Houses

[Jon the Hat]

On 12/02/2021 at 15:10, Manini said:

Proper first world problem but the new build we’ve bought was started at the same time as two other identical houses on our street. The house at the end of our new street has completed today and they’ve got the keys and moved in. I’ve been told that they have finished building ours but they’re estimating completion towards the middle/end of March. 
 

Just so frustrating that there’s such a big gap from one moving in to us when they were started at the same time and I think we, actually, reserved our plot first. 

Developers really do work to their own timelines. They drip feed property availability to avoid more than a couple being available, and buyers have to fall in line.

[Manini]

27 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

Developers really do work to their own timelines. They drip feed property availability to avoid more than a couple being available, and buyers have to fall in line.

Agreed, it seems. I spoke to the sales rep on Friday afternoon and told her that I’m not paying another full months rent for March on my current rental so to all intense and purposes I’m moving out of that on the 28th Feb. I got the response of I’ll see what we can do so I’m expecting movement. 
 

I imagine a big part of it for the developers is managing their own cashflow too I guess.

Edited 15 February 2021 by Manini

[Sly]

9 hours ago, Manini said:

Agreed, it seems. I spoke to the sales rep on Friday afternoon and told her that I’m not paying another full months rent for March on my current rental so to all intense and purposes I’m moving out of that on the 28th Feb. I got the response of I’ll see what we can do so I’m expecting movement. 
 

I imagine a big part of it for the developers is managing their own cashflow too I guess.

Supply and demand. 
 

The less on the market, the better price they can ask for. 
 

The market is slowing though. I guess many people are waiting to see what March brings in terms of available property.

[Greg2607]

so we are due to be completing this Friday.... or at least, us and our buyer are aiming for this date. We still haven't exchanged and our solicitor has gone awol since saying the 19th was doable....

 

I don't think I can think of a single profession, where such a lack of contact and customer care is the norm more so than conveyancing.   We originally engaged our solicitor in September. Still haven't spoken to them on the phone and they reply to an email maybe once every 3 weeks.  

 

Calling every day seems to make no difference or get any extra urgency.  

 

We are set to lose our deposit on the removal firm if the move doesn't happen and we are due to have virgin installed at our new house on saturday (20th).  

 

With home working AND homeschooling to factor in, missing Friday but completing Monday or tuesday of next week would be a bloody nightmare!

[Greg2607]

On 16/02/2021 at 10:46, Greg2607 said:

so we are due to be completing this Friday.... or at least, us and our buyer are aiming for this date. We still haven't exchanged and our solicitor has gone awol since saying the 19th was doable....

 

I don't think I can think of a single profession, where such a lack of contact and customer care is the norm more so than conveyancing.   We originally engaged our solicitor in September. Still haven't spoken to them on the phone and they reply to an email maybe once every 3 weeks.  

 

Calling every day seems to make no difference or get any extra urgency.  

 

We are set to lose our deposit on the removal firm if the move doesn't happen and we are due to have virgin installed at our new house on saturday (20th).  

 

With home working AND homeschooling to factor in, missing Friday but completing Monday or tuesday of next week would be a bloody nightmare!

So, the nightmare happened.  But worse than JUST not completing Friday, we were told by our solicitors that it was all systems go.

 

Removals came and loaded up and then took all our stuff to the new house.  At 17:00 the completion got abandoned and all of our stuff had to go into storage. 

 

We've spent the weekend in the same clothes we had on on Friday. 

 

No beds to sleep in. 

 

No furniture to sit on and had to entertain the kids in a totally empty house all weekend. 

 

£1500 of storage & additional removal costs.

 

The worst of it, with Covid, we couldn't go to a hotel or go to families. 

 

It's convinced me I could never last in solitary confinement in prison.  This weekend feels lik the longest 2-3 days of my life. 

 

Fingers crossed it gets sorted today. 😳

[Jon the Hat]

36 minutes ago, Greg2607 said:

So, the nightmare happened.  But worse than JUST not completing Friday, we were told by our solicitors that it was all systems go.

 

Removals came and loaded up and then took all our stuff to the new house.  At 17:00 the completion got abandoned and all of our stuff had to go into storage. 

 

We've spent the weekend in the same clothes we had on on Friday. 

 

No beds to sleep in. 

 

No furniture to sit on and had to entertain the kids in a totally empty house all weekend. 

 

£1500 of storage & additional removal costs.

 

The worst of it, with Covid, we couldn't go to a hotel or go to families. 

 

It's convinced me I could never last in solitary confinement in prison.  This weekend feels lik the longest 2-3 days of my life. 

 

Fingers crossed it gets sorted today. 😳

Ah mate that is a nightmare.  Fingers crossed for you.  Solicitors are a nightmare at the moment, we have 4 in the chain, all ready to exchange a week ago and it just hasn't happened, no idea why.

[Jon the Hat]

Also, **** Covid, go to your families.  They are allowed to help with a home move.

[Milo]

1 hour ago, Greg2607 said:

So, the nightmare happened.  But worse than JUST not completing Friday, we were told by our solicitors that it was all systems go.

 

Removals came and loaded up and then took all our stuff to the new house.  At 17:00 the completion got abandoned and all of our stuff had to go into storage. 

 

We've spent the weekend in the same clothes we had on on Friday. 

 

No beds to sleep in. 

 

No furniture to sit on and had to entertain the kids in a totally empty house all weekend. 

 

£1500 of storage & additional removal costs.

 

The worst of it, with Covid, we couldn't go to a hotel or go to families. 

 

It's convinced me I could never last in solitary confinement in prison.  This weekend feels lik the longest 2-3 days of my life. 

 

Fingers crossed it gets sorted today. 😳

That's awful, mate.

 

I never understood why Friday was such a popular day to move, tbh (We moved on a Friday and it nearly went tits up) - I know that the idea is that you get the weekend to sort your stuff out - but if it goes wrong on Friday afternoon then you are completely shafted for a couple of days.

 

Full sympathy here, bud  - hope things work out for you today  

[Greg2607]

40 minutes ago, Milo said:

That's awful, mate.

 

I never understood why Friday was such a popular day to move, tbh (We moved on a Friday and it nearly went tits up) - I know that the idea is that you get the weekend to sort your stuff out - but if it goes wrong on Friday afternoon then you are completely shafted for a couple of days.

 

Full sympathy here, bud  - hope things work out for you today  

Well because we didn't complete, turns out we now need new paperwork issued.  Still haven't sorted it.  Removal company have said if it's not done by 14:00 then we will incur more extra cost. 

 

Just a hideous situation. 

[z-layrex]

2 hours ago, Greg2607 said:

So, the nightmare happened.  But worse than JUST not completing Friday, we were told by our solicitors that it was all systems go.

 

Removals came and loaded up and then took all our stuff to the new house.  At 17:00 the completion got abandoned and all of our stuff had to go into storage. 

 

We've spent the weekend in the same clothes we had on on Friday. 

 

No beds to sleep in. 

 

No furniture to sit on and had to entertain the kids in a totally empty house all weekend. 

 

£1500 of storage & additional removal costs.

 

The worst of it, with Covid, we couldn't go to a hotel or go to families. 

 

It's convinced me I could never last in solitary confinement in prison.  This weekend feels lik the longest 2-3 days of my life. 

 

Fingers crossed it gets sorted today. 😳

Wtf happened? A solicitor not doing their job I imagine?

[Stuntman_Mike]

2 hours ago, Greg2607 said:

So, the nightmare happened.  But worse than JUST not completing Friday, we were told by our solicitors that it was all systems go.

 

Removals came and loaded up and then took all our stuff to the new house.  At 17:00 the completion got abandoned and all of our stuff had to go into storage. 

 

We've spent the weekend in the same clothes we had on on Friday. 

 

No beds to sleep in. 

 

No furniture to sit on and had to entertain the kids in a totally empty house all weekend. 

 

£1500 of storage & additional removal costs.

 

The worst of it, with Covid, we couldn't go to a hotel or go to families. 

 

It's convinced me I could never last in solitary confinement in prison.  This weekend feels lik the longest 2-3 days of my life. 

 

Fingers crossed it gets sorted today. 😳

The same thing happened to us, we were just fortunate that we had somewhere to stay and hadn't loaded everything up, only my car.

 

It's unbelievable that this kind of thing is even possible. I hope everything is sorted for you and your family soon mate.

[David Guiza]

1 hour ago, Greg2607 said:

Well because we didn't complete, turns out we now need new paperwork issued.  Still haven't sorted it.  Removal company have said if it's not done by 14:00 then we will incur more extra cost. 

 

Just a hideous situation. 

What new paperwork needed to be issued? Unless there is a change to a condition or a rider being added etc, the already signed paperwork should still be sufficient. Any amendments to dates can be hand amended and still accepted by the Land Registry.

Awful situation to be in, hope it's worked out for you now. I remember staying until 6:15pm to get a completion through when HSBC just didn't release funds the working day before completion, as they instructed they would, and instead the advance arrived at 17:00pm. I then had to contact the vendor's solicitor who's client was unwilling to allow my client to go in a license for the weekend, despite the fact that the property was vacant and our client was moving from Leicestershire to Kent. We were able to formulate completion in the end, at around 6pm once the money came in and was transferred over. 

 

COVID has had a huge affect on some firms where the partners' will only accept simultaneous exchange/completions. This in turn means that numerous parties have no certainty whatsoever about the date until the completion date itself; I understood that approach to an extent back in the first peak, but it seems far too cautious now as there are always ways to vary the contract is something unforeseen did happen between exchange and completion. 

[FoyleFox]

4 hours ago, Greg2607 said:

So, the nightmare happened.  But worse than JUST not completing Friday, we were told by our solicitors that it was all systems go.

 

Removals came and loaded up and then took all our stuff to the new house.  At 17:00 the completion got abandoned and all of our stuff had to go into storage. 

 

We've spent the weekend in the same clothes we had on on Friday. 

 

No beds to sleep in. 

 

No furniture to sit on and had to entertain the kids in a totally empty house all weekend. 

 

£1500 of storage & additional removal costs.

 

The worst of it, with Covid, we couldn't go to a hotel or go to families. 

 

It's convinced me I could never last in solitary confinement in prison.  This weekend feels lik the longest 2-3 days of my life. 

 

Fingers crossed it gets sorted today. 😳

Absolute nightmare, total sympathy and hope that it's all resolved today.

 

I'm definitely aiming to exclude Friday as our completion date, we'd certainly be stuck, us, Pickfords and all of our stuff would be half across the Irish Sea with no way back!

 

Just for info if anyone else suffers a similar fate, hotel stays are permitted if you are moving house.

[RonnieTodger]

Me and my girlfriend are going for our first house, currently. Have been to view 5 since Friday. We absolutely loved one that we saw and put an offer in straight in at the asking price, as we knew it had a lot of viewers. 

 

We had a call back this morning to basically say that there have been other offers above asking and that it's going to sealed bids. The most we'd go is £10k above asking as that's what it was on for originally and we do believe it is worth that. 

 

Going to submit a higher offer today, but don't want to go all the way up yet, in case estate agents have any tricks up their sleeve. Then again, we don't want to miss out on a great house, pissing about over the odd £1,000. We're currently renting with a 1 month rolling contract, so we're not under pressure to get out but we'd like to.

 

We're first-time buyers, so not having a chain should weigh in our favour, but it's a tricky one. Not sure how to play it.

[Leicester_Loyal]

3 minutes ago, RonnieTodger said:

Me and my girlfriend are going for our first house, currently. Have been to view 5 since Friday. We absolutely loved one that we saw and put an offer in straight in at the asking price, as we knew it had a lot of viewers. 

 

We had a call back this morning to basically say that there have been other offers above asking and that it's going to sealed bids. The most we'd go is £10k above asking as that's what it was on for originally and we do believe it is worth that. 

 

Going to submit a higher offer today, but don't want to go all the way up yet, in case estate agents have any tricks up their sleeve. Then again, we don't want to miss out on a great house, pissing about over the odd £1,000. We're currently renting with a 1 month rolling contract, so we're not under pressure to get out but we'd like to.

 

We're first-time buyers, so not having a chain should weigh in our favour, but it's a tricky one. Not sure how to play it.

I'll give you the same advice I got last year.

 

The house is only worth what it's worth to you. If you're renting, you're spending hundreds a month on that anyway, so after another 12 months the extra few grand will be irrelevant. In the end I ended up offering full asking price, but the mortgage company said it was worth less, so the deal collapsed anyway. I'm still living at home 6 months later, with more money saved, but prices have gone up by like 5% since then anyway, so if anything I'm probably worse off.

 

If you truly believe it's worth the 10k more, offer it, but be prepared for the negative equity situation if the mortgage company doesn't agree, for mine I had to put in 10k of my own money, which was too much when you're a FTB in an uncertain market.

[Jon the Hat]

17 minutes ago, RonnieTodger said:

Me and my girlfriend are going for our first house, currently. Have been to view 5 since Friday. We absolutely loved one that we saw and put an offer in straight in at the asking price, as we knew it had a lot of viewers. 

 

We had a call back this morning to basically say that there have been other offers above asking and that it's going to sealed bids. The most we'd go is £10k above asking as that's what it was on for originally and we do believe it is worth that. 

 

Going to submit a higher offer today, but don't want to go all the way up yet, in case estate agents have any tricks up their sleeve. Then again, we don't want to miss out on a great house, pissing about over the odd £1,000. We're currently renting with a 1 month rolling contract, so we're not under pressure to get out but we'd like to.

 

We're first-time buyers, so not having a chain should weigh in our favour, but it's a tricky one. Not sure how to play it.

With sealed bids you don't go up incrementally, it is a one shot offer aimed to get the maximum for the seller.  The point is to offer the max you are comfortable with and be ready to lose it.  

[RonnieTodger]

20 minutes ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

I'll give you the same advice I got last year.

 

The house is only worth what it's worth to you. If you're renting, you're spending hundreds a month on that anyway, so after another 12 months the extra few grand will be irrelevant. In the end I ended up offering full asking price, but the mortgage company said it was worth less, so the deal collapsed anyway. I'm still living at home 6 months later, with more money saved, but prices have gone up by like 5% since then anyway, so if anything I'm probably worse off.

 

If you truly believe it's worth the 10k more, offer it, but be prepared for the negative equity situation if the mortgage company doesn't agree, for mine I had to put in 10k of my own money, which was too much when you're a FTB in an uncertain market.

Good point mate. I've spent the last couple of days going through 75 pages of this, so I'm sympathetic to so many situations on here  

If i was living at home I'd be more inclined to wait, but the longer we rent, the more money we effectively throw away anyway.

 

6 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

With sealed bids you don't go up incrementally, it is a one shot offer aimed to get the maximum for the seller.  The point is to offer the max you are comfortable with and be ready to lose it.  

Yeah correct, but I've read that they can still call you up to eek out a little more? Was thinking of going to the higher end, but not full of what we're prepared to pay. So much to learn as a FTB

[Jon the Hat]

5 minutes ago, RonnieTodger said:

Good point mate. I've spent the last couple of days going through 75 pages of this, so I'm sympathetic to so many situations on here  

If i was living at home I'd be more inclined to wait, but the longer we rent, the more money we effectively throw away anyway.

 

Yeah correct, but I've read that they can still call you up to eek out a little more? Was thinking of going to the higher end, but not full of what we're prepared to pay. So much to learn as a FTB

It is not worth losing it for a couple of grand to be honest.  I would bid max.  They might ask for more anyway I suppose.

[Sly]

Well ...... our house sale is going well 😂 

 

We had it valued by 4 agents, all came in at around the same price. 
 

We listed it at below that asking price, as we wanted a quick sale. 
 

We’ve been on the market for four weeks now, not a single viewing! 😂 

 

They've done virtual video tours, the lot. 
 

It’s not like it’s got horrendous colours, it’s still the magnolia and white like when we moved purchased it new four years ago. As we knew we’d be moving this year, it’s practically empty as well. Most of the furniture has gone. 

Edited 23 February 2021 by Sly

[Jon the Hat]

1 hour ago, Sly said:

Well ...... our house sale is going well 😂 

 

We had it valued by 4 agents, all came in at around the same price. 
 

We listed it at below that asking price, as we wanted a quick sale. 
 

We’ve been on the market for four weeks now, not a single viewing! 😂 

 

They've done virtual video tours, the lot. 
 

It’s not like it’s got horrendous colours, it’s still the magnolia and white like when we moved purchased it new four years ago. As we knew we’d be moving this year, it’s practically empty as well. Most of the furniture has gone. 

Some people struggle to see a house without furniture in as a home.  Is there much else on the market in the area?  What does your agent think?

[Jon the Hat]

23 hours ago, Greg2607 said:

So, the nightmare happened.  But worse than JUST not completing Friday, we were told by our solicitors that it was all systems go.

 

Removals came and loaded up and then took all our stuff to the new house.  At 17:00 the completion got abandoned and all of our stuff had to go into storage. 

 

We've spent the weekend in the same clothes we had on on Friday. 

 

No beds to sleep in. 

 

No furniture to sit on and had to entertain the kids in a totally empty house all weekend. 

 

£1500 of storage & additional removal costs.

 

The worst of it, with Covid, we couldn't go to a hotel or go to families. 

 

It's convinced me I could never last in solitary confinement in prison.  This weekend feels lik the longest 2-3 days of my life. 

 

Fingers crossed it gets sorted today. 😳

How is it going Greg?  Are you in?

[Mickyblueeyes]

21 hours ago, Greg2607 said:

Well because we didn't complete, turns out we now need new paperwork issued.  Still haven't sorted it.  Removal company have said if it's not done by 14:00 then we will incur more extra cost. 

 

Just a hideous situation. 

Why do you need new paperwork ? 
 

Also, whose fault was the delay ?

 

if it was the other side, you can ask but you’ll have difficulty as there wasn’t a signed contract. 
 

if it was your lawyer, you should be asking to be compensated. If not, report them and their indemnity insurance will compensate you.

[Mickyblueeyes]

20 hours ago, David Guiza said:

What new paperwork needed to be issued? Unless there is a change to a condition or a rider being added etc, the already signed paperwork should still be sufficient. Any amendments to dates can be hand amended and still accepted by the Land Registry.

Awful situation to be in, hope it's worked out for you now. I remember staying until 6:15pm to get a completion through when HSBC just didn't release funds the working day before completion, as they instructed they would, and instead the advance arrived at 17:00pm. I then had to contact the vendor's solicitor who's client was unwilling to allow my client to go in a license for the weekend, despite the fact that the property was vacant and our client was moving from Leicestershire to Kent. We were able to formulate completion in the end, at around 6pm once the money came in and was transferred over. 

 

COVID has had a huge affect on some firms where the partners' will only accept simultaneous exchange/completions. This in turn means that numerous parties have no certainty whatsoever about the date until the completion date itself; I understood that approach to an extent back in the first peak, but it seems far too cautious now as there are always ways to vary the contract is something unforeseen did happen between exchange and completion. 

Why are some firms partners only accepting same day exchange/completions ? This is what I hate about high street law. There seems to be limited practical experience from  partners at that level. Who didn’t have the ability to it at one of the big boys and essentially hold the experience level of an associate at a large firm. 
 

If partners are making this decision on COVID rules changing without consulting their clients, it’s disgraceful. Lawyers are paid to advise, not dictate. 

[Wolfox]

20 hours ago, RonnieTodger said:

Me and my girlfriend are going for our first house, currently. Have been to view 5 since Friday. We absolutely loved one that we saw and put an offer in straight in at the asking price, as we knew it had a lot of viewers. 

 

We had a call back this morning to basically say that there have been other offers above asking and that it's going to sealed bids. The most we'd go is £10k above asking as that's what it was on for originally and we do believe it is worth that. 

 

Going to submit a higher offer today, but don't want to go all the way up yet, in case estate agents have any tricks up their sleeve. Then again, we don't want to miss out on a great house, pissing about over the odd £1,000. We're currently renting with a 1 month rolling contract, so we're not under pressure to get out but we'd like to.

 

We're first-time buyers, so not having a chain should weigh in our favour, but it's a tricky one. Not sure how to play it.

£10k above for a FTB house seems toppy 

 

don’t forget you’re in a great position a a FTB  and that has a value…

 

but, the heart wants what the heart wants !

[RonnieTodger]

13 minutes ago, Wolfox said:

£10k above for a FTB house seems toppy 

 

don’t forget you’re in a great position a a FTB  and that has a value…

 

but, the heart wants what the heart wants !

Yeah, I agree. The way we're looking at it, is that if the asking price was £10k higher, we would've gone for it at that price. We saw another one in the same area, that wasn't quite as nice on at £10k higher than this one too.

 

We didn't quite go £10k above in the end. Conscious of the estate agent playing a blinder for the vendor  

 

Lets see what happens!