The nervous wait to exchange....

[dlockers]

So my risky unsure-if-it-will-pass furlough pay mortgage was approved yesterday by the bank...in 3 days, 2 of which were Saturday and Sunday. I'm flabbergasted it was done so quickly, as was my broker. He rang me yesterday afternoon with the good news. In terms of actual working hours, it was approved in about 5 hours from application sent to being received back approved. I thought there was a pandemic/busy period on!

Over the moon TBH, absolutely love the place. Needs a bit of work, but with a 6 month old, finally feel like he can have a family home to grow up in, and not a rental place. Aware things can go wrong (getting a survey done next week...), but no chain to fall though. Literally just bad survey results or her pulling out due to changed circumstances. Nearly there!

Fingers crossed.

Don't let the survey results ding you too hard. They are there to protect their own arses for the most part. Mine was condemned for Windows and brackets in the loft that had been there 30+ years. Windows I refurbed over the summer and the brackets have been holding through 5 or 6 previous owners so I'm confident they'll hold

Edit; and a massive fear monger over a blocked drain that was literally a Victorian drain that gets blocked every 3 months without fail. Bloody Victorians not planning ahead for all the sanitary stuff we now flush down there.

 

[Arsonist]

Fingers crossed.

Don't let the survey results ding you too hard. They are there to protect their own arses for the most part. Mine was condemned for Windows and brackets in the loft that had been there 30+ years. Windows I refurbed over the summer and the brackets have been holding through 5 or 6 previous owners so I'm confident they'll hold

Yeah 100%. The place I was buying last year before it fell through was condemned on it still having a back boiler, dodgy electrics, a flat roof garage that needed replacing, an inspection chamber that was collapsing (was an end of row house so the sewage and drainage was actually the property's responsability not the water/sewage company's), and dodgy fascias and guttering. Even THAT didn't put me off. This place is much nicer and in a way better area of town!

 

[ants83]

Unless you are buying a really old property then for me surveys are like snake oil.
I had one and never bothered again with my other houses.

Had one surveyor turn up at my property and jump around on the floorboards and didn't go outside at all and that was a full survey they had paid for.

Just my opinion but it would be better to take a builder round rather than a so called surveyor

 

[dlockers]

Unless you are buying a really old property then for me surveys are like snake oil.
I had one and never bothered again with my other houses.

Had one surveyor turn up at my property and jump around on the floorboards and didn't go outside at all and that was a full survey they had paid for.

Just my opinion but it would be better to take a builder round rather than a so called surveyor

Oh yeah the bouncy floor board. Had that one thrown at me too! Place is 140 years old I don't doubt it's built on soil and a tad springy

One did get caught by a surveyor not so long ago with subsidence... Their guess was the concrete slab slipped in the 50s but it really destroyed the price of all of the houses local.

 

[ChrisD.]

We've decided to pull out of the purchase. How do we do it? Something I'll never do again but we ended up talking directly with the vendor so I have her number. She's also buying my house which won't be for sale for at least another 6 months now. Do message her like I have been doing, or just let the estate agent and solicitors know and not deal with her at all?

 

[Basher]

We've decided to pull out of the purchase. How do we do it? Something I'll never do again but we ended up talking directly with the vendor so I have her number. She's also buying my house which won't be for sale for at least another 6 months now. Do message her like I have been doing, or just let the estate agent and solicitors know and not deal with her at all?

I’d just let the EA and Solic know and not deal with her directly. She’s a customer of the estate agents, not yours.

 

[Buffman]

We've decided to pull out of the purchase. How do we do it? Something I'll never do again but we ended up talking directly with the vendor so I have her number. She's also buying my house which won't be for sale for at least another 6 months now. Do message her like I have been doing, or just let the estate agent and solicitors know and not deal with her at all?

Just message her or call her. Better to be straight up. If you get any verbal or stress off her just block her number

 

[ChrisD.]

Just message her or call her. Better to be straight up. If you get any verbal or stress off her just block her number

That's what I'm thinking. It will feel bad, we were around there on Sunday discussing blinds/furniture, and she had already started packing. I don't think she'll say hi to us down the local post Covid lockdowns.

 

[Mr Jack]

That's what I'm thinking. It will feel bad, we were around there on Sunday discussing blinds/furniture, and she had already started packing. I don't think she'll say hi to us down the local post Covid lockdowns.

Best to call I think. While it's a pain when your buyer cancels, I think most people will behave reasonably about it.

 

[happy_2008]

Why are you pulling out?

 

[ChrisD.]

It was discussed on the previous page or so but in short neither my mrs or I 'love' the house and to do the changes we want would cost significantly more than we thought. Neither of us are particularly gutted about pulling out which I think says a lot. Instead we are going to do some minor improvements at home such as do out the en suite, tiles in the kitchen, redecorating etc. The house is big enough for the both of use despite the usual 'new build' drawbacks which we've managed to live with for 6 years.

 

[Amplus]

It was discussed on the previous page or so but in short neither my mrs or I 'love' the house and to do the changes we want would cost significantly more than we thought. Neither of us are particularly gutted about pulling out which I think says a lot. Instead we are going to do some minor improvements at home such as do out the en suite, tiles in the kitchen, redecorating etc. The house is big enough for the both of use despite the usual 'new build' drawbacks which we've managed to live with for 6 years.

After having some one pull out on us on the day of exchange after 5 months on Monday causing the chain to collapse think it's a pretty scummy move due to the pain and cost it causes everybody and hope Karma pays back the people who did that. They pulled out because the house needed to much work doing. After 5 months and on the day of exchange surely you would have known that months ago.

How far along are you?

If it's at the start or you are still not close to exchange I get it you do what's best for your family but if you are near to exchange and you are pulling out just because you have changed your mind surely you would have known that months ago work needed doing. Pretty disgusting thing to do (only if your near completion after several months of course) and I couldn't sleep at night knowing I did that to somebody after months and months.

 

[koolpc]

Thing is, thats life. Unpredictable.

Everyone has their reasons. It can hurt though.

 

[ChrisD.]

After having some one pull out on us on the day of exchange after 5 months on Monday causing the chain to collapse think it's a pretty scummy move due to the pain and cost it causes everybody and hope Karma pays back the people who did that. They pulled out because the house needed to much work doing. After 5 months and on the day of exchange surely you would have known that months ago.

How far along are you?

If it's at the start or you are still not close to exchange I get it you do what's best for your family but if you are near to exchange and you are pulling out just because you have changed your mind surely you would have known that months ago work needed doing. Pretty disgusting thing to do (only if your near completion after several months of course) and I couldn't sleep at night knowing I did that to somebody after months and months.

The initial offer was accepted just before (or after maybe) Christmas, my arranged survey was done only last week. I don't think we are too far away from draft contracts as she was initially buying my house, so very minimal chain.

End of the day I know it's a scummy move but I have to look after number 1. I've been texting her this morning as we get along well and naturally she's gutted but she completely understands our reasoning.

 

[LiamJ]

Congrats!

As for me, we put down a reservation for a new build with HTB as first time buyers back in middle of November. We were due for a completion by the end of January until an issue came up with the mortgage offer that our solicitor identified, something to do with proof of gifted funds towards our deposit. Our solicitor insists everything has been fulfilled, but the lender hasn't acknowledged that and is now asking again for information that we have already provided. This has now caused our HTB authority to run out and require extending, causing another delay. All this for something that just seems to be miscommunication or misunderstanding!

Starting to get a little tired with it, but thank god we're not part of a chain or in a position where the sale is time critical!

So this ending up taking us another week to get sorted... but finally the lender approved everything on Monday as required, and we finally exchanged contracts! Because of the delay and having to renew HTB, we weren't able to get the funds released by HTB quick enough to complete on the same day as hoped, so we've had to agree to complete next Thursday 25th to allow enough time.

So glad we're finally done with the process and now just have to wait to get our keys!

Called Virgin Media yesterday to see when we can book in getting our internet installed, the earliest they can do is 16th March which is slightly annoying, but I guess that's just how it is currently. They put me on high priority, so might be earlier if there's a slot that opens up, but it could be a long 2 and a half weeks!

 

[ChrisD.]

Can't you get FTTP in a new build?

 

[fastwunz]

Unless you are buying a really old property then for me surveys are like snake oil.
I had one and never bothered again with my other houses.

Had one surveyor turn up at my property and jump around on the floorboards and didn't go outside at all and that was a full survey they had paid for.

Just my opinion but it would be better to take a builder round rather than a so called surveyor

springy floor boards are an indication of damp and wet rot to the joists.

it can be a very serious and very expensive thing to fix and often investigations uncover significant further issues.

 

[Biz.Kid09]

Just had a slight bump in the road appear, HSBC aren't taking into consideration my bonus figure for the lending so my broker has asked me to stump up some more money to cover the difference. Bit annoying.
Not the end of the world but just unexpected amount I need to find.

 

[LiamJ]

Can't you get FTTP in a new build?

We can actually. I also spoke to BT yesterday, but they weren't able to confirm what equipment had already been installed on site, so an engineer visit was also necessary, and their lead time for appointments was as long or even longer.

However, I've been on to our developer today who says that FTTP should be available without an engineer visit, as all the equipment is already there, just sometimes BT doesn't have that info when they should. So gonna call BT today and see what they can do.

Initially went with VM as there was a good cashback deal through my employer that made it ~£10 a month cheaper than equivalent BT package, but seems like there's a deal on now that closes the gap a bit.

 

[ChrisD.]

There will be an ONT in the house already and it will be connected up. There's a serial number on the ONT that you give to BT when you order and they can remotely activate it. Between VM and FTTP I'd be choosing FTTP every time.