Just accepted an offer! Eek!

madmish00

So after much stress of only having one viewing since July and an offer that fell through we have just had our second viewing and our second offer! And it is for £2.5k more than the last one.

But...

They have a cash buyer who apparently wants them out in 3 weeks. When they viewed this morning they asked our position and I told them we had our eye on two properties one of which is vacant and we are willing to move as quickly as possible but that I doubted that the conveyancing process would be able to move that quickly (they are buying on mortgage as will we be)

When the offer went in there was no mention of it being subject to any timeframe but I am just a bit twitchy after the last offer falling through. They can't realistically expect us out in three weeks can they?

We are viewing the two houses we are looking at tomorrow so hope to make a decision by Monday but what else do I need to be arranging? We would be porting our existing mortgage (excellent rate lifetime tracker) and taking additional borrowing through Nationwide. We have had a conveyancing quote and have all the paperwork filled in ready to instruct the solicitor.

The other complication is that the vacant property we are viewing is a private sale and having not had experience of this before we are not sure how much extra hassle this will cause so any pointers on this front will be appreciated.

G_M

Once you agree the price, being a 'private sale' makes no difference (I'm assuming you mean no estate agent? Or do you mean no solicitor?). It's a question of the speed in doing the Legals, financials, and structurals.

If you are worried about losing your buyers, and your purchase is going slow, consider moving in with friends, family, or a short term rental.

madmish00

There is no agent. Not sure yet who they would be using as solicitor but hopefully can find that out when we view tomorrow.

Unfortunately moving out early isn't an option for us as we want to keep our mortgage product as it is a lifetime tracker at 0.18% above base rate. Plus it had a five year tie in so we would have to pay approximately £2.5k early repayment charge to do it this way which isn't financially feasible for us.

Obviously I don't know what work an agent does behind the scenes in terms of chasing up paperwork etc. Would it be down to our agent/solicitor to chase the vendor directly or would it be up to me to do that?

We are having to sort the mortgage directly with the bank because the brokers we have been to can't get the product we want as it is an existing customer offer with free standard val and £300 cashback on completion so its worth £640 to us which makes a big difference.

hazyjo

You might be able to have a 3-6 month gap between porting your mortgage. We asked our mortgage provider ("mp") as we thought we might have to get out early too (our buyer wanted to exchange within 3 weeks but it took us 5 (long) months in the end due to a few hitches along the way).

Should give you long enough to move. I think our mp said we would pay the early repayment charge, but then would claim it back if we moved within 3 (I think) months.

Well done and good luck, hope all goes smoothly!

Jx

Jenniefour

Or would your buyers consider renting for a while, or staying with friends. Vacant property so no chain on one of the ones you're considering - could be an advantage. You need some whizz solicitors on this, three weeks might be do-able at a push, providing no unforeseen hitches and speedy searches. Hopefully private sale means no agent rather than no solicitor.

madmish00

Thanks Hazyjo - will have to make enquiries with Nationwide about that. If that is possible we could hole up in my mum's spare room for a few weeks.

But hopefully they could do that instead as they are the ones wanting to rush it through so quick. Her mum lives in a 4 bed house so should hopefully be room for them there for a couple of weeks. We have no intention of dragging our feet but I know it took 8 weeks when we bought this and we were FTB's and he had no upward chain.

Jennifour- yes it is no estate agent rather than no solicitor

nearlyrich

My FTB DD just completed on a property that took over three months, the property was empty and the mortgage was agreed and the survey done before Christmas, the delay was the vendor's solicitor who were slower than a slow thing in treacle. When we bought this house we looked at it on 17th October and moved in on 4th December, I already had a mortgage on my house which wasn't even on the market but my lender agreed to give me and DH a second mortgage, all the paperwork went through really quickly. You never can tell but 3 weeks would be good going. Hope all goes smoothly for you,

flora48

I was involved in a sale with no EA last year, I just made sure I sent a Heads of Terms letter, giving details of vendor, buyer, solicitors and mortgage provider, to all concerned and the sale went without a hitch.