How long to buy a house...

garak112

garak112

garak112

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10 Oct 2011
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Put an offer in on a property last week and the sellers are still deliberating, thing is we go away next week for 3 weeks.

We were promised an answer this afternoon (which hasn't happened), if we do find out tomorrow will we have enough time to do all the bits we can do before waiting for the mortgage to come back (which I hear takes 3-4 weeks)?

We are leaving on Thursday, which would appear to be quite tight?
 
Should be fine, bar the mortgage a solicitor could do the lot for you.

If you haven't found one yet start looking around.

Surely you can give estate agent and solicitor an email address and check daily ifthey need anything in particular.

Mortgages vary in time to respond, some will be offered within a couple of days.
 
Well, I'm not an expert on house buying but I would say:

1. Will you have phone/internet while you are away, that's gonna make a big difference, obviously.
2. Do you have a lawyer, agent, family member, who can push things forward while you're away and make sure things get done. Obviously there's some things they can't do, but if you won't be contactable while you're away they can move things along.
3. Tell/Remind the sellers that you are going away for three weeks next week! Explain that it's not a ploy to make them make a decision, it's the truth!
 
httk said:
Well, I'm not an expert on house buying but I would say:

1. Will you have phone/internet while you are away, that's gonna make a big difference, obviously.
2. Do you have a lawyer, agent, family member, who can push things forward while you're away and make sure things get done. Obviously there's some things they can't do, but if you won't be contactable while you're away they can move things along.
3. Tell/Remind the sellers that you are going away for three weeks next week! Explain that it's not a ploy to make them make a decision, it's the truth!
Click to expand...

1. Yes
2. Family member willing to do this.
3. Will tell them when they open tomorrow. I strongly suspect that we haven't got the house now (was told a decision was being made at 2pm), at this stage I would be relieved.
 
No offence but don't you think it was a bit short sighted to put an offer in on a house a week before you take a 3 week holiday?
 
I had to keep reading stuff when I was buying my first home, solicitor was checking I was happy with things. Mine was slightly more complicated as it was a flat, so there were leases to read through etc. I also had to sign a bunch of stuff a couple of times as well.
 
Not really short sighted though imho, and 3 weeks is by no means the end of the world or a big delay, and by not doing it there's a risk of the property being sold to someone else.

The actual need for you to see anyone in person at this stage will be pretty low, as long as you are ready to engage the solicitors and kicked off your mortgage application you should be fine. We did have to go to the solicitors to show ID though so might have to do that early on.

With the latter it can all be started online anyway, the only thing we had to do for a recent application was send off last months payslips and a utility bill which had to be verified in one of their local branches. Other than that heard nothing from them throughout the process until one day the letter dropped through the door saying all done here's the offer.

If you've got access to email then that can handle the majority of things, but again at the end of the day it's a 3 week delay which isn't much to worry about in the grand scheme of things.
 
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What's the seller's situation are they in a chain or ready to move out ?

And house buying takes ages I had an offer accepted last December and we are only due to exchange Friday. Mainy due to hold ups further along the chain
 
mattx2 said:
What's the seller's situation are they in a chain or ready to move out ?

And house buying takes ages I had an offer accepted last December and we are only due to exchange Friday. Mainy due to hold ups further along the chain
Click to expand...

And I wasn't in a chain and the property I bought was empty, and it was exactly 6 weeks from the offer being accepted to me picking up the keys, so it's not always ages :)
 
Generally takes about 12 weeks in the UK. On my current place we got to exchange in 6 weeks and that was mainly down to the mortgage company processing time. Unfortunately is was another 8 weeks before we completed.
 
Just tell them, should they accept your offer, but three weeks is nothing if you set the ball rolling,
 
Agent phoned me up not long after the thread creation to tell me I hadn't got the house, it went for a slightly higher offer.

Not short sighted at all to put an offer in on a house a week before going away (it was actually 2 weeks before when the offer went in). Theoretically it should be a few days of graft and then a lot of waiting (as others have mentioned above), I was more concerned that the time left wouldn't have been enough to do the small amount of set up work.

The seller wasn't in a chain (probate sale) but agreed a sale with a buyer who was, so couldn't have been too desperate. The house was perfect in terms of location and price otherwise we would have waited until after our holiday.
 
Managed to have the keys in 6 weeks. All "professionals" involved acted like they'd moved hell and earth to do this. In reality it was a shambles and they were awful jobsworths. The conveyancer was the absolute worst. Mindless phone calls and eventually once I had explained that I was waiting for the vendor's solicitors to get their act together basically threw a strop and didn't bother to call again. I can't wait to buy another property, but will be much smarter next time and not put up with any of their rubbish.
 
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