When I bought in December, I did it in two weeks, would have been less but the seller was in South East Asia, so time delays, contacting him, and also some documents needed to be fed exed to enable completion!
Drives me mad that people can take mths to complete, but all so often you are waiting on one person, if there is a chain involved, and if people have problems with mortgages which unfortunely is common place now, also there are the people who after a survey then want to commison, damp surveys, drain surveys, timber surveys, builders etc, etc........ AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

vet8

Thank for the advice.

Unfortunately there is a short chain. We are just selling with no onward chain, we shall move out and then buy as cash buyers later. But the buyer is selling their house to a first time buyer so the chain is fairly short. The EA has stipulated to the buyer that they must exchange contracts within 1 month of the draft contract being sent over, but how long the draft contract will take - who knows?