3 week valuation delay has seller worried

Carrotline

Hello all,

Applied for a Nationwide Save To Buy mortgage on the 24th, and (after much chasing on my part) got the valuation with Countrywide booked.

Only problem is, because of a recent surge in demand for valuations and the postcode of the property we want to buy, the earliest one we could get is on 19 June.

The seller isn't very happy about this, so I've offered to phone Countrywide for the next 3 weeks to try and find out if they have any cancelations.

I'm more than happy to do this (and I've got a direct number and name for onenof the ladies that operates Countrywide's booking line) , as the valuation date seems to be the only thing holding us up at the moment. We've got the searches, etc done.

Anyone had any experience doing this or any advice on what else we can do to appease the vendor and the estate agent, as they keep getting narky with us but this part of the process seems largely out of our hands.

monty-doggy

To be honest it's not your fault, and if the seller gets cold feet and backs out, it would take longer than that to re advertise and get to survey stage anyway. Moving house is stressful enough and I'd ask the EA to speak to countrywide if they have a problem with it.

fawny

Hi,

The only reassurance I can offer you & I don't know if this is always the case. We had to wait 2 weeks for our valuation with them & it was carried out at 9am on Wednesday morning. At just before 1pm we got a text saying the valuation was satisfactory & then seconds later a text saying our mortgage was formally offered:D So it was offered a few hours after the val had been done, so they had done everything else. So what i'm saying is you might find it's the same.

Thrugelmir

Carrotline wrote: »

as the valuation date seems to be the only thing holding us up at the moment. We've got the searches, etc done.

You don't have a mortgage offer. The valuation is part of the overall application process.

The vendors solicitor won't do anything until a mortgage offer is in place either.

belt_and_braces

I feel for you as this was my experience of Countrywide too. Unfortunately I got nowhere trying to move the valuation date forward. I have waited my three weeks and the valuation was done a couple of days ago.

My sellers were also getting nervous, especially as I had been told by my bank (First Direct) that the valuation would be done within a few days of the initial mortgage approval.

Fortunately my EA is well aware of the delays in getting valuations with Countrywide and explained this to the vendors. I also went to see them myself to put their minds at rest.

I had experience of Countrywide about 18 months ago when selling a house - my buyers used them. There were similar delays then with lots of 'it should get booked in for next week' and then wasn't. But once the valuation had been done exchange of contracts happened quite quickly.

It might be worth seeing the sellers and/or the estate agent in person. Hope all goes well.

Carrotline

belt_and_braces wrote: »

My sellers were also getting nervous, especially as I had been told by my bank (First Direct) that the valuation would be done within a few days of the initial mortgage approval.

It might be worth seeing the sellers and/or the estate agent in person. Hope all goes well.

I, essentially, ended up ordering them to book the valuation while I was on the phone to them earlier this week, because I'd had enough of the estate agent getting shirty with me for not getting it booked the same day our mortgage consultant had instructed.

We waited three days for Countrywide to do it, before I got on the phone and started chasing them.

We're going to see the sellers to have another viewing of the property (which is still in the throes of being done up at the moment) next weekend. So, hopefully, we'll be able to put their minds at ease.

[Deleted User]

They took two weeks to do mine as well. Then the tenants weren't there to let them in, and I had to wait another two weeks before it was done. The vendor was getting impatient but it was his fault there was no one there to let the surveyor in so he couldn't really get too upset about it.