The nervous wait to exchange....

joelk2 · 9 Oct 2015 at 13:39

topgun06 said:
Nice! So whats the first job?

picked up the keys on my lunch break. first thing the mrs had me doing was ripping up the hallway carpet.

As we hoped, the orignal tiled hallway floor was sitting there.

similar sort of thing to this

curiosity out the way, tonight is when ill actually start doing stuff.

first thing to sort is the bathroom (complete refit) so tonight im going to take off the wood panelling from the ceiling, rip carpets up, and generally get the room read for the plumber to take a look.

ill try make a project thread of my journey

Sunbed · 9 Oct 2015 at 13:51

Nice, what type of property is it joelk2?

topgun06 · 9 Oct 2015 at 13:53

Good stuff! Very nice, I like that hallway. One of the houses iIlooked at originally had a hallway like that.

I'll look out for your project thread.

There is a large list of things which I want to do in mine, but some will have to wait till next year I think. The first job is to look at getting a rewire and plumbing a sink into the downstairs toilet.

joelk2 · 9 Oct 2015 at 14:19

Sunbed said:
Nice, what type of property is it joelk2?

its an Edwardian property.

We knew where we wanted to live and the style of house so posted letters through the houses we liked the look of, about 60 in total.

Got 3 responses through doing that. 1 on a completely different road and a lot more expensive, 1 which was not going to be put on the market until the end of the year and this one which was 95% empty (see pictures) as theyd already moved to their new house.

(album from viewing - http://imgur.com/a/njBa2)

topgun06 said:
Good stuff! Very nice, I like that hallway. One of the houses iIlooked at originally had a hallway like that.

I'll look out for your project thread.

There is a large list of things which I want to do in mine, but some will have to wait till next year I think. The first job is to look at getting a rewire and plumbing a sink into the downstairs toilet.

Those hallways are lovely, and just what we wanted although couldnt really ask to rip carpets up when viewing so it was a hope that they were there. (uncovering the floor -

plan is to do the bathroom and redecorate the 2 girls bedrooms before we move in.

kitchen is being delvered wc/26th (ordered before exchange/completion to avoid delay)

Sunbed · 9 Oct 2015 at 15:08

Excellent! If you do a project thread I'll definitely be subscribing.

I've just seen the title deeds for the place we're purchasing and it turns out its actually Edwardian too (1901), not late-Victorian as I first though. End terrace in red Accrington brick. Now I've seen your picture the first thing I'll be doing is lifting the carpet. I hope the tiles are still there.

topgun06 · 9 Oct 2015 at 15:29

Yep, that's a lovely tiled floor. Its a shame it has been covered up.

Brenn · 9 Oct 2015 at 17:36

Mortgage approved at 5pm tonight, just waiting for a date now.

Skeeter · 10 Oct 2015 at 23:56

Offer accepted this afternoon on our first house!

It's with an online estate agent so we have no solicitors or brokers being automatically passed too us. We have a broker who got us our agreement in principle, but for a solicitor do we just look around and see who offers the best service for the best price? Anything else we need to sort?

I must say, not having an agent involved and a useless twit pretending to be an expert on a house they have never been too was quite refreshing. The owners showed us round and answered all our questions, and we made our offer online.

Burned_Alive · 11 Oct 2015 at 15:02

Skeeter said:
Offer accepted this afternoon on our first house!

It's with an online estate agent so we have no solicitors or brokers being automatically passed too us. We have a broker who got us our agreement in principle, but for a solicitor do we just look around and see who offers the best service for the best price? Anything else we need to sort?

I must say, not having an agent involved and a useless twit pretending to be an expert on a house they have never been too was quite refreshing. The owners showed us round and answered all our questions, and we made our offer online.

Definitely get a recommendation for a solicitor if you can. Maybe try asking your facebook friends?

Skeeter · 11 Oct 2015 at 20:24

We've not got anyone near who has used one recently. So we've gone with one that has a number of good reviews online and is close enough that we can go and see them too.

So mortgage sorted. Solicitor sorted. Going to arange a Hom****** survey tomorrow. Anything else we have missed?

Edit: Wow, OcUK need to grow up and sort out their filters. Not only are they banning posting of a competitor, but they also have Scunthorpe syndrome! :rolleyes:

Edit 2: Lol, yet Scunthorpe isn't blocked!!

Ekim · 12 Oct 2015 at 10:28

Heard back from the estate agents on Thursday that the property we originally offered on was back on the Market. Put in a fresh offer and was accepted on Friday.

Not getting too excited yet as I know there is a long way to go before we get the keys in our hands. The vendor doesn't have anything to move in to yet so we need to wait for them to get themselves in order before we start getting the ball rolling.

Have had a couple of recommendation for solicitors so got in contact with them for quotes. How much is normal for this? Have had one come back at £850 + VAT + Disbursements.

joelk2 · 12 Oct 2015 at 10:37

Ekim said:
Heard back from the estate agents on Thursday that the property we originally offered on was back on the Market. Put in a fresh offer and was accepted on Friday.

Not getting too excited yet as I know there is a long way to go before we get the keys in our hands. The vendor doesn't have anything to move in to yet so we need to wait for them to get themselves in order before we start getting the ball rolling.

Have had a couple of recommendation for solicitors so got in contact with them for quotes. How much is normal for this? Have had one come back at £850 + VAT + Disbursements.

i guess it depends on the price of the property.

here is a breakdown of my one.

topgun06 · 12 Oct 2015 at 10:46

Skeeter said:
We've not got anyone near who has used one recently. So we've gone with one that has a number of good reviews online and is close enough that we can go and see them too.

So mortgage sorted. Solicitor sorted. Going to arange a Hom****** survey tomorrow. Anything else we have missed?

Sounds good to me. Pretty much the process I followed.

Ekim said:
Have had a couple of recommendation for solicitors so got in contact with them for quotes. How much is normal for this? Have had one come back at £850 + VAT + Disbursements.

Mine cost £732.40.

Legal fees: £350
VAT £60
Transfer fee: £30
Some admin fee: £30
Searches: £103.40
Another search: £6
Another search: £7
Another transfer fee: £6
Registration fee: £190

Sent my first whack of cash over to the solicitor today!

Sunbed · 12 Oct 2015 at 12:56

Ekim said:
Have had a couple of recommendation for solicitors so got in contact with them for quotes. How much is normal for this? Have had one come back at £850 + VAT + Disbursements.

I just went with the cheapest on reallymoving.com. Each one on the list had nothing but bad reviews on forums etc but my experience has been really positive so far. I was quoted £539 + disbursements.

FNG · 12 Oct 2015 at 14:44

I used http://www.thelegalhouse.co.uk/ and Sarah, who I think is the sole person there, was excellent! Dealt with emails really quickly and kept me informed all the way through the process.

No association or anything!

kinobestew123 · 12 Oct 2015 at 15:09

When I first read the thread title "The nervous wait to exchange.... " many months ago, I laughed to myself and thought "no way, it's easy, we've got our mortgage approved, solicitor is instructed, just sit back and wait now".

We got to within a week of exchanging and suddenly all the issues started coming out, subsidence in a house nearby on the searches, plus some issues with land ownership.

The vendor is supposed to be emigrating to Australia on Thursday this week and we were meant to have exchanged by now ready for completion on Wednesday. I can't see that happening. :mad:

Skillmister · 12 Oct 2015 at 17:22

Ekim said:
Have had a couple of recommendation for solicitors so got in contact with them for quotes. How much is normal for this? Have had one come back at £850 + VAT + Disbursements.

Sounds cheap for London, but that would be top end here!

joelk2 said:
i guess it depends on the price of the property.

here is a breakdown of my one.

topgun06 · 12 Oct 2015 at 17:32

Its a local company in Leek. They did the local authority search, land charges search and land registry search.

Just checked the breakdown again and the legal fees were £300 and not the £350 I said. But still £732.40 all in.

Skillmister · 12 Oct 2015 at 17:34

No environmental search or water/drainage search then, interesting. Are you buying with a mortgage?

SPG · 12 Oct 2015 at 18:33

All in all i ended up paying £1130 for solicitors another one of those backward professions that will never email or accept scanned copies of anything.