The nervous wait to exchange....

  • Thread starter Thread starter noj
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So, we are almost giving up on getting a house now (moving on from a flat), had a couple of places fall through now in 5month.

Trying for another place, but tbh, not sure if it is a new thing, but the estate agents are just the worst. All they seem keen on thesedays is this whole "best and final bid", this wasn't a thing 5 year ago, but now they seem to manipulate people into a bidding war.

We have had the previous estate we used for a place that fell through pretty much lie to us. They kept telling the other side we weren't moving on with paperwork because we had covid, turns out we just wanted a survey which the estate agents told us we didnt need one, well the survey revealed a roof that had insulated foam on the inside and various other problems.

Anyway, trying for another place with different estate agent and again all they are bothered about is informing us that the "best and final" bid deadline is looming and keep asking us do we want to up our bid?

If this isn't accepted we are just giving up for a couple more year to see how the world plays out.
 
Quick update from me after this time last week.

Original flat (attic conversion, no shared garden etc and communal stairwell to the flat) I offered on was great but first offer was rejected £235k from £240k guide price. During this time I went to see another flat that was magnificent in comparison and I liked the first one but this one has high ceilings, own ground entrance, with nice stairs leading in to the flat, fully sound proofed, lots of light and own kitchen not a kitchen/diner like the first one and....... a huge private garden (not shared) woohoo !! This also means I get to keep the cat as we were both worried we'd have to give her up due to lack of outside access.

Original flat - https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/123656435#/?channel=RES_BUY
New flat - https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/123745664#/?channel=RES_BUY got it for £246k
 
Having not exchanged on Friday we had a phone call from the solicitor this morning to say we were all ready to proceed today with a planned completion this Friday. Once again, we still haven’t exchanged as they now can’t get hold of the end of the chain. It’s painful, especially having offered with the prospect of not being in a chain for this very reason. Who knows when we’ll exchange, we figured the solicitor phone call this morning was promising. The solicitor is equally irritated since he did all the paperwork ready having been instructed to do so this morning.

Edit: absolutely amazing. EA emails us late tonight. The sellers solicitors told ours they were ready to exchange, but didn’t have the phone number of the sellers sellers solicitor at the end of the chain. Apparently they now have it. We’ve told everyone we’re considering our options this week if they don’t get it done.
 
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Anyone had an issue swapping utilities over? I let Bulb know I was leaving, and they said something about the new house not having a compatible meter and tough titties essentially?
 
dLockers said:
Anyone had an issue swapping utilities over? I let Bulb know I was leaving, and they said something about the new house not having a compatible meter and tough titties essentially?
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Your moving to a new place right?

Assuming your not under contract with the existing supplier it’s as simple as call them up on the final day, give them the meeting readings and instruct them to close the account.

When you get to the new place, confirm the meter readings with the old owners and call up the supplier and take it over. They may want you to agree to some fixed contract, it will be very expensive though and you don’t need to take it and can go into the SVR.
 
dLockers said:
Anyone had an issue swapping utilities over? I let Bulb know I was leaving, and they said something about the new house not having a compatible meter and tough titties essentially?
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Octopus here and went from smart meter to the older dumb meter without any problems.

Gave them last reading and first readings and that’s it
 
fastwunz said:
I’ve just looked at Storey Homes - their houses appear to be the most generic boxes you could ever wish for - am I missing something or is there a development that offers something with even a modicum of architectural effort that I’m missing?

At least Redrow ‘try’ with their heritage collection
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Redrow aint a company I've heard of, must be the great north/south divide lol

Up this way they're deffo the better choice from what we've looked at

EDIT:
Aye just had a look on their site, the furthest "North" they get is harrogate/Leeds apparantly
 
ChrisD. said:
Everything where we are looking at which has character, is about £200k over the price of a new build and probably wants another £100k spending in it.

I mean £700k U WOT M8.
www.rightmove.co.uk

Check out this 4 bedroom detached house for sale on Rightmove

4 bedroom detached house for sale in Branch Hill Rise, Charlton Kings, Cheltenham, GL53 for £650,000. Marketed by CJ Hole, Cheltenham
www.rightmove.co.uk www.rightmove.co.uk
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Dropped 50k already, so clearly overpriced. Probably still overpriced, but has a stunning garden and lots of potential.

~Divine~Wind~ said:
Mental rate aye

That was my perception of new builds too until I moved away from the cheaper end.

We initially started looking at Avante Homes then move to Storey and then Cussins.
Must say Storey (whilst priced a bit higher) do seem to be miles ahead of the competition in my eyes

As I mentioned above tho, you need to get in fast to these as the good plots go quick.
Prices between developments can differ hugely too, 2 local developments to us nigh on 70k difference in price for same house
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I've seen the nicer end of some of these new build estates, but you still have a small garden, that generally is looked over by a group of other houses close by and/or your garden view has at lest one side looking at the side of a neighbours garage. This is Dandara and they are pretty premium.

It's tough to find those older gems in the dust that need rennovations.
 
~Divine~Wind~ said:
Redrow aint a company I've heard of, must be the great north/south divide lol

Up this way they're deffo the better choice from what we've looked at

EDIT:
Aye just had a look on their site, the furthest "North" they get is harrogate/Leeds apparantly
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Ah fair enough - yes I don’t think Redrow go your way sadly although they might charge rather a bit more. Just don’t buy Persimmon lol
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
Your moving to a new place right?

Assuming your not under contract with the existing supplier it’s as simple as call them up on the final day, give them the meeting readings and instruct them to close the account.

When you get to the new place, confirm the meter readings with the old owners and call up the supplier and take it over. They may want you to agree to some fixed contract, it will be very expensive though and you don’t need to take it and can go into the SVR.
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Yeah I guess I had assumed they'd just swap the service over, but they essentially flat out refused. I don't think Bulb are accepting new Customers either and I was broadly quite happy with them. I don't plan to do any fixing or anything - SVR yolo is my strategy.

grudas said:
Octopus here and went from smart meter to the older dumb meter without any problems.

Gave them last reading and first readings and that’s it
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Octopus are asking me to call if I really want to switch to them lol.
 
dLockers said:
Yeah I guess I had assumed they'd just swap the service over, but they essentially flat out refused. I don't think Bulb are accepting new Customers either and I was broadly quite happy with them. I don't plan to do any fixing or anything - SVR yolo is my strategy.


Octopus are asking me to call if I really want to switch to them lol.
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I would not be surprised about bulb not accepting new customers tbf. They're in a pile of poo. Octopus I believe is trying to buy them.

I was a customer already so it was easier I guess. Octopus is decent, dashboard for prices etc is good and they seem to be ok price wise. I wouldn't fix of course, I'm on their variable rate and will stay on that until things look better.. if ever :D
 
**** me, what I day. I’ll update when this is or isn’t exchanged for Monday/Friday. The ammunition is flying :p

Amazing how things move when you’re ready to pull out and offer on something else with the solicitor estimating said new property could go through in 3 weeks. I suspect we’ll complete Monday (they can have the weekend, that’s it). Either way my patience is done. The sellers were ready to break the chain in June, it’s just a joke now.
 
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Still waiting for exchange here - was meant to happen 2 weeks ago (but our seller had not returned their docs despite insisting they had), then yesterday was meant to happen but one of the solicitors was unreachable, still no word today.

We were meant to be moving on the 10th, now looks like 17th - on the 19th our chain collapses due to first link in the chain loosing there mortgage offer and they cannot extend it, or afford to complete if they get a new deal.

So bloody stressed.

And while I've been typing this - it's only finally bloody happened - WE HAVE EXCHANGED!
I can't believe it!

Obligatory link: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/118545656#/?channel=RES_BUY
 
lemonkettaz said:
So, we are almost giving up on getting a house now (moving on from a flat), had a couple of places fall through now in 5month.

Trying for another place, but tbh, not sure if it is a new thing, but the estate agents are just the worst. All they seem keen on thesedays is this whole "best and final bid", this wasn't a thing 5 year ago, but now they seem to manipulate people into a bidding war.

We have had the previous estate we used for a place that fell through pretty much lie to us. They kept telling the other side we weren't moving on with paperwork because we had covid, turns out we just wanted a survey which the estate agents told us we didnt need one, well the survey revealed a roof that had insulated foam on the inside and various other problems.

Anyway, trying for another place with different estate agent and again all they are bothered about is informing us that the "best and final" bid deadline is looming and keep asking us do we want to up our bid?

If this isn't accepted we are just giving up for a couple more year to see how the world plays out.
Click to expand...

You just have to be hard and be prepared to walk.
It's not an auction.
You need to know whether the house is over or underpriced by looking at the local market and local historical sales.
The estate agent has a vested interest in getting you to pay more as that gives them a bigger percentage of commission.

Easier said than done in a fast moving market, but don't be taken advantage of.
Shoot your shot and if they don't like it, walk away.
Lots of chancers at the moment! Be it overpriced to begin with or agents turning the screws and playing on your perceived desperation.
It's almost like a game of poker at the moment.
 
BongoHunter said:
Still waiting for exchange here - was meant to happen 2 weeks ago (but our seller had not returned their docs despite insisting they had), then yesterday was meant to happen but one of the solicitors was unreachable, still no word today.

We were meant to be moving on the 10th, now looks like 17th - on the 19th our chain collapses due to first link in the chain loosing there mortgage offer and they cannot extend it, or afford to complete if they get a new deal.

So bloody stressed.

And while I've been typing this - it's only finally bloody happened - WE HAVE EXCHANGED!
I can't believe it!

Obligatory link: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/118545656#/?channel=RES_BUY
Click to expand...
Looks great. Gratz.
 
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