The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

hannah2283

Hannimal said:

Have I done a stupid in that I've instructed my solicitor before I have a mortgage agreement? I am quite worried now seeing others have waited. 

I instructed my solicitor the same weekend that I started my mortgage application. My mortgage application is going to valuation tomorrow, and I've not heard from my solicitor for two weeks (she's not acknowledged the many forms I sent over to her then, nor has she responded to my requests about how we're going to verify my ID) so I've absolutely no idea what's going on there! I had a letter from my estate agent a few days after my offer was accepted saying if they hadn't heard from my surveryor within the next fortnight they would "be back in touch" so I've instructed one (they've subsequently delayed the survey by ten days). I am a FTB too and from what I can gather there's no right or wrong way to do it - I got on with the mortgage app before waiting to hear from the solicitor, and got cracking on the survey because that's what the EA asked. I don't like all the waiting! Good luck!

KPyro

I'm aware lots of people in this thread are in the process of completing sales where you made your offer pre-lockdown. Has anyone reduced their offer in the process - what was your reasoning and how did it go?

Our offer was 3% below asking price and was accepted literally a week before lockdown. I have to admit seeing other houses getting remarketed at reduced prices I'm getting a little worried, but I also feel like if we reduced our offer further and got told to jog on, I'm not sure we would find a house we wanted at a different price point. The area we're in varies massively from one street to the next and we're buying a smaller 1960s house in a street of mostly very desirable bigger victorian houses that go for more than 100k more than our house so it's incredibly difficult to know what to compare against.

Not so much asking about hypotheticals or people's thoughts on my situation but interested in knowing actual experiences of when and how people have made the decision to reduce and what the result was, or how anyone else is settling their own nerves buying in such a strange time!


(Asking in here because I don't want to start another mad argument about house price crashes and I'm hoping keeping it in an existing thread of people who are actually in the situation might keep it away from the eyes of everyone who just loves a good argument and a hypothetical)

KPyro

FtbDreaming said:

I’m in week 23 of Conveyancing and I’m still here. Sellers solicitor has reverted back to not responding to mine at all. I called the woman at the housing association that deals with the right to buy and told her I am absolutely livid with the wait and am set to lose my mortgage offer if I’m not completed by September as well as losing £3000 in fees that I’ve already paid out. I might be a record holder on this thread at this rate! 

I think I would burst if I was at your point, just sounds so infuriating!

FtbDreaming

I know @KPyro I am at the end of my tether now but there’s not a lot I can do. 

It sounds like your house is a bargain for the street if it’s £100k below the others even if it is a different style it might be worth just carrying on as you’re in a desirable area and if you’re buying to live in then the prices will probably pick up again in the years between buying and selling. 

Our area seems to have increased in prices. Mine is £82,000 and since covid there’s a few sold at £115-£125k within a minute or 2 of mine and the same style house. To be honest I don’t think anybody knows what’s gonna happen with prices so if u like it just stick with it. 

Jamaicanmelaff

KPyro said:

I'm aware lots of people in this thread are in the process of completing sales where you made your offer pre-lockdown. Has anyone reduced their offer in the process - what was your reasoning and how did it go?

Our offer was 3% below asking price and was accepted literally a week before lockdown. I have to admit seeing other houses getting remarketed at reduced prices I'm getting a little worried, but I also feel like if we reduced our offer further and got told to jog on, I'm not sure we would find a house we wanted at a different price point. The area we're in varies massively from one street to the next and we're buying a smaller 1960s house in a street of mostly very desirable bigger victorian houses that go for more than 100k more than our house so it's incredibly difficult to know what to compare against.

Not so much asking about hypotheticals or people's thoughts on my situation but interested in knowing actual experiences of when and how people have made the decision to reduce and what the result was, or how anyone else is settling their own nerves buying in such a strange time!


(Asking in here because I don't want to start another mad argument about house price crashes and I'm hoping keeping it in an existing thread of people who are actually in the situation might keep it away from the eyes of everyone who just loves a good argument and a hypothetical)

Honestly, I considered it initially when I kept hearing all the stuff about how much houses are likely to fall by and freaked. So I told myself if the valuation came back lower (didn’t) or anything crops up on the survey (not done yet) then I’d obviously try and negotiate based on that anyway. 

As it is, house prices in my area haven’t really fallen yet. There have been a fair number of reductions, but from houses that had already been listed a while before lockdown hit. 

My house isn’t quite comparable to anything in the street I’m buying anyway, or the nearby streets. Only 2 houses in the street have sold in the last 8 years - mine, which has been entirely remodelled since, and a detached that was added years later and is very different in terms of size and style. The houses in the street are all slightly different sizes, it has outbuildings and because it’s the end house, it has a huge garden to the side with a cricket pitch next to it (added pic off land registry, garden in blue). The house opposite doesn’t have that because it has a lane alongside it. However, I got it for 40k below the original asking price and 25k below the valuation value, so I already feel like I’m getting a good deal. Plus all the delays have been because of waiting for my mortgage to get approved and the seller has been really lovely about it all. I’m planning on  staying there a really long time/hopefully forever anyway so I should weather any drop without too much impact. I hope anyway. 

 

adierei

KPyro said:

I'm aware lots of people in this thread are in the process of completing sales where you made your offer pre-lockdown. Has anyone reduced their offer in the process - what was your reasoning and how did it go?

Our offer was 3% below asking price and was accepted literally a week before lockdown. I have to admit seeing other houses getting remarketed at reduced prices I'm getting a little worried, but I also feel like if we reduced our offer further and got told to jog on, I'm not sure we would find a house we wanted at a different price point. The area we're in varies massively from one street to the next and we're buying a smaller 1960s house in a street of mostly very desirable bigger victorian houses that go for more than 100k more than our house so it's incredibly difficult to know what to compare against.

Not so much asking about hypotheticals or people's thoughts on my situation but interested in knowing actual experiences of when and how people have made the decision to reduce and what the result was, or how anyone else is settling their own nerves buying in such a strange time!


(Asking in here because I don't want to start another mad argument about house price crashes and I'm hoping keeping it in an existing thread of people who are actually in the situation might keep it away from the eyes of everyone who just loves a good argument and a hypothetical)

I’ve had similar worries and worried about getting something at peak price at such a time of uncertainty. We offered at asking because we panicked a bit, wish we’d tried our luck at negotiating. I settled my nerves by preparing to renegotiate if the val came back lower (didn’t) and if my survey comes back with anything major (being done on 30/07). The general area value is about 120000 more than ours but it’s in the ex council side of town. Only a couple of houses on our road have sold, one is similar and sold for about the same. Our (fingers crossed) house is ready to move into and everything else we saw at a similar price needed loads of work/was so small that we’d need to move if we plan on having a second child and so we are feeling like we paid a good price.

We’re in Bristol and everything is becoming more and more expensive and areas become increasingly gentrified so hoping that we’ll be ok and can weather any dropping. Problem with all this waiting is that you have too much time to think about everything- it’s killing me and I just want the keys!!

Hannimal

I'm not even sure what I'm waiting for here. My mortgage advisor has sent the full application off a week ago, so I take they will want some more documents. How long should I expect to wait for this? I think my solicitor is carrying out searches but who knows. Am I meant to know more? I just assume as I haven't heard from anyone in a week things are happening in the background

Hannimal

hannah2283 said:
I instructed my solicitor the same weekend that I started my mortgage application. My mortgage application is going to valuation tomorrow, and I've not heard from my solicitor for two weeks (she's not acknowledged the many forms I sent over to her then, nor has she responded to my requests about how we're going to verify my ID) so I've absolutely no idea what's going on there! I had a letter from my estate agent a few days after my offer was accepted saying if they hadn't heard from my surveryor within the next fortnight they would "be back in touch" so I've instructed one (they've subsequently delayed the survey by ten days). I am a FTB too and from what I can gather there's no right or wrong way to do it - I got on with the mortgage app before waiting to hear from the solicitor, and got cracking on the survey because that's what the EA asked. I don't like all the waiting! Good luck!

Thank you, good luck to you too! 

I actually first instructed a solicitor but because it took them a day to reply I went ahead and instructed someone else in the meanwhile and cancelled with the first one after my mortgage advisor made a comment about how they shouldn't make me wait. It's all a bit of rocket science and a bit of luck it seems. 

Hannimal

KPyro said:
I'm aware lots of people in this thread are in the process of completing sales where you made your offer pre-lockdown. Has anyone reduced their offer in the process - what was your reasoning and how did it go?
Our offer was 3% below asking price and was accepted literally a week before lockdown. I have to admit seeing other houses getting remarketed at reduced prices I'm getting a little worried, but I also feel like if we reduced our offer further and got told to jog on, I'm not sure we would find a house we wanted at a different price point. The area we're in varies massively from one street to the next and we're buying a smaller 1960s house in a street of mostly very desirable bigger victorian houses that go for more than 100k more than our house so it's incredibly difficult to know what to compare against.
Not so much asking about hypotheticals or people's thoughts on my situation but interested in knowing actual experiences of when and how people have made the decision to reduce and what the result was, or how anyone else is settling their own nerves buying in such a strange time!
(Asking in here because I don't want to start another mad argument about house price crashes and I'm hoping keeping it in an existing thread of people who are actually in the situation might keep it away from the eyes of everyone who just loves a good argument and a hypothetical)

I might be out of my depth here as a FTB with no experience with anything, but personally at this point I would only reduce my offer if there was something actually wrong with the property or if prices came down considerably and I'd be ready to pull out entirely based on that. At least where I am (south west) property prices have not gone down since pre-lockdown and places are still selling very quickly. Also if your seller is on a chain they might not be able to take a lower offer. 

Hannimal

KPyro said:
I'm aware lots of people in this thread are in the process of completing sales where you made your offer pre-lockdown. Has anyone reduced their offer in the process - what was your reasoning and how did it go?
Our offer was 3% below asking price and was accepted literally a week before lockdown. I have to admit seeing other houses getting remarketed at reduced prices I'm getting a little worried, but I also feel like if we reduced our offer further and got told to jog on, I'm not sure we would find a house we wanted at a different price point. The area we're in varies massively from one street to the next and we're buying a smaller 1960s house in a street of mostly very desirable bigger victorian houses that go for more than 100k more than our house so it's incredibly difficult to know what to compare against.
Not so much asking about hypotheticals or people's thoughts on my situation but interested in knowing actual experiences of when and how people have made the decision to reduce and what the result was, or how anyone else is settling their own nerves buying in such a strange time!
(Asking in here because I don't want to start another mad argument about house price crashes and I'm hoping keeping it in an existing thread of people who are actually in the situation might keep it away from the eyes of everyone who just loves a good argument and a hypothetical)

I might be out of my depth here as a FTB with no experience with anything, but personally at this point I would only reduce my offer if there was something actually wrong with the property or if prices came down considerably and I'd be ready to pull out entirely based on that. At least where I am (south west) property prices have not gone down since pre-lockdown and places are still selling very quickly. Also if your seller is on a chain they might not be able to take a lower offer.