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Main site > Forums > Essential Money > House Buying, Renting & Selling > Mortgage offer, searches in progress now what...
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      Whitee
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    • By Whitee 7th Oct 17, 12:22 PM
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      What's this?

    Whitee
    Mortgage offer, searches in progress now what...
    • #1
    • 7th Oct 17, 12:22 PM
    Mortgage offer, searches in progress now what... 7th Oct 17 at 12:22 PM
    Hi
    I'm a first time buyer and had an offer accepted on a house approx 6 weeks ago.
    I got in touch with a solicitor (recommended) and exchanged details with the estate agent straight away.
    I had a mortgage offer come through fairly quickly and my solictor confirmed he recieved it also. He then proceeded with the searches.

    I called him last week for an update and he said he was waiting on responses on land fill etc said it could take days/week's. It's pretty much been in my solicitors hands for the past 4 weeks and things just seem to be a little slow. I'm not hearing anything from him only when I call him.

    About 2 weeks ago the estate agent phoned me asking how things were going and said things were a little slow my end but nothing to worry about.
    I'm concerned as I don't want the sellers to pull out as I know they are keen to move.
    Can anyone give me any advice on stages going forward? Who do I sign my mortgage with and when is this usuallly done?

    I have part paid my solictor which covers the searches but there is approx another £600 left to pay. Is this done more or less on completion? Should I ring the estate agent to see if the sellers are getting on ok and still happy?

    Thanks for anyone willing to clarify and if anyone can give me a break down of anything else needing to be done going forward I would appreciate it. My solictor speaks very fast at times so I'm sure someone on here will give me a clearer insight! Thanks again.

    Sorry!

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      Mutton Geoff
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    • By Mutton Geoff 7th Oct 17, 12:52 PM
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      What's this?

    Mutton Geoff
    • #2
    • 7th Oct 17, 12:52 PM
    • #2
    • 7th Oct 17, 12:52 PM
    It's your solicitor you should be speaking to. And ask him to speak more slowly and clearly and explain anything you don't understand rather than use an internet forum to progress your own purchase. You'll get accurate and timely information. This forum is full of armchair experts who may end up confusing you more.
    Compensations/Refunds from Banks & Institutions - £4,165 | Stooz Profits - £7,636 | Quidco - £4,014

    All with a big thank you to Martin and MSE.com from Mutton Geoff!

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      toc25
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    • By toc25 7th Oct 17, 12:59 PM
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      What's this?

    toc25
    • #3
    • 7th Oct 17, 12:59 PM
    • #3
    • 7th Oct 17, 12:59 PM
    We got a big pile of paper work to sign a few weeks before we exchanged that included documents relating to the mortgage. That came from the solicitor. Ours has been a really long process it will have been over 21 weeks when we complete next week (that isn't a normal length of time though. Ours has been a nightmare)

    You pay your fees on completion.

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    • By Whitee 7th Oct 17, 2:44 PM
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      What's this?

    Whitee
    • #4
    • 7th Oct 17, 2:44 PM
    • #4
    • 7th Oct 17, 2:44 PM
    Thanks for your replies. I think the waiting and not hearing anything is just the concern as I don't want it to just drag without things getting done and worry if the sellers chose to pull out. Thanks for clearing up about signing for the mortgage with my solicitor hopefully things will feel like they are moving forward soon. I guess it is just a waiting game!

    Sorry!

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      Lauralou79
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    • By Lauralou79 7th Oct 17, 3:46 PM
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      What's this?

    Lauralou79
    • #5
    • 7th Oct 17, 3:46 PM
    • #5
    • 7th Oct 17, 3:46 PM
    The solicitor stage for me was the most frustrating and seemingly slow for a chain free purchase! Just a lot of waiting for them to do their bits and I had to do some chasing towards the end. Try email then you can ask questions and be able to get answers you understand. All
    worth it in the end.

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      G_M
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    • By G_M 7th Oct 17, 4:05 PM
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      What's this?

    G_M
    • #6
    • 7th Oct 17, 4:05 PM
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    • 7th Oct 17, 4:05 PM
    Your solicitor is progressing mattters. He will contact you when he has information to give you, or needs you to review, sign or pay anything.

    Until then, there's no point him contacting you! Let him get on with his job.

    Estate agents always want things to move faster (to get to their commission payment). nd also feel the need to justify their fees by hassling people. Usually pretty pointless as there's nothing you can do till your solicitor receives searches and enquiries etc back.

    If you want a better understanding of the process, pop nto your local library and borrow (free) a book on house-buying.
    Last edited by G_M; 07-10-2017 at 5:53 PM.

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      Slithery
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    • By Slithery 7th Oct 17, 4:13 PM
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      What's this?

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    • #7
    • 7th Oct 17, 4:13 PM
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    • 7th Oct 17, 4:13 PM
    Chill.

    Nothing out of the ordinary is happening

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    • By Whitee 7th Oct 17, 4:38 PM
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      What's this?

    Whitee
    • #8
    • 7th Oct 17, 4:38 PM
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    • 7th Oct 17, 4:38 PM
    Thanks everyone feeling alot better about it now sorry for the useless thread! Great to hear all is normal. Don't know why us humans stress so much sometimes or why I'm one of them! !!!55357;!!!56833;

    Sorry!

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      G_M
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    • By G_M 7th Oct 17, 5:55 PM
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      What's this?

    G_M
    • #9
    • 7th Oct 17, 5:55 PM
    • #9
    • 7th Oct 17, 5:55 PM
    “
    Thanks everyone feeling alot better about it now sorry for the useless thread! Great to hear all is normal. Don't know why us humans stress so much sometimes or why I'm one of them! !!!65533;!!!65533;
    Originally posted by Whitee ”
    You don't know why you're 'one of we humans'?

    Something to do with your parentage I imagine.......

    Sorry!

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    • By Whitee 7th Oct 17, 11:42 PM
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    Whitee
    Aha thanks for clarifying the reason I'm human but I got that one already

    Sorry!

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      Cardinal-Red
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    • By Cardinal-Red 8th Oct 17, 9:23 AM
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      What's this?

    Cardinal-Red
    “
    Your solicitor is progressing mattters. He will contact you when he has information to give you, or needs you to review, sign or pay anything.

    Until then, there's no point him contacting you! Let him get on with his job.

    Estate agents always want things to move faster (to get to their commission payment). nd also feel the need to justify their fees by hassling people. Usually pretty pointless as there's nothing you can do till your solicitor receives searches and enquiries etc back.

    If you want a better understanding of the process, pop nto your local library and borrow (free) a book on house-buying.
    Originally posted by G_M ”
    GM, your advice is generally invaluable and helpful (if a little sarcastic at times ) but do you consider the bit in bold above to really be true?

    I thought the standard advice was "polite but pestering" with solicitors. It was my failure to bug my solicitor that led to a delay of 21 days between my seller instructing their solicitor and actually issuing the pre-contract info. It's only when I pushed mine to chase it up did anything happen.
    The above facts belong to everybody; the opinions belong to me; the distinction is yours to draw...

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    • By G_M 8th Oct 17, 10:22 AM
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      What's this?

    G_M
    i agree - it's a balancing act.

    Pester too much and all you do is interrupt them. 20+ clients each ringing every day or 3 is a lot of interrupting, often for no ood reason (other than client anxiety).

    The vast majority of conveyancers do just get on with the job. If they're waiting for responses from the other side, the LA etc then it's a matter of patience.

    But yes, sometimes a 'pester' can lead to them chasing a response. hough even then, there's usually a reason that response was not forthcoming earlier.

    And every once in a while you find a conveyancer (typically the cheap online warehouse outfits?) juggling so many clients that things don't get done as fast as they should.

    FTBs in particular are understandably anxious, and understandably often don't understand the process so have unrealistic ideas about timescales.

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    • By Whitee 12th Oct 17, 8:55 PM
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      What's this?

    Whitee
    Thanks for that, that was the impression I've always got which is solicitors can at times drag their feet so it's worth chasing progress. I've only contacted him twice whilst this has been going on I just didn't know how long these things tend to take.

    First time I chased was when the estate agent called me and said he had just spoken with my solicitor and my solictor told him I had a meeting booked with him (I hadn't - my solictor just said that to get them off his back) then the second time was two weeks later which he replied he would chase the info back from the area searches (or something like that)

    I just have to keep reminding myself I'm buying a house as it's easily forgotten in the silence!

    Sorry!

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      elliemet23
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    • By elliemet23 13th Oct 17, 8:50 AM
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      What's this?

    elliemet23
    Morning, I have to admit a good solicitor is worth their weight in gold!
    We have just bought a repo so had 28 days to complete, so everyday we were on the phone to the solicitor, to be honest they didn't mind and we managed to get everything sorted in 6 weeks (from initial viewing to collecting the keys).
    If you have questions... ASK!! It's their job and its what you're paying them for... End of! Remember you dont always have to ring, ask them for an email address, and jot everything down in one go... Saves 4-5 phone calls!

    Try not to stress too much, its easier said than done, but it will all be worth it in the end, and you'll look back and wonder why you stressed that bad!

    Good luck!
    xxxx

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