Get some sense into me - how long it took you to buy a house as a FTB

Tiglet2

KSS1991 said:

Just looking for experiences of others - how long it took you to buy your first house? ***from the point the offer is accepted***
Our situation - FTB (no chain) buying a probate house (no onward chain) 4 months and counting due to probate not being granted. 
Wondering how long is the average process in general?

Every transaction is different so you cannot compare your transaction with someone else's.

Your solicitor won't start any legal work until they have received the draft contract pack from the seller's solicitor, so no point counting days or weeks before that point.

Probate is an unknown factor.  It can take a few weeks or a year or more, all depends on how complex the estate is, how busy all the parties are, how quickly they do their work, whether it is in order.

Average is 12-16 weeks from receipt of draft contracts (not from offer accepted), leasehold takes longer, but you won't be able to complete until probate has been granted.

RedFraggle

Not FTB but chain free both ends. Leasehold flat. 7 weeks offer to completion. Dec 22. 

fredddddddddddd

FTB, no chain, repossession, freehold, offer accepted mid aug, completed early dec

Nelliegrace

For our first home it took just too long and we had to start married life living with the in-laws.

The second home took a year, they kept delaying completion, and a lot of damage was done in that year, including broken windows. The house was full of junk when we moved in, and the light fittings taken. 

I regret that we stopped looking and kept hanging on. We could have got something a bit better.

Our buyers were getting their first home and were glad of the delay. He had been made redundant. Getting any job then was difficult, the huge job losses were on the Midlands news night after night, but he found a new job, and then the horrendous interest rates started going down a bit. 

warwick2001

1st House bought 2007, took just under 11 weeks from offer to completion

2nd House, offered September 2022 completed April 2023

gingercordial

My own purchase as a FTB, buying with one higher link in the chain, took 3.5 months from offer accepted to completion in late 2020.

I've just been involved in the sale of a probate property (I'm treasurer of the charity that was the sole beneficiary of the will). That was a chain free to a FTB and took 4 months from me accepting the offer to completion last week.  However we didn't even market the property until probate had been granted, and that bit took 5 months from the date of death so it is not quick and I would not be holding my breath if that has not yet been obtained in your case.

Sarahspangles

We’re currently selling MIL’s bungalow, probate was applied for two weeks before advertising the house.  We accepted an offer a week later, but were upfront that we had no control over probate timescales.  Estate agent said that the average time to completion was 20 weeks so not to worry, and in fact Probate only took a further week.  But we wouldn’t have expected the buyer to shell out for searches and surveys before we had it in case it dragged on.

KSS1991

Ok so bottom line is it takes as long as it takes 😬

Tiglet2

KSS1991 said:

Ok so bottom line is it takes as long as it takes 😬

Yes, that's the bottom line.  It's a transaction that is extremely important to you, but for everyone else that does this work day in day out, you're just one of thousands of other clients and you will have no more influence over their workload than any other client.  Not having probate granted means that your transaction will not be a priority compared to transactions that are ready to exchange/complete.

youth_leader

Your post has reminded me of our first attempt at buying in 1984.  My late Mum's friend's elderly mother was going to emigrate to Canada to live with her daughter.  We viewed twice, had our offer accepted, and paid for a survey.  Beautiful little cottage in Henley, it backed onto a cemetery.  She was about eighty and obviously lonely and I ended up visiting her every Sunday for months whilst it all went through - until one Sunday when she said she wasn't going to emigrate after all, as 'she couldn't speak the language'.  Her daughter lived in a predominantly English speaking area, she was obviously just too scared to make the change but that rationale came with us maturing, at the time we were beside ourselves with fury!