Why will nobody give us a time scale??

grifferz

Ivana_Tinkle wrote: »

If I'd were you I'd delay until after the baby's here. MUCH less stressful all round.

One of my earliest memories is of my mum being brought home from hospital having just given birth to my brother, to find me and my dad in our new house busy knocking down the wall between lounge and dining room. I was four.

ACG

I had a mortgage offer on Monday for one of my clients. Our solicitors (as in the ones we use all the time) have told us they are working towards the 21st August. But we have a good relationship with them.

nobody can guarantee a completion date but they should be able to tell you what theyre working towards and all be ok bar a delay somewhere down the line or something unexpected cropping up

hazyjo

The average time to buy a house is 12 weeks.

My last one took 11 (and over 14 to sell which was started before I started buying), and the one before took five months to buy/sell (fairly short chains).

The quickest I bought something was 5 weeks.

I do not sit on my rear waiting for it to happen around me, I was emailing people DAILY during my last purchase. Nothing could have been done or chased any quicker. Still took 11 weeks. Have bought several properties since 1991 and it nearly always takes 10-12 weeks.

As above, don't give notice until you have exchanged! The EA is talking out of his a***. What if the chain collapses? Yes, it happens a lot. One in three still, I think.

I too would have put off the house hunting 'til little un's here! Mind you, I managed it at an extremely stressful time in my life (three times, actually!) and, so long as you calm, pragmatic and unflappable, and if your OH is someone who copes and stays calm, it'll be okay

Would definitely have an action plan ready. Would definitely pay for removal men and packing service (presuming you need it) and would make sure your hubby is prepared to deal with it all on his own if needs be!

In your shoes, I would probably aim for a short time between exchange and completion so you can be out then in the new place as quickly as possible.

Good luck, and congrats!

Jx

ACG

Its very rare they go over 10, in fact i start to get impatient if it hits 8.

To be honest though, we do have an agreement with local solicitors we use for everything not to get us a kick back - we actually tell them to knock it off the price our clients pay - we do it so we can get our client in and out as soon as possible.... It allows us to take on more clients, we also get paid sooner and our clients get to move in sooner - everyone is happy.

But if you go with the cheapest company, they have the mcdonalds method of pile them high and sell it cheap. Sometimes an extra £50-100 makes the world of difference... im a firm believer in that you get what you pay for and for something as big as a house its better to pay the little bit extra.

phoebe1989seb

Our last purchase took five weeks, but we weren't getting a mortgage and didn't have a survey. We were selling at the same time and that took slightly longer - nine weeks IIRC - as we had a couple of false starts on the property we were hoping to buy. There were five in the chain with the couple we were buying from not having an onward purchase.

It does pay to err on the side of caution though - I think we were very fortunate to get it all sorted so quickly (especially as it was a long-distance move too) - and assume it's more likely to take longer

What's done is done with regards to your new baby and the move - we were buying our first house when I was pregnant with DS. As it turned out we didn't complete till he was two months, but even so it was a pretty stressful time as I was also running a business and had worked up till the day before he was born. You just have to get on with it though We've also moved into a total wreck when DS was two years old (and again when he was eight, lol!) and friends said we were mad, but as they say - what doesn't kill you makes you stronger

We've always avoided using conveyancing firms, but stuck with good old-fashioned solicitors and found that you get what you pay for!

[Deleted User]

I had to move house the very week I had my baby. I did everything I could to avoid it but it still happened. Its not ideal, but if worse comes to worse, it can be done.., u'll just have to try and get some help.

But the advice to remove the stress factor and plan on moving at least a month after the birth is good.

PasturesNew

Every time a question is asked, it adds time, possibly a week. Too much of the process is done by post, then sits on a file on the desk of each solicitor.

People often then randomly go on holidays, disappearing, mid-way through the process.

Your solicitor might ask them to fill in a form, expecting it back, but they are on holiday and send it back a week later, without a guarantee that's needed.... your solicitor then writes to ask for the guarantee, they then find out they don't have it, solicitor then might have to inform the mortgage company, they might have to speak to their solicitor - and it's all keeping postmen in jobs.

Then, just when you've given up, you'll get a moving date of next week and you're in Tescos and being asked on the phone if it's OK to exchange right now..... so you do. And it's done.

Moonraker71

I am 8 weeks into the process, and yesterday mailed my solicitor to say that as we haven't discussed dates yet, I would like to put forward a suggested completion date of 23rd Aug as something to aim for. No-one else in the chain has said anything about dates yet, which I find a bit odd. Anyway, he mailed back rather brusquely, effectively saying: 'you'll complete when I'm good and ready and not before'.

ian103

Were buying a property at present, were using our tried / trusted solicitor as many times before, offer accepted late June, chain of 1 property, (us buying a empty property with no mortgage) vendor keen to sell as they are paying bills on an empty house, we have had a flurry of letters but nothing for a while, OH expects completion in September (fingers crossed), I can't see why its not sooner but it will run its course and theres not much we can do to speed up the process.

Just hope we get it early September as we need to do a fair bit of work before we can move in - target wish date of before xmas.

Topaz88

It's 8 weeks since we had our offer accepted and our solicitor still says it's too early in the transaction to talk exchange/completion dates. She's only just received the draft contract and is now issuing searches and enquiries.

Is it just me or is this a bit on the slow side. We're FTB and the flat we are buying is chain free and vacant.