Some advice - suddenly happening so fast!

Majik

Hey guys,

Just looking for a wee bit of calm advice after a crazy week where we've gone from 0-sixty in 2 seconds flat, it seems!

Last Friday - accepted offer on flat, buyers are signing mortgage paperwork this coming Tuesday (FTBs)

Last Wednesday - say house, fell in love with downstairs, couldn't live with upstairs. Left, gutted....

Last Friday - saw another house in the same road as above - downstairs nowhere near as nice (not extended, reception rooms small) but the upstairs (bearing in mind the same layout as the first house) was lovely, and workable - made us realise that the first house' upstairs could be made fine once built in wardrobes and such were removed (tip to house sellers - get rid of your clutter!!!!! )

Yesterday - rang EA to ask for another appointment. Sunday if possible - no problem - 12pm Sunday (vendors showed us round both times)

Yesterday again - EA rings - can we move to 10am? No problem

5:10am this morning - I arrive back from a 5 hour drive from Bethnall Green (not important, but is an excuse in case my spelling starts to deteriorate )

10am this morning - View house again, being pickier this time, trying to find faults. Chat with wife in back garden. Decide we want it - it ticks all the boxes and it's just about affordable for us.

10:25am - chatting to vendors. They explain that they moved our appointment as they were having another second viewing at 11am from a guy who had put an offer in. However, they liked us and would rather give us first refusal (the couple definitely seem genuine enough). I enquired what the other guy had offered, and it was two grand below asking price. If we matched it, would they sell? Oh yes, without hesitation. Handshake to confirm (yes, I'm kinda old school like that ) - another ten minutes chatting about where they're going and moving to, and it's all gravy

Soooooo.....

I've gone from no viewings two weeks ago to both selling and buying actions need starting asap! It's at this point I've decided I'd better get a move on.

So the advice I'm looking for (aside from being able to tell a story and get rid of some of this excited energy) is what order should I do things?

I've just instructed CW.com for both buying and selling.

I'm researching mortgages right now.

Do I wait for my buyers to complete their survey before getting ours done incase there's any concerns?

The EA we're buying off has arranged an appointment for me to go and see them Wednesday with my buyers solicitors details, passport, wage slips for me and the wife, mortgage redemption certificate and payslips. Are they just blagging me to come in and talk about mortgages? Is this normal for me to need to do this? They say they just want to know the details of the chain, and this is how they'll do it.

Apologies for the slightly gibbering post, but everything's moved so fast, and suddenly I feel like I have so much to do to get things going, and I'm not sure what to do first!!!

Thanks for all upcoming advice!

Majik

lynzpower

I would be looking to find a mortgage advisor asap. I certainly wouldnt be researching one myself- youll get deals you wont find yourself and also they can arrange your AIP much quicker than you can!

Canucklehead

Majik: Many congrats!!! Did you end up selling through Housenetwork?
Re: mortgage...the estate agent tried the same deal with us i.e. 'have a chat'...we went along with it for a laugh...and as I predicted to the OH tried to tie us up with an 'exclusive deal'. I had previously checked out our options via here and rest of web....they couldn't better what I had found(in fact ended up with a better deal. We applied directly to our mortage lender and are using Conveyancing Warehouse for the legal side. We should complete within the next two weeks. We requested a basic valuation and asked for the searches to be conducted before our mortgage was approved to speed up the process (last time the searches took 6 weeks as our solicitor from another well known online conveyancer requested searches on the wrong property )

As Lynzpower suggested you could go through a mortgage broker.... it depends on how happy you are with the process.

One thing I would strongly recommend....never assume things are getting done..stay in regular contact with your solicitor and both agents and keep the process moving along....in other words be proactive and try to anticipate any potential problems.

All the best.

Canucklehead

Majik

Thanks CH - we sold privately in the end, ironically enough! Like I said, it's been a crazy couple of weeks!

Okay - advice heeded - I have just rung my local recommended independent mortgage broker and they'll be contacting me tomorrow for an appointment. Suffice to say the very fact that they picked up the phone at 3:30 on a Sunday pleased me....

Have you found CW okay CH? How long has it all taken?

Because of the age of the house, I think we're going for a homebuyers survey to be sure.

And have no fear - I will be in contact with both sides at all times - although the recommended brokers are apparently very good at this too. They have more time than me, so I'll simply bug them to chase stuff up

So I can request searches first? I'll consider that to get things moving!

Thanks guys - any other tips?

Majik

Canucklehead

Hello again: Our offer was accepted on 19. Feb., instructed CW on 20 Feb., applied for mortgage on 24 Feb., mortgage offer received 12 March....as I said earlier we chased up everything..don't rely on the broker/estate agents to keep things moving as you are just one client out of dozens. I won't go into the specifics here but our intervention has kept the process on track and saved us aggro down the road. CW will respond to queries on the same day...we've had texts, emails, letters and phone calls. Keep control of the process.

Good luck.

Canucklehead

Majik

Thanks CH - the order you did things in helps an awful lot too. Looks like the wife and I will be bugging sols and mortgage companies as of tomorrow then

Majik

Nenen

Majik wrote: »

Hey guys,
The EA we're buying off has arranged an appointment for me to go and see them Wednesday with my buyers solicitors details, passport, wage slips for me and the wife, mortgage redemption certificate and payslips. Are they just blagging me to come in and talk about mortgages? Is this normal for me to need to do this? They say they just want to know the details of the chain, and this is how they'll do it.
Majik

Congratulations Majik... now the fun really starts!:D I think that the money laundering regulations mean that the EA does have to check out you are who you say you are. I think you only have to provide a passport and utility bill for this.I've just checked the RICs/NAEA and found this info for you:

"You need to see proof that the client is who he or she claims to be and must take reasonable steps to find out who your clients are by requesting sufficient evidence of their identity. You should ask for two verification documents, one to identify the name of the client, preferably a document which has a photograph of them such as a passport and a further document to confirm their residential address, such as a recent utility bill."

(see the website for more details: http://www.rics.org/NR/rdonlyres/6A35BDD5-75AC-4712-A71F-40BB2EFCB21F/0/ml_aug04.pdf )

Therefore I'm pretty sure that by asking you to provide wage slips and mortgage redemption certificate etc they are just trying to hard sell you their own mortgage advice!:eek:

I can guess how you feel as we put an offer on a house a couple of months ago and were told we had to go in and sign to confirm our offer as it was company policy to have offers put in writing and signed on their premises. I asked if this was to see mortgage advisor as we weren't interested having already arranged our mortgage and they said 'no'! when we got there suprise suprise :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: ... there was the mortgage advisor all ready and waiting to see us! :mad: When I told him I'd happily sign the paper detailing our offer but had a mortgage already arranged and was not prepared to give any financial details other than the name of our MB to confirm our ability to pay he got really shirty! Our offer wasn't accepted either:rolleyes: but don't know whether that had anything to do with it!

lynzpower

Therefore I'm pretty sure that by asking you to provide wage slips and mortgage redemption certificate etc they are just trying to hard sell you their own mortgage advice!

hence another reason to get yourself a broker once your broker is woprking for you they can call the EA and make themselves known and keep ea in loops- should save you batting off niggly sales patter

Majik

Grrrr...I knew it was all going too well. I just had a feeling in my bones as soon as the EA got involved something would start going wrong. Seems the EA are trying to convince the sellers to get me in a bidding war with the other guy. Why can't EAs keep their damn noses out when two people have made a gentlemen's agreement? Sorry to come across as old school, but it really annoys me - the sellers blatently don't wish to sell to this other chap, and have agreed with me. It shouldn't be any of the EA's business aside from getting the legalities done now, surely.

Not looking for answers, just ranting.....



Majik

nollag2006

Majik wrote: »

Why can't EAs keep their damn noses out when two people have made a gentlemen's agreement? Sorry to come across as old school, but it really annoys me - the sellers blatently don't wish to sell to this other chap, and have agreed with me. It shouldn't be any of the EA's business aside from getting the legalities done now, surely.

Sounds like your vendors may not be as gentlemanly as they first pretended to be !!!

Majik

Well....

Just had a conversation with a very stressed seller. All sorted out and (surprise, surprise) it's the EA trying to play us both! For reasons only known to the EA, they are very keen on the other guy buying the house, and have in fact been on the phone to the sellers a couple of times today quite aggressively pushing for them to accept his offer.

Here's the great thing - the sellers have stated very clearly to the EA that they want to accept our offer and sell to us. They are very happy with us buying their home. The EA has been basically ignoring what they have been saying and stressing that the other guy is ready to go with cash. Understandable, if they cared about speed, but they still have to find somewhere to live (their offer for the other place was turned down) and don't care at all - they want to sell to us as we're nice, basically, and they're worried about this guy and their old neighbours. Morals and caring, in todays society? Careful!

The truly angering thing is the fact that the same person I have been talking to today is the one thats been ringing them all day too! She has told half truths to the sellers about me being unable to provide the details they need (actually, she rang me at work and expected me to have everything to hand!) and failed to mention that we had an appointment on Wednesday to deliver everything they have asked for - I'm trying not to get all riled up, but it does seem to me that the horror stories about EAs are true - they really don't give a damn about their clients, do they?

Hopefully my anger should subside in time for me dropping in Wednesday. If not, they could have a riled up Wrestler on their hands....

Majik