Couple of questons about house purchase - is this normal?

woolythoughts

So after finding a very good broker, husband and I had an offer accepted and mortgage agreed and are in the purchase process. We're "not really" first time buyers as we've had houses before in previous lives but for the purposes of this we are.

There is no chain - we're in rented and the house we are buying is currently empty as the divorcing couple have both already moved out. In fact, when we did a drive by on SAturday we could see them moving their stuff out.

The time line so far has been:

End of NOvember - offer made and accepted
First week of december - valuation
second week of december - mortgage offer through

General communication was that both parties want to move quickly with a target completion date of February 6th.

Ok so far except then, both solicitors completely shut up shop from 19th December to 5th January. Mrs VEndor broke her arm over Christmas and Mr Vendor was away in the tropics so their paperwork was only finally signed and sent to their solicitors last week and received by ours today.

Apparently there are "A couple of minor questions over titles but nothing to worry about" and no amount of me trying to find out the details has worked so far. Why the solicitor won't just spell it out is beyond me. SEarches went in today.

I guess my questions are:

1. Does anything about this sound odd
2. Do we have a chance for completion on Feb 6th
3. What could nothing to worry about minor issues of title mean
4. What else could go wrong other than the obvious possibility of either side pulling out

Was 14 years ago I last bought a house - same for hubby and they weren't our forever houses (obviously as both our exes ended up with them) but this one we fell in love with before we even sent to view it.

Thanks in advance

LisaLou1982

woolythoughts wrote: »

So after finding a very good broker, husband and I had an offer accepted and mortgage agreed and are in the purchase process. We're "not really" first time buyers as we've had houses before in previous lives but for the purposes of this we are.

There is no chain - we're in rented and the house we are buying is currently empty as the divorcing couple have both already moved out. In fact, when we did a drive by on SAturday we could see them moving their stuff out.

The time line so far has been:

End of NOvember - offer made and accepted
First week of december - valuation
second week of december - mortgage offer through

General communication was that both parties want to move quickly with a target completion date of February 6th.

Ok so far except then, both solicitors completely shut up shop from 19th December to 5th January. Mrs VEndor broke her arm over Christmas and Mr Vendor was away in the tropics so their paperwork was only finally signed and sent to their solicitors last week and received by ours today.

Apparently there are "A couple of minor questions over titles but nothing to worry about" and no amount of me trying to find out the details has worked so far. Why the solicitor won't just spell it out is beyond me. SEarches went in today.

I guess my questions are:

1. Does anything about this sound odd
2. Do we have a chance for completion on Feb 6th
3. What could nothing to worry about minor issues of title mean
4. What else could go wrong other than the obvious possibility of either side pulling out

Was 14 years ago I last bought a house - same for hubby and they weren't our forever houses (obviously as both our exes ended up with them) but this one we fell in love with before we even sent to view it.

Thanks in advance

Sounds pretty normal to me. Maybe the issue with title is due to a name change? Who knows. If it was anything to worry about you would know by now.

Feb 6th isnt far away - its doable if everyone is prompt at getting things sorted.

Richard_Webster

6th Feb is not impossible but really in general terms unlikely if searches have only just been sent out.

Typically they take around 2 weeks so that takes you to 26th January. Then your solicitors have to report the results to you and explain everything else and get you signed up and get deposit funds from you before they can exchange and typically there is then short lead time to completion - perhaps a week.

However, it does assume that everything else has been sorted by then and we just don't know. Without more information we can't tell what these title issues amount to and how easily they will be sorted. Solicitors may be making assumptions about what is often the case as something easily dealt with, which might not turn out to be so in your case.

Much more sensible generally to wait until everything is sorted and then think about fixing completion dates. Doing it any other way just brings frustration and disappointment.

woolythoughts

Thanks both. We really need to move 20th feb as lamdlord is selling up and we have to be out then - they are good friends of ours now so we don't want to mess them about.

I had just hoped to be further down than we are - damn Christmas and bah humbug

hcb42

Just keep on top of things and I wouldnt see an issue, certainly not for 20th, but 6th is doable potentially still

phoebe1989seb

Have you any idea how long the searches are likely to take? When our sale and purchase were going through in Nov/Dec our searches took two weeks, but our buyer's (different part of the country) took four

Prothet_of_Doom

At the Prophet of Doom, I would say "Plan for the unexpected"


Based on my previous experience, when it is both impossible to predict the timings, and those timing are seemingly impossible to manipulate, or make happen, it's best to assume that on 21st Feb you will homeless.


So in our case it was : all possessions into storage, and go and live in one room of my parents house with 18 month old child, for what should have been 2 weeks, and ended up being 5 months.

woolythoughts

I am pleased to report that we exchanged today with completion set for next Friday.

Altogether quite straighforward in the end but I still havent slept properly for weeks

rosie383

Fantastic news!!! Enjoy your new home.

SelenaLouise

Well done! I hope completion and move goes well for you.