House Buying - Just venting really!!!

I do enjoy reading stories like this just as I am preparing to buy my first house with my GF..... Dreading the whole situation. Hope you get it all sorted quickly.
 
When we first bought, the selling solicitor dragged their feet no end because some of the issues we were querying/clarifying should really have been sorted when they originally bought so the solicitor went into defensive mode to save face. We ended up contacting the seller directly to tell them what we needed, by the end of it, even they were sick of their solicitor. They didn't confirm the money transfer until hours after it had arrived while we were waiting outside! The whole process is ridiculous.
 
You don't need to use the services of an estate agent, online agents are becoming more and more popular. I was quoted £2500 + VAT to sell my house, I listed it on rightmove and zoopla with a premium listing for £370.
 
valve90210 said:
My girlfriend and I are in the process of selling our flat and buying a house.

The buying part is going swimmingly, solicitors etc doing their job nicely, searches done, draft contracts exchanged etc.

However, the selling is proving to be hugely stressful and worrying. We have a buyer, who put in a first offer which we rejected, he then came back with an improved offer having spoken to family etc to raise more money. We accepted and off we went looking for a house.

After that we had someone come along to value the flat on behalf of the mortgage company which was fine but since then we've heard nothing. Lots of chasing of the estate agent has finally come back as the buyer having not even instructed his solictors yet and he is not replying to messages left by the sales progressor from the estate agents.

I have a horrible feeling he has pulled out of the sale and not told anyone, without the sale we can't buy the house so I have a feeling it's all coming apart and we're gonna be stuck in the flat and lose the house we want.

It's so frustrating and upsetting and really hope it gets sorted out.

Nothing really anyone can say just wanted to vent somewhere!
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could be useless solicitors

we had a nightmare last year selling my old house and buying our new house.

we were due to move on the friday. on monday we were told that everyone was ready, so our solicitor sold my house to the next guy in the chain. the problem was that the lady in the chain 2 up from us was getting her brother to move house for her, and he had a heart attack. we were then told that she wasnt moving on that date and she wanted to postpone until after xmas AND that she hadnt even signed her documents yet!

our buyer refused to postpone as he needed to move out of his flat.

we were in the position that we had sold our house yet were being forced to postpone buying our new house. this was a week before xmas and we were told that we would have to move out on the friday and put stuff into store and stay with my in-laws for xmas. which would be fun with a 4 month old baby!

the estate agents we were buying from were great and worked their socks off to get the lady (1 up in the chain from them!) a removal man at last minute

we had packed up and were sat in a big removal van on the friday awaiting for the exchange

so stressful. and cost me around £6k for the privilege!
 
As above useless "solicitors" (often people don't even use proper solicitors) can be the source of problems.

When I was purchasing it took ages for what was a simple sale (I was a first time buyer, mortgage sorted with good deposit, no chain etc).

My solicitor (a real one not an internet one to try and save a few hundred) walked through the correspondence to show how terrible the other side was. They had used one of those internet conveyancers, who in reply to every question sent would often not even answer, and end each letter with "shall we exchange now"?

I just sent an ultimatum to the seller side, posted copy to the property, to answer all questions and all fixed quickly...
 
Woogie said:
I do enjoy reading stories like this just as I am preparing to buy my first house with my GF..... Dreading the whole situation. Hope you get it all sorted quickly.
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It's not all bad, I bought my first house just before Christmas and from first viewing to completion was only 40 days.
My situation was a bit of an exception though as I was renting before and the house I bought had been taken by a builder in part-ex. There was no chain and everyone wanted the sale to go through as soon as possible.

Hardest part for me was shifting all my stuff in the week before Christmas and cleaning through my rented place while still working every day. Come Christmas itself I was exhausted.
 
Indeed, it's not all bad. Our first house we went from offer to first night in the house in under 4 weeks. Admittedly the Mrs worked in the same building as the solicitor and her mate sorted out the mortgage... :D

It's not what you know...
 
It's not the solicitors it's the buyer, he hasn't actually instructed his solicitor yet!! :

If it were the solictors being useless I wouldn't mind so much as you can at least chase them and get them to pull their finger out and get on with things but with the buyer not responding to phone calls etc there's nothing we can do as there is no one to chase but the estate agent who can't do anything until they hear from the buyer.

Meeting alternative estate agent tomorrow morning with a view to sticking flat back on market with them asap to get another buyer in case the existing one never reappears!

What makes me really mad is the way the estate agent has been utterly useless! The offer was accepted on 22 November, about a week later someone came round to do survey/valuation. Since then the estate agent has sat on the file and it's not been passed to the sales progressor until the end of last week.

I was told last friday that it had gone to sales progressor on Monday 7th, which was a lie. I was also told they had confirmation of instruction of solicitors...also a lie!!!

Currently waiting on a call back from the branch manager...no doubt they won't phone. I Have told them I am extremely unhappy with what has been a very poor level of service and that I will not be paying the full fees even if the buyer starts communicating and things go through from now on.

Fuming and fed up... and stuck at work so can't even have a cuddle with my girlfriend to cheer us both up!!! All we want is a house so our little boy can have his own room!!! :(
 
Completing my flat purchase on Friday - it's a nightmare and very stressful so I understand OP, even though I was lucky with no forward chain from the vendor

Edit: Who is the estate agent?

- GP
 
Estate agent is one called Ward and Partners - avoid!!!

I have been waiting on the branch manager to call me back for 4 hours now - with a couple of chasing calls in that time. They keep telling me that the person I need to speak to is the sales progressor as she is the best person to call regarding the sale. They are surprised when I say that I know that is the case but that I want to talk to the branch manager to discuss the terrible service we have received and to find out why it took so long for the file to go to the progressor!!!!

They are completely useless... they're either incompetent or liars!!!
 
Adam said:
You don't need to use the services of an estate agent, online agents are becoming more and more popular. I was quoted £2500 + VAT to sell my house, I listed it on rightmove and zoopla with a premium listing for £370.
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That then, is the way to do it!
 
I sold last March and have been in rented since. It's not too bad selling, finding a house to buy is a PITA.

Cash buyer looking for bungalow in Nantwich anybody? £250k approx.
 
It seems....though taken with a huge pinch of salt as I was told by the estate agent (whom I now consider to be basically lying at every opportunity and without doubt sub-human) they have managed to get hold of the elusive buyer and he still wants to buy and was just being useless and not knowing that the forms he was sent needed to be filled in and returned....

Keeping fingers firmly crossed that things can get back on track now!!!
 
Eulogy said:
Actually selling and then renting for a bit before buying may not be a bad idea, at least then there won't be a chain when you come to buy on your end!
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We would have considered doing this but if we bought and sold at the same time we could port across our existing mortgage saving ourselves nearly 2% on about 90% of the mortgage we needed for a house, which is a huge saving!!!
 
valve90210 said:
It seems....though taken with a huge pinch of salt as I was told by the estate agent (whom I now consider to be basically lying at every opportunity and without doubt sub-human) they have managed to get hold of the elusive buyer and he still wants to buy and was just being useless and not knowing that the forms he was sent needed to be filled in and returned....

Keeping fingers firmly crossed that things can get back on track now!!!
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I don't trust estate agents as far as I can throw them.

A mate at work put in an offer for a house that included all the fixtures and fittings and kitchen appliances etc, the estate agent did not pass this on to the seller, only the offer amount. They then accepted, then a month later they get a shock when the solicitors get involved, the estate agents then claim that the person who dealt with the matter has since left the company. An irrelevant point, as he was still representing the Estate agent.

It was their mistake, yet they can't be held accountable and my mate has to shell out another load of money that he didn't budget for. Time wasting, useless people that front a business that shouldn't really exist.
 
Back for a bit more venting I'm afraid!!!

Sales Progressors are useless!!! My buyer is useless!!! The solicitor acting on behalf of my buyer is useless!!!

I wish I could just phone the buyer and talk to him and tell him to pull his finger out and get things signed and moving because the sellers of the house we are buying want to move at the end of Feb...as do we and at the moment we are being held up by useless idiots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


ARRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

(hasn't really helped me feel better...a few rounds of BF3 this evening, imagining I'm gunning down all the idiots should help!!!)
 
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