EA pushing for searches

Thrugelmir

d0nkeyk0ng wrote: »

Just had an email from vendors EA [STRIKE]asking[/STRIKE] telling me to get in touch with my solicitors to get the searches done.

Don't be bullied. You'll get there in the end. With Xmas approaching nothing is going to happen very soon anyway.

AdrianC

Thrugelmir wrote: »

With Xmas approaching nothing is going to happen very soon anyway.

Searches can take a month anyway. Add in the Xmas delays, and it may easily be February before they're back, and before you can start dealing with any matters arising. It's already a month since your offer went in.

Extract digit.

Thrugelmir

AdrianC wrote: »

It's already a month since your offer went in.

Due process often takes longer than it use to.

Don't forget there's more than likely a chain above as well.

d0nkeyk0ng

No chain as far as I'm aware. FTB moving into a chain free house.

On the one hand I want things to move as quickly and as smoothly as possible. On the other hand, I don't want to spend or waste money unnecessarily, or jump the gun.

Everyone I've spoken to and all the research I've done tells me to wait for mortgage offer before spending money on solicitors. Going against the prevailing custom is making me apprehensive. Otherwise the searches would have been done by now whilst I was still awaiting a mortgage offer.

derbyshirenick

RE: the above, it sounds harsh but I agree its absolutely on the money.

When I was in exactly your situation we put up the initial solicitor payment of around £300 in good faith. Yes its a risk but lets be realistic in the grand scheme of things if this falls through and you need to start again, you will have saved that £300 back up before you even look at another house.

The other thing to keep in mind is that mortgages are handed out willy nilly like they once were. I am very fortunate that I am whiter than white when it comes to debt and credit and we decided to buy in an area where houses were about 60% of the price of my Mortgage in Principle so I was very confident there wouldn't be any snags there.

From speaking to mortgage advisers and brokers though, it seems there are a huge number of uninformed buyers who make offers, sit on things for a month and were never going to actually get the mortgage approved. The EA and maybe your seller will be aware of how many dreamy FTBers there are out there making offers without understanding what they can borrow and what their liabilities are for the purchase (deposit, fees, moving costs, stamp duty). So hopefully you will understand why red flags are going off there end.

As said previously this is a highly emotional time for all involved and people on all sides will be prone to irrational thinking as you go through the process.

If you have your vendors details and depending how on terms you are with them I recommend keeping a friendly channel of communication open with them. I kept my sellers in the loop a few times a week, everytime there was a positive I would let them know. "Right, been told the official mortgage approval should be back this week", "The searches have been finally sent off my side" and so on. Even if they dont like the speed things are happening at they will see that you are actively doing things and this will give them confidence in you. When you get to the solicitor stage this open communication will really help as the only thing I can liken it too is Chinese whispers. Comparing what we were being told and what the sellers were being told directly, I can understand how people have fallouts. Often the sellers solicitor would say they have done x and are waiting on ours and haven't heard anything for a week. Ours would say they are waiting on the sellers solicitor. We would then find out that the action had been taken but took a week or so to go through admin and get transmitted from the sellers solicitor even though they were communicating they were waiting on us, which while true was also not true.

Long rant sorry, but all my point is, if you cannot be quick, be open, honest and detailed. Its all about peoples confidence in you.

Ever sold something on gumtree? you know the amount of time wasters you get on there? this is very similar... I always sell to the person that gets back to me quickly and doesn't communicate "Like diz". Getting the best price comes second.

d0nkeyk0ng

Never sold on gumtree.

Anyway went to the solicitors and handed in paperwork. I think in hindsight I agree it would have been better to have been done immediately. I think I was swayed by a few sources telling me to wait for the mortgage offer.

Lesson learnt

ethank

If you don't want to put any money at risk, don't buy a house!

Searches can take up to a month in some areas. You are not showing any commitment to your buyer as none of the sales can progress until you are in a situation where you can exchange.

I think you are looking at 8 weeks from the point you instruct the searches to be in a position where you can exchange.

I'm really pleased you have taken some advice from people off this site. Hope all goes well.