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Just a moan...

HCIMbtw
Posts: 347 Forumite

Nothing more than quick moan into the void of the internet about how much I detest buying/moving..
1st house. I'm 33.. bought our first home 7 years ago after saving up a deposit, this one actually went fine except the vendor didn't notify us that planning permission had been sought for 300 odd homes on the fields out the back of the house a month before we exchanged.. I refurbished the whole house, took a meagre profit and got out before all the development work started 2 years later
2nd house. We had sold and had an offer accepted on a house, turned out to be probate sale without any of grants in place.. so sellers couldn't actually complete for months, we had to drop out and moved on. Found another house, offer accepted, sunk £1,000 into legal costs and surveys, house had sulphate attack and needed the ground floor replacing, vendor unwilling to move at all on price so we had to drop out and move on...there really wasn't anywhere to buy, our first house wasn't that easy to sell (quite small) so we ended up completing the sale of our first home and moved back with my parents... planned for a couple of months and stayed for 6 FML.. (never again as nice as they are). Ended up moving back into rented for 3 months.
In the interim a nice property came up, we offered a chunk above asking and things looked positive. Turns out it was a vendor who had actually already sold the property to somebody else, they put it back on the market because their buyers were dragging their feet, they ended up getting their buyers to match our higher offer and completed with them. (I'm not fussed I didn't get this house at all, just kinda shows what a sh*t show the whole thing is).
Then came a beauty, really wanted this and just going to dwell on it for a moment as it was the most painful of the lot.. was on for a weekend, lots of viewings went to best and final, and we got it £316,500. Was totally stoked, chain free, all money in place. Was pestering the agent for solicitors details and such to get it removed and STC. 2 days later the agent comes back and says they have had a higher offer.. (£318,000) I was !!!!!!, but basically asked are they going to accept it. Was told next day that they weren't and were going to go with us. Ok great. Was then told the next day the person offering had offered £320,000. I said look i'll make this real simple and match it. Then got a call back from the agent, the vendor had decided to go with the other party, I couldn't really believe it.. or why. I actually ended up offering £325,000 (which I would legitimately have paid) and was just given a rejection. Turns out the agent had essentially been showing a lady round the property who's house they had already sold, so they were tying up their business and had I believe given a !!!!!! representation of our buying position to the vendors to make us seem undesirable... I actually ended up reporting this agent to the property ombudsman, which was ultimately a waste of time.. as i'd essentially need the agent to confess to them. Property ultimately completed its sale at £317,000....
After all this we actually ended up in smaller house on the same street sold by the same agent (i couldn't speak to them throughout the process and let my wife handle it).. all completed no issues because my buying position was always fine.. wasn't exactly dream house or anything, but we needed to get bought and just wanted out of rented..
(present day) 3rd house. So we were looking at moving before stamp duty changes, some agents wouldn't let us view because we hadn't sold (despite our assurances our property would go quick (which I appreciate however true are largely worthless)). Others ruled us out at best and final stage, we had to sell if we wanted to buy... so we have, we listed about 5 weeks ago, essentially sold by the following weekend over asking price. Now begins the hardest bit.. finding a good house..
Low and behold I find a beauty, a diamond in the rough, after rounds of negotiation eventually get it and sold subject to contract.. have been working through solicitors and getting mortgage applications sorted over the past few weeks in so everything is ready to go.. the vendor is in a rush to move back down south
Get a call from the agent yesterday evening.. a heads up that the vendor is probably wanting to pull out due to personal reasons and will let me know on Tuesday
To be honest i'm kinda just numb to BS that is trying to buy a house in England.. it goes wrong so much more than its gone right that I genuinely just expect the call from the agent and for something to have gone wrong with it.. I will have lost a few hundred quid and few weeks on trying to get this one sorted... have to move on a get ready to get back in the game!
It will be interesting to see how patient my buyers will be.. they will likely have their first time buyers pestering them for completion at some point as this drags the thing on... in the meantime my mortgage will be reverting to SVR at the end of September so I can look forward to paying an extra £600pm on my mortgage until we find somewhere.. what fun and exciting times it is trying to move home
1st house. I'm 33.. bought our first home 7 years ago after saving up a deposit, this one actually went fine except the vendor didn't notify us that planning permission had been sought for 300 odd homes on the fields out the back of the house a month before we exchanged.. I refurbished the whole house, took a meagre profit and got out before all the development work started 2 years later
2nd house. We had sold and had an offer accepted on a house, turned out to be probate sale without any of grants in place.. so sellers couldn't actually complete for months, we had to drop out and moved on. Found another house, offer accepted, sunk £1,000 into legal costs and surveys, house had sulphate attack and needed the ground floor replacing, vendor unwilling to move at all on price so we had to drop out and move on...there really wasn't anywhere to buy, our first house wasn't that easy to sell (quite small) so we ended up completing the sale of our first home and moved back with my parents... planned for a couple of months and stayed for 6 FML.. (never again as nice as they are). Ended up moving back into rented for 3 months.
In the interim a nice property came up, we offered a chunk above asking and things looked positive. Turns out it was a vendor who had actually already sold the property to somebody else, they put it back on the market because their buyers were dragging their feet, they ended up getting their buyers to match our higher offer and completed with them. (I'm not fussed I didn't get this house at all, just kinda shows what a sh*t show the whole thing is).
Then came a beauty, really wanted this and just going to dwell on it for a moment as it was the most painful of the lot.. was on for a weekend, lots of viewings went to best and final, and we got it £316,500. Was totally stoked, chain free, all money in place. Was pestering the agent for solicitors details and such to get it removed and STC. 2 days later the agent comes back and says they have had a higher offer.. (£318,000) I was !!!!!!, but basically asked are they going to accept it. Was told next day that they weren't and were going to go with us. Ok great. Was then told the next day the person offering had offered £320,000. I said look i'll make this real simple and match it. Then got a call back from the agent, the vendor had decided to go with the other party, I couldn't really believe it.. or why. I actually ended up offering £325,000 (which I would legitimately have paid) and was just given a rejection. Turns out the agent had essentially been showing a lady round the property who's house they had already sold, so they were tying up their business and had I believe given a !!!!!! representation of our buying position to the vendors to make us seem undesirable... I actually ended up reporting this agent to the property ombudsman, which was ultimately a waste of time.. as i'd essentially need the agent to confess to them. Property ultimately completed its sale at £317,000....
After all this we actually ended up in smaller house on the same street sold by the same agent (i couldn't speak to them throughout the process and let my wife handle it).. all completed no issues because my buying position was always fine.. wasn't exactly dream house or anything, but we needed to get bought and just wanted out of rented..
(present day) 3rd house. So we were looking at moving before stamp duty changes, some agents wouldn't let us view because we hadn't sold (despite our assurances our property would go quick (which I appreciate however true are largely worthless)). Others ruled us out at best and final stage, we had to sell if we wanted to buy... so we have, we listed about 5 weeks ago, essentially sold by the following weekend over asking price. Now begins the hardest bit.. finding a good house..
Low and behold I find a beauty, a diamond in the rough, after rounds of negotiation eventually get it and sold subject to contract.. have been working through solicitors and getting mortgage applications sorted over the past few weeks in so everything is ready to go.. the vendor is in a rush to move back down south
Get a call from the agent yesterday evening.. a heads up that the vendor is probably wanting to pull out due to personal reasons and will let me know on Tuesday
To be honest i'm kinda just numb to BS that is trying to buy a house in England.. it goes wrong so much more than its gone right that I genuinely just expect the call from the agent and for something to have gone wrong with it.. I will have lost a few hundred quid and few weeks on trying to get this one sorted... have to move on a get ready to get back in the game!
It will be interesting to see how patient my buyers will be.. they will likely have their first time buyers pestering them for completion at some point as this drags the thing on... in the meantime my mortgage will be reverting to SVR at the end of September so I can look forward to paying an extra £600pm on my mortgage until we find somewhere.. what fun and exciting times it is trying to move home

4
Comments
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I dont understand what the issue actually is?
Bad mortgage product? You seem to be ranting against really very minor stuff.2 -
It's not that unusual unfortunately. I definitely think the whole system needs a review. Maybe you're better off going back to rented before your SVR rate kicks in. There's a possibility that people will be begging you to buy in the coming months.
0 -
I got bored and stopped reading the whole post. But on point 1:
It is not up to your vendor to tell you about any planning permission. That is for you to do your research on before making an offer. Your solicitor should also do these searches as a matter of course and inform you. You can then decide whether or not you wish to proceed.3 -
HCIMbtw said:Nothing more than quick moan into the void of the internet about how much I detest buying/moving..
1st house. I'm 33.. bought our first home 7 years ago after saving up a deposit, this one actually went fine except the vendor didn't notify us that planning permission had been sought for 300 odd homes on the fields out the back of the house a month before we exchanged.. I refurbished the whole house, took a meagre profit and got out before all the development work started 2 years later
1 -
Posts like this make me realise just how straight forward our two house purchases have been!0
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HCIMbtw said:in the meantime my mortgage will be reverting to SVR at the end of September so I can look forward to paying an extra £600pm on my mortgage until we find somewhere..1
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Comms69 said:I dont understand what the issue actually is?
Bad mortgage product? You seem to be ranting against really very minor stuff.
Sure, thousands of wasted pounds and months of wasted time are fine and dandy, don't know what you're complaining about... /s2 -
Are you related to the OP?seradane said:
It's depressing that some people consider situations like the above perfectly normal, 'minor' stuff... yes ok fine we're not starving or homeless but surely anyone can see this system isn't working and needs improving?Comms69 said:I dont understand what the issue actually is?
Bad mortgage product? You seem to be ranting against really very minor stuff.1 -
Yup, buying a house sucks, just sucks. You are totally reliant on other people being honest and good at what they do (or at least do something). I completely get where you are coming from and I'm just as frustrated as well. We are at the top of a chain, we are ready to exchange, our buyers buyer is ready to exchange but our buyer hasn't got their mortgage offer in place due to the lack of valuation survey which is booked for 2 weeks time and took 6 weeks to book. The buyer's solicitors are refusing (literally refusing) to raise enquiries even though they have had all the required info since early July. In the meantime my seller has lost patience and has given a deadline to exchange or will pull out.
There, thats my rant.0 -
6 months before I sell, I put my criteria into RM and all set up notifications.. I keep favourites as each one comes up that fits the criteria loosely.
When I'm under offer I'll work through the list and whittle down until I'm left with about 4-5 properties (hopefully a few more) I have a days worth of viewing and then come to my decision,
I would have checked sold prices before arranging a viewing to make sure of what to offer and then my due diligence is pretty much done apart from checking LR for the properties first
I hand over to my trusted solicitor and leave the rest to them0
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