Buying a Home - the Timeline Guide

MSE_Amy

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Buying a Home - the Timeline guide.

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Thanks folks,

Squiggles2312

I am having a nightmare buying a property and wondered if anyone had been through the same?
- Mid October we offered on a property and it was accepted (full asking)
- We are now in February and he hasn't found a property, and cant sell and move into rented because of the mortgage repayment penalty of £8k!
- We love the house but don't know how to move it along.
Thanks!

G_M

Yes.

Lots of people go through this, or similar circumstances.

~Beanie~

You can't really move it along, you either wait for him to find somewhere or give upon this house and start looking for something else.

kingstreet

Please tell us you haven't spent money on legal and mortgage fees and your offer is due to expire next month!

Richard_Webster

The guide doesn't seem to mention chains.

As soon as the seller is buying something else you can get into a land of unknown variables.

Estate agents will tell you "it's a very short chain...." Unfortunately, at best this information may be up to date and accurate at the time it is given you, but very quickly becomes inaccurate and out of date. At worst it is wrong, being based upon 3rd/4th hand misinformation from other estate agents/sellers in the chain.

Do not trust anything you are told about the state of the chain, without actually talking to all the people involved (which is difficult).

"It's a short chain - the top property is a probate sale so there's no problem there." When did the person die? Have the executors obtained a garnt of probate or are they just thinking about it? Depending on complexity and size of the estate this can take between 6 weeks and a year! Sale can't go through until there is a grant of probate. Unfortunately a lot of families put the deceased's property on the market before even thinking they need a grant of probate.

"The sellers are splitting up and moving out...." Are they? Did you speak to both of them to find out their attitude towards the sale? "The estate agents told us,...." Trouble is that sometimes only one of the joint owners really wants to sell and gets the agent in. Maybe the other has moved out - but his/her signature is still needed and it may not be forthcoming unless he/she gets paid what he/she wants. Don't believe the agents on this kind of thing - check it yourself and if you can't get the info, buy something else and tell the agents why.

Even if you have spoken to both of a divorcing couple and they say they have agreed the finances, you may find that down the line of them is advised by his/her solicitor to get a consent order concerning the property and money so the other can't come back and ask for more. Such orders can take 2-3 months to obtain....

"The sellers haven't found anything yet..." The normal advice is not to accept offers from buyers who need to sell and haven't got a buyer,so in itself that is understandable. However you should give them too long and you should ask:
(1) what they are looking for and
(2)why they want to move.

(1)You need to know they are looking for X kind of property in Y area and are going up/down market. You can then do your own research as to how likely they will find X in Y at the sort of price they might afford. If your research shows that there is little/no chance of them finding such a property, unless they are prepared to move out and rent while they look so the sale to you can go through then don't offer. Assurances about them moving out if necessary should be obtained directly from the sellers not via the estate agents. Too many times have the buyers sworn the sellers said they would move out when it was the agents saying it without authority from the sellers.

(2) If the sellers have a vague reason for moving and vague future requirements they may easily change their minds later. Again you need to talk to them personally rather than hear a 2nd hand edited version from the agents.

Snibble

Make sure your buyers are using a good solicitor! Preferably recommended by the estate agent.
We are in a very annoying situation caused by our buyers atrocious solicitors. They offered on our house end of October, we had not found anything and would move into rented so said the sale should go ahead asap. We then found something mid Jan, it then turned out our buyers solicitors had not even started the process/ordered searches etc. All our conveyancing was done in 5 weeks, we are ready to exchange....except our buyers solicitors are being incredibly slow/refusing to pick up the phone to anyone/refusing to ring back solicitors and estate agents/saying they have not received documents that they then mysteriously "find" when questioned by our solicitor. I don't understand how it has taken them over 4 months so far to achieve very little! We have been chasing for a response to the fixtures and fittings form for 2 months now as we want to sell the stuff otherwise...
Apparently the solicitors are also being incredibly slow for our buyers in the selling of their flat and not answering questions/sending documents in that direction.
They've got solicitors and estate agents chasing them in all directions yet they still won't hurry up. I'm furious and if it's not sorted by the end of the week will be pulling the sale and renting the house instead as we have spoken to a mortgage advisor and this is entirely possible.
Funnily enough those particular solicitors have asked our estate agents to be recommended in the future...hmm!!! Not likely!!

kingstreet

Snibble wrote: »

Make sure your buyers are using a good solicitor! Preferably recommended by the estate agent.

Which is likely to ensure only that the agent gets another fee, for introducing to the solicitor.

It certainly doesn't give any indication of quality.

Think Countrywide...

cfcgirl

A friend is buying her first home and as she only needs a small mortgage had an independent homebuyers survey done.

Her mortgage broker however has got a copy of this report and sent it to the estate agent without her knowledge. I have never heard of this before and struggle to find this legal ?

Surrey_EA

cfcgirl wrote: »

A friend is buying her first home and as she only needs a small mortgage had an independent homebuyers survey done.

Her mortgage broker however has got a copy of this report and sent it to the estate agent without her knowledge. I have never heard of this before and struggle to find this legal ?

How did her mortgage broker get a copy of the homebuyers report, if it was an independent survey?

Why did the broker think it necessary to forward a copy to the EA?

However, can't think of any laws that have been broken here. Were there any issues with the property highlighted by the survey?

Joeread

Hi

My girlfriend and i are in the process of buying a house. The searches have come back and it has come to light that the lady selling the house has no paperwork for the extension at the back of the house. This was built in approximately 1980. What was the law back then regarding planning permission and building regulations? Is there anything we would need to do before we move in or to cover ourselves? The solicitor mentioned a structural engineer having a look at it. Advice would be much appreciated.