help!!! how long does this whole process take to exchange

fonzyg50

hi everyone

i have a dilemma, we sold our house 14th july 2012 and bought a house on the same day. We then had a letter through to confirm these sales dated 18th july 2012. anyway cut this story short we are all ready to exchange apart from the bottom chain
( there is 4 of us in a chain
4. first time buyer
3. buyer buying our house
2. us
1. the house we r buying with no upper chain )

for the last 3 weeks we have all been ready to exchange but the estate agents keeps informing us that the first time buyer(bottom chain) are not ready, they informed us that their local search fee cheque has bounced so this will delay a further 2 weeks. the 1st time buyer paid up and had his searches & enquiries in, but now we have been told that they have not got their mortgage offer through. i don't understand whats going on, i have been on the phone to them everyday trying to push them and find out why.

how long does it take to exchange and is this normal for the first time buyers. I'm worried that these are excuses and wasting our time. the buyer buying our house are furious as they are ready too.

greenhill

You're not the only one.........I promise there are quite a few of us gnawing away at out fingernails.

I was to "definitely" exchange on the 17th. Still waiting:eek:

Best of luck. We'll all :beer: eventually (I hope).

hjd

Me too..
Offer accepted end June.
We have been "ready to exchange today" for a month. Buyer at the bottom initially claimed their mortgage was approved, just waiting for the official letter of offer, then it turned out they didn't actually have an offer, then it was with the underwriters, then the broker was on holiday, now silence..
We are preparing to re-market. We were going to move into rented as the vendor of the house we want to buy hasn't found, but have had to cancel that (and lose holding deposit).
The worst thing is that people have been lying to us. If they had told the truth we would have been a lot less unhappy about it.

fonzyg50

hjd wrote: »

Me too..
Offer accepted end June.
We have been "ready to exchange today" for a month. Buyer at the bottom initially claimed their mortgage was approved, just waiting for the official letter of offer, then it turned out they didn't actually have an offer, then it was with the underwriters, then the broker was on holiday, now silence..
We are preparing to re-market. We were going to move into rented as the vendor of the house we want to buy hasn't found, but have had to cancel that (and lose holding deposit).
The worst thing is that people have been lying to us. If they had told the truth we would have been a lot less unhappy about it.

Oh my. Hope everything goes well for you.
Hopefully we don't have to go down this route
As we found our dream home.

fonzyg50

greenhill wrote: »

You're not the only one.........I promise there are quite a few of us gnawing away at out fingernails.

I was to "definitely" exchange on the 17th. Still waiting:eek:

Best of luck. We'll all :beer: eventually (I hope).

Hope it goes well.

Lavendyr

We had the issues the opposite way around - people at the top very slow to get to being ready for exchange (we were FTBs at the bottom). We'd been ready to exchange since mid-May, and had accepted that there would be a delay until we *actually* exchanged because the top of the chain wanted to complete in the school summer holidays. No real skin off our noses, so we all (3 in the chain) provisionally (pre-exchange) agreed to work towards a completion date in late July to accommodate those at the top.

Provisional completion date came and went - the folk at the top of the chain found out very late on in the process (still can't quite understand why it didn't come to light sooner) that their house had had work done to it that didn't have building regs sign-off and having alerted the local authority, they needed to get a completion certificate before their lender would issue them their mortgage offer.

They finally got the certificate and the offer through about a week after we had expected to complete. We exchanged the next day and finally completed about a week after that, in mid-August.

So once everyone is all lined up, exchange can happen very quickly...it's just getting to that point that can be a nightmare!

Good luck - you're not the only one, it is a horribly stressful time.

Lizling

I could be the first time buyer in the OP's post. I had an AIP before putting in an offer a month ago. It was accepted the next day and I immediately instructed a solicitor, spoke to the bank and gave them everything they needed, gave solicitor details to the estate agent and had every possible bit of paperwork sent by the following day. And yet, still waiting for a mortgage offer.

The mortgage advisor at the bank went off sick and to start with I was told it was being handled by her from home, then it wasn't, then there was no cover available for her, then there was, but she'd have to get the replacement to phone me tomorrow (which she didn't). The paperwork was all there, then they were still waiting for something, then it mysteriously turned up at the branch in the post the following day, even though it had been handed in, in person, 4 weeks previously (?!). Then mortgage advisor 2 was going to phone me back on Thursday, Friday, Monday - "sorry, still haven't looked at it, I'll phone you right back this afternoon" - today... Exasperating. I'm probably still weeks away from getting an answer out of them.

Oops. Didn't mean to have a rant. What I was trying to say is that there's a good chance your FTB is doing everything they can and the banks are being their usual, useless selves.

Woodyrocks

It might not be in the FTB's hand. I too had an AIP before making an offer in July that was accepted with the condition that we complete within 8weeks. I was confident as I have a decent deposit in hand and have supplied all particulars and documents that my broker has requested, paid for the valuation and have even been told it is with underwriters for over a week now but still I have not heard anything back from my broker. There is no point in me even speaking to the EA as I have nothing new to say to them without sounding like I have no grasp of my own affairs. The EA have now left me a voicemail stating that the vendor is putting the property back on the market tomorrow if nothing happens There is nothing I can do as much as I want the house. I have to accept that I am down £500 for the valuation and that my dream location is slipping away. I have been reluctant to contract a solicitor as I wanted to know the mortgage was confirmed first before taking on yet more non-refundable cost but now I am not so sure if this was the right stance.

The point is it might not be your FTB at fault but the bank or broker.

Mobeer

It took me about 2 months chain free, buying and selling.

nazjon

I am in the same position except it's the buyers of my property who do not have their offer into solicitors yet. I am getting worried I am not being told something but the EA is doing a good job trying to get to bottom of it as he will miss out on 2 sales if this offer isnt recieved!!

Chain is:
FTB
My Buyer
Me
My Purchase
Flexible seller

Surveys were done in early August and this was delayed as my buyer's husband had to wait for his third payslip as he was self employed but got put on books by his father in law so he could show his earnings (rather than have 3 years accounts). Fast forward 2 months and still no further as now we are apparently waiting on the wife's 6 month payslip. Is this normal? if so why didnt they tell us this when waiting for husbands payslips? I suspect they have had an offer rejected and have not been entirely honest with us about this. Or it could be the building society dragging their heels!

The fact my mortgage offer was recieved into solictor within a few weeks of applying for it and it was so easy, quick and efficient has not helped as I am wondering why is this other BS so slow?! I am hoping it is the BS dragging heels as it appears from previous posts that there seems to be a massive difference in the service recieved depending on who you use. I used the Post Office through Bank Of Ireland FYI!

Gonzo33

Well, we are not FTB's but we live in work accomodation and have recently sold a house which is funding the deposit/fee's etc. We applied for our mortgage on the day that we made the offer direct with the lender over the telephone. They were ready to offer 2 weeks ago until they decided that they wanted a piece of paper in relation to the sale of our last property. They got that last week. Called yesterday as they said that we would have an offer by then. They need another bit of paper. That was faxed over yesterday, and originals posted in by the local branch of the bank I am applying through and I am now waiting to call and chase for an offer as I am supposed to get one by lunch time today. If it wasn't all we were waiting for to get the final bit of paperwork done to exchange I would have changed lender. We are buying a vacant house as the owner has moved out (divorce) and my husband is due to go away for 8 weeks in 2 weeks time and will be uncontactable for the entire 8 weeks. I have fibbed and told the bank that he is going next week but only to try and chivvy them along a bit.

It isn't so much the length of time that they are taking, it is the fact that I have not been called, or received any messages/letters to tell me what they need from me to proceed to offer. I used to be a mortgage underwriter and know how easy it is to pick up the phone!