The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

Justonemorecupoftea

This whole selling/buying thing has turned me into a ball of paranoia already!

Our buyer is at the top of another chain, using cash to buy our house outright, so we have no proof of funds other than confirmation via estate agents that everything is as it should be. They have asked lots of questions that will be answered in the solicitors pack or via a survey and I'm still waiting for the memorandum of sale (our estate agent said we'd have it yesterday).

My in laws think this is all highly suspicious and that it means they have no "skin in the game" as they could still pull out at any time.

 It's made me nervous to start paying for things like surveys on the property we are getting until they've booked a survey on ours (although there was a suggestion that they might not have one done as the husband is a builder and seems satisfied with our answers to his questions...).

Am I being too cautious? Will I risk delaying things as once their money is through it should be a relatively quick process?

We've had our mortgage approved subject to valuation and the house we are buying has no onward chain. I don't think there is a risk of undervaluing but there haven't been many similar properties sold in that village recently.

Sorry for the brain dump, happy Wednesday!!

mat1964

So my plan to get a mortgage to cover for my GF's sale won't work as we then couldn't then transfer half the house into her name later when she has sold without incurring a near £25k SDLT liability.  We can't apply for a joint mortgage as she has some old mortgage defaults from her late husband (but is mortgage free now).  

Basically if it's confirmed today her sale has fallen through, we are at the mercy of the developer to give her more time to sell (not sure they will) and my buyer to delay exchange.  So it's £5k lost and back to square one.   Grrrrr.

Natbag

Oh no @mat1964 - sorry to hear that. We looked at me being on a second mortgage to try and save our purchase, but they wanted a much bigger deposit and I'd also be missing the money from my sale so that was a complete no-go. I'm sure with the market the way it is currently, your girlfriend will find another buyer quickly and hopefully might even get a bit more money to cover your lost costs. How far did the original buyers get? If they had searches done, these could be sold to the new buyer to save time. Otherwise just push for a fast turnaround as much as you can.

HannahEL84

mat1964 said:

So my plan to get a mortgage to cover for my GF's sale won't work as we then couldn't then transfer half the house into her name later when she has sold without incurring a near £25k SDLT liability.  We can't apply for a joint mortgage as she has some old mortgage defaults from her late husband (but is mortgage free now).  

Basically if it's confirmed today her sale has fallen through, we are at the mercy of the developer to give her more time to sell (not sure they will) and my buyer to delay exchange.  So it's £5k lost and back to square one.   Grrrrr.

I’m so sorry to hear this, it’s so frustrating to be back to square one after getting so far along in the process. I put my property back on the market Monday afternoon and have two viewings booked in for tonight, however my purchase is now looking shaky as the sellers have advised they are going to allow further viewings until my property is sold again, so will just have to see what happens. As frustrating as it all is I have to just trust it will work out the way it’s meant to, otherwise I think I’d go mad! 

BountyBlink

Justonemorecupoftea said:

This whole selling/buying thing has turned me into a ball of paranoia already!

Our buyer is at the top of another chain, using cash to buy our house outright, so we have no proof of funds other than confirmation via estate agents that everything is as it should be. They have asked lots of questions that will be answered in the solicitors pack or via a survey and I'm still waiting for the memorandum of sale (our estate agent said we'd have it yesterday).

My in laws think this is all highly suspicious and that it means they have no "skin in the game" as they could still pull out at any time.

 It's made me nervous to start paying for things like surveys on the property we are getting until they've booked a survey on ours (although there was a suggestion that they might not have one done as the husband is a builder and seems satisfied with our answers to his questions...).

Am I being too cautious? Will I risk delaying things as once their money is through it should be a relatively quick process?

We've had our mortgage approved subject to valuation and the house we are buying has no onward chain. I don't think there is a risk of undervaluing but there haven't been many similar properties sold in that village recently.

Sorry for the brain dump, happy Wednesday!!

Hi! So if you your buyer has a downward chain & they are not “breaking their chain” before proceeding with yours, then you are all part of the same chain. 

Firstly, don’t be too concerned that they are not having a survey. I have sold 14 times and only half had ever had surveys. Unless someone is getting a full structural survey, even a homebuyers survey will only highlight issues that any experienced buyer or builder will discover anyway. As homebuyers reports simply point the buyer to work that “May” need doing/attention & off the back of a homebuyers more reports, investigations and quotes would be needed to prove any issue or not. Therefore, I wouldn’t be pushing your buyer to have a survey, and any agent worth their weight in gold will never remind or ask a buyer if they are having a survey done! Our last sale recently our buyers only had a mortgage desktop valuation and no survey, and we were so happy as we knew there was a lot of work needing doing! 

So if I were you, the only things I would be concerned about / doing would be: 

1. Get on to your agent you are selling through and ask for an explicit update to; 1. Who is in your chain below, how many parties, are they are all freehold properties and where are they all at in terms of legal matters. 

2. I would then depending on answers given above get my searches ordered on the property I am buying and hold off on survey for the moment. If the parties below you are all freehold and no leasehold properties and of searches for all properties below have been ordered etc then get your searches ordered, and ask your solicitor when they are due back. If due back in 3 weeks book in survey for 4 weeks time. If searches due back in 6 weeks book your survey in for 7 weeks time. 

This is so if anything untoward comes up on your searches for your purchase then you will not have wasted money on a survey. Etc etc. If your agent you are buying through says “that’s a late date for a survey” just say it’s the only date I can get from the surveyor of my choice. 

Also by not getting your survey done now, it gives the chain below time to also move things on and you will feel more confident about spending out on a survey. 

Hope that helps and don’t worry too much, I’m sure it will all come together! Fact finding and knowing your chain and where they are at is the MOST important thing! 

BountyBlink

mat1964 said:

So my plan to get a mortgage to cover for my GF's sale won't work as we then couldn't then transfer half the house into her name later when she has sold without incurring a near £25k SDLT liability.  We can't apply for a joint mortgage as she has some old mortgage defaults from her late husband (but is mortgage free now).  

Basically if it's confirmed today her sale has fallen through, we are at the mercy of the developer to give her more time to sell (not sure they will) and my buyer to delay exchange.  So it's £5k lost and back to square one.   Grrrrr.

Oh that’s super frustrating for you. Get that house back on market, Wednesday’s are a good day as viewings can occur over weekend... hold old for someone that can proceed quickly, in rented etc, you can still get this done in 6-8 weeks. 

mat1964

Natbag said:

Oh no @mat1964 - sorry to hear that. We looked at me being on a second mortgage to try and save our purchase, but they wanted a much bigger deposit and I'd also be missing the money from my sale so that was a complete no-go. I'm sure with the market the way it is currently, your girlfriend will find another buyer quickly and hopefully might even get a bit more money to cover your lost costs. How far did the original buyers get? If they had searches done, these could be sold to the new buyer to save time. Otherwise just push for a fast turnaround as much as you can.

thank you.  The searches are due back today as it happens.  I just don't get why the buyer keeps disappearing and the broker and solicitor refuse to communicate - the only thing we know is that they have not got their mortgage offer and it's 4 weeks post valuation.  Our solicitor sent the draft contract 6 weeks ago and has not heard a thing back despite chasing.  

My GF has requested the agent to list it again from today - they have asked to give it one last go with the buyer otherwise it will go on this afternoon.

FtbEmz

BountyBlink said:

FtbEmz said:

Hello, me again. Our survey was Monday and the surveyor said 2/3 day turnaround for this so hoping it’ll be back soon. I’d like to call the solicitor for an update and think I will tomorrow - I can hopefully also provide them with the survey too. Just wondering if my timeframe is reasonable as my husband and I would like to complete in the first two weeks of June. Our solicitors have all they need from us in terms of mortgage offer, ID, signed terms of business etc. They have the draft contracts and forms and our solicitor has been going through these this week to prepare the report on title. Searches are expected back in the next 7-10 days. We have no chain and the property we’re buying is empty and was advertised as ‘immediate vacant possession’ as it was someone’s parents who sadly passed away (probate all dealt with). Is the first two weeks of June reasonable for completion? The only enquiry we have is who supplies the gas/electricity and the solicitor said she doesn’t expect any issues on the searches (she’s dealt with the majority of other sales on the same street as our  purchase - one of the reasons we chose her). Thanks and good luck to everyone today. 

Also, should add. Once your solicitor receives searches back, they will “report” to you. This is the full pack including searches they send to you, with normally a letter pointing you to parts of the searches and any enquiries back they want you to ensure you are happy with. They will also include contracts for you to sign, so long as you have no more questions. Sometimes in the past I have had solicitors take more than a week to “report” to me, but 9/10 my usual solicitor reports to me the day my searches get back (only because they know what I am like 🤣) so, when your searches are due back get onto your lawyer and ask when they will be reporting to you. Hope that helps 

Thank you. That’s very helpful.

CLJ2986

@BountyBlink thank you, that's super helpful advice! My biggest issue is I don't know what questions to ask when I want to get an update out of them, so massively appreciate that. Its a highstreet solicitor and there's no chain, we're in rented and the vendor has no onward chain, no idea where he's going though! 

robyn_

Been lurking for a while but thought I'd finally be brave and join in. We are selling to FTB and buying a house with no onward chain. Offers were accepted in Feb and yesterday morning we were ready to exchange. Suggested a date to complete of 21st May, then suddenly get an email at lunchtime saying our buyer wants a full structural survey on our property. The house was built in the 80's and has no alternations or structural issues. We asked our buyers twice during the process if they were going to instruct a survey, but kept being told they were happy to proceed without one. 

Why did they wait until now to decide they actually do want one. We now have to wait for a surveyor to have availability and the report to be issued. Our agent has reassured us that our buyer is keen to complete as soon as the report is received, but we can't help thinking something else is going to stall it. 

Luckily our vendors have been really understanding (they have already vacated the property and moved in with family), and hopefully this is just a blip and we'll get to exchange and complete soon. It's just so frustrating, our solicitor was not impressed.