The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

GingerbreadWoman

Hi all 

This is my story:

14th June 2021 - Appointed a mortgage broker
15th June 2021 - Put offer in on a house
21st June 2021 - Offer accepted (vendors had already had an offer accepted on another property)
22nd June 2021 - Instructed solicitors
23rd June 2021 - Mortgage application submitted
12th July 2021 - Valuation carried out
13th July 2021 - Received mortgage offer
23rd July 2021 - EA informed us that despite the vendors of the property our vendors are buying originally saying they would move into rented accommodation, they then decided they did not want to do this
29th July 2021 - Our vendors' vendors have had an offer accepted on another property
Between July and October 2021 - our vendors' vendors pulled out of that property and supposedly put multiple offers in on other properties, losing out on them all...
20th October 2021 - Our vendors' vendors put a deposit on a new build but it won't be completed until March 2022
8th December 2021 - Our vendors' vendors have pulled out of the new build and have had an offer accepted on a property from a deceased estate and so no onward chain
21st December 2021 - Our mortgage broker requested an extension to our mortgage offer as original expiry date was 13/01/2022
5th January 2022 - Mortgage offer extended until 13/02/2022 

Current state of play is that we have given all parties in the chain a deadline of 11th February 2022 to complete by. Our conveyancing is all complete and ready to go, our vendors' solicitors have said they will be ready for that date also so now it all just rests on the people at the other end of the chain but we are getting very little updates from that side and they haven't exactly been reliable in the past!

I've tried to remain positive but every time I speak to our solicitor they just say that we are not in a position to discuss dates yet until the end of the chain is ready. I really don't want to have to reapply for our mortgage etc again but I'm losing hope as the days go by

RS2OOO

Mahsroh said:

Hi everyone, just thought I'd pop on here to document our journey and let you all know that there can be light at the end of the tunnel even though it feels like it's never going to happen. I always planned to join this thread as it was happening but things got me down so bad I ended up avoiding this forum entirely for several months. 

We we living in rented and I was selling my old house (which I used to live in and then rented it out after relocating). So we had a "one way" chain at the bottom end (we were relying on our sale to complete the purchase but could sell at any point irrespective of progress on our purchase. Here's the chain of events:

17/03 House goes on the market
26/03 Offer Accepted
27/03 Onwards - commence house viewings
12/04 Buyer pulls out of the purchase (found something else to offer on instead)
13/04 View house we want to put offer on
20/04 House sold before we're proceedable 
23/04 2nd offer accepted, house viewing recommence
28/04 2nd buyer pulls out!! (Cold feet)
01/05 FIND OUR DREAM HOME (Again, not proceedable)
06/05 3rd offer accepted, have offer accepted on dream home
21/05 Mortgage offer received 
28/05 3rd (THIRD) buyer pulls out!!! (Personal reasons, apparently) 
17/06 Vendors find their onward purchase (end of upward chain) and immediately remarket their property after learning our buyer had pulled out. 
08/07 4th offer accepted, dream home taken back off the market and conveyancing process recommences
14/09 Chase buyer for update to be told that a homebuyers survey had been done and has raised issues. Buyer wants to obtain quote for remedial works before agreeing new price and proceeding. 
14/09 onwards. WEEKS of chasing the buyer, trying to get our own quotes for the work, remarketing the house when the buyer went quiet etc. 
07/11 Eventually agree new price with buyer
15/11 Mortgage offer extended
25/11 Exchange
26/11 Completion 

It was probably the most stressful 8-9 months of my life! But for those going through all this now, there is light at the end of the tunnel. On 1st November I was resigned to the fact that it wasn't going to happen and both the sale and purchase would fall through. By the end of that month we were in our new home. 

I don't get shocked at posts like yours anymore, but can feel the relief you felt when it all came good. 

All I can do is read it and hope there's a similar light at the end of my tunnel.

I do not underestimate the stress. Easily been the most stressful 7 Months of my life too. I wasn't this stressed when family members died.

The small difference between you and I is that I'm living in the house being sold so obviously am tied to that and been living out of boxes since the week leading to the first chain-agreed completion of 17th December. I also have pets in a holding facility, contents of my garage in a shipping container and feel I'm being led up the garden path by the EA Progressor encouraging me to "be ready and prepared as its imminent now".

Like with yourself, the next phone call could be anything from "We are ready to Exchange (again)" to "Its all over".

jdsimmons3

Solicitor is sending me her completion statement and then we will arrange a completion date. Hoping we can exchange contracts before the 21st (3days!) As that's when we pay our rent so would nice for it too be out final payment (4weeks notice)

When do pay the remaining solicitor fees? 

charlotteo1988

Well we had a little ray of sun today. 

Our sellers sister who also owns the house has apparently come back from holiday today rather than Friday, so all the paperwork will be signed and sent tomorrow. I’ve told my solicitor and she is hoping they will send it tomorrow and I’ve asked the seller to confirm when it’s been emailed over so my solicitor can start her enquiries. 

Good luck to everyone and I also agree the most stressful 6 months for us as well. (So far) 

Mahsroh

RS2OOO said:

The small difference between you and I is that I'm living in the house being sold so obviously am tied to that and been living out of boxes since the week leading to the first chain-agreed completion of 17th December. I also have pets in a holding facility, contents of my garage in a shipping container and feel I'm being led up the garden path by the EA Progressor encouraging me to "be ready and prepared as its imminent now".

That does sound like a nightmare, especially the having pets in a holding facility. 

The bit I didn't explain was in the middle of all that our fixed term tenancy also came to end so I was also under pressure from the letting agent to either renew or give notice! Though your situation sounds far more stressful I have to say. 

Fingers crossed you'll get some good news imminently! 

RS2OOO

Just had a call from the Vendors Estate Agent to say they have been chasing my Estate Agent's Sales Progressor for an update and she told them all delays relating to my buyers Mortgage are now resolved and exchange of contracts is imminent.

• Since when should I be finding out about progress my sale from the EA of my onward purchase???
• Is this finally the progress I've been waiting for?
• Or is she lying to them so as to keep the chain intact?

I'm sorry to say I suspect she's probably lying to them.

But willing to pray that I'm wrong.

Mahsroh

RS2OOO said:

• Since when should I be finding out about progress my sale from the EA of my onward purchase???

It happens! I had a call from my vendors EA on the day we were due to exchange for them to tell me that the EA relating to their purchase (!!) to tell me they'd spoke to the solicitors at the bottom of the chain (my buyer) to be told they were still awaiting transfer of funds from the buyer! 

Nothing like this surprises me any more! 

On the plus side - it does sound like things are progressing! Fingers crossed it is good news and not just them playing games. 

badger09

GingerbreadWoman said:

Hi all 

This is my story:

14th June 2021 - Appointed a mortgage broker
15th June 2021 - Put offer in on a house
21st June 2021 - Offer accepted (vendors had already had an offer accepted on another property)
22nd June 2021 - Instructed solicitors
23rd June 2021 - Mortgage application submitted
12th July 2021 - Valuation carried out
13th July 2021 - Received mortgage offer
23rd July 2021 - EA informed us that despite the vendors of the property our vendors are buying originally saying they would move into rented accommodation, they then decided they did not want to do this
29th July 2021 - Our vendors' vendors have had an offer accepted on another property
Between July and October 2021 - our vendors' vendors pulled out of that property and supposedly put multiple offers in on other properties, losing out on them all...
20th October 2021 - Our vendors' vendors put a deposit on a new build but it won't be completed until March 2022
8th December 2021 - Our vendors' vendors have pulled out of the new build and have had an offer accepted on a property from a deceased estate and so no onward chain
21st December 2021 - Our mortgage broker requested an extension to our mortgage offer as original expiry date was 13/01/2022
5th January 2022 - Mortgage offer extended until 13/02/2022 

Current state of play is that we have given all parties in the chain a deadline of 11th February 2022 to complete by. Our conveyancing is all complete and ready to go, our vendors' solicitors have said they will be ready for that date also so now it all just rests on the people at the other end of the chain but we are getting very little updates from that side and they haven't exactly been reliable in the past!

I've tried to remain positive but every time I speak to our solicitor they just say that we are not in a position to discuss dates yet until the end of the chain is ready. I really don't want to have to reapply for our mortgage etc again but I'm losing hope as the days go by

Has Probate been granted yet? If not, you could be in for a long wait and your mortgage offer could expire. Hope this isn't the case

Assuming you know the deceased's name, probably worth checking here
 https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/#wills

jdsimmons3

Another update! We have a completion date of 3rd Feb!!!

Going to the bank tomorrow to transfer all funds to my Solicitor hoping to exchange before the 21st. I'm officially stressed to the max now. Time to get packing!!

Mahsroh

khtaylor said:

Hi 👋 

Our timeliness is

23/12 offer accepted
10/1 - full mortgage app submitted
17/1 - mortgage offered

Now my question is how long does it take for solicitor to do their side of the work? 
There is no chain but solicitor hasn't moved anything forward until she receives mortgage offer in the post. 

Probably not the answer you want but the answer really is “how long is a piece of string?”

With no chain it SHOULD be relatively straightforward but that’s assuming no issues come up in the searches / enquiries etc. If I look at our sale as a standalone transaction that took from early July (offer) to end of November (completion) and that was a cash buyer investor so should’ve been straightforward. Having said that if the buyer was more proactive we could, and probably should have been in a position to complete in mid/late September.