The nervous wait to exchange....

Soldato
Joined
14 Mar 2005
Posts
16,815
Location
Here and There...
So close now, the Conveyancing on our existing house remortgage is nearly through (they have asked for a redemption figure) the last couple of issues between the lawyers for our next house should be done so fingers crossed we are there in the next week or so! Taking on a massive project and leaving behind a house we have spent ten years renovating and modernising so excited but nervous and sad all at the same time!
 
Associate
Joined
7 Oct 2004
Posts
848
Phone call from my seller that she is going to sign some papers for her new flat next week. I can only hope that means she is at the exchanging stage, and I can sign to exchange near enough the same day!
 

DRZ

DRZ

Soldato
Joined
2 Jun 2003
Posts
7,417
Location
In the top 1%
That is rough :( How are you out by such a large amount, though? (If non personal to answer). Ive completed enough purchases including a very far from simple one which dragged on and on....but never been into any of them by "much".

Most of that is just the increase in the market in the intervening period, plus missing the end of the SDLT covid holiday. We are however also renting while between houses (forced due to personal/family circumstances) which adds insult to injury.
 
Soldato
Joined
5 Oct 2009
Posts
13,824
Location
Spalding, Lincs
@DRZ I can't begin to imagine how you feel. The whole house buying process is an absolute joke and there's far too many people ending up in your situation. All you can think is that it wasn't meant to be, fingers crossed something better comes up for you and it all goes smoothly.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Jun 2018
Posts
4,607
Location
Isle of Wight
Last time I spoke to the solicitor she told me she's waiting to hear about fixtures and fittings paperwork. Which is quite funny, seeing as it's basically empty. No fridge, cooker, furniture etc. The only thing that could potentially be removed now would be the ceiling fans and the air conditioning unit. It's empty, the woman is in care, clearly everything they wanted is gone already, so just sign the paperwork!

DRZ, that's really rough. We were gazumped after 2 weeks with our first go, then the sellers pulled out probably around 4 or 5 weeks in our 2nd attempt.
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Nov 2008
Posts
7,081
But, its still not 'actual' money spent?

What's the difference? The delay means DRZ will be *spending* £20k more on a similar property than a few months ago. His mortgage will be bigger, the money will come from him and go to the bank / seller eventually. So it's an extra cost incurred.
 

Jez

Jez

Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
33,073
Most of that is just the increase in the market in the intervening period, plus missing the end of the SDLT covid holiday. We are however also renting while between houses (forced due to personal/family circumstances) which adds insult to injury.
Wow yes, I can see how this is really adding up. What a total arse, i hope things look up :(
 
Soldato
Joined
28 Dec 2017
Posts
8,388
Location
Beds
Went and viewed a place that's up for auction today. Marks the first property me and my partner have checked out in person.

Can't get too hopeful about auction properties really as a first time buyer, but my head's screwed on and I know enough about building to check for visible issues. If we happen to get lucky, it'll make the difference between staying in London and being priced out.
 
Soldato
Joined
12 Jul 2005
Posts
3,913
Went and viewed a place that's up for auction today. Marks the first property me and my partner have checked out in person.

Can't get too hopeful about auction properties really as a first time buyer, but my head's screwed on and I know enough about building to check for visible issues. If we happen to get lucky, it'll make the difference between staying in London and being priced out.

I live in Surrey and that’s frankly too close to London for me. Christ if I even had a sniff of a chance I would be as far away from London as physically possible and wouldn’t look back. My wife’s work prevents this. Sigh.
 
Soldato
Joined
28 Dec 2017
Posts
8,388
Location
Beds
I live in Surrey and that’s frankly too close to London for me. Christ if I even had a sniff of a chance I would be as far away from London as physically possible and wouldn’t look back. My wife’s work prevents this. Sigh.
TBH I've not enjoyed "London" in general for a long time but I've lived here all my 34 years and I don't know anything else. I've now got 2 sisters with 4 of my nephews/niece on the south coast, so between there and London would work. Of course that's almost as expensive :rolleyes: So it looks like we'll end up in Essex or somewhere north.
 
Associate
Joined
19 Sep 2010
Posts
2,338
Location
The North
So updates, solicitor tells us that the contracts are ready and will be posted to us today, so one step closer. We've already agreed with the vendor that the ideal completion date for us both is mid January so should hopefully be exchanged within the next couple of weeks
 
Soldato
Joined
29 Jul 2011
Posts
15,603
Location
Near Northants / MK
Vendors accepted a £2k reduction on house i am buying because of damp issue reported on the survey..

How bad was your damp issue?

I've had my report back today, approx 13k of 'remedials' but most of it is moot points, like damaged concrete outside, the house was built in 1910 it's not a new build I am expecting things lke that.... However...

There are significant raised moisture levels around the front and right walls. No significant raised moisture levels were noted to the flooring.

Significant raised moisture levels were noted to the rear when checked with a moisture meter.

Basically there is a lot of moisture in certain areas of the house, what do I do with this information? They are recommending an intrusive survey, however, I plan on extending off this side in a couple of years, the fact that the flooring is fairly fine, makes me slightly more optimistic it's an issue I can kick down the road and resolve when I extend? Do I ask for a couple of k off? A few k off?

These issues are among some others that I would need to resolve. I'm just a little bit stuck on where I go with the above, there are drainage 'issues', but I will be ripping down all existing guttering and installing new which will resolve a lot of the issues.
 

DRZ

DRZ

Soldato
Joined
2 Jun 2003
Posts
7,417
Location
In the top 1%
How bad was your damp issue?

I've had my report back today, approx 13k of 'remedials' but most of it is moot points, like damaged concrete outside, the house was built in 1910 it's not a new build I am expecting things lke that.... However...



Basically there is a lot of moisture in certain areas of the house, what do I do with this information? They are recommending an intrusive survey, however, I plan on extending off this side in a couple of years, the fact that the flooring is fairly fine, makes me slightly more optimistic it's an issue I can kick down the road and resolve when I extend? Do I ask for a couple of k off? A few k off?

These issues are among some others that I would need to resolve. I'm just a little bit stuck on where I go with the above, there are drainage 'issues', but I will be ripping down all existing guttering and installing new which will resolve a lot of the issues.

Damp has always seemed to me to be extremely vague at best, usually driven by people trying to sell you a solution to a problem that probably isn't an actual problem. At what height is the raised moisture levels and how were they checked? Often, already-rectified issues from decades ago might have left behind significant salt deposits which will fool a conductivity-based meter. Is there any other evidence indicating there is a current damp problem ie peeling wallpaper, staining, mould etc? Even if this is present, there could well be other things going on like poor ventilation. My parents were quoted thousands upon thousands to rectify a "rising damp" problem when all that was wrong was that someone had stuffed the ventilation bricks full of newspaper!

Assuming you're going into a 1910-built house with eyes wide open and pockets deep enough to remediate any of the many, many things which could be wrong which a basic survey is likely to miss then I'd be tempted to either pop round and have a look yourself and judge it or just try your hand at a bit of a discount.

The house which fell through on us (posted about earlier this week) had "a damp problem" at the side of one of the bay windows. Of course everyone contacted wanted to charge a fortune to even look but a cursory look by myself showed that it was likely caused by a combination of a climber and a blocked gutter ie easily rectified for almost zero cost.
 
Soldato
Joined
12 Jul 2005
Posts
3,913
Damp has always seemed to me to be extremely vague at best, usually driven by people trying to sell you a solution to a problem that probably isn't an actual problem. At what height is the raised moisture levels and how were they checked? Often, already-rectified issues from decades ago might have left behind significant salt deposits which will fool a conductivity-based meter. Is there any other evidence indicating there is a current damp problem ie peeling wallpaper, staining, mould etc? Even if this is present, there could well be other things going on like poor ventilation. My parents were quoted thousands upon thousands to rectify a "rising damp" problem when all that was wrong was that someone had stuffed the ventilation bricks full of newspaper!

Assuming you're going into a 1910-built house with eyes wide open and pockets deep enough to remediate any of the many, many things which could be wrong which a basic survey is likely to miss then I'd be tempted to either pop round and have a look yourself and judge it or just try your hand at a bit of a discount.

The house which fell through on us (posted about earlier this week) had "a damp problem" at the side of one of the bay windows. Of course everyone contacted wanted to charge a fortune to even look but a cursory look by myself showed that it was likely caused by a combination of a climber and a blocked gutter ie easily rectified for almost zero cost.

if the general public had even a cursory knowledge of basic building pathology, many many of these damp companies would go out of business.

for example, timber suspended floor in a 1930s house.

blocked air bricks
Blocked gutters
External ground levels too high causing bridging
Salt deposits
Foliage
Damaged render or plinth

could be any of them and all are very easily rectified

dmap companies would have you strip all the plaster off up to 1.5 internally, inject one of these useless damp proof courses and then make good
 
Back
Top Bottom