The race to be in your new house for 2007 [Winter/Spring]

Poppycat

I am in same boat Jewel22 should of exchanged on Thursday but our buyer didn't pay the deposit nobody seems to no why 100% or if it will be paid, not my EA, not my buyers EA not my solicitor. I just get told they ring when it does that that is still 1st Feb for moving, but because I ain't got 100% answer that it is I cant do sweet begger all.

Over 3 months this has taken now, no chains at either end, its so sickening

Mrs_Optimist

God, I felt quite optimistic about our move before I read the latest offerings!

Our EA told us to sit back and put the sale of our house to the back of our minds (yeah right!) because if a sale falls through there is nothing that can be done about it. We are hoping for a quick exchange and probably expect a delayed completion (our buyer has nothing to sell and is rented at the moment so I suspect he may be wanting to drag the process out for his tenancy commitments). Our Vendor rang the EA today to find out when our survey will be done - am assured by our Financial Advisor that it will be this week, payment authorised etc. Have not yet received our Mortgage agreed but don't really have much concern about that, we are not borrowing even 50% of the purchase price. Our vendors EA was quite tickled when I told her how stressed I am at the moment - everything is going TOO well. Our EA is dealing with our buyers conveyancing and sorting his mortgage, so I am taking some comfort in the fact that they will do everything in their power to push this sale through otherwise THEY will also be losing out on the dosh!

One minute my mood is up, the next down. And we have really, barely even started yet.

Good Luck to everyone waiting to exchange and those who are back to square one because the chain has fallen through (I am told that every cloud has a silver lining and although it may not feel like it now, there invariably IS one!).

AddieH

Well done, to those who've completed since last time and good luck to those who are still going. My sols sent out a corrected stamp duty form and have now confirmed they've received it from me. I badgered them a bit about what's going on and they've said apparently the management company haven't replied to their outstanding queries yet. Don't really know what else they can do about that though, it's out of my hands.

Wondering if this is appearing to the vendor's like I'm dragging my heels, I asked my sol if there's anything I could do to help things, but apparently not. Only three weeks to go until the three month point, doubt I'll complete by then, but hope we can at least exchange?

Oh well I'll have some more money to cover the upfront costs by then though. Xmas and my birthday has bought me a new kettle, toaster, grill, towels and a vacuum cleaner, all I need now is a flat to put them in.

foolishqueen

I'm sorry to hear people having problems with exchanging - I hope every gets things sorthed as best they can and as quickly as they can. I know it's not fun waiting

Poppycat

Just got a message from my mystery solicitor who I never speak to its always his secretary. Anyhow rang him back. It appears my buyer is doing a money transfer today for the deposit so hopefully all goes well. He is ringing my sellers to see if 1st Feb is still okay as they needed 2 weeks notice. I had already booked removal van for 1st, so it depends on whether they have previously booked end of last week. I still will only be happy when I no the money has transferred, the last 5 days have been hell on tender hooks all that time.

Willapp_2

Hi All,

This is my first post on the forums, but having read everyone else's stories about moving, I thought I would add my own!

My fiancee and I only started looking at new houses about 1 week before Christmas. We didn't really expect to find much, but I guess it's always the way that you find somewhere brilliant when you least expect - and we certainly did! A brand new 3-bed terraced on a new estate. The house was finished except for a few minor touches, owing to a previous buyer who fortunately (for us) had to pull out! It was the first house we saw, and we knew it was the one for us - ideal location, within budget, great sized rooms and a HUGE en-suite.

Our existing 2-bed terraced went on the market the very next day, as we had told the developer that we definitely were interested in the house, and they told us (as you might expect) that demand was high and it wouldn't last long (typical sales-speak, but probably also the truth in this case).

Four viewings and three offers later, and we agreed on a sale price that was only £2k under asking price. Also the buyers had already sold a property in Spain and were expecting the funds within 2 weeks, which would make them cash buyers with no chain - pretty perfect for us, as obviously we've got no upward chain either, so fingers crossed everything would go smoothly...so far, it has!

Only 3 weeks after accepting the offer, we've had the valuation done on the new property, paid for searches, sorted fittings & fixtures. Our solicitors have already received and sent out provisional contracts, and have received paperwork from Halifax for our mortgage offer.

Hopefully we might be in a position to exchange within a couple of weeks - just waiting for the searches to come back (hopefully not too long a delay) then we've just got to sign our contract and wait for our solicitors to receive the signed contract from our buyer.

Can anyone share experiences of this stage of the process? How long do we realistically have to wait now? The developer has still got to put the finishing touches to our new home - fitting the oven, fixing the sockets to the walls in the kitchen, and any snagging issues we find. I get the feeling they're holding out until after exchange before this happens though, in case it goes pear-shaped again for them.

Also I do have a question regarding deposits - do we have to fund these ourselves? We're currently under the impression that our solicitors will handle this for us - taking a deposit from our buyer and passing that onto the developer as our deposit. Is this correct? We were a bit concerned at having to find 10% of the purchase cost ourselves, since all our money is tied up with the house!

Good luck to everyone else who is moving at the moment - we're hoping to be in by mid-February if possible! :j :j :j

jodenice

Well we are hoping to be in by Early Feb - and thank god seeing as we put our offer in at End of Sept 06!

Never have I seen so much faffing about. I've been chasing solicitors (ours and theirs) and had to threaten to pull out before my seller finally kicked her solicitors into touch. In fact, amazingly, the only halfway efficient person in the whole sorry scenario was the estate agent who has phoned us regularly, chased the seller etc.

Just signing my freehold, leasehold and mortgage deed documents now. Am panicking a wee bit as we are about £800 down for deposit and we need to boost it fast.

when the deposit etc is transferred are all the solicitors fees done at the same time (we're hoping to use the credit card and wondered how quick they need to be paid)

Jo

Willapp_2

jodenice wrote:

when the deposit etc is transferred are all the solicitors fees done at the same time (we're hoping to use the credit card and wondered how quick they need to be paid)

Jo

I've not been through the process before, so could be wrong! It's my understanding that solicitor's fees usually are due on completion, and often are taken out of the equity (where applicable) from the sale. We signed a form a few days ago which detailed this cost, and gave the solicitors the authority to debit their fees from the equity on completion.

I wouldn't expect you to pay the solicitors any earlier, since they've not finished representing you until completion, so they could effectively take your money and then start dragging their heels!

wigglygiggly

Hi Willap

The deposit is found from the bottom of the chain (so it will be your buyers) and then gets fed up through the chain. You don't actually do anything as the solicitors deal with that. Its the top of the chain which gets the deposit so really its down to them how much they will accept. Thats the theory and although it is slightly different in our situation as we are in a bigger chain, its our buyers who have been holding the whole situation up when it comes to the deposit. The top of the chain were fine with the amount, then on exchange day our seller decided it wasn't enough. She has had a few weeks notice too. Still, we have found some more cash which as far as I know she has accepted and the cash should be with our sols by 2.30pm. So really hoping to exchange today!!!!

jewel22_2

wigglygiggly wrote:

Hi Willap

The deposit is found from the bottom of the chain (so it will be your buyers) and then gets fed up through the chain. You don't actually do anything as the solicitors deal with that. Its the top of the chain which gets the deposit so really its down to them how much they will accept. Thats the theory and although it is slightly different in our situation as we are in a bigger chain, its our buyers who have been holding the whole situation up when it comes to the deposit. The top of the chain were fine with the amount, then on exchange day our seller decided it wasn't enough. She has had a few weeks notice too. Still, we have found some more cash which as far as I know she has accepted and the cash should be with our sols by 2.30pm. So really hoping to exchange today!!!!

Good luck! i really hope you exchange today, no news from us ,as sol is in a meeting and cant speak to her yet...dont think exchange will happen for us today but there is always tomorrow.