Realistically I would always say 3 months from offer accepted to moving date assuming the usual fun and games but no massive ball aches. A few good solicitors in the chain and all the vendors pushing for an ASAP move may save a few weeks. Realistically with Covid and everyone needing to move ASAP for tax savings the time to complete is a lot longer at the moment - probably around 4 months.
The nervous wait to exchange....
- Thread starter noj
- Start date
Received the mortgage offer in the post just now, solicitors are doing whatever they do.. When do you start looking at home/contents insurance, I read it needs to be done before completion but what is completion, when you get the keys?
Yes, you will get your keys on completion date, which is the finalisation of your purchase. However, you want insurance in place before you exchange contracts. Sometimes you will complete on the same day you exchange, but usually it will be up to a week or two later.
After you exchange, you are under legal obligation to buy the property (as I understand it), so insurance protects you under the circumstances that something happens to it, like flood or fire, before you even complete.
Suppose I can join this thread now as I have had an offer accepted on my first property yesterday. The offer was not the best that the seller received in terms of money, but were keen to go with my partner and me as we are First Time Buyers with no chain.
Mortgage broker has been instructed to make an application, homebuyer report requested for survey and a local solicitor (whose office is about four doors up from the estate agent) has been appointed. Fingers crossed it all goes through ahead of 30 June...
Mortgage broker has been instructed to make an application, homebuyer report requested for survey and a local solicitor (whose office is about four doors up from the estate agent) has been appointed. Fingers crossed it all goes through ahead of 30 June...
Are you buying a property worth more than £300,000? If not, stamp duty doesn't apply to you until beyond this amount regardless of stamp duty holiday, so it doesn't matter if you complete post-June.
Edit: have just seen your location. Probably more than 300k
Yup. £420k so £6k potential liability. We still have just over three months to complete so I am feeling positive. If come mid April there been no real movement I will get a touch nervous.
We are considering our options removal wise. We are moving literally a stones throw away. It's a 4 bed house but has built in fridge, washing machine and dishwasher. The only large appliance to move is a tumble drier, there's 3 or 4 items of medium size furniture (TV stand, wardrobe, book shelf) and the rest is my PC and work parts plus clothes and kitchen stuff. What I'm getting at is that it's a lot less than you'd expect from a 4 bed with children in the house (we don't have any). First removals quote has come in at around £950 with us packing which is cliff edge steep IMO. Currently waiting on a second quote.
With that said, a Luton van which should fit everything in is £130 overnight from Enterprise, plus <£10 diesel and say up to £100 for packing materials for arguments sake (most of which we could get off Facebook for free). I've already got a few friends who have said they will help. Plan would be to load the Luton the night before completion day leaving only mattress and basic amenities in the house. Pack that on moving day and get the lads round for our completion time, unload van, order pizza, open beers. Seems to be a good £600+ saved by doing it ourselves.
Having not moved in a chain before, is the above reasonable? Have I forgotten anything obvious?
With that said, a Luton van which should fit everything in is £130 overnight from Enterprise, plus <£10 diesel and say up to £100 for packing materials for arguments sake (most of which we could get off Facebook for free). I've already got a few friends who have said they will help. Plan would be to load the Luton the night before completion day leaving only mattress and basic amenities in the house. Pack that on moving day and get the lads round for our completion time, unload van, order pizza, open beers. Seems to be a good £600+ saved by doing it ourselves.
Having not moved in a chain before, is the above reasonable? Have I forgotten anything obvious?
Seems reasonable.
You may need to do more than one trip but doesn’t sound like you have a lot. We managed to fill half a Luton just from our garage alone so doing a 4 bed in one trip seems ambitious. I’d expect 2 or 3 trips being realistic.
But yeh, old up the first one the night before or first thing in the morning, get the keys, unload, go back for the rest before the new buyers get agitated.
It’s the loading that takes all the time as you have to think about it to make sure you maximise the space you have. Some stuff just takes up a lot of space and doesn’t really stack very well like sofas, arm chairs and high backed dining chairs. Old blankets and bed sheets are what you need to protect all your stuff from rubbing in transit.
You may need to do more than one trip but doesn’t sound like you have a lot. We managed to fill half a Luton just from our garage alone so doing a 4 bed in one trip seems ambitious. I’d expect 2 or 3 trips being realistic.
But yeh, old up the first one the night before or first thing in the morning, get the keys, unload, go back for the rest before the new buyers get agitated.
It’s the loading that takes all the time as you have to think about it to make sure you maximise the space you have. Some stuff just takes up a lot of space and doesn’t really stack very well like sofas, arm chairs and high backed dining chairs. Old blankets and bed sheets are what you need to protect all your stuff from rubbing in transit.
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Just a heads up but I would be very careful with insurance and the wording of it. I know of a couple that exchanged contracts got the keys to their new house but where due to fly out on holiday. They decided to go, while they were away the header tank burst and did loads of damage to the house (read frozen lake of water pushing the lower walls out) and although they were technically insured they would not pay out because at the time they had not moved in so it was classed as not being lived in., turned into a right nightmare with lawyers and insurance and what not and I know the chances of this happening are really slim but it does happen.
Thanks. We are only taking 1 two seater sofa and we'll be ordering a new one as soon as the shops are open and we can try some out. The kitchen table is quite small and the legs can be removed, the chairs are cheap and will stack. I'd be surprised if we didn't fill the Luton in one go. But if we can't we can put anything left over in the garage so it could be a quick turnaround. Plus my mate has a VW van we can borrow. But I'm warming to this idea rather than paying movers. Just have to get a few more quotes and see if anyone is more reasonable than the first quote.
Well, in the space of a month or so, my house has sold, found a place, offered, accepted. Mortgage offer recieved, all with solicitors now. Unsure of the timeline from here on out.
My purchase - the owners are moving to rented so that is fairly straight forward and my buyer is first time cash buyer, so I am anticipating things being quite quick, at a guess I would be moving around Mid May.
Oh and by the way, I will never bother with a mortgage broker again, Nationwide had a mortgage offer to me in less than a week!
My purchase - the owners are moving to rented so that is fairly straight forward and my buyer is first time cash buyer, so I am anticipating things being quite quick, at a guess I would be moving around Mid May.
Oh and by the way, I will never bother with a mortgage broker again, Nationwide had a mortgage offer to me in less than a week!
Soldato
- Joined
- 30 May 2007
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- 4,970
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- Glasgow, Scotland
Where did you end up in the end?
my completion date is proposed end of april just need the buyers to agree.... They're frustrated it's so far away.
To be honest I cant be bothered at this point and just want the exchange to go through, not really bothered about waiting an extra couple weeks.
To be honest I cant be bothered at this point and just want the exchange to go through, not really bothered about waiting an extra couple weeks.
I assume you don't need to sell the flat in order to fund the house, else I'm surprised anyone's accepted an offer!
Nope. But, it’ll sell quickly. We currently live in one of the coolest places in the world apparently.
Plus, the sellers aren’t in a huge rush so that helps I guess.
Ah! We negotiated with buyers of the house we want and have agreed price etc but they wouldn't go as far as taking the house of the market until our offer was proceed-able (ie our apartment was sold).
We accepted an offer last night, 13 working days after the price agreement with our purchase, and 14 working days after putting our apartment on the market, and are waiting for our sellers to accept the official offer now. Hopefully they won't play games !
We accepted an offer last night, 13 working days after the price agreement with our purchase, and 14 working days after putting our apartment on the market, and are waiting for our sellers to accept the official offer now. Hopefully they won't play games !
An offer can be accepted doesn't need to be taken off the market. I had mine accepted before I had even sold mine, it was basically on the table that they had accepted and ready to proceed when I was, luckily things worked out and we have moved forwards.
Same situation as me then, agreed the price but "formal" offer and removing property from market had to wait until my property had a proceed-able buyer accepted.
It's just wording I guess, but unless it's taken off the market I don't count it as accepted, and unless it's a proceed-able offer it's not worth the paper it's written on! Even when taken off the market nothing is certain until contracts exchanged in E&W, but at least it feels a little more robust when it's not being actively marketed.
Associate
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- 13 Mar 2012
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- 61
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- Hartlepool
Exchanged yesterday morning. Pretty sure I never want to interact (or as in this case, not interact) with solicitors ever again!