The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

Kazzam1984

Flugelhorn said:

heard from friends who were  hoping to exchange by the end of the month (ho ho) that they can't find removals... plenty of availability in early October 

Nice name.  Who do you play for band wise?

Kazzam1984

E_D_FTB said:

Kazzam1984 said:

Also so worried we won't make stamp duty cut off as our buyers will pull out of not done by end of September . Yuk

We've had threats of this in our chain. I keep trying to remind myself that 1) I'm not holding anything up, so there's nothing I can do to speed along the process and 2) the saving this time, while certainly not nothing, is not so much it couldn't be saved up. I find it hard to believe people will actually give up entirely on selling/moving because of missing the deadline.

Fingers crossed for you!

They would be pulling out because  their mortgage offer ends apparently 

arrows123

After two weeks of radio silence from the solicitors received the convenyancing report, contract and title to sign this week. All done and sent back within 24hours. Apparently theres a few enquiries outstanding but I've seen the list and the majority are just needing yes/no answers. My solicitors have asked for two indemnity policies to cover a couple of things, these are the only things that could potentially hold things up but the sellers have been very good and done everything they've said so far. I've proposed a date of the 20th Sept to complete so just waiting to hear back. Getting closer! Hang in there everyone, the last bit seems to come together very quickly from my experience so far.

esubbs

Just spoke to our solicitor. They're still getting no communication from the buyer's solicitor despite chasing for updates. It's been over three weeks now.
Our estate agent has chased too and found out info direct from our buyer but nothing confirmed and that was two weeks ago.
Considering this was supposed to be a ready to go chain that just needed completing at the top by us it seems painfully stagnant! 

esubbs

nekr0mantik said:

OMG! I will cry!
Halifax got valuation back and this time its 100k under asking! First time it was 50k under and now 100k!
If EA is telling truth and she has 5 comparable property which sold recently then how can this happen as someone must have valued these at the sold prices. 
Waiting for broker to call me and discuss if Appeal is doable or should I walk away.
If I walk then I dont think I can apply for 3rd time to mortgage once I found a new property so may need to wait until 12 months have passed.  

Oh my goodness what a nightmare! How can there be £50k difference in two official valuations let alone from offer. I don't get it 🤷‍♀️

Slithery

nekr0mantik said:

If EA is telling truth and she has 5 comparable property which sold recently then how can this happen as someone must have valued these at the sold prices.

Not necessarily, they may have all been undervalued. Either they were cash buyers or had enough equity to make up the shortfall in which case an undervaluation wouldn't matter.

ss2020jd

Congratulations to those with good news and hoping the rest of us get some positive progress soon.

it looks like the final final enquiries (!) have been answered and reported on and we don’t want to pursue anything else, but still awaiting the contract to sign! The solicitor has our deposit and has been pushing the seller’s solicitor for the contract so keeping everything crossed it comes soon. I suppose they need to agree on the final clauses and the completion date before it can be sent but still in the dark on that. 

We would have to exchange soon for the sellers to get the time in between that they want as solicitors will not be around the last week of September! 

As others have said it does happen quickly at the end, which I am hoping will be the case, but still nerve wracking! 

We wanted to fit in a viewing before exchange as there’s a lot we need to measure - did anyone who has already exchanged manage to do that or did you wait until before completion? 

Bookgal88

nekr0mantik said:

OMG! I will cry!
Halifax got valuation back and this time its 100k under asking! First time it was 50k under and now 100k!
If EA is telling truth and she has 5 comparable property which sold recently then how can this happen as someone must have valued these at the sold prices. 
Waiting for broker to call me and discuss if Appeal is doable or should I walk away.
If I walk then I dont think I can apply for 3rd time to mortgage once I found a new property so may need to wait until 12 months have passed.  

I wouldn't put that much faith in what the EA says. As a former valuer (don't shoot me!), an EA's idea of a comparable and a valuer's idea of a comparable can be two very different things! Also, when the EA says sold, do they mean completed and the figures they claim to achieve have been verified by the Land Registry. It's easy for an EA to claim they've "sold" 5 similar properties, but if they're still going through the conveyancing process then nothing is certain. The other spanner is that other buyers may have also had the same down valuation that you've had, but they've been able willing and able to make up the shortfall. 

I think you said that the flat you're purchasing is in Canary Wharf, and there are a LOT of flats and developments around there. Perhaps the valuer is concerned that if they had to repossess, there could be an oversupply, particularly in a buyer's market? This is a reasonable concern, for both the bank and you. 

nekr0mantik

Bookgal88 said:

nekr0mantik said:

OMG! I will cry!
Halifax got valuation back and this time its 100k under asking! First time it was 50k under and now 100k!
If EA is telling truth and she has 5 comparable property which sold recently then how can this happen as someone must have valued these at the sold prices. 
Waiting for broker to call me and discuss if Appeal is doable or should I walk away.
If I walk then I dont think I can apply for 3rd time to mortgage once I found a new property so may need to wait until 12 months have passed.  

I wouldn't put that much faith in what the EA says. As a former valuer (don't shoot me!), an EA's idea of a comparable and a valuer's idea of a comparable can be two very different things! Also, when the EA says sold, do they mean completed and the figures they claim to achieve have been verified by the Land Registry. It's easy for an EA to claim they've "sold" 5 similar properties, but if they're still going through the conveyancing process then nothing is certain. The other spanner is that other buyers may have also had the same down valuation that you've had, but they've been able willing and able to make up the shortfall. 

I think you said that the flat you're purchasing is in Canary Wharf, and there are a LOT of flats and developments around there. Perhaps the valuer is concerned that if they had to repossess, there could be an oversupply, particularly in a buyer's market? This is a reasonable concern, for both the bank and you. 

Yeah I know EAs are not 100% truthful and thats why I said the comparable property MUST be sold price on land registry and not the price prior to completion. Also Canary Wharf does have a lot of flats yes but its a very wide types you got quite old apartments there which have cladding issues to brand new ones just finished. There are a lot of price reductions there on cladding reasons and one new build has had down valuations due to the view being blocked in the next 3 years if you live in East Side for example. So its not easy to compare which is the issue. Plus this is the first accommodation on the new estate thats on canary wharf owned land and they building a lot of new community like features into area to bring more non workers so area is new as well. Of course it may not work even if they try. 

From what I been reading around down valuations that even though they are common most are within certain degree of each other. So if first was down by say 20k and then second down by 30k then yeah there is probably good reason why both had similar thoughts. But one down by 100k and another by 50k is a bit strange. 

I seen the report from Halifax/E-Serv and it has incorrect information as it states its 0 years old new build and developers add premium which is true but this is 1 year 5 months old and I am buying from investor who trying to make money after purchasing as a contract re assignment. Also the report states building material may prove to be hard to sell but it has EW1S A1 Pass and the solistors found nothing to say there is something wrong with the material. On top they said in current condition and it needs work cos of wear but no one has lived there. The owner is in a different country and never rented it or occupied it. So where would the wear come from and no amount of wear from 1 year would mean its worth 100k less. 

Spoken to Agent who will see if the vendor will drop the price to the 50k less price of the first valuation. I said I wont put anything more towards it to be safe so lets see what they say. If this was a non investor I suppose they would have more reason to drop after 2 valuations but some vendors who are cash rich dont mind waiting for cash buyer. 

Bookgal88

nekr0mantik said:

Bookgal88 said:

nekr0mantik said:

OMG! I will cry!
Halifax got valuation back and this time its 100k under asking! First time it was 50k under and now 100k!
If EA is telling truth and she has 5 comparable property which sold recently then how can this happen as someone must have valued these at the sold prices. 
Waiting for broker to call me and discuss if Appeal is doable or should I walk away.
If I walk then I dont think I can apply for 3rd time to mortgage once I found a new property so may need to wait until 12 months have passed.  

I wouldn't put that much faith in what the EA says. As a former valuer (don't shoot me!), an EA's idea of a comparable and a valuer's idea of a comparable can be two very different things! Also, when the EA says sold, do they mean completed and the figures they claim to achieve have been verified by the Land Registry. It's easy for an EA to claim they've "sold" 5 similar properties, but if they're still going through the conveyancing process then nothing is certain. The other spanner is that other buyers may have also had the same down valuation that you've had, but they've been able willing and able to make up the shortfall. 

I think you said that the flat you're purchasing is in Canary Wharf, and there are a LOT of flats and developments around there. Perhaps the valuer is concerned that if they had to repossess, there could be an oversupply, particularly in a buyer's market? This is a reasonable concern, for both the bank and you. 

Yeah I know EAs are not 100% truthful and thats why I said the comparable property MUST be sold price on land registry and not the price prior to completion. Also Canary Wharf does have a lot of flats yes but its a very wide types you got quite old apartments there which have cladding issues to brand new ones just finished. There are a lot of price reductions there on cladding reasons and one new build has had down valuations due to the view being blocked in the next 3 years if you live in East Side for example. So its not easy to compare which is the issue. Plus this is the first accommodation on the new estate thats on canary wharf owned land and they building a lot of new community like features into area to bring more non workers so area is new as well. Of course it may not work even if they try. 

From what I been reading around down valuations that even though they are common most are within certain degree of each other. So if first was down by say 20k and then second down by 30k then yeah there is probably good reason why both had similar thoughts. But one down by 100k and another by 50k is a bit strange. 

I seen the report from Halifax/E-Serv and it has incorrect information as it states its 0 years old new build and developers add premium which is true but this is 1 year 5 months old and I am buying from investor who trying to make money after purchasing as a contract re assignment. Also the report states building material may prove to be hard to sell but it has EW1S A1 Pass and the solistors found nothing to say there is something wrong with the material. On top they said in current condition and it needs work cos of wear but no one has lived there. The owner is in a different country and never rented it or occupied it. So where would the wear come from and no amount of wear from 1 year would mean its worth 100k less. 

Spoken to Agent who will see if the vendor will drop the price to the 50k less price of the first valuation. I said I wont put anything more towards it to be safe so lets see what they say. If this was a non investor I suppose they would have more reason to drop after 2 valuations but some vendors who are cash rich dont mind waiting for cash buyer. 

It definitely does seem a bit odd that the down valuations are so far apart. 

I am confused though about how you are buying a contract assignment if the building is almost 18 months old? I'd also be a bit concerned that the vendor is trying to sell a now second hand property of a type and in a location that has likely fallen in value since he bought it/reserved it (based on what you've said, this will have been just prior to the pandemic).

With regards to wear and tear - perhaps the finish isn't that great/no-one has been there to do snagging/because the property isn't occupied, it isn't showing in its best state to the valuer?

I think the issue re: the building materials potentially being a problem in the future is also a legitimate concern. The EWS1 is only valid for so long, and if guidance changes between now and when the building is due for re-inspection, it might not pass again. This could lead to problems for the bank (and you) if the flat had to be sold. 

The valuers wouldn't have downvalued it (especially so significantly) if they didn't have legitimate concerns about the price you've offered and the property's ability to hold that value. Just something for you to keep in mind if you persue it. 

(Sorry for hijacking this thread with valuation chat!)