We moved just before christmas. It should have been August / September but what could have been plain sailing was not. In brief our buyer pulled out ON THE DAY OF EXCHANGE.
I don't know how common this is, but I have heard of other people experiencing sales collapse just before exchange. But I have not heard of one on the day of exchange. Maybe there are some in this thread?
Quick Sale? Not.
We spent a year looking for the right property and back in May 2019 we found it and decided to put our existing house on the market. We had 4 viewings booked that weekend and one of them agreed to buy at the full asking price. Solicitors were instructed, fiananced sorted and everything was plain sailing. The house in front of us was supposed to move to a new property in July / August and the one buying our place was selling up a B&B business and had a cash buyer waiting. Thus there was only a small chain.
The estate agent estimated 8 -12 weeks to completion and quite possibly the lower end of that. But in July there was a slight issue with the person we were buying from. The property she was moving to would not be ready for 'a few weeks'. This dragged on into late August and early September but everyone was fine with that.
Solicitor's were not very effective. There were mistakes, delays. I tried to minimise all that by immediately returning all paperwork that needed signing. As soon as I had them they were signed and hand delivered the same day.
Change of Agent
Everything was looking great for a September move but we found out the estate agent advisor (a really nice chap, IMO that's unusual) had left the business. We did not know this for a few weeks. He did not answer emails and we only found out when checking his FB page and seeing a picture of 'you are leaving us' cake. A new agent was appointed to us and he was more Mr Nasty / Pushy.
There was a bit of horsetrading going on at the end. Furniture plans had changed. Originally the buyers did not want stuff, then they did. We were happy to leave all the white goods, curtains, shades etc. But things were still going smooth although I did not like the way the EA was saying things. It's like we were getting two different stories at times.
OK Just Move!
We had aimed to move at the end of September but there was one more delay from the house we were buying. The occupier of the house we were buying had abandoned original plans as was going to rent for a few months until their new property was ready. Unfortunately the rental property needed cleaning renovating so the move could not take place on the weekend we had expected. But all parties agreed that adding 3 days to the move date was not a problem. The next day we were all in a position to exchange.
There were now only 3 in the chain. Us, our buyer and our seller. The seller was renting, the buyer had sold her B&B and was sitting on cash, staying with a friend. OK let's go!
On the Friday the solicitor's and EAs called all parties to confirm the exchange. But our buyer could not be contacted or so we were told. Later that day we found out that she had a bit of a bust up with the EA (Mr Nasty). He said she threw her toys out of the pram and was just a stubborn person. I can see that but I can also see how easily wound up should could have got with the EA.
What Next!
Well we were gutted. It was a horrible feeling. Emotionally and financially. A few days before I had dismantled the kids bedroom furniture, garden furniture, other furniture and gave it away / recycled it. The house was 80% empty as we had move most of it to a storage unit. For a few more months we had to live very minimalistically and pay a fare sum for storage.
Luckily our seller was sympathetic and stated they would keep the house for us. They would not go back on the market and would allow us time to find a new buyer.
That did go pretty quick. We were back on the market within a week and shortly after we must have had 10 viewings, some positive, some tyre kickers. The problem now was that Brexit may / may not happen so no one wanted to make an offer.
New Sale
We had a hand written note put through our door. It was from someone who walked past the house regurlarly and wanted to buy it. I contacted them and told them they must contact the EA.
Mr Nasty was not happy about that. Even though I told the buyer to contact HIM directly!
Then the EA teamed up with another EA (it's something they do to generate more leads). That got some really interesting leads and a nice young couple put in an offer a couple of grand under the asking price. Now we had two confirmed buyers. The young couple and the hand note. Hand note said he had finance, the young couple a mortgage in principle. In the end we had to decide who we wanted to sell to. They had different circumstances and different EAs!
I chose the young couple as I assumed they would be able to sort the mortgage out quicker than the single guy (hand note). Unfortunately he was now Mr Nasty's client and Mr Nasty was going to lose his commission. I tell you he went full nuts. His true character came out that day. It's not understandably so either. No one in business should have an attitude like that.
Finally Exchanged
The exchange took place at the end of November and we moved out / in on the 16th December. It was not an easy time to do that what with Christmas, and schools, eldest at uni. But it was all pretty smooth. I had months of planning and it was done to military precision.
There's still lots to do in this house. It's a 2 year old house, which has many, many snags and we had a flood after day 3. We knew about some of the snags and had hoped to get them done under the 2 year warranty. We also expected the flood to have been sorted by the developer but guess what - the warranty had run out a week earlier.
In my mind - possibly because we were initially set to move in Septmber - I had assumed we were still covered and that the snags would have been logged and actioned on. But the developer dug their heels in, and would not budge. It's a great house, a great location, but the support from the developer's is absolutely dire. Ironically we had considered purchasing new but we did not want the hassle of snags. Now we have snags and we have to sort them all out ourselves.