To those BUYING in these difficult times....

CheeseCat

Sonastin, 8... months? :eek: Sorry for my previous comment, I didn't mean to rub salt in the wounds. I can't believe you've managed to keep your cool for so long. I really hope you get some good news soon.

I am sick of hassling solicitor for an update as she seems to wonder why I am asking each time. To be fair I do wonder if its the sellers solicitor who is slow as she's been waiting nearly a week for them to respond to some queries.

The_Drama_Llama

Waaaaah! So upset...an agent called last night about a property and on the basis of a verbal description I arranged a viewing for tomorrow. A hunt on RM/Zoopla showed it was up for sale until last October...so I assumed it hadn't sold and was just taken off the market (nothing to say otherwise). Must have been in the process as I've just had a text saying viewing cancelled as house is sold.

Wish I'd never found the old ad...it was just what I was looking for.

Ah well, onwards and upwards...I'm seriously considering doing some leafleting.

johnthebar

sonastin wrote: »

.....8 months later (or is it 9 now? time, unlike property professionals, moves so fast :rotfl:) we're still waiting...

Blimey! When I said we had a delay like yours I meant the Building regs ad (hopefully!) not the amount of time. You must have the patience of a saint; I'd be going ballistic at everyone involved. I hope it all gets sorted soon

sonastin

I have been looking for something else throughout - well maybe not through, but certainly after we passed the 2 months mark! Trouble is, this house is soooooo perfect for what we are looking for, despite all the problems with its building regs. Even with sitting empty and going mouldy through 2 of the worst winters we've had in ages (do you like flocked wallpaper? apparently I'm now growing my own!:eek: If I can buy this house, that is!)

In every aspect, it is better than everything else we've looked at: bigger house, closer to the location I've centred my search on, closer to the motorway for getting to work and getting back to civilisation, bigger garage, bigger garden, better off-road parking options for visitors, more rural feel for my country-bumpkin boyfriend. All the other "possibles" would do, but are slightly lower down the chain on all aspects. I wouldn't mind compromising worse-for-this-but-better-for-that but worse-in-every-way has made it worth holding on until it definitely becomes completely unpurchasable.

I've gone past the point of trying to fight the system. I've been involved in the system for so long that I understand how it all works now. Harassing people too often doesn't make things go any faster, it just makes them like you that bit less. But equally, if you let them go for too long without talking to them, they'll think its not urgent and will turn to something else instead. There is definitely a balance to the game. I just wish my boyfriend would get that - I sometimes call and say "I know you've got nothing to tell me but my boyfriend keeps mithering me to call so now I can tell him I have. I'll speak to you again when you hear something or when I next get sick of him harassing me and have to pass that on to you!". They mostly take that one in good humour

sonastin

The_Drama_Llama wrote: »

Wish I'd never found the old ad...it was just what I was looking for.

If its definitely out of reach, focus on the fact that it probably wasn't really what you were looking for. After all, EA's photos lie and descriptions are usually that accurate! They probably didn't tell you about the thing that would put you off

The_Drama_Llama

sonastin wrote: »

If its definitely out of reach, focus on the fact that it probably wasn't really what you were looking for. After all, EA's photos lie and descriptions are usually that accurate! They probably didn't tell you about the thing that would put you off

True enough...

LondonAndy

I exchanged Thursday - whoop whoop

The keys are all mine on Wednesday.

Pretty quick - that will be 6 weeks and a day since I offered!!

Good luck to all

johnthebar

I'm going to sign our contract at lunch time and our solicitor has our 10% deposit for exchange, we are just waiting for the lender to approve the building regs situation before we can exchange.

I've just written a letter handing in my notice on my flat, which needs to go off today otherwise we will still be paying for it until the end of May. However I'm holding back on sending it until the lender gets chased up again today as I don't fancy being homeless at the end of April.

System

I have exchanged contracts and complete on 28 April.

My story so far -

We are first time buyers from London and did not wish to buy in London. We looked around a few villages in Berks and found a nice little two bed house. It was the second place we viewed, made an offer that was accepted and all went well (as can be expected considering how long everything takes).

Then we receive a call from our solicitor saying that the local authority have pointed out that the house may be affected by Crossrail (it backs onto a train track and a station). So we had to wait for confirmation which took a further two and half weeks which was stressful. We also viewed other properties but there was nothing in that village for the price. The other areas were no where near as nice.

At the point that we found out about Crossrail was when we were ready to exchange. So that put us back and also the vendor said he would wait for a firm answer from us before signing his rental agreement for his next place. That also put us back 2 more weeks making the period between exchange and completion 4 weeks as the only flat he could find is available at the end of April.

So from offer to completion will take 3 months for a sale with no chain!

azkaban420

Oooh lots of good/positive news on this thread of late, congrats to all the mortgage offers/exchanges/near completions etc! :j

The_Drama_Llama wrote: »

Waaaaah! So upset...an agent called last night about a property and on the basis of a verbal description I arranged a viewing for tomorrow. A hunt on RM/Zoopla showed it was up for sale until last October...so I assumed it hadn't sold and was just taken off the market (nothing to say otherwise). Must have been in the process as I've just had a text saying viewing cancelled as house is sold.

Wish I'd never found the old ad...it was just what I was looking for.

Ah well, onwards and upwards...I'm seriously considering doing some leafleting.

Sorry to hear about the property disappointment DL - but you know what I'm going to say about leafleting aren't you...DO IT!! You just never know what can happen and you've nothing to lose. See where it got me, we complete in 17 sleeps (touchwood)!

Whoot! :beer:

Az