Need to Vent - Why Is It Taking Sooooo Long???

GeorgeBee

Just need to get this out my system as slowly losing the will to live over this. Me and my partner are buying our first home together and it's just been snail's pace the entire way!!


29 November 2013 - Viewed property


30 November 2013 - Put in offer at asking price (while away for the weekend in mainland Europe!!)


17 December 2013 - Offer (finally!) accepted


09 January 2014 - Appoint solicitor


29 January 2014 - Mortgage offer issued (expires 28 July 2014)


Mid-February - Solicitor has her baby prematurely, locum solicitor appointed


25 March 2014 - Another solicitor (same firm) takes over case


Nothing.......nothing.....nothing......


12 June 2014 - Chain is finally complete - everyone wants to move in 28 days - told to get ready to exchange!!!! FINALLY!!!!


12 June 2014 - Solicitor finally receives draft contract pack and arranges searches


24 June 2014 - Searches in - solicitor has sent a letter to me


25 June 2014 - Estate agent emails to say "its gone "quiet" on the one he is buying" and they "can safely say you are not moving in 2 weeks as expected"


F******g fantastic!!!! So basically back to where I was at the beginning of the year. And it's not through lack of trying, I've been emailing the estate agent weekly, but the seller will not budge, he won't move out to rented in or with family (who he's moving closer too anyway). They won't be pushed and if we won't wait then they'll just re-market!!


The property is in the village I have lived my entire life and its perfect. In the 7 months since we made an offer on it barely anything else has come on the market around here and if something has it's way out of our price range!


I'm hoping we can extend the mortgage offer but surely that won't be more than a month??!


I just feel like a big fizzing heap of sadness, anger and disbelief the entire time! I was looking forward to my first home, planning colours etc. - now I really couldn't give a poop! I've got myself all worked up and excited twice just to be shot down.


The worst part is other people, "how's the house?", "you must be in by now?", "got a completion date now?" - kinda feel like walking round with a sign saying "please don't ask about the house, I'm on the verge of breaking down in tears or possibly punching you".


Ahhh that feels slightly better!

leanne2901

I am in the same situation - our timeline looks a little like this:
December, viewed property, few days later we put our offer in, and was accepted
January - valuation done by lender, undervalued by £10,000 due to necessary works on roof.
March - vendor has finally had a quote and agreed to do roof works at his own cost . Our lender agrees but only re-values an additional £5k. For the perfect property we put an additional £5k deposit down to secure the house.
May - after spending almost every day chasing our solicitors and asking estate agents to chase the vendors solicitors, we get our search results and forms from the vendor (which he filled in back at the beginning of January!!). Find that the lease is shorter than we thought.
June - almost ready to exchange, just waiting on contracts - find out that our 'loft' is not included in the property (as the original advert, and all information from the vendor states) which is part of the reason we wanted this particular maisonette with the opportunity to extend!! Offer the lower value that the bank priced (less the additional £5k) and currently waiting to hear from the vendor to see whether he accepts... 7 months down the line i am praying he will!!!

I have burst into tears when people ask 'how is the house' and say stupid things like that - I have restrained from punching people, but I'm not sure how much longer I can cope!!!
I hope yours gets sorted soon x

PasturesNew

It's best not to tell anybody about a house until you've exchanged.... saves those annoying questions.

BeauLiLuLu

GeorgeBee wrote: »

The worst part is other people, "how's the house?", "you must be in by now?", "got a completion date now?" - kinda feel like walking round with a sign saying "please don't ask about the house, I'm on the verge of breaking down in tears or possibly punching you".

I feel your pain...
:grouphug::undecided

GeorgeBee

Leanne that sounds terrible! At least ours has been problem free, just so slow!! I really feel for you!

Yeah in hindsight I wish I hadn't told anyone but I was too excited after the offer got accepted!!!

Thanks Beau, I need that

Elfbert

If it gives you any hope, we offered on ours very early Jan 2012, and after tears, hopeless nights, rage, a million emails and phonecalls....we finally got in in the last days of July!

And as soon as we did, and slept on the floor of our empty flat for the first night (we'd been homeless since March, sleeping on the floor of my workplace!!) - all of that worry and anger melted away

Good luck!!

egoode

I can completely understand how you are feeling I'm getting close to finally exchanging and completing on a flat I had the offer accepted on over 15 months ago. I hope yours doesn't go on as long as mine has!

Some things to keep in mind if you are in a rising market keep looking at other properties and at this point I'd be actively calling estate agents again but don't pull out of the one you want until you find something else.

If prices are going up the vendor is likely to increase the price at some point in my case they tried to up it by £55k in the end we agreed to a £35k increase (I'm in London so price rises are insane). Be ready for this and work out how much extra you are willing to pay to keep it. Also if they do increase aim to exchange asap.

I'd be a bit wary about your vendors as they are likely to take the property off the market if they can't find something they want so I think you definitely need to keep looking. In my case the property was empty and I moved in 9 months ago to rent it while the sale was sorted out and my delay was due to issues with a loft conversion that wasn't approved by the freeholder and the loft wasn't on the lease. Also mine was part of a divorce settlement so I knew they needed to sell it's all come down to how much I was willing to pay.

I'm now 6 days away from exchange and completion and I'm constantly worrying something else will go wrong in the next few days so haven't told many people what's happening anymore and just hoping it all goes smoothly now. Everyone learnt about 6 months ago to stop asking me what was happening.

I have my fingers crossed for you it all works out.

leanne2901

Our vendor has refused to negotiate price - even though he technically has false advertised what is included with the property. We are probably foolish and are agreeing to pay him as long as we exchange next week. Our lender has actually valued the property WITHOUT the loft anyway - which is good for us and we know we are not paying over the value after all!
Good luck all x

claireylouise

This thread terrifies me! Its only been 4 months since our offer was accepted and I am already p****d off with waiting! The annoying thing is the house is empty (the seller is the son of the owner who died) and we have no chain! Probate has been granted - apparently the seller is 'dragging their feet and not answering questions they have asked'. So frustrating!

GeorgeBee

Elfbert - I imagine it will be a very similar feeling when it finally happens!!! I can feel my stress levels rising by the day!


Egoode - 15 months!!!!! Wow! I feel bad complaining about 6/7 months now!! Hope everythings still going smoothly - you must be 2/3 days away now?


Leanne - I don't blame you, I'd think I'd agreed after such a long time too!! Hoping things go well for you this week!


ClaireyLouise - With an empty house I'd be pretty annoyed too!! Could you speak to the vendor in any way and let them know how stressful it is for you waiting so long!


Anyway I have a small update:


Told last week that the person our seller is buying off hasn't actually had an offer accepted on a property yet!! They've put in two offers, one is on an empty property and the other is on a 28 day exchange.


They should have found out Friday as to whether or not either offer has been accepted.


As of yesterday our seller told the EA they hadn't heard yet so still waiting to find out on that one...


Sooooo, I email my mortgage advisor to get him to extend mortgage. He gets back to me saying Nationwide have changed their rules and will no longer extend an offer!!!!! This means Nationwide require a Certificate of Title by 27th July and completion within 15 days of that!!!


If not offer is cancelled and we lose all fees paid!!


Fantastic.

m_13

That is pants. Will have you to go through the application process again? We are waiting to exchange and it is so stressful this time. We've moved lots but this time it definitely feels worse because we agreed to complete in eight weeks to get the house. Time is ticking.