Accepted good offer - but long chain

Better_Days

Our property has been on the market since mid August. Six viewers, got an offer just under 2% off the AP. Very pleased, considering the current market, and we were considering dropping the AP at the beginning of Oct. Decided not to as we are in no hurry and could re-market in the Spring.

We are going into rented.

Just as well as there are 6 property transactions below us in the chain and we are well under the SDLT threshold.

On the plus side 4 of the properties are being sold by one agent and two by another. Both local agents (as is mine).

Conveyancing is going to be done by a local solicitor on a 'no sale no fee' basis. Probably could have got cheaper but I felt no sale no fee very important in these circs.

Agent said if all goes well could be moving in early December. Do you think I should be :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: at this optimism?

And is there anything else I should be thinking of atm (other than trying to find a LL who will let to tenants with 2 cats and 2 dogs)

rustyhead

Well I excepted an offer on the 1st August, just my buyers chain free living with family, house I'm buying empty.I'm nowhere near to exchanging after having an updated from my ea, was hoping to have it all done and dusted by the end of the month.

QBSBuck

Similar to above. Offer accepted around the 10th August. Hoping to complete mid November (just been delayed til end of November). So it sounds very optimistic.

Main sources of delays have been bottom of chain getting mortgage, myself getting mortgage (took two months!!), each link awaiting survey results of them below, full building survey taking longer to setup and return results, and now awaiting the tenants moving to new accommodation.

And there are only 4 in our chain,

Bottom - FTB couple,
2nd Bottom - retiring cash buyer,
Myself,
Top - A friends rental accomodation (complete with tenants which is itself now the main stumbling block).

phoebe1989seb

Last-but-one move we accepted an offer on 12th October and completed on 30th November, but we were selling to cash buyers (keeping their other house but buying our £600k house with savings - jammy ****!) and the guys we bought from were going into rented so a very short chain.......plus we weren't getting a mortgage either.

Fingers crossed for you BD (and the other posters in a similar position ) - we recently accepted an offer on my parents' house and are hoping that will go through before Christmas too

Fire_Fox

Depends if everyone in the chain chases their solicitor and the estate agent weekly, how long local searches takes, if all the buyers have already got an MIP and have chosen their mortgage product. Have you asked the two estate agents to check if all the buyers have their finances in place?

If you are going to have to find rented that accepts pets I would push for a longer time between exchange and completion. You won't have time to find a sympathetic landlord, pass credit checks and referencing then move if you only have a week; if you start the process early and the chain breaks you could end up paying rent and mortgage at the same time. Landlords don't like empty rental properties in winter so they may not hold a place for you.

Better_Days

Thanks for all your thoughts.

Firefox - 3 don't need a mortgage, 2 have an AIP mortgage, and one I don't know what the situation is.

Thanks for the tip about the time between exchange and completion, I think I will make that clear when I next speak to the EA and to the solr, so everyone knows where they are. Do you think 2 weeks would be enough, or should it be longer?

QBSBuck, Rustyhead and Phoebe It is very useful to know how long it is taking for others to exchange and complete, and what the factors are that tend to cause a delay, although I appreciate that there are so many variables in every chain. Phoebe - £600k in cash - it's another world:eek:

I have written out a sheet of everyone in the chain and what I currently know so I can monitor the weekly updates I get from my EA. She gave me a lot of information about the chain at the same time as she passed on the offer, so she seems to be on the ball. (Well I live in hope)

Fire_Fox

Longer unless you are not at all picky at all about where you live. Finding a landlord to accept two cats and two dogs could be a challenge, you can easily waste two weeks on credit checks and referencing. Maybe telephone a few letting agents to find out how many 'pet friendly' houses they have on their books?

Better_Days

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Longer unless you are not at all picky at all about where you live. Finding a landlord to accept two cats and two dogs could be a challenge, you can easily waste two weeks on credit checks and referencing. Maybe telephone a few letting agents to find out how many 'pet friendly' houses they have on their books?

Thanks Fire Fox. Quite a few of our local EA's do lettings as well so I have asked them about LL's views of tenants with pets. They have said that in the villages (rather than in the town) around here it easier to get a LL that accepts pets, but I doubt that December/January is going to be a peak time for lettings. I am not too worried if the place is a bit tatty, I just need to be able to get it clean and keep it warm. The latter because I am in rather poor health.

The EA who is selling my house also does lettings so it would be great if she could come up with something for us, but I think that is unlikely.

Fire_Fox

Everyone in the chain might be happy to have four weeks between exchange and completion, especially if they would otherwise have to move immediately before Christmas. It's getting to exchange that is the stressful part, after that nobody can really pull out.

I am guessing you will have enough cash to offer a large deposit and/ or six months rent up front which should make you a more attractive tenant. Bit unorthodox but you could also show landlords photos from your estate agent listing, hopefully that will show you are not in the business of letting your pets trash anywhere. You obviously cannot give a previous landlord's reference!

Ivana_Tinkle

I understand the urge to keep a spreadsheet of where everyone is up to as it's exactly the sort of thing I do (mmm... spreadsheets) but you really are setting yourself up for being driven mad! It just doesn't work like that in real life. In a long chain, things can seem to be going backwards half the time: people aren't honest with the other people in their chain when their morgage application is refused, solicitors suddenly decide at the last minute that there's another batch of queries they need answering, things get lost in the post, cash buyers decide they need a mortgage, people gazump and gazunder, bits of the chain fall apart and then get re-established again, surveys go bad, people get ill or go on holiday or have a baby or are made redundant, people don't want to tell the nagging estate agent that they haven't got around to filling in the fixtures and fittings form so they lie, solicitors forget to send the local search off and then lie about it etc etc etc.

It will take as long as it takes, and all you can really do is chase your little bit of the chain as best you can. You'd be extremely lucky to move before Christmas - you never know, it might happen, but it's far more likely not to. When you're in such a long chain, it's completely out of your control and accepting that will mean far fewer sleepless nights!

Better_Days

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Everyone in the chain might be happy to have four weeks between exchange and completion, especially if they would otherwise have to move immediately before Christmas. It's getting to exchange that is the stressful part, after that nobody can really pull out.

I am guessing you will have enough cash to offer a large deposit and/ or six months rent up front which should make you a more attractive tenant. Bit unorthodox but you could also show landlords photos from your estate agent listing, hopefully that will show you are not in the business of letting your pets trash anywhere. You obviously cannot give a previous landlord's reference!

Thanks again FF, like the idea of giving the LL a copy of the EA listing, plus we do have a cleaner who comes every week, which may also help a bit. And as you say we will be able to offer 6 months rent in advance to sweeten the deal if need be to encourage the LL to accept our furries. I am home 99.9% of the time so they wont be left alone to chew the door frames and pluck the carpets.

It hadn't occurred to me that others in the chain might like a longer period between exchange and completion, but it is a really good point as it is very likely that we will be knocking on the door of Christmas, New Year and beyond, if it does all get that far.

When you're in such a long chain, it's completely out of your control and accepting that will mean far fewer sleepless nights!

Good advice I know, Ivana, haven't done this for 14 years, but didn't want to appear a complete dozo as the EA had taken the trouble to give me all the info she had.

As we are going into rented, and have no immediate imperative to move we are currently fairly relaxed about it all - but no doubt there will be our share of frustrations ahead. I do have to be careful as stress makes my illness a lot worse, so it is getting the balance between having an idea what is going on in the chain but accepting it is totally out of my control :eek::eek::eek:

Thanks all for your suggestions, it is so helpful as points always come up that I hadn't considered.