The nervous wait to exchange....

[b0rn2sk8]

Indeed and our posts didn’t contradict each other, in fact they agreed.

Although neither of us is willing to say categorically but a quick search online suggests you can with the obvious caveats that if you make a mistake, you are liable.

For how much it’s costs in actual solicitor time, your certainly just better off letting a professional do it when you are talking about saving £1,000 on a £X00,000 purchase.

 

[a1ex2001]

Conveyancing is such a competitive market that it isn’t worth the hassle of doing yourself!

 

[montymint]

I'm in the sweet spot of my best mate being a solicitor , still gotta pay the man (with no discount!) but he does good work and I trust him to do his thing.

 

[Peerzy]

If only this were true often the banks valuations have no basis in reality and are performed by people looking on Rightmove and doing a drive by! They seem incapable of taking into account recent market fluctuations only reacting to price rises months after they are a fact and making genuinely weird decisions. The only thing the bank should be doing is assessing if the sale of the property at auction would cover the banks risk which lets be honest is certainly the case for anyone taking a 70% mortgage on a property not in the ghetto!

I'd see it both ways, the bank need to protect their interests in the long term. Suddenly 3 similar properties in the area sell (complete, on LR) for 25% more than normal in the most recent 3 months doesn't necessarily mean they should value everything else like that as it's a small sample and subject to outliers and market fluctuations. By the time the house has completed in 6 months time those 3 odd purchases could be 1yr old and the rest of the market has sat at 5% growth.

The surveyors I know and have spoken to working for bank valuations generally do a bit more than RM and a Google.

I'd personally never see a bank valuing a property I'd offered on as lower than I though as a negative thing, it gives me a great position to negotiate with (especially as I'd have been comfortable with the price I offered). They'll be protecting themselves and the buyer by association against emotion, snap decisions, short term waves etc....

 

[a1ex2001]

I'd see it both ways, the bank need to protect their interests in the long term. Suddenly 3 similar properties in the area sell (complete, on LR) for 25% more than normal in the most recent 3 months doesn't necessarily mean they should value everything else like that as it's a small sample and subject to outliers and market fluctuations. By the time the house has completed in 6 months time those 3 odd purchases could be 1yr old and the rest of the market has sat at 5% growth.

The surveyors I know and have spoken to working for bank valuations generally do a bit more than RM and a Google.

I'd personally never see a bank valuing a property I'd offered on as lower than I though as a negative thing, it gives me a great position to negotiate with (especially as I'd have been comfortable with the price I offered). They'll be protecting themselves and the buyer by association against emotion, snap decisions, short term waves etc....

Having been on the wrong end of a ridiculous bank valuation that left me scrabbling about for 5k at the last minute we will have to disagree, my house was the last in our street to sell for less than 200k the one before it was 20k more than we paid and the next three were 30-40k more than we paid yet they still wouldn’t lend us 125k on it which would have been lower than the opening bid at a repossession auction. In the 16 years we have owned the house it has more than doubled in value the local market is bonkers! Every house in the postcode sells in 2-3 weeks and goes to sealed bids even during the great financial crisis prices didn’t drop yet I know of dozens of people who have been put out by bad bank valuations in the area.

 

[Skillmister]

I don’t think there is anything stopping you doing your own conveyancing but if you have a mortgage, they’ll instruct a solicitor to do their element which normally your solicitor would do on their behalf.

It also assumes you know what you are doing and given how little it actually costs, it’s really not worth it. A big chunk of the fees you’ll end up paying anyway for surveys, searches etc.

You may get a few raised eyebrows from others in the chain too and they may not deal with you without a solicitor onboard. I’d certainly be asking questions about it.

I have acted for buyers buying from sellers doing their own conveyancing a few times and it's a total pain. Having to hand hold them through it feels very conflict of interesty and like you say for the price of conveyancing these days it makes little sense

 

[andicole0]

This is such a dreadful system in England. Our sale took 4 months longer than expected due to ill-advised 1st time buyers (our buyers buyer). Then just as we were about to exchange on our purchase, the seller changed his mind! We found a 2nd house to buy but the seller was in no rush and hadn't even started looking for a new home. Renting short term is a nightmare, nothing available except holiday let's at silly money.

 

[rG-tom]

What's the LTV to get a rate of 1.19? We've gone for an 85% at 1.69% (giggidy) fixed for 5 years. We're hoping to have the property revalued after the 5 year fixed and fall in to a much better bracket.

1.69% 5 year fix at 85% LTV? that's bloomin good, who is it with?

 

[PermaChanged]

NatWest International, slightly different market being in Guernsey.

 

[montymint]

argh, the stress is building - the underwriting for my buyer began back on the 3rd!

So anxious this is going to fall through

 

[Vita]

Hopefully get the paperwork/contracts this week to sign. Our date to complete has moved a little later, which is no issue. As long as our end is sorted I’m happy. It’s gone smooth but I’m having to now chase the solicitor as I think he’s overloaded with work.

 

[montymint]

Hopefully get the paperwork/contracts this week to sign. Our date to complete has moved a little later, which is no issue. As long as our end is sorted I’m happy. It’s gone smooth but I’m having to now chase the solicitor as I think he’s overloaded with work.

urgh, my contracts are all signed and with the solicitors - so are my sellers and buyers. So hopefully once the bank says yes to the buyer it's full throttle.

 

[mikehhhhhhh]

argh, the stress is building - the underwriting for my buyer began back on the 3rd!

So anxious this is going to fall through

I feel the pain. I had weeks and months of what felt like fob offs, delays and uncertainty. On top of that, I was facing £7.5k of SDLT if it wasn't completed in time (before the extension)

Then one day it all clicked into place so quickly, we ended up having to move the seller's preferred completion date back to get everything done in time.

 

[squerble]

Still hearing nothing from our buyer except a request to service the boiler before the sale completes.

Our mortgage broker requested a few more documents last week and it seems things must finally be moving as the surveyor is going to the house we've had an offer accepted on tomorrow, so fingers crossed we'll hear more on the mortgage decision early next week.

We were told at the start of the process that offer to completion times were anywhere between 10-16 weeks at the moment with everyone trying to complete before the end of September to beat the stamp duty changes. This hasn't made the wait any easier though, and at this point I think I'd almost be happy to just accept the £2k hit in SDLT we'll have to pay just to know we'll get the house.

 

[Vita]

We should be done and dusted in 3 weeks. It can’t come sooner.

 

[Irish_Tom]

We have a new buyer!

They’re cash buyers and are keen to be in by the end of September (!) so they aren't doing any searches or surveys…

The paperwork is signed and back to the solicitor so we just have to wait for them to do their thing.

Fingers crossed it goes through this time.

 

[koolpc]

We have a new buyer!

They’re cash buyers and are keen to be in by the end of September (!) so they aren't doing any searches or surveys…

The paperwork is signed and back to the solicitor so we just have to wait for them to do their thing.

Fingers crossed it goes through this time.

Brave not having searches / survey carried out!

 

[Irish_Tom]

Brave not having searches / survey carried out!

Yeah, I believe they are taking out indemnity insurance in case there are any issues.

We only bought the place three years ago and had everything done, so we know the place is sound.

If they’re happy to forgo the usual procedures in order to secure a quick purchase I’m not going to stop them.

 

[montymint]

Another week gone and the buyers mortgage is still not sorted, although there’s hope.
Apparently the underwriter needed the buyer to have a bigger deposit, which he’s agreed to as a new mortgage illustration - so fingers crossed it’s sorted next week.

the house I’m buying is empty so once the mortgage offer is in it should be super quick

 

[Rabtech]

Our buyer is now threatening to pull out due to the delays, they have set a deadline of 17th September. Our solicitor is now scrambling to try and get things through with our vendors new solicitor. Trying to get the buyers solicitor to stretch to the end of September by the latest. Contract pack is finally through, searches ordered on the new place.