The nervous wait to exchange....

Soldato
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5 Apr 2009
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Said 3 bed house above.. Seller won't budge on the (optimistic) asking price despite the next door property which is in better condition with a better garden selling for £107,500 after 300+ days on the market..

People say it gets stressful once the lawyers are involved but I can't even get to that stage :p
Next door wouldn't have been end terrace, i expect most people would see additional value in only having the one adjoining neighbour.
 
Associate
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Friday 09/06/17 - Appointment with mortgage advisor
Friday 16/06/17 - View flat, newbuild(10 yrs), good home report, generous size layout (compared to old tenements)
Monday 19/06/17 - AM - Mortgage advisor puts 'note of interest' on flat. - 5 other notes in place.
Monday 19/06/17 - PM Mortgage advisor has 'mortgage agreed in principle'
Wed 21/06/17 - Closing date set Wed 28th, put in contact with a solicitor.
Wed 28/06/17 - Offer submitted and accepted.
Mond 03/07/17 - Appointment with mortgage advisor to sort mortgage
Frid 18/08/17 - Proposed key handover.

Did not expect things to move this quick... I am a first time buyer with my girlfriend. The week before I booked an appointment with an advisor we had agreed to start a lease on a flat on 25th August.... A few days later I told my girlfriend I was making an appointment with a mortgage advisor. We have the cash sitting, so why would be blow £7k of it in a years rent when we could possibly buy? The rest is fast history!!

The property is in Edinburgh. We were advised post April 2017 it was a 'buyers market' with properties going 10% over market value. Reading several reports, 10-16.8% above market value for a 1 bedroom flat seems to be the norm, I noticed properties were showing as sold within a week or two of being advertised. We had viewed many flats in edinburgh and most were small, dated, non energy effiencient victorian tenements which were a risky buy (IMO) finally we viewed a new build which was generous in size, quality fittings, energy efficient. It made sense to me that this was a safe buy, and we both loved it from the moment we stepped in, and compared to the rubbish we had previously viewed!!!!

We offered what we could afford without going completely skint, with the mindset that we would rather offer an extra thousand or two on this really nice flat, than loose it and potentially have to offer similar money to small, dated victorian tenements. In the end we offered 16% over market value, which was accepted. My solicitor said that we have done extremely well having that offer accepted on the day, as other 1 beds she had bid for went for much, much more.. ?

Anyhoo. My story so far. Any thoughts or questions?
 
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Soldato
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5 Apr 2009
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24,796
Why on earth are you trying so hard to prove me wrong on a point you clearly cannot grasp?

Houses are like.. XXXX XXXY ZXXX

Z being the one I'm considering buying, Y being the one that sold last. Next door and both end terrace.
Fair point, don't tend to see many mini groups of terraces like that round here :p

Around here terraces are generally 20+ long or they're all semi detached, didn't even occur to me they'd be in little batches like that
 
Soldato
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Manchester
Looks like it's our turn next! Crazy busy (both started new jobs) plus trying to do the whole buying a home thing (first time buyers) means we can't give it as much focus as want which = stress. I've scrawled out what I think are the stages!

Expected Date: Stage:
03/07/2017 - £300 to Solicitor
03/07/2017 - Solicitor engaged
04/07/2017 - Mortgage is confirmed advisor
04/07/2017 - Buildings/contents Insurance quotes (£270 per year)
03/07/2017 - Check with bank that moving deposit from them will be ok
05/07/2017 - Solicitor conducts searches
04/07/2017 - Survey level agreed
04/07/2017 - Pay for Survey (additional) £275 for home buyers £600 for structure?
11/07/2017 - Survey conducted
18/07/2017 - Survey results delivered
20/07/2017 - re-negotiation of purchase price if needed
21/07/2017 - Hand notice in to landlord
26/07/2017 - Confirmation of house inventory
02/08/2017 - Contracts drawn up
03/08/2017 - Contracts signed
10/08/2017 - Contracts Exchanged
10/08/2017 - Purchase Buildings/contents Insurance
10/08/2017 - Move in date set
12/08/2017 - Balance Paid
16/08/2017 - Completion
16/08/2017 - Pay Stamp Duty
16/08/2017 - Collect keys
16/08/2017 - Move in!!

Hope all goes smoothly and no idea if this timeline is correct or realistic, we're putting our trust in our solicitor etc. We're renting at the moment and the current owners have said they can rent nearer where they're looking to buy which is good.
 
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Looks like it's our turn next! Crazy busy (both started new jobs) plus trying to do the whole buying a home thing (first time buyers) means we can't give it as much focus as want which = stress. I've scrawled out what I think are the stages!

Expected Date: Stage:
03/07/2017 - £300 to Solicitor
03/07/2017 - Solicitor engaged
04/07/2017 - Mortgage is confirmed advisor
04/07/2017 - Buildings/contents Insurance quotes (£270 per year)
03/07/2017 - Check with bank that moving deposit from them will be ok
05/07/2017 - Solicitor conducts searches
04/07/2017 - Survey level agreed
04/07/2017 - Pay for Survey (additional) £275 for home buyers £600 for structure?
11/07/2017 - Survey conducted
18/07/2017 - Survey results delivered
20/07/2017 - re-negotiation of purchase price if needed
21/07/2017 - Hand notice in to landlord
26/07/2017 - Confirmation of house inventory
02/08/2017 - Contracts drawn up
03/08/2017 - Contracts signed
10/08/2017 - Contracts Exchanged
10/08/2017 - Purchase Buildings/contents Insurance
10/08/2017 - Move in date set
12/08/2017 - Balance Paid
16/08/2017 - Completion
16/08/2017 - Pay Stamp Duty
16/08/2017 - Collect keys
16/08/2017 - Move in!!

Hope all goes smoothly and no idea if this timeline is correct or realistic, we're putting our trust in our solicitor etc. We're renting at the moment and the current owners have said they can rent nearer where they're looking to buy which is good.

That seems optimistic... I was a first time buyer.. had a mortgage broker that did everything... The house was already vacant.

My offer was accepted at the beginning of January (5th i think) and I didn't complete until the last day of April.
 
Soldato
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Manchester
That seems optimistic... I was a first time buyer.. had a mortgage broker that did everything... The house was already vacant.

My offer was accepted at the beginning of January (5th i think) and I didn't complete until the last day of April.

Aah right, well that's not ideal. I hope things click along quickly and smoothly, were there any hold-ups at all?
 
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Aah right, well that's not ideal. I hope things click along quickly and smoothly, were there any hold-ups at all?

I do think my solicitor was incompetent... They left a lot of things till last minute or until I nudged them. Even so... If I had a good solicitor I still don't think it would have been any quicker than 3 months.

Things take time....like getting the reports back.. And don't forget the sellers solicitors could be slow at responding too.

I'm not saying it's impossible... But I still think it's incredibly optimistic to think it can be done in one month and 10 days.
 

Jez

Jez

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Indeed, I am going through a flat purchase (cash purchase so not even any delays there) which has been months now. A week goes by between each additional small enquiry, the time just adds up. Its looking as though we will finally be ready to exchange next week.
 
Soldato
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Manchester
I do think my solicitor was incompetent... They left a lot of things till last minute or until I nudged them. Even so... If I had a good solicitor I still don't think it would have been any quicker than 3 months.

Things take time....like getting the reports back.. And don't forget the sellers solicitors could be slow at responding too.

I'm not saying it's impossible... But I still think it's incredibly optimistic to think it can be done in one month and 10 days.

Fair enough! We were told it was realistic by our guys but I know what this sort of stuff is like so would imagine it's more likely to be your time-frame than theirs. :/
 
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Fair enough! We were told it was realistic by our guys but I know what this sort of stuff is like so would imagine it's more likely to be your time-frame than theirs. :/

I'd be careful with your plan to hand in your notice if your not pally with your landlord. You don't want to hand in 4 weeks notice, and then your completion date to get pushed further back later.
 
Soldato
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Location
Wales
I never ever tell anyone a transaction is going to take less than 8 weeks and it very rarely does.

Also, I would strongly recommend you do not hand in your notice on your rental until exchange of contracts. If needs be, and you are worried about having to pay rent and mortgage, agree with the sellers (early, i.e now) a 4 week gap between exchange and completion so you can hand in your notice the day of exchange. Or your mortgage payments might not start until the 1st of the month after the loan is actually drawn down so you could maybe knock it down to 2 weeks depending on when you exchange, play it by ear.

I've seen enough transactions fall through at the latter stages to know its a stupid thing to risk doing unless you have guaranteed fall back accommodation i.e parents. The craziest one was where I was due to exchange on a Friday but couldn't get hold of the sellers' solicitor then the seller died over the weekend. Cue a 6 week wait for probate :p
 
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Soldato
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Leicestershire
We signed our half of the paperwork last Friday, just waiting for the sellers to do theirs. Both estate agent and our solicitor think it's likely we will exchange and complete before the month is out.

Regarding the notice on the current rental, my girlfriend feels ready to hand it in now, but for the sake of a months rent, I don't think it's worth the risk. We do have fall back accommodation available on both sides of the family, but then a months rent is a small price to save an additional move in addition to living with parents again!
 
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Just had news from my solicitor that our buyers environmental report has come back as failed on our property. The one we got in 2013 was a pass with no issues.. I guess something has been added to the register since?

Hoping it doesn't take weeks to rectify as council aren't always quick!
 
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