What part of buying your first home did you find most stressful?

skm1981

First house purchase was an absolute breeze.  Bought house off my grandad as he had moved in with my mum.  So I didn't have any stress of chains and it was just a complete walk in the park.  This time buying however, I would say the most stressful part was finding out there were no deeds for part of the land and also finding out that there were a whole host of restrictions and responsibilities attached to the property, as well as rent charges and service charges, despite it being a freehold house.  So we pulled out of that purchase and are now buying a different house.  So far, this hasn't really been stressful at all.  The most stressful bit was waiting for the searches as they took quite a while, and trying to line up completion of my house sale with the purchase, but I've fully accepted that's almost definitely not going to happen, but hopefully we're not far off completion.

UnderOffer

Most stressful for me is the ‘everything is complete, just need to exchange phase’. We normally receive a call from our solicitor by 10am asking can we exchange, we agree, they say they will be in contact to confirm, then hear nothing all day and by 4pm I’m pulling my hair out, finally get a call from solicitor with some vague reason why chain wasn’t quite ready, then it repeats all over again the following day. This phase seems to take 3 to 4 attempts and I honestly find it so difficult. 

MovingForwards

No chain, mature FTB.

No problems with my broker, no complaints with my solicitor, edging closer to exchange / complete / offer expiring then lockdown happened.

My offer was fast expiring but the lender was prioritising those who had exchanged and registers of Scotland were not really set up for online transactions, unlike the land registry; so every day I was looking at their updates, seeing how system creation and testing was getting on and keeping everything crossed.
On top of that my solicitor was prioritising people under guidance from the firm / regulator / whoever and I had to explain my circumstances to see if it was sufficient to let me complete, if I got the mortgage extension. Got approval to have my purchase go through!

I then got the mortgage extension and my purchase was finished in 2 weeks. My solicitor exchanged before he logged off and completed when he logged on the next morning.
I picked my keys up 2 hours later and went to my new home, moved in a few days later after arranging removals.

Feels like a lifetime ago looking back but everyone is now adapting to working from home, even if systems are groaning under the workloads, and things are running a lot smoother than when I, and others, were buying!

lika_86

Not really stressful but I did a simultaneous exchange and completion on Black Friday, every time I got an email notification I got excited thinking it was confirmation from my solicitor, it wasn't, it was someone promoting their offers.

HanPop

The bit where our buyer pulled out after we’d all been to sign for exchange but it wasn’t ‘official’ yet. 

firsttimesellerldn

I bought a new build flat first time round. Naturally the build took much longer to be finished than originally planned, so the main stress was whether my mortgage offer would run out before I could complete. There were various other bits and bobs along the way but as I was on a rolling monthly rental contract it was pretty relaxed overall. I’m currently in the the process of selling and buying and it is so much more stressful than first time. The selling process in England is just insane - so drawn out and inefficient. 

Moneyminded

The first time I bought a house (with my ex) it was slow but pretty straightforward, chasing the solicitors for updates was the most frustrating part. The second time I purchased (on my own) the most stressful part was finding somewhere I wanted to buy, once I'd had my offer accepted it was pretty smooth sailing

DD265

Moneyminded said:

The first time I bought a house (with my ex) it was slow but pretty straightforward, chasing the solicitors for updates was the most frustrating part. 

Agree with you on chasing the solicitors. Our purchase didn't feel slow (we made the offer in mid-October and completed on 1st Feb, no chain as seller moving in with family) but I would've liked more communication in the 'waiting' phases, and would have paid extra for a bi-weekly update had that been offered.

Bonniepurple

First time round- miscarrying on a mattress in our otherwise empty house.  That was not pleasant.  Second time round, the removal firm accepting another booking instead of ours - oh, and the buyers insisting that the completed the one week my husband (self employed) was working full time.  I’m dreading third time around...

Thrugelmir

Over the years the various other parties involved in the chain. Remember it's a business transaction. Someone who appears to be your best mate, wants your phone number, email address can turn into a real pain in the backside. People are two faced and aren't always truthfull.  Maintain a professional relationship at arm length.