The nervous wait to exchange....

[mysticsniper]

My parents have accepted an offer on thier house and had an offer accepted on another.

They had a survayor come round yesterday. It's an old house so hopefully he didn't find anything wrong.

I hope all goes well. The new house has a games room and a balcony. Sweet.

Also this virus doesn't help.

We signed about a month ago, we are set to exchange and complete this Friday, most of our possessions are in storage, due to Bassremovals decided to charge us triple on what we agreed.

So we are doing it ourselves, picking up the truck on Thursday, get the beds, sofa, fridge loaded for first thing Friday.

The last thing we need right now is a total lockdown. No one would receive a mortgage offer again and house prices will crash.

 

[The_Arbiter]

We're just going through a FTB house purchase and there's a lot of uncertainty due to Corona. If the worst case scenario I read about becomes reality it might be a 20% drop, then a 5% per year increase back up to pre-corona levels. So, if we were to back out now and wait, we could have the chance of getting a nicer house or paying less for the same type we're just buying. We'll just have to wait and see.

Me too. The market is pure guess work. If the house you want is worth the monthly cost and is a little unique just go with it. If it's a generic house with nothing special about it, sure you could wait 6 months to a year+ for a price drop, or longer for brexit.

I'm plowing through with mine, but it's a doer upper.

There'll be plenty of people still buying and new houses being slow to build, depending on area, people selling at current cost aren't just gonna drop the cost if demand is there. And where are those sellers going to buy?

It's anyone's guess right now, and rates are low.

 

[Eurofighter]

The ones my parents have hopefully bought is a house that i think is a great offer and i would really like them to live there. So virus or not we are trying to get it done. Not in person onviously.

 

[MrKnifey]

I'm staying with buying mine as it is exactly what I want in a house.. just worrying about the buyers pulling out of my house!

 

[ash_scotland88]

So offered on a couple of houses recently.
First one was accepted, happy that we need to still list ours as they're moving into newbuild. The new build has been delayed by 6months house removed from market.
Second house, amount accepted wasn't happy with regard to still needing to list ours. Today Sturgeon has advised that all construction should be stopped, this would mean effectively house market goes on pause. They've not actively rejected our offer, but also know they have found somewhere in England they're wanting.
Frustrating.

 

[mid_gen]

Got a call today, seller's seller's property got pulled off the market. Seems every still left is happy to be patient and go ahead, so fingers crossed if we wait it out, hopefully there's still some stuff out there to wrap up the chain with.

Frankly I don't see why the housing market needs to freeze (ignoring the obvious disruption to jobs and the like). It's 99% paperwork and bank transfers, then a one-off moving day.

People have to get used to a new normal where contact is minimised, but you can't have all economic activity completely cease indefinitely.

 

[mysticsniper]

We are still wanting to complete, all we need to do is collect the door keys on Friday.

 

[Skillmister]

Got a call today, seller's seller's property got pulled off the market. Seems every still left is happy to be patient and go ahead, so fingers crossed if we wait it out, hopefully there's still some stuff out there to wrap up the chain with.

Frankly I don't see why the housing market needs to freeze (ignoring the obvious disruption to jobs and the like). It's 99% paperwork and bank transfers, then a one-off moving day.

People have to get used to a new normal where contact is minimised, but you can't have all economic activity completely cease indefinitely.

Most estate agents have either stopped carrying out viewings already or will be as of tomorrow. I don't see how there will be (m)any new transactions being agreed for the next few months if potential buyers can't view properties!


We also don't yet know whether moving house is permitted given its not exactly "essential". I could see a temporary halt on moving happening unless you've already exchanged contracts. If we get any guidance on that from the government/law society I'll post in here

 

[mysticsniper]

We're moving, everyone in the chain is ready to go.

Just hope Enterprise don't close by Thursday

 

[HangTime]

Most estate agents have either stopped carrying out viewings already or will be as of tomorrow. I don't see how there will be (m)any new transactions being agreed for the next few months if potential buyers can't view properties!

Are estate agents even strictly necessary in this scenario though? Basically we are now in a situation where the majority of properties will likely be occupied during the day, meaning people can advertise online and conduct viewings themselves. This has the fringe benefit of giving the seller confidence that the buyers are adhering to hygiene practices like sanitising hands on arrival, not wiping their greasy mitts all over their door handles etc.

That said, I would still expect transactions to drop off, if simply due to uncertainty, restrictions on travel etc.

 

[Skillmister]

Are estate agents even strictly necessary in this scenario though? Basically we are now in a situation where the majority of properties will likely be occupied during the day, meaning people can advertise online and conduct viewings themselves. This has the fringe benefit of giving the seller confidence that the buyers are adhering to hygiene practices like sanitising hands on arrival, not wiping their greasy mitts all over their door handles etc.

That said, I would still expect transactions to drop off, if simply due to uncertainty, restrictions on travel etc.

I'm sure people can, but if that were going to happen people wouldn't be paying agents under normal circumstances surely?

How are people going to market the property themselves, on social media? Sure some people do but the audience is probably an extremely low percentage of what it would be on rightmove. Paid an agent 15k on Monday, I'm sure if those sellers thought they could do it themselves they'd have saved the money!

But its not just that, surveyors won't be going to properties so that cuts down the number of mortgages possible.

Search providers can't get the information from the council so results aren't being returned.

British Association of Removers have also advised no more moves should take place.

 

[HangTime]

Some people already don't pay normal agents but instead use virtual agencies like Purple Bricks etc - the difference is that people are staying home a lot more now. Historically you might have to take a day off work to conduct viewings yourself so having an agent to handle all that was much more valuable in a world where house occupation was a lot lower. So I think the fact that an estate agent can't carry out viewings shouldn't make viewings impossible although clearly given the recent mandate from the government, leaving your home to attend a house viewing wouldn't class as an essential activity anyway, so it's a moot point.

In summary I think estate agents were getting paid in part due to the logistics of needing someone to be physically present in the property.

 

[bignev72]

Are estate agents even strictly necessary in this scenario though? Basically we are now in a situation where the majority of properties will likely be occupied during the day, meaning people can advertise online and conduct viewings themselves. This has the fringe benefit of giving the seller confidence that the buyers are adhering to hygiene practices like sanitising hands on arrival, not wiping their greasy mitts all over their door handles etc.

That said, I would still expect transactions to drop off, if simply due to uncertainty, restrictions on travel etc.

People shouldn't be showing anyone around themselves as we're under quarantine. Crazy to even suggest this.

We were due to exchange this week but now everything is on hold, probably for a few months. It's frustrating but not much we can do about it. The small silver lining is that we can sort stuff out in the house and build up some extra money reserves in preparation for the move.

 

[MrKnifey]

So is it true now the banks aren't going to be lending any new mortgages?

 

[Skillmister]

So is it true now the banks aren't going to be lending any new mortgages?

Nothing has changed so far as banks releasing money to complete existing matters. Don't know about new mortgage applications but can't see them refusing them at the moment.

Wouldn't surprise me if people aren't able to move by the end of the week/early next though whether that be because there is no way to get removals, smaller solicitor firms are unable to operate sufficiently to complete and/or government instructions.

I'm probably going to end up furloughed for the initial period at this rate

 

[IvanDobskey]

Well, this whole Corona thing looks like it'll shaft our purchase Solicitors tell me they'll keep working on it, but no chance of exchange under current conditions

 

[Martynt74]

@Skillmister

How's this likely to affect work for you pal? Still got enough continuing purchases to keep things ticking over?

 

[HangTime]

People shouldn't be showing anyone around themselves as we're under quarantine. Crazy to even suggest this.

It was responding to the post on Monday that estate agents had already stopped viewings, i.e. prior to quarantine being enforced. As I said in my subsequent post, it's a moot point now anyway because I don't believe attending house viewings is a permissible reason to leave your home, whereas previously there was just a vague recommendation to reduce social contact. I'm not suggesting people should be conducting viewings at present

 

[Skillmister]

@Skillmister

How's this likely to affect work for you pal? Still got enough continuing purchases to keep things ticking over?

Expecting to be furloughed by the end of the week unless I'm one of the (un)lucky ones that carries on as skeleton staff. I'd be quite happy with it tbh. I moved firms last March to one of the national ones, been working at home for the whole year anyway and even at 80% I'd be on the same or slightly more than my old place anyway

Long term who knows. Once the furlough scheme stops I expect there will be major redundancies unless the housing market bounces back immediately which I doubt.

I typically do one exchange per working day on average. Still quite a few going through this week (exchange and completion same day only) but I have nothing scheduled to complete past Wednesday next week and unlikely more than a handful will go through over the next few weeks.

 

[Lyle44]

Had my offer accepted over a week ago, mortgage went in last Friday for 2 yr fix and was accepted subject to an internal survey & valuation, which obviosuly L&G are currently unable to do, so no progress there until the current lockdown ends. Estate agent thinks he can find a way around and have everything else progressed other than that part, I'm not so sure!