Getting really cross now

olive84

I posted here a little while ago about how long my excruciating chain is taking to be ready to exchange and had lots of reassurance from you lovely people about chains taking ages.

But. Its now 14 weeks since we had our offer accepted and 6 weeks since we have been ready to exchange and we found out that the man at the top of the chain had pulled out and started buying somewhere else. (Chain of 4 properties) We have still had NO info on what is going on and any possible dates or even weeks for exchange. The EA told me 3 weeks ago that the people below the top of the chain had given the top a 2 week deadline to exchange. Well, that didn't happen, and now she won't tell me anything. My sol can't get anything out of their sol either, except that our vendor's mortgage offer will expire soon.

How can I get info out of these people? I'm sure that at the top of the chain there is a reasonable amount of info about what is going on, but I can't seem to get it! I'm worried that with the recent interest rate rise and housing prices going up all the time that if this doesn't happen we need to start looking again quickly before our mortgage expires.

So if I'm being an impatient FTB, please let me know, but I'm just fed up of waiting with no info. We were pestered by the EA and vendor's sol every week at the beginning, and now we are ready we are being ignored. Any advice hugely appreciated

helping_hubby

Hi, your situation sounds so similar to mine. I feel for you, I really do. We had our offer accepted 18 weeks ago today! We've been ready to exchange for 12 weeks!

Sounds like the people who gave the deadline to exchange or pull out were giving an empty threat in the hope that it would push things along.

I've been told by my solicitor that she can only get info from either side of us (we're ftb too).

When I found that out I called the estate agent on a daily basis to get updates. I think it !!!!ed her off, but we were getting !!!!ed off. We finally got some information by doing this. We found out how long the chain was (only 3), what the problem was (turned out the guy at the top decided to buy)...

olive84

Hi helping_hubby, how long are you going to wait till you get a date for exchange? Have you given them any sort of deadline/timescale? Its so frustrating being ready for so long! Have you thought about pulling out at all?

Kylie

I am in exactly the same FTB position - chain above 4-5 (this I can't even be sure of). Our offer was 14/15 weeks ago - no idea when we get to exchange...

kingkano

wait until your buying AND selling, then you'll understand REAL pain, with pressures from FTB/BTL below and people wanting to cash in and go to vegas above....

Kylie

Yikes!!!! That Sounds Bad!!!

helping_hubby

Hi olive84, yes in the middle of April we gave a deadline of exchanging on or before 8th June and completing on or before 29th June. Ours is a serious threat. We will pull out before 5pm on 8th June.

The people at the top of our chain who decided to buy a house actually pulled out of buying one house and are now buying another! They are supposedly buying a repossession that has a condition that they have to exchange by 18th May and complete by 24th May or they lose the repo. I got a letter on Saturday from my solicitor saying that the people at the 'top' have had all their searches back now and they are waiting on instruction from the mortgage company. But it's Tuesday lunch time and still no news. I have very little faith that this is all going to go through.

It is incredibly frustrating. About 6 weeks ago I pretty much gave up hope of buying. I should be all excited right now with the potential of completing next thursday, but all the magic of buying a house has gone now.

What do you think you will do?

Are you in direct contact with your sellers? We are with ours. That has helped a bit and we've been able to get a heads up on things from them before even our solicitor tells us.

Just keep bugging your EA. A chain of 4 isn't that big...you should be able to know whats going on. Don't make empty threats though. Save that for when you really mean to pull out...

If this repossession falls through my only hope if that when we've officially pulled out then the people at the top might just rent (as they were supposed to do originally) just to stop the chain falling apart.

Otherwise I'm happy to lose a few grand and start all over again. I'm past caring about the money.

olive84

I feel the same about the money. I take what you say about the deadline, I don't want to give one without really meaning it. I'll suggest that to the OH.

We're not in direct contact with our sellers, I tried to look them up in the phone book but they're ex-directory. The only way to talk to them directly now would be to arrange another viewing (to say measure up), and use it to have a chat. I am tempted to do that, but as they didn't suggest it I'm not sure they'll appreciate us turning up on their doorstep.



The EA does not take me seriously at all. She ignores my phone calls and when the girl on the desk tells her its me she is suddenly 'on her way out'. When I called her yesterday she laughed at me and said that she didn't know anything. Last week I asked her to find out what was going on and when I called her back at 5 she said that she hadn't done anything because she was having a really bad day. I'm getting so fed up with her I told my sol that I wouldn't call her anymore.

The top of the chain did say they would break the chain, very similar to your situation, but they haven't as yet. So fed up with the whole thing. Will think really seriously about giving a deadline now. I really am willing to pull out if nothing happens soon.

helping_hubby

Your EA does not seem very professional at all. I got the feeling that my EA ignored me...when I called she was 'on the phone and would call back' and then never did. So I started not bothering to leave a message and just kept calling until she answered and couldn't wriggle out. Can you not talk to someone more superior? You just want to know at what stage everybody is at. Do you even know who you are waiting on exactly and what they are waiting on?

See it could be something similar to us in that the person who's holding it up is trying to buy some time cos they're buying somewhere else or something.

What does you solicitor say?

Don't give up with the EA. She won't know everything but it'll help piece the jigsaw together.

Going round to your sellers might be a good idea. Can you not arrange a 'measuring up' visit via the EA? This would be a perfect opportunity to speak to them.

Just keep bugging everybody but don't let them get to you. Keep calm on the phone and try building a rapport with your EA...try being jokey with her "It's me again!" kind of thing. Try not to get angry and it's not her fault.

I think I made that mistake early on, virtually shouting at my EA. Then I managed to apologise and be more friendly. I find she's not 'on the phone' so much anymore

olive84

I haven't been mean on the phone to the EA, prob sound a bit frustrated though! The other problem is she doesn't work Tuesdays or Wednesdays.

The top of the chain pulled out of somewhere and started buying somewhere else 6 weeks ago, so we are waiting for them to be ready. Fair enough, but we have no idea what stage they're at. I'm not asking for daily updates, but wouldn't mind a weekly one!

My sol is trying to get through to our vendors sol, but isn't having much luck. He said that when he was sending enquiries they would always bug him about exchanging, when were we going to be ready etc, but as soon as he told them we were ready they fell off the radar.

I think I will call the EA again and talk to someone different as ours isn't in and see how far I can get.

olive84

Right. Called the EA and got through to someone resembling a human being. She said that she understood and I needed to know what was going on, will find out as much as poss and will call me back later. Crossed fingers! Will keep you updated on progress.