The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

HM0002

I thought I would join the thread in an attempt to make myself feel better about the whole stress of buying a house in England and just to remind me that we aren't the only ones finding this process incredibly stressful. We are selling in Scotland and as missives conclude early in the process there it was too hard to tie in the dates so we have temporarily moved in with a friend. It was only supposed to be for a few weeks but it's dragging on a bit because everything is delayed and taking longer than expected and I am finding all the uncertainty really hard.

We had our offer accepted on 3rd March. There is an onward chain of four, but I think that was formed fairly quickly with a new build at the top of the chain and an expected completion date of early June. 

Luckily I learnt fairly early in the process that you have to chase as otherwise we were just not getting any info about what was happening and nothing was getting done. 

We had a fairly stressful negotiation around completion as we suddenly heard in mid June that the new build was delayed and the buyer wanted everyone in the chain below to complete on notice. We had said no to that anyway and I felt reached a bit of a stalemate but then the new build was delayed even further and they agreed to go into rented. 

We were then told that the chain wanted completion on 14th July with exchange as soon as possible. That was on 21st June. We would have preferred to complete earlier but we agreed because we just wanted to find a solution that worked fur everyone. We were ready to exchange in the middle of last week, but then heard that our seller's solicitor needed confirmation of release of fund before they could exchange. So exchange would be early this week instead. Fast forward to Monday. Still not exchanged. 

We are just keeping everything crossed we exchange tomorrow and all the uncertainty is finally sorted and we can book for my stuff to come out of storage etc. 

It's just like a constant ongoing saga. We thought when the chain agreed to complete on 14th with exchange as soon as possible that would all happen really quickly and that would be an end to the stress! But no it seems to keep on coming! 

ManuelG

Complete on Tuesday, packing is a true nightmare!

fackers_2

HM0002 said:

...

We had our offer accepted on 3rd March. There is an onward chain of four, but I think that was formed fairly quickly with a new build at the top of the chain and an expected completion date of early June. 

Luckily I learnt fairly early in the process that you have to chase as otherwise we were just not getting any info about what was happening and nothing was getting done. 

...

We were then told that the chain wanted completion on 14th July with exchange as soon as possible. That was on 21st June. We would have preferred to complete earlier but we agreed because we just wanted to find a solution that worked fur everyone. We were ready to exchange in the middle of last week, but then heard that our seller's solicitor needed confirmation of release of fund before they could exchange. So exchange would be early this week instead. Fast forward to Monday. Still not exchanged. 

We are just keeping everything crossed we exchange tomorrow and all the uncertainty is finally sorted and we can book for my stuff to come out of storage etc. 

It's just like a constant ongoing saga. We thought when the chain agreed to complete on 14th with exchange as soon as possible that would all happen really quickly and that would be an end to the stress! But no it seems to keep on coming! 

Sounds similar. My solicitors being really frustrating... 3rd team from the same company added to stress and delays incl incompetency! We are still without a exchange or completion date despite deadline being next Friday. This has been set out by all parties.

Moving companies are all not available now until mid-August! The problem is, we are away all of August. They just seem to mess up and I seem to be holding everything together with the Estate Agent, Sellers and buyers! Grrrr! Their rate isn't cheap neither. 

lis1320

Joining the thread, we are very early in the process but have a quick exchange deadline so things should be moving pretty quickly. We are FTB buying a house from a couple who is buying a new build, expected to be built by October. The developers have given us a deadline to exchange within 42 days so that the vendors can exchange with them. Although the early exchange deadline is scary, the developers have done some of the leg work already, e.g. searches as vendors were going to part exchange if they didn't find a buyer.

When putting in our offer we stated we would need a definite long completion deadline as we knew the new build may get delayed and we didn't want to risk a mortgage offer expiring. Vendors agreed to vacate by 30th November. 


26th June - offer accepted
30th June - memorandum of sale issued
4th July - draft contracts received and initial enquires raised
7th July - searches received from developer, all in date 

Next step is the mortgage. We have an offer in place from March (valid until September) with NatWest for a flat we were going to buy. Our mortgage advisor is seeing whether they are willing to extend for a further 3 months, taking us to December, on a new property.  He has noted that they are currently doing this for new builds due to market volatility and thinks we may have a chance as although we are not buying a new build, there is one at the end of our tiny chain. 

fiish

We have exchanged! It has been an action packed past week, our sellers wanted to exchange as soon as possible, and we were working to get our respective solicitors happy and ready, but we got there and have a completion date of 4 August.

Now, it is time to prepare for the move.

Summary of times for process steps:
Mortgage application to offer - 16 days (Coventry BS)
Searches - 21 days
L3 survey turnaround - 3 days
Offer accepted to exchange - 69 days ~ 9 weeks 6 days
Offer accepted to agreed completion date - 92 days ~ 13 weeks 1 day

Up to date timeline:

5th May - offer accepted
9th May - instructed solicitors, obtained mortgage recommendations from broker
10th May - sellers had offer accepted on onward purchase
15th May - mortgage application submitted
23rd May - solicitors received draft papers from seller side
24th May - instructed searches
31st May - mortgage offer received
8th June - Level 3 survey appointment
11th June - L3 survey report, more enquiries through solicitors
13th June - searches back, more enquiries by solicitors
26th June - final report, replies to enquiries, and documents to sign from solicitors
5th July - returned signed paperwork to solicitors
6th July - pre-exchange viewing, met sellers and agreed fittings to purchase/include
12th July - completion date of 4 Aug agreed between solicitors
13th July - paid deposit, contracts exchanged 15 minutes before close of business!
14th July - buildings insurance started (exchange happened too late to start policy on 13th)

badger09

@fiisch
13 weeks from offer acceptance to completion is incredibly quick. 

Enjoy your new home 

Vannaa

Very close to exchange but I thought I'd share my journey.

Moving from renting in London to buying in South Wales. Property I'm buying has no chain - vendor is moving to renting.

19th May - viewed property and made offer (only viewed two in total but had been an avid Right Mover)

23rd May - offer accepted, solicitors instructed and searches requested, mortgage AIP in place, funds for deposit confirmed - last three were required by EA

26th May - mortgage application submitted (through a broker)

14th June - mortgage offer made

19th June - L2 house survey carried out - no issues. Searches back - no issues

29th June - information pack received from sellers

17th July - contract signed, deposit paid, proposed completion date to vendor

21st July - completion date agreed, confirmed happy to exchange, expect to exchange today

18 August - completion date - pushed into August as I need to give one month's notice to landlord

W/C 21st August - move

lis1320

lis1320 said:

Joining the thread, we are very early in the process but have a quick exchange deadline so things should be moving pretty quickly. We are FTB buying a house from a couple who is buying a new build, expected to be built by October. The developers have given us a deadline to exchange within 42 days so that the vendors can exchange with them. Although the early exchange deadline is scary, the developers have done some of the leg work already, e.g. searches as vendors were going to part exchange if they didn't find a buyer.

When putting in our offer we stated we would need a definite long completion deadline as we knew the new build may get delayed and we didn't want to risk a mortgage offer expiring. Vendors agreed to vacate by 30th November. 


26th June - offer accepted
30th June - memorandum of sale issued
4th July - draft contracts received and initial enquires raised
7th July - searches received from developer, all in date 

Next step is the mortgage. We have an offer in place from March (valid until September) with NatWest for a flat we were going to buy. Our mortgage advisor is seeing whether they are willing to extend for a further 3 months, taking us to December, on a new property.  He has noted that they are currently doing this for new builds due to market volatility and thinks we may have a chance as although we are not buying a new build, there is one at the end of our tiny chain. 

We got our mortgage offer! Our magician of a broker managed to get NatWest to agree to reoffer for 6 months with the old rate we had secured back in March for another property which fell through. 

Updated timeline:
26th June - offer accepted
30th June - memorandum of sale issued
4th July - draft contracts received and initial enquires raised
7th July - searches received from developer, all in date

20th July - mortgage offer received, searches report received from solicitor 

Our solicitor is waiting to see an amended contract between our seller and the developer they are buying from, which should state that once we exchange by the given deadline, the developer has so rights to part exchange anymore.

Once we have this, we will get a survey done 

lis1320

We've exchanged!

Updated timeline:
26th June - offer accepted
30th June - memorandum of sale issued
4th July - draft contracts received and initial enquires raised
7th July - searches received from developer, all in date

20th July - mortgage offer received, searches report received from solicitor 
21st July - received report on title and documents for signature
26th July - signed documents returned to solicitor 
27th July - transferred deposit funds
28th July - exchange of contracts 

saucer

lis1320 said:

We've exchanged!

Updated timeline:
26th June - offer accepted
30th June - memorandum of sale issued
4th July - draft contracts received and initial enquires raised
7th July - searches received from developer, all in date

20th July - mortgage offer received, searches report received from solicitor 
21st July - received report on title and documents for signature
26th July - signed documents returned to solicitor 
27th July - transferred deposit funds
28th July - exchange of contracts 

That is nuts quick!  What happened to the survey?