The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

FTB_Help

fleur8 said:

5 months later, hopeful to exchange this month!

Been keeping a look out for your postings fleur! You have a lot of conyencing questions that I have too, keep us updated on how you're getting on

WorkHealth

House moves being allowed to continue in Scottish lockdown so hoping same for England. Still want to move at speed of light as rules seem to change every few days now but we are very close to exchange,we are ready and related transaction ready, our buyers are pushing their solicitor. 

Cuddlybearman

Hiya - I think I'm on this list (I hope!!) you'll have to tell me if you think otherwise.

Had an offer accepted on the 30th October after some messing about from 2 fake offers. The accepted guy is a buy-to-let customer and seemed to have his ducks in a row - he even went through all his prep with me and the EA and looked ok to me. He was getting a BTL mortgage from Nationwide.

I had an offer accepted on our new dream house the next day - place is pretty much empty they are not buying anywhere so chain free that end. My mortgage with HSBC was offered 6 days later (!)

Anyway turns out that the buyer was ill advised with Nationwide and they actually sub this out to another lender. So while he has 75% LTV and was told that was ok turns out they wanted 70% LTV that he couldn't do - all that took 26 days to find out - grrrrr

So on the 26th November he went to mortgage broker and went for a BTL mortgage with Satander (which is good news I guess at the broker would know right from wrong).

They did the survey on 9th December by drive-by - all received ok

Last week of December both solicitors said they expected legal paperwork would be ready probably second week of January.

HOWEVER - as of today he STILL doesn't have his mortgage offer yet and I'm completely fed up and tired of this spinning around in my head. I can't get excited about anything or plan anything because I know what banks are like and they can just pull the plug at any minute - and now this lockdown is coming (although I think housing market will carry on as they can't afford to stop that as well) its another excuse to drag stuff out even more.

So hopefully I can stay on this thread LOL but trust me I would quite like to be off it as soon as possible!!

zodiac55

Moving home

You can still move home. People outside your household or ​support bubble​ should not help with moving house unless absolutely necessary.

Estate and letting agents and removals firms can continue to work. If you are looking to move, you can go to property viewings.

Follow the ​national guidance on moving home safely​, which includes advice on social distancing, letting fresh air in, and ​wearing a face covering
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/949536/NationalLockdownGuidance.pdf

tigerlily74

thaddy said:

tigerlily74 said:

Can you get your mortgage offer extended by 30 days? I believe nationwide were allowing this at one point if you appplied for the extension within 30 days of the expiry date.

Where did you get this information? The only web reference I have found on  extending a mortgage offer states 'Completion must take place on or before the date the offer expires. If it is apparent that completion is likely to be outside the validity period of the mortgage offer please contact the issuing office for further guidance.

We will endeavour to meet the new completion requirements providing completion takes place within 15 days of the original offer expiry date.

If completion does not take place on or before the offer expiry date this could result in a new application being required.' 

Our offer expires on 9 February and we have not signed any documents or been given an exchange/completion date yet. We still have ISAs to close down too. Really hope it will all be done in time.

It was something I saw on their website when I was first selling my house, so back in August/September. I had a google and can’t find it now, sorry!

Drawingaline

Cuddlybearman said:

Hiya - I think I'm on this list (I hope!!) you'll have to tell me if you think otherwise.

Had an offer accepted on the 30th October after some messing about from 2 fake offers. The accepted guy is a buy-to-let customer and seemed to have his ducks in a row - he even went through all his prep with me and the EA and looked ok to me. He was getting a BTL mortgage from Nationwide.

I had an offer accepted on our new dream house the next day - place is pretty much empty they are not buying anywhere so chain free that end. My mortgage with HSBC was offered 6 days later (!)

Anyway turns out that the buyer was ill advised with Nationwide and they actually sub this out to another lender. So while he has 75% LTV and was told that was ok turns out they wanted 70% LTV that he couldn't do - all that took 26 days to find out - grrrrr

So on the 26th November he went to mortgage broker and went for a BTL mortgage with Satander (which is good news I guess at the broker would know right from wrong).

They did the survey on 9th December by drive-by - all received ok

Last week of December both solicitors said they expected legal paperwork would be ready probably second week of January.

HOWEVER - as of today he STILL doesn't have his mortgage offer yet and I'm completely fed up and tired of this spinning around in my head. I can't get excited about anything or plan anything because I know what banks are like and they can just pull the plug at any minute - and now this lockdown is coming (although I think housing market will carry on as they can't afford to stop that as well) its another excuse to drag stuff out even more.

So hopefully I can stay on this thread LOL but trust me I would quite like to be off it as soon as possible!!

This was us. We accepted a buy to let offer on our house in July. Conveyancing all complete by mid Oct. Still no bloody mortgage offer for them. Mucked us about until 6th Nov before pulling out. So now we are ready to exchange on our purchase and have had to restart conveyancing for our sale. Mortgage offer expires end of Jan. Have just over three weeks to get it all over the line. Our buyers broker mucked up with their offer, honestly I would he looking to remarket right now.wish we had done so three weeks sooner.

Drawingaline

FTB_Help said:

Hello all,

I think I'm almost at the "waiting to exchange" phase or at least nearing it.

Our searches should have been received on 23rd Dec, but have been told today there've been delayed but expected to be returned very soon.
Enquiries have been raised and sent to the vendors solicitors but no response just yet.
In terms of conveyancing work, how much more should I expect there to be to go? - Q aimed more to the people who are literally waiting to exchange right now - I know this is a bit of a how long is a piece of string question, but all of this is so out of my hands and my control so feel a little lost    so just wanted to know what else I should expect to come next?

Depends on the enquiries. Our buyers solicitors have finally raised them with us, but we have already gone through it in sep with a previous buyer so know there isn't anything that will hold the sale up. Nothing a couple of pointless indemnity policies won't fix.

However if there is an issue on the title, or a leasehold problem these can literally take months to sort. 

Once your vendor answers the queries your solicitor needs to write a report incorporating them, title and mortgage stuff. Which can take a week or however long they decide to take!!! Then you sign your contract, mortgage deed etc return those and wait for your solicitor to say you are all ready to exchange. So anywhere from two weeks to six months!!! 

Doodlebugs

FTB_Help said:

In the same boat as you @doodlebugs, offer accepted first week of Oct, tenants to leave end of Feb!!! Arrg, I am also anxious on whether they will leave on time or not (notice takes them up to leave end of March too).
Good luck to you, keep us updated next week, fingers crossed for you

@FTB_Help ! I have no idea how lockdown is going to impact these types of situations. The tenant in the house we’re buying is now apparently leaving the country to return home. Is that even allowed at the moment?

We had a call from the vendors sales progressor unexpectedly today. Wanted an update on our position and said tenants are leaving end of month. Follow up email from them confirmed mid Feb vacant and looking to complete end of Feb. Our solicitor has sent out all docs to us today to review and sign etc so looks like we’re nearly there. Just need an update on our buyers position. 

geoave1

We completed today. Very glad to be in now we’re in lockdown again! Although have heard house moves are not affected. Total timeline from start to finish:
03/10 viewed house and offer accepted 04/10
06/10 instructed solicitor and applied for searches
19/10 mortgage application submitted (direct HSBC)
19/11 mortgage offer received
27/11 searches back - enquiries all resolved by 04/12
11/12 exchanged
04/01 completed!
All in all it’s been 3 months from offer to completion however we were no chain (renting) and our vendors went into rented. What made the difference was definitely having a decent trustworthy vendor (we were in regular contact throughout the sales process), decent on the ball EA & also having an exclusivity agreement in place so we couldn’t be gazzumped. Also having our vendors solicitors push things on was an added bonus. The worst bit was waiting for the mortgage and searches to come back. Good luck to all, I do not think this lockdown is going to affect transactions that are already in situ. 
We had just over 3 wks between exchange and completion, our house was a high flood risk, listed building & near landfill so if we can get through it I think there’s hope for many!

mlb95

geoave1 said:

We completed today. Very glad to be in now we’re in lockdown again! Although have heard house moves are not affected. Total timeline from start to finish:
03/10 viewed house and offer accepted 04/10
06/10 instructed solicitor and applied for searches
19/10 mortgage application submitted (direct HSBC)
19/11 mortgage offer received
27/11 searches back - enquiries all resolved by 04/12
11/12 exchanged
04/01 completed!
All in all it’s been 3 months from offer to completion however we were no chain (renting) and our vendors went into rented. What made the difference was definitely having a decent trustworthy vendor (we were in regular contact throughout the sales process), decent on the ball EA & also having an exclusivity agreement in place so we couldn’t be gazzumped. Also having our vendors solicitors push things on was an added bonus. The worst bit was waiting for the mortgage and searches to come back. Good luck to all, I do not think this lockdown is going to affect transactions that are already in situ. 
We had just over 3 wks between exchange and completion, our house was a high flood risk, listed building & near landfill so if we can get through it I think there’s hope for many!

Congratulations, enjoy your new home 🏘️