The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

Sam2030

BountyBlink said:

Louise.H said:

Taking out insurance with the solicitors so can hopefully get survey costs etc refunded if they do it again before exchange. Apparently they got worked up by the idea of a surveyor going in - either something to hide or just very nervous. Agents deemed them a nightmare client so I may well need some hair dye when all this is over. 

Sorry just chiming in here lol! We were in your vendors position perhaps. So basically we put our house on market for an “aggressive” price and our buyer that offered £8,000 less we said to our agent ok, but that is not subject to any survey. So our agent made it clear to our buyers that they could have a survey done but we would not drop a penny, our buyers chose not to have a survey, but maybe this is what’s happened with your vendors? 

Our house was 1930’s semi and clearly the roof would need attention, bathrooms and kitchens replacing etc, and that was all taken into consideration when we had it valued. 

Feel for you though because it must leave you with a feeling of uncertainty now! Hope it all works out well for you. 

No its an 1980 semi in good condition that they are buying nothing to do with surveys it's because it's taking to long that they are going to pull out. the house they are buying is number 3 in the chain it's number six that is holding every on up thanks 

BountyBlink

Sam2030 said:

BountyBlink said:

Louise.H said:

Taking out insurance with the solicitors so can hopefully get survey costs etc refunded if they do it again before exchange. Apparently they got worked up by the idea of a surveyor going in - either something to hide or just very nervous. Agents deemed them a nightmare client so I may well need some hair dye when all this is over. 

Sorry just chiming in here lol! We were in your vendors position perhaps. So basically we put our house on market for an “aggressive” price and our buyer that offered £8,000 less we said to our agent ok, but that is not subject to any survey. So our agent made it clear to our buyers that they could have a survey done but we would not drop a penny, our buyers chose not to have a survey, but maybe this is what’s happened with your vendors? 

Our house was 1930’s semi and clearly the roof would need attention, bathrooms and kitchens replacing etc, and that was all taken into consideration when we had it valued. 

Feel for you though because it must leave you with a feeling of uncertainty now! Hope it all works out well for you. 

No its an 1980 semi in good condition that they are buying nothing to do with surveys it's because it's taking to long that they are going to pull out. the house they are buying is number 3 in the chain it's number six that is holding every on up thanks 

Hi Sam, I replied to Louise H comment and not your post? About her situation & not yours?? 

Dadto3Boys

Argh, we finally got our second viewing. 1st viewing was in the dark and the speed that properties where flying off we got a little over excited.
Our rose tinted glasses have worn off. We have now realised we are basically paying an extra £150k to get a very similar house (with extra box room and extra similar sized room downstairs) to what we have now - just 10 mins drive away in a much nicer area. Same issues little signs of damp, chimney breasts. The windows are actually worse, some do not close properly some don't lock at all.
We have accepted some compromise with not having direct access to the garden, not open plan kitchen/diner/lounge space, only one bathroom (but two toilets), two double and two single bedrooms (rather than 3 double) and the box room really small 192cm long 200cm.

Issues aside we are not 100% on the house now. Irrelevant of any price changes.
I know you guys can't say go ahead or not - just putting it in writing.

Our long discussions last night whilst kids in bed, concluded "we should continue, yet knock some off for the windows" It would cost approx 8-10K for windows so thinking going back to the asking price 5K deduction... What would the implications be for the timeline?

AnnexeRegular

Dadto3Boys said:

Argh, we finally got our second viewing. 1st viewing was in the dark and the speed that properties where flying off we got a little over excited.
Our rose tinted glasses have worn off. We have now realised we are basically paying an extra £150k to get a very similar house (with extra box room and extra similar sized room downstairs) to what we have now - just 10 mins drive away in a much nicer area. Same issues little signs of damp, chimney breasts. The windows are actually worse, some do not close properly some don't lock at all.
We have accepted some compromise with not having direct access to the garden, not open plan kitchen/diner/lounge space, only one bathroom (but two toilets), two double and two single bedrooms (rather than 3 double) and the box room really small 192cm long 200cm.

Issues aside we are not 100% on the house now. Irrelevant of any price changes.
I know you guys can't say go ahead or not - just putting it in writing.

Our long discussions last night whilst kids in bed, concluded "we should continue, yet knock some off for the windows" It would cost approx 8-10K for windows so thinking going back to the asking price 5K deduction... What would the implications be for the timeline?

I'm thinking of doing the same thing. Major issues with the windows which would cost 5-10K to replace, so i'm going back later to ask them to knock a few grand off.

Natbag

Hope everyone gets some good news and progress in these couple of days before the bank holiday.
Nothing will happen here until Tuesday as our solicitor is on annual leave until then, and the solicitor she named in her automated out of office response on email 'isn't a fee earner' so won't pick up our case. So that's another week lost, and who knows how long it will take for her to send the deed of variation to the lender once she's back, the lender to update and send those documents back and for the completed title deeds and reports/contracts to be issued, signed, witnessed and returned. Then we have six parties who all need to agree a date. I suspect we are so close now, but still weeks off exchanging

climbthatwallseegar

BountyBlink said:

climbthatwallseegar said:

Does anyone have any experience or thoughts about mortgage retention?

Following my lender's surveyor reporting back that the house we want to purchase has extensive damp and rot, we were informed that we had to get a full Damp report.  Our seller's Estate Agent  arranged this and I received the report today from the damp and timber specialist with an initial recommendation of about £6k worth of work to remedy the specific issues the surveyor picked up on. We know there is a lot more work to be done as it is a complete fixer-upper but we are prepared for that as it is priced accordingly.

The EA has categorically stated that the Seller is not willing to pay to have any work carried out, the house is sold 'as seen' and I shouldn't worry as the lender should offer a mortgage retention, i.e. with-hold some of the lending until the work is completed post exchange. This is do-able for me as the current price is under my budget but I'm actually concerned that the lender will not even offer this option as my mortgage broker initially said they want the work carried out before Exchange. A bit confused about next steps atm!

My last property (before the house I just  sold) we had some damp issues, and a damp specialist advised a french drain gulley needed along with some other items that I can’t remember..!  to be put in outside that wall. The buyer tried to get us to pay for it, but we stood firm as we sold at a good price to them. 

However the buyers lender insisted that the work was done prior to exchange, so they had to get the works done at a cost of about £2000 Yo get certificate done from the damp specialist to assess the works carried out and then the lender agreed to loan on the property  - it was a huge gamble for our buyers because essentially they were paying for work on our house before any contract was exchanged on! 

They trusted we would sell to them so they were ok, so if you believe that your sellers would still go through with the sale if you paid for the work before exchange then you should be fine! 

Thanks and yes, this is my big concern. I can pay for the work to be carried out but what if the buyer then decides to pull out and puts it back on the market at a higher price once I've paid to sort out his damp problem! I'm not sure if there is an option to get something (legally) put in writing preventing him from doing so. My guess is no. I've had no contact with the buyer directly and the EA is not the most communicative so as much as it would pain me to do so, I think I'd have to walk away if we are required to pay up front and cannot get any guarantee that we will get the house as it's too much of a gamble. It's all about trust I suppose but I'm an old cynic and trust no-one when it comes to house buying/selling!

Hopefully our lender will agree to the mortgage retention instead which I would be much more comfortable with.

Louise.H

BountyBlink said:

Louise.H said:

Taking out insurance with the solicitors so can hopefully get survey costs etc refunded if they do it again before exchange. Apparently they got worked up by the idea of a surveyor going in - either something to hide or just very nervous. Agents deemed them a nightmare client so I may well need some hair dye when all this is over. 

Sorry just chiming in here lol! We were in your vendors position perhaps. So basically we put our house on market for an “aggressive” price and our buyer that offered £8,000 less we said to our agent ok, but that is not subject to any survey. So our agent made it clear to our buyers that they could have a survey done but we would not drop a penny, our buyers chose not to have a survey, but maybe this is what’s happened with your vendors? 

Our house was 1930’s semi and clearly the roof would need attention, bathrooms and kitchens replacing etc, and that was all taken into consideration when we had it valued. 

Feel for you though because it must leave you with a feeling of uncertainty now! Hope it all works out well for you. 

Thanks for a perspective from a sellers point of view, your situation sounds a lot more normal; our offer was for asking price and there was no communication before they backed out then returned which was annoying as I had never planned to use the survey to drop the price. I made it clear to the agents I will do my best to alleviate any further concerns the seller may have but hopefully the survey should be the the last point that causes issue *crosses everything*. 

nickelwa

Have been reading for a while but decided to join because we are hopefully creeping ever closer to exchange. Our searches have come back, our conveyancer will review as soon as they are able to apparantly...
Not sure on whether our buyers searches are back on our property yet but in theory they should be.
So final enquiries and then we can set a date right?
I can't wait for this to all be over so I can breathe again

trance_abbey

Hello all!

I've just joined the forum so I can join this thread  

I'm a FTB in a fortunate position of being a cash buyer.

My timeline so far:

10th April put in offer

12th April offer accepted

13th April instructed solicitor

13th April Agent came back to me and said someone else had put in a crazy high offer and the seller was reconsidering

15th April Best and Final offers

16th April IT'S MINE AGAIN!

16th April Get a letter from conveyance saying that they've also been instructed by the seller but don't worry, just sign this form indemnifying them against any conflict

16 April Instruct a different solicitor

21st April ID appointment

26th April - draft contract papers received and searches requested

The survey is happening tomorrow.

I know I'm being terribly impatient, but I'm Australian, and buying property there is incredibly easy and straight forward...

BountyBlink

climbthatwallseegar said:

BountyBlink said:

climbthatwallseegar said:

Does anyone have any experience or thoughts about mortgage retention?

Following my lender's surveyor reporting back that the house we want to purchase has extensive damp and rot, we were informed that we had to get a full Damp report.  Our seller's Estate Agent  arranged this and I received the report today from the damp and timber specialist with an initial recommendation of about £6k worth of work to remedy the specific issues the surveyor picked up on. We know there is a lot more work to be done as it is a complete fixer-upper but we are prepared for that as it is priced accordingly.

The EA has categorically stated that the Seller is not willing to pay to have any work carried out, the house is sold 'as seen' and I shouldn't worry as the lender should offer a mortgage retention, i.e. with-hold some of the lending until the work is completed post exchange. This is do-able for me as the current price is under my budget but I'm actually concerned that the lender will not even offer this option as my mortgage broker initially said they want the work carried out before Exchange. A bit confused about next steps atm!

My last property (before the house I just  sold) we had some damp issues, and a damp specialist advised a french drain gulley needed along with some other items that I can’t remember..!  to be put in outside that wall. The buyer tried to get us to pay for it, but we stood firm as we sold at a good price to them. 

However the buyers lender insisted that the work was done prior to exchange, so they had to get the works done at a cost of about £2000 Yo get certificate done from the damp specialist to assess the works carried out and then the lender agreed to loan on the property  - it was a huge gamble for our buyers because essentially they were paying for work on our house before any contract was exchanged on! 

They trusted we would sell to them so they were ok, so if you believe that your sellers would still go through with the sale if you paid for the work before exchange then you should be fine! 

Thanks and yes, this is my big concern. I can pay for the work to be carried out but what if the buyer then decides to pull out and puts it back on the market at a higher price once I've paid to sort out his damp problem! I'm not sure if there is an option to get something (legally) put in writing preventing him from doing so. My guess is no. I've had no contact with the buyer directly and the EA is not the most communicative so as much as it would pain me to do so, I think I'd have to walk away if we are required to pay up front and cannot get any guarantee that we will get the house as it's too much of a gamble. It's all about trust I suppose but I'm an old cynic and trust no-one when it comes to house buying/selling!

Hopefully our lender will agree to the mortgage retention instead which I would be much more comfortable with.

What you could offer is the seller to have the work done and you will rebate the bill upon exchange? 

Or book another viewing with the agent and the vendor and go and have a face to face discussion about how this can be done. 

It’s hard, with us there was only two in the chain. As our buyer was buying ours as a buy to let and we were moving to my father in law to look after him after his cancer diagnosis so with only two parties in the chain the concern for any issues was negligible. 

Do feel for you!