The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

greensalad

Faodail said:

@greensalad 😱 Why are they being sooooooo slow?! 

It really irates me when I read, there’s someone in the chain taking their sweet merry time with no regards to anyone else, I know I would NEVER be that person... So god knows how you feel. Hope you get some good uplifting news soon! Xx

I know... we did say to the vendors we were happy to go slow or fast, but tbh I don't think we've been remotely slow. We haven't been pushy but we've got all our paperwork returned on time and everything. My vendors were really slow for a while but I think that was because they were on holiday in August. We've definitely been expedient and actioned everything pretty much as soon as it came in. 

I'm hoping I hear from the sales progressor today. Like I said... I can handle issues out of everyone's control (perhaps the vendors at the top of the chain have a complex purchase, and it's taking a little longer to get the paperwork together) but I won't tolerate people just resting on their laurels and forcing undue issue for those of us at the bottom who are all ready to exchange!

TheScone

birdmadgirl8 said:

TR1 saga. Several weeks ago our solicitor had to 'approve' it. Yesterday, after I enquired whether I should chase the seller's solicitor, I finally got a reply. She said she'd 'arrange to email the TR1 to me'. Interesting phrasing. Sounds like she's booking an appointment with herself to actually do some work for us. Also said 'sorry'. This was yesterday at 9.30 am. Do we have the TR1? No 🙄

Any luck on getting that TR1 yet? That phrasing is so frustrating! Why arrange to email it over when she could just spend that time sending it over 🤨

TheScone

MrsBrush said:

All the best of luck to everyone exchanging and / or completing today!

We are all set for Monday's completion. Due to extended attempts to exchange, our removals is slightly out of sync. The plan was always most of the contents going into storage on Saturday. Because we couldn't confirm without exchange, we lost the Saturday slot, so they came round yesterday. OMG, what a panic! Cat still here, as not due to go to the cattery until today, so had to work around her, and we hadn't totally finished packing as we thought we still had time. All good in the end, the team were brilliant!

So we went from thinking it was not going to happen, with exchange having stalled for 9 consecutive days. 24 hours later, I suddenly have a half empty house! So, anyone who is struggling with delays, lack of action, poor communications etc - hang in there. It will happen, and it is likely to happen fast! 

That sounds stressful! I’m sure you’d rather this stress than the stress of waiting on the exchange though, best of luck on Monday!

TheScone

Otb21 said:

Otb21 said:

We have found this forum incredibly useful and insightful dealing with issues we had not dealt with before so posting our (very longwinded!) story so anyone else in a similar position may find useful. 

Here's our story so far... 

November 2020 - Accepted offer from buyer on our house
November 2020 - Found house to buy, completed the chain as seller was chain free
December 2020 - April 2021 - lots of legal issues with land and boundaries uncovered during conveyancing process
April 2021 - Pulled out of purchase, sold house and moved. 

During the attempted purchase of this house we encountered a very difficult seller who would not even communicate with his own estate agents. It got to the point that the branch manager had to hand deliver a written letter to the property to try and establish what was going on. The land issues mentioned above were one thing, but we looked at it like a problem that could be solved and agreed we would still buy the property if the land issues were legally rectified first. During these months other smaller (but significant issues in our eyes) came to light. For example, the documents provided for the boiler were actually for another house (so nothing to do with the boiler we were actually buying...). The seller accused us of fussing when we politely asked if he could send his solicitor any docs for the boiler in the house we were actually buying. We paid for a full structural survey but the surveyor couldn't even get into the two outbuildings or the roof, even though they had called previously to discuss access requirements. After many, many weeks of attempting to establish what was going on we made the difficult decision to give it until a certain date and if we hadn't been updated at that point, then we would pull out. We ended up pulling out, it sold again within days but by the looks of it, it still hasn't gone through for the new buyers. 

We then moved away from the South East, expecting a much less intense though equally buoyant market due to Covid and stamp duty hols, etc. We started looking in our area and houses were being listed on Rightmove and sold within 20 minutes by people who knew the streets and the houses and did not want to 'waste time' viewing the property. Madness! 

We eventually found a property that ticked most (but not all) of our boxes. An intense (or so we are led to believe) bidding war commenced over the course of a few days to a week. We eventually confirmed that we had secured the property and we were thrilled. 

In June 2020 we once again started the mortgage application process, instructed new solicitors and began the process again. Everything was going fine until the in-person valuation came back nearly 110k less than the agreed purchase price. This instantly derailed the purchase and though we think that 110k less is probably not completely accurate, we do agree that the original purchase price was way over estimated by the estate agents. We revised our offer, giving it one last chance, and the seller agreed this would work for them. In the meantime, the house they were purchasing fell through, so it has taken close to a month for the chain to be complete again but we are hoping that we can finally move forward with this purchase now. 

We keep hearing estate agents and others tell us how good our position is (chain free, nothing to sell, etc) but the market is absolutely crazy at the moment. 

Best of luck with everyone's continued transactions 

An update for those of you who may remember our first post on this forum several weeks ago now. 

Unfortunately, our second purchase fell through for a second time. This one was right after the solicitors had ordered the searches (about two working days later) so we added to the money we have already lost during this process on fees, solicitors, surveys, searches, etc. It was a really, really awful few weeks after that. In the grand scheme of things it's just a house but we have been doing this now since October/November 2020 so felt like we deserved to feel a bit sorry for ourselves temporarily. The vendor messaged us on Facebook to say she was pulling out due to personal reasons. That was it, there was nothing else and we couldn't pry any further because how can you when someone says that? We genuinely hope everything is OK but we equally wouldn't be surprised if we find out it has been sold in a few months time. The timescales that we were waiting on (it took nearly 2 months for draft contracts) make us think we were maybe sat waiting for another buyer to get their finances / mortgage offer in place and we were possibly the plan b buyers. Who knows but it was a bit of a shock to get a random message and all those weeks and months were over just like that (again!). 

September was slow, it felt like in the area we were focusing on the houses just dried up but they did start to trickle back on after the last of the SDLT deadline which was good to see and again we have found somewhere that we are so happy with and has lots of potential for us to really make a nice home there. 

And so here we are again with timelines and bits and bobs. One of our vendors has reserved a new build and we're not sure what the other one is doing but think maybe will go in to rented or with family, it hasn't really been discussed yet as we haven't actually spoken to him. 

We're just waiting now for the valuation to go ahead with the same mortgage lender we have already had approved so shouldn't need to be fully underwritten again which is a small relief. Searches were requested this week too so hopefully this time next month we should be a few steps forward in the right direction. 

This experience has been a massive learning curve for my partner and I as we previously have only purchased new builds so it is always a little bit different. I think the system needs to have some massive work done on it to make it easier and less stressful and also protection for loss of funds. We've lost nearly 5k now and have nothing to show for it other than some useless paperwork on properties we don't own. 

Wishing you all the best on your transactions  

What a nightmare, I’m so sorry that you have had such bad luck! Hoping that this purchase is the one ☝️ and will be less painful than the previous. 

esubbs

So out buyers have finally got fed up of the numerous excuses from their buyer and remarketed. Our EA rang and asked if we wanted to also remarket but I just can't face it for a third time. Our buyers still want our house so I've said we'll wait for them (they already have 5 viewings lined up so 🤞🤞it won't be long) and if not we'll think about remarketing after Christmas. 

So 7 months down the line and we're back to square one. For a second time 😭

TheScone

greensalad said:

Just heard back from our vendor (we have direct contact with them) that their onward sale is going slowly and they don't know anything about the final person in the chain, but they said "completion in the new year looks likely". Ugh, feeling very dejected. We are literally all ready to move and now we're going to have to sit and wait. I really really wanted to be moved by Christmas!

Also we have the secondary issue of our rental being up at the end of January, so if we move in January that gives us no overlap to move/decorate and we really don't want to be doing it at the last minute. I'm hoping perhaps we can agree an exchange before Christmas and completion in the New Year, because I really don't want everyone to come back in Jan after Christmas time off and only get started on exchange then... Must admit when we offered in early July I thought that pre-Christmas would be a shoe-in!

Trying to keep positive, and determined to push a little with why the sale is so slow (if it's matters out of people's control I can handle it but if it's just the top of the chain being lazy and slow that's not fair on anyone). Hoping the sales progressor has more information in this regard and can help me figure out whether I need to put the pressure on.

Ugh that’s so annoying! Do you know why it is going so slowly? Maybe you can put a deadline on the chain for when you need to complete so that it works out better for your rental?? 

I’ve felt bad sometimes putting pressure on and pushing but then I remember I know none of these people and it will actually move things along a lot quicker 😅

TheScone

esubbs said:

So out buyers have finally got fed up of the numerous excuses from their buyer and remarketed. Our EA rang and asked if we wanted to also remarket but I just can't face it for a third time. Our buyers still want our house so I've said we'll wait for them (they already have 5 viewings lined up so 🤞🤞it won't be long) and if not we'll think about remarketing after Christmas. 

So 7 months down the line and we're back to square one. For a second time 😭

That’s a good attitude to have, I couldn’t see a reason not to wait for your buyers personally as if you remarketed you’d be even more back at square one if that makes sense? I hope that your buyers can find someone quickly and get things moving again. 

TheScone

I’ve spent all morning waiting for the call from our solicitors and just had it 🤞🏼so we have given authority to exchange now, our sol is just waiting on the seller’s sol to call her back and we can exchange!

5 and a half hours should be more than enough time for this to happen today. Positive thoughts! 

greensalad

TheScone said:

greensalad said:

Just heard back from our vendor (we have direct contact with them) that their onward sale is going slowly and they don't know anything about the final person in the chain, but they said "completion in the new year looks likely". Ugh, feeling very dejected. We are literally all ready to move and now we're going to have to sit and wait. I really really wanted to be moved by Christmas!

Also we have the secondary issue of our rental being up at the end of January, so if we move in January that gives us no overlap to move/decorate and we really don't want to be doing it at the last minute. I'm hoping perhaps we can agree an exchange before Christmas and completion in the New Year, because I really don't want everyone to come back in Jan after Christmas time off and only get started on exchange then... Must admit when we offered in early July I thought that pre-Christmas would be a shoe-in!

Trying to keep positive, and determined to push a little with why the sale is so slow (if it's matters out of people's control I can handle it but if it's just the top of the chain being lazy and slow that's not fair on anyone). Hoping the sales progressor has more information in this regard and can help me figure out whether I need to put the pressure on.

Ugh that’s so annoying! Do you know why it is going so slowly? Maybe you can put a deadline on the chain for when you need to complete so that it works out better for your rental?? 

I’ve felt bad sometimes putting pressure on and pushing but then I remember I know none of these people and it will actually move things along a lot quicker 😅

I'm trying to get in contact with the sales progressor to find out exactly what is happening! And yes, I think I will slightly put the pressure on. I'm going to be honest, we don't mind waiting a little longer to move if needed but we are going to be stuck in a very horrible position if our rental comes up.

My ideal would be to exchange on, say, 15th December and have a 4 week gap and then complete on 15h January. That way everything is wrapped up before Christmas but we don't have to worry about moving until after. 

I think I'm going to push for exchange before Christmas no matter what, and happy to let the completion occur in the new year.

Bonus of all of this is that we will likely have a bit more cash in our pockets when we move to be able to order furniture, we were expecting if we moved in November/December to be sitting on camping furniture for a while!

esubbs

TheScone said:

esubbs said:

So out buyers have finally got fed up of the numerous excuses from their buyer and remarketed. Our EA rang and asked if we wanted to also remarket but I just can't face it for a third time. Our buyers still want our house so I've said we'll wait for them (they already have 5 viewings lined up so 🤞🤞it won't be long) and if not we'll think about remarketing after Christmas. 

So 7 months down the line and we're back to square one. For a second time 😭

That’s a good attitude to have, I couldn’t see a reason not to wait for your buyers personally as if you remarketed you’d be even more back at square one if that makes sense? I hope that your buyers can find someone quickly and get things moving again. 

Well, that didn't take long. Just had a call to say our buyers have had two offers already. Turns out their EA also sold their neighbour's a few weeks ago and so still had contacts they knew would be interested. Both viewed this morning and offered straight away, both ftb so no chain below and with good deposits. Our buyer is going to go with one of them and just waiting on confirmation of funds from both before she decides which but they're all keen to get in before Christmas.
So things are looking brighter again and I can put away the gin... for now 😁