The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

omarmansour

FinallyStoppedLurking said:

Simultaneous exchange or completion is not the usual process. It's starting to happen but usually at the solicitors suggestion. 

One of you is going to have to concede. Could you agree a lesser deposit? 

If he isn't in a chain, where is he moving to?

He is moving to his partner's house. Didn't think about the lesser deposit idea, good one to raise if needed thanks ! 

Scotbot

omarmansour said:

tigerlily74 said:

Why would the bank pull out between exchange and completion? It seems like you are not being reasonable to me, unless you are suddenly unemployed or in debt and your bank might find out in between?

Thanks for your reply. I have been reading in the past weeks several articles that banks actually pulled out after exchange as they reassessed the market overall, leaving people kind of stuck. I am not at a position really to judge what will the banks do in the coming weeks, and to whether my offer is safe or not...

In the highly ulikely event that the bank were to pull out between exchange and completion  they would have to refund your deposit

adierei

Gosh, so we are coming up to 6 months since we made our offer on a ‘chain free’ that turned out to not be chain free house. Everything that could have been delayed has been, our sols have not been great and now our vendor has changed the provisionally agreed completion date 3 times (yet to exchange). We can walk away and starting to get a little annoyed that our seller is constantly moving the goal posts and that we are having to seemingly bow down to what’s convenient for others. We were originally meant to complete mid August but then a chain appeared (been there all along, we’d just been lied to). Getting more and more difficult to be patient, especially as my husband and I are living/working in one room with our 1 year old as we moved in with my mum just before lockdown (hindsight!) to save the last bit of money for our deposit. 

We have 5 ish weeks left on our mortgage offer and not hopeful (or even bothered) it will be renewed as HSBC have stopped doing 90% LTVs so we are now seriously thinking of pulling out now. It’s not our dream house by any stretch and to be honest all of the delays mean that I’m starting to hate it!

I know house buying is stressful but...

Mineral1

After 5 months from making an offer to having it accepted, waiting for mortgage offer delays and disagreements on exchange and completion dates, my solicitor is now advising me not to exchange due to COVID-19 uncertainty with too long between exchange this week and completion in late January. I feel like we're never going to get this house as the sale will certainly fall through if we don't exchange this week. The top of the chain is a new build and we're buying the house they are moving out of. Are they expecting mortgage offers to be withdrawn en masse this winter or something?

fiwen30

We sign our part of the contract for our new home tomorrow morning! Hoping for a completion date the following weeks, solicitor doesn’t seem to worried about pushing for a same-day exchange/completion, so trusting that this won’t be a problem.

Seller is already moved out into rented, and we have 28 days notice to give to the landlord, which I’m going to do up to 31st December to give us time to reflow & redecorate at least part of the new house. Have been holding off buying anything specific for the new place, on a superstitious notion not to ‘jinx’ it, and also because we’ll be skint as it is! But I’m looking forward to getting this lovely wall clock I saw in work, that exactly matches our colour scheme, and maybe his-n-hers key rings for a bit of cuteness.

It’ll be 12 weeks from offer accepted to completion, and I don’t know where the time has gone. Still pretty surreal!

firsttimebuyerhelpme

We signed the contracts on Saturday, all parties agreed for exchange and completion on the 20th November! Our deposit is sent to our solicitor and now it’s just waiting! 

dramaticat

Finally able to post here, but in confusion and stress rather than the excitement I expected to feel.

August 2020  Put my house on the market, after thinking about doing so for three years. I’ve been viewing properties over the same period and saw the house I’m interested in buying at around the same time.

October 2020  After not a lot of interest in my house, received an offer that was too low.

October 2020  Offer increased by £15,000 and also declined.

October 2020  Offer increased by £30,000 – £20,000 off asking price. Delayed accepting because some good friends wanted to buy my house were struggling to sell theirs, and they had some more viewings booked. Unfortunately, they still haven’t sold.

October 2020  Offered 7.5% under the asking price for the house I’m interested in, which reflected what I considered to be a fair price in comparison to other things on the market. Declined, giving a figure that would be accepted that was just over my budget.

19 October 2020  Third viewing of house with a builder to discuss various options. We notice strong musty smell in a particular area, although no signs of damp visible. I get permission for an independent damp survey.

26 October 2020  Viewed a second house I was keen to view for a second time. Arranged this for a couple of days after the first viewing, during which time they accepted an offer.

11 November 2020     Damp survey carried out. No damp, and surveyor couldn’t smell anything! I raise my offer by £15,000, which is still £15,000 below the price the seller wants.

16 November 2020  Offer declined and house price is reduced by £25,000 on the estate agent listing.

As background, I have been intending to move for three years after my husband died. Just as I was going to contact estate agents in 2017, my neighbour put in a planning application to build houses in what was his parking area at the end of his garden, which is opposite my house. House selling put on hold while he made three applications before the final one was accepted, and then started to build. Didn’t think it would be a good idea to try and sell while living opposite a building site and portaloo! Then decided to try an take advantage of the stamp duty holiday.

I am also looking to move in a very restricted area – the same village. I have good friends here and I still feel I need their support – so not many properties to choose from. I realise this is a problem of my own making.

I now feel depressed and am questioning the wisdom of selling my house and having to rent while I wait for a suitable house to come on the market. There was a flurry of activity in the summer, but only two of the houses were right for me. I lost out on one and can’t agree a price on the other. I’m lucky that I can put my stuff into storage and stay with a friend for a few months while I either buy a house or look for something to rent – and it’s good not to have to rush into anything. But I’m now scared the market will dry up with the effects of lockdown and I’ll be stuck renting for ever. On the other hand, it wasn’t that easy to sell this house, and if I don’t sell now, I might not be able to if something I like does come up for sale.

Having said I can’t afford the house I like, it’s more that I don’t want to afford it. If I paid the price asked for, I’d wonder why I was getting only £30,000 more for my much bigger house and whether it was a wise move to make financially. I could end up with around £1,000 – and if we don't get the transaction done by 31 March next year, I'd have to pay to move. This all started out as a downsizing exercise that was meant to release a bit of equity as I work towards retirement!

I’m going to spend the evening eating ice cream.

FinallyStoppedLurking

omarmansour said:

FinallyStoppedLurking said:

Simultaneous exchange or completion is not the usual process. It's starting to happen but usually at the solicitors suggestion. 

One of you is going to have to concede. Could you agree a lesser deposit? 

If he isn't in a chain, where is he moving to?

He is moving to his partner's house. Didn't think about the lesser deposit idea, good one to raise if needed thanks ! 

If he is moving to his partners house then he doesn't risk experiencing extra costs if he moves and subsequently doesn't complete. His perogative though and he can stand firm at which point you need to decide what to do.

Strum88

We were due to exchange this week and complete next week, but ive just been told that the buyers at the bottom of the chain are refusing to sign the Covid Rider so we may be looking exchanging and completing on the same day!

Mineral1

What's the covid rider, how does it actually work?