First time buyer - time and other questions!

wolfbane9

I am in the process of buying my first home. I've got a good broker and I'm currently at the point where the lender valuation was on 23rd December with my own survey due on 11th January. 
When will I hear about lender valuation given Christmas? This is stressing me out as I just want to know so I can get everything else in place. After valuation is hopefully fine, what timescale am I looking at after that? I was thinking February we'd be moving in but is this optimistic? 
I'm currently in a housing association property so will need to give 4 weeks notice here, get moving sorted and I've already applied for schools which I should find out mid January but then 4 week scale to take up a place. 
I'm really stressed coordinating it all and I am a mega planner so any ideas helpful really.  

Also I've thought about lot about the actual move and I think I'll probably need 3 Luton vans to take all my stuff. I was going to book it for 4 hours with 2 vans (new house is 15 -20 minutes drive away) but is this crazy cos I've seen that some moves take all day? Surely I can collect keys and agree moving in day and have it sorted? I was really thinking just having it all ready and just packing and going. Do I need to be at new house first and how does this work if vans returning to collect 1 load? 

anselld

Feb is optimistic.  Solicitors are already warning that transactions may not complete before the SDLT holiday ends at the end of March.
In your case it will mainly depend on the onward chain which you have not mentioned either way.  Is it chain free?
Don't give notice on your rental until you have exchanged contracts.  That will probably give you some time to move at a more leisurely pace albeit at the expense of some overlap.  DIY movers usually underestimate the time and effort so if you do end up moving in a day get professionals instead.

MFWannabe

wolfbane9 said:

I am in the process of buying my first home. I've got a good broker and I'm currently at the point where the lender valuation was on 23rd December with my own survey due on 11th January. 
When will I hear about lender valuation given Christmas? This is stressing me out as I just want to know so I can get everything else in place. After valuation is hopefully fine, what timescale am I looking at after that? I was thinking February we'd be moving in but is this optimistic? 
I'm currently in a housing association property so will need to give 4 weeks notice here, get moving sorted and I've already applied for schools which I should find out mid January but then 4 week scale to take up a place. 
I'm really stressed coordinating it all and I am a mega planner so any ideas helpful really.  

Also I've thought about lot about the actual move and I think I'll probably need 3 Luton vans to take all my stuff. I was going to book it for 4 hours with 2 vans (new house is 15 -20 minutes drive away) but is this crazy cos I've seen that some moves take all day? Surely I can collect keys and agree moving in day and have it sorted? I was really thinking just having it all ready and just packing and going. Do I need to be at new house first and how does this work if vans returning to collect 1 load? 

I know it’s difficult but try to stay calm, a lot of buying a house is waiting for other people to carry out their work
Lender valuation I would estimate next week 
Don’t give notice on rental until you’ve exchanged contracts as nothing is certain until then 
Removals; if you can I would recommend paying someone to do this, it’s sooo much harder than people think and I would say takes longer than you think, 4 hours in my opinion is not long enough, you don’t know when you’ll get the keys
Contact man in a van and get some quotes; they really do make it far less stressful! 

SameOldRoundabout

February is very optimistic. I’d say March at least. If your solicitors (and every else in the chain) are well on the way with searches and enquiries it may be slightly quicker. At exchange you can ask for completion to be a convenient date, if you need 4 weeks notice complete a week or so before so you can empty and clean. 

Moving is ALWAYS longer than you think. Always. You’ll look at your stuff and think it’s not much, on moving day it’ll seem like you own an Argos warehouse. Allow more time than you think. Ideally hire enough vans to load only once. You won’t regret it. 

wolfbane9

There's no chain. Really do you think March? I'm shocked at that to be honest, really hoped for mid Feb at least. I'm itching to start boxing stuff up over Christmas holidays as I work full time but also don't want to jinx it! 
Also the house price is 122k so I don't think stamp duty will effect me anyway. 

amandacat

I’m selling to a first time buyer and am moving into rented so there’s no chain. The mortgage valuation was done in mid November and I was told early December that the valuation was successful and the buyers solicitor ordered the searches at that time in early December, these aren’t back yet and they’re estimated to be back mid January. I haven’t been given any estimated dates yet to exchange yet from the solicitor but my EA said the buyers solicitor said they’re working towards early Feb but I think that will depend on if the searches throw up any further enquires. A lot will depend on the solicitors including how efficient they are and how busy they are. Both myself and the buyers are using local reputable solicitors who are on the ball and quick to respond which is definitely helping. 
In terms of moving, when I moved to my current house from a rented property, I had 3 weeks between exchange and completion. This allowed me to give 4 weeks notice on exchange day on my rental. There was a week overlap but this really took the pressure off with moving our stuff and cleaning the rental. We borrowed a van from work and moved ourselves, it took three trips across the morning but was done in half a day. I think as long as you haven’t got to be out of your rental on the same day you complete on your property then you can move yourself. I had no regrets about moving myself and we saved a lot of money. However if we had to be out of our rental the same day as we moved to our new property then I would’ve used a removal company to do it in one go because you never know what time you are going to complete, we didn’t complete until gone 3pm so ended up moving the next morning and might not have time for multiple trips and cleaning. 

Tiglet2

wolfbane9 said:

There's no chain. Really do you think March? I'm shocked at that to be honest, really hoped for mid Feb at least. I'm itching to start boxing stuff up over Christmas holidays as I work full time but also don't want to jinx it! 
Also the house price is 122k so I don't think stamp duty will effect me anyway. 

No chain is good.

However, what about the property you are buying?  Is it a flat, house, shared ownership?  Is there a Help to Buy Equity Loan, HTB ISA?  New Build or old?  Vacant or tenanted?  All these things affect timescales, together with liaising with third parties with enquiries, i.e. search providers, your lender, the other side solicitor and seller, any freeholder or management company.  

If you can provide a little more detail as above, estimates on timescales can be more informative.

greatcrested

We need a stickie. My kitchen string drawer is getting worn out with having to look inside every other day to see how long the string is.

But seriously, there is so much info on the internet these days, let alone books on the subject, I just don't understand why people embarking on the biggest financial decision of their lives don't research the process, the steps involved, the issues that can arise, and the potential length of time it can or will take...

(ok - I'll try & turn over a new more positive leaf in the new year...)

wolfbane9

It's a house, vacant, not a new build, no loan or isa. 
I know there's stuff online but it's so wildly variant from weeks to months and when you're in it it's all you can think about. I've got neighbours from hell in my current place and I'm so excited to be able to finally call somewhere safe and secure (with a garden not a piddly balcony!) our home. 

Paddy7342

greatcrested said:

We need a stickie. My kitchen string drawer is getting worn out with having to look inside every other day to see how long the string is.

But seriously, there is so much info on the internet these days, let alone books on the subject, I just don't understand why people embarking on the biggest financial decision of their lives don't research the process, the steps involved, the issues that can arise, and the potential length of time it can or will take...

(ok - I'll try & turn over a new more positive leaf in the new year...)

I don't understand why you can't understand that forums in this day and age can be part of the research process!
There's as much to learn on here from asking real people as anywhere else!

wolfbane9

Oh my goodness, I've just had my mortgage offer!! I'm guessing now it's just up to solicitors and for survey to be done?? How does this fit time wise?