Accepted an offer - what happens now ???

AlexMac

Regarding choice of solicitor, you'll find online offers for a few hundred pounds, but I feel that's a false economy- we went for a trusted local solicitor after taking 3 telephone quotes (which the more efficient ones confirmed immediately by email - a good sign that they were prepared to speed things up this way. I preferred to work through emails and pop into a local office to sign stuff rather than waiting days for letters). And you can just ask them what they'll charge if your buyer withdraws; in our case we withdrew from a purchase because of survey problems and there were little added costs as we moved into a new purchase, but this isn't your situation.

We paid £880 basic solicitors fee to sell plus expenses which took it over £1k, but while that's right up the top of the range (we live in inner London). But we were well pleased with our solicitor's performance; always available by phone/immediate replies to emails/ unfazed by estate agents' inefficiencies and the fact that our 1st purchase fell through... (we also used them for the purchase at slightly higher fee cost plus 'Stamp duty Land Tax' (not applicable to your sale) etc.

As regards your Q 'how long?' it always seems far too long. Lenders can take a few days or a few weeks to instruct a survey, and until your buyers get their loan, they won't be able to do much. Looking back at our recent purchase, it took frustratingly long, 4 months, from 3rd June-1st Sept 2011) from receipt of the 'Memorandum of sale' until the 'completion' and move-in, despite us being ideal buyers, with funds in place and a vacant property to buy (although we as buyers had already sold, we top of a short chain in that our buyer was selling, and they added a month). So it could still easily be 10 weeks to 3+ months in your case even assuming all goes well.

One word of caution; when we sold previously, over ten years ago -(in more of a sellers market than today - when the buyer now has the muscle because properties are harder to sell) our buyer used their 'full structural survey' to try to chisel thousands off the price. My wife was so angry she wanted to instruct them to procreate and travel, but I suggested we meet in the middle; we did! So be ready to negotiate if the worst happens and they find things to pick on; minor damp, the odd missing roof-tile or bit of leaky gutter, electrical lighting wiring circuitry without earthing, lead water pipes or all the usual features of an older house! Good luck and well-done so far in getting a sale.

mumofthetwins

Wow didnt realise that the survey could happen so quick :eek:
Sorry another question ...
We are includeing the appliances in the sale and the blinds, light fittings, bathroom fittings etc,
The house we are moving to has to be gutted and we are planning on taking as little as possible with us, should we ask the buyers if they want anything else ? i.e kids both have cabin beds in their rooms which we will just ditch, spare beds, desks etc ... and if so do we do this through the EA ?

Like i said we are planning on buying most things new when the other house is finished so anything we do take we will have to pay for storage as we are living with my parents for a few month while the building work is completed.

Hope this makes sense
Lisa

mumofthetwins

Thanks for the reply Alex.
I think we will go for a local solicitor to as you say we could just pop in rather than wait for letters in the post.
Hopefully our costs will be a little cheaper too as we live in the north east and things in general are cheaper than where you live.
The EA said she was going to email me some quotes for the solicitor so i might give her a call and ask if she has any idea how quickly the buyers want to proceed (although i get the impression its pretty quickly).
We too live in an old period house and although our survey didnt through anything up when we purchased the property you never know, so i am prepared for a drop in the price, as im sure surveys always find something
Thanks
Lisa

mumofthetwins

Well EA called this morning - i was thinking it was to give me the solicitors quotes but the EA wanted to arrange 2 new viewings for today :eek:
I did say we have accepted the offer from yesterday and should we realy be showing new buyers the house?
The EA said that we hould continue to show any procedable buyers around untill the other couple have had the survey carried out and we have agreed the sale - is this right ??

Well the first of todays viewers have just left and they seemed to love it, they said that they have no chain but would need to get the morgage offer again as thier last offer has lapsed (they are moving from a different part of the country and decided to wait untill they found one up here they liked)
Well the second of todays viewers are due at 6.30 and again they are procedable - have sold one house and have a house they let out, i think.

How come procedable buyers are like buses - none for ages then they all come at once :mad:

We did have offers before yesterdays but none of them were procedable as they were all waiting to sell theres. I just thought that we shouldnt really be showing other people but the EA said that anything can happen so we should continue to do viewings.

What do you think ???
What will i do if someone from today makes an offer:huh:
I just think that we have already accepeted yesterday and it wouldnt be nice to accept another offer ?

Oh and the EA has just calld with the solicitor quotes £440 all in - does this sound ok ??

Lisa

AlexMac

Hi Lisa-
sorry at late reply- we were on hol!
Probably too late to be of use, but £400 odd for a solicitor sounds good, although I'd prefer to speak myself direct to a solicitor to hopefully get a feel of how efficient they seem to be/ whether they'll be happy to deal by email which saved us time, etc. There will be lots of added 'disbursements' anyway.
And as regards the agent continuing to diary views...

When we last made an offer to buy this house, last summer, we did so on the understanding that the agent would immediately take it off the market, which he said was normal as soon as the buyer said yes and the agent wrote up and emailed out the 'memorandum of sale'. Again, if the agent is on the case, and you have agreed the name of a solicitor who will (even verbally) act for you, the ;memorandaum can go out that day, so it seems to me to be a bit shabby and an evidence of bad faith for the agent to continue to market the house in the hope of getting a better offer (even though it's not illegal). I guess practice varies from agent to agent, because if he delays the 'memo of sale', the palce is arguably not sold. But as a buyer, I'd be pooed off by this and think twice about whether the seller was serious and trustworthy.

But proably all ancient history, as I guess things have moved on- good luck

mumofthetwins

Thanks for the rplies alex, hope you had a nice holiday.
We did tell the agent to stop viewings after those last 2 and the house is now sold stc. and off rightmove.
However it does seem to be taking a while for the survey - see above.
The EA did chase the buyer last week but we still havent herd anything, i think i am going to call my solicitor today to check that everything is ok, as they still havent returned our passports etc yet.
Im just really hoping that the sale gathers a bit of speed as if they do pull out (really hope they dont) then i know people have been calling asking to view the property and we havent let them.
Lisa

mumofthetwins

Just found out that the buyers morgage is with natwest and with there server being down this has held things up, so hopefully things will start to pick up soon.
Lisa