House Buying Is More Stressful Than Divorce, Death or Bankruptcy

[Pippedydeadeye]

Thank goodness Starry! It doesn’t matter a bit if you make use of contacts, and it a good job you did!

[Beena]

Thank god for that, Starry. Not what you needed at all.

I would quite like to bite our sellers. We had a very anxious phone call from our solicitor this morning as she'd been contacted to demand completion in a fortnight. Deadlines they had to meet, etc. etc. This was the first we'd heard of any kind of timescale and there isn't a hope in hell. Our solicitor hasn't started the searches yet.

We've been very clear that if we're paying more than the valuation, we need to see the surveys before we progress. They've made it very clear they won't budge on the price so if there's any major works, we'll have to pull out. I refuse to paying legal costs while that's still a possibility.

The EA was quite rude to J for suggesting 6 weeks from offer to completion is unrealistic (if we hadn't been messing about it's totally workable). There were words and the EA was sent away to find out the reason behind the sudden deadline.

They've booked a holiday and want it all done and dusted before they go.

I am so cross, on so many levels.

[Rosa]

They're bonkers, Beena.

[nineseven]

They're living in a dream world, Beena.

[Beena]

Absolutely, Rosa. I was being kind and saying they have different priorities to us, but I think your take on it is more accurate.

We should have been warned when they left a note to say the garden has been fully organic since 2012. That's because no-one has touched it since 2012. The grass is knee high.

[Chicky]

Are you in Starry?

How are your plans going Beena?

Speedy have you found somewhere yet?

All has gone to shit here. The people at the top of the chain are refusing to move out until they find a suitable rental property, their requirements are far too specific but they are apparently willing to let the chain collapse if they can't find what they want. The underlying issue is that they don't want to go into rented until their new build is ready, which might be another 6 months at least. Our buyers mortgage offer runs out at the end of July and they also need to be moved by the end of August to ensure they can apply for school places. The people we are buying from can't go into rented because they need to port their mortgage.

So, we are basically screwed. We could in theory complete on selling our house and move into rented ourselves and wait for the top of the chain to sort itself out eventually, or wait for another suitable house to come up that we like, that might be less risky than losing our buyers? It depends on second waves and whether the housing market crashes and who knows what else over the next few years. ARRGGHHHHHHHH I am so unbelievably fed up with it all.

[Tsu]

Moving into rented is a right arseache but looking back I'm glad we did it because I expect we'd have still been living in our old house and the price would have dropped and we'd be stuck.
Two moves isn't a good thing but is it the lesser of two evils?

[Beena]

I'd be very tempted by going into rental in your place, Chicky. For all the reasons you've mentioned - securing your sale now, seeing if the market crashes and so on.

I completely understand top of the chain wanting to get a rental right, but FFS it's 6 months. Living in a shithole for 6 months is infinitely better than letting the chain collapse. They are idiots.

We've had verbal from the surveys and it sounds okay so we're tentatively carrying on. It appears the EA had no idea about the sudden declaration of a deadline and has bluntly told the seller to behave their overexcited selves.

Meanwhile I've completely depressed myself with kitchens we can't afford. If anyone wins the lottery, deVOL Haberdasher's please.

[Pippedydeadeye]

deVOL are based near us; we drive by quite often. That’s a good kitchen.

[Roma]

Chicky in your situation I would definitely consider selling your place and renting. The housing market may be quite volatile over the coming year and you don’t want to risk your buyer pulling out or for the chain to collapse. Selling your place and renting for a few months might be the easiest option.

[FiveO'Clock]

Chicky, I would sell and rent a one bedroom flat.

[Ella77]

Same.

[olive]

Chicky, I would sell and rent a one bedroom flat.

I would definitely look at renting if it meant keeping your sale going through, Chicky.

[emma_p]

I so LOVE that kitchen Beena. I always loved Habitat freestanding one and it really reminds me of that but much much nicer - 90s forever!!

Chicky - I for you so much. We decided to exchange with our buyers when they threatened to pull out and trust our sellers that they would be able to exchange in line but ultimately were willing to take that risk. Our house was a bit weird and tricky in that is was a first time buyer (relatively) expensive tiny 2 bedroom terrace house in a suburb that is 100% about family houses. So it was on the market ages and we really needed to lock in that sale. Brexit really screwed us. I didn't imagine that we'd need to rent 3 different houses in 3 months which was awful at the time but doable (once we put everything in storage!) and it was absolutely worth it. I would 100% do it again.

[Chicky]

Chicky, I would sell and rent a one bedroom flat.

We’ve been discussing it a lot over the last few days. We don’t know if the people at the top of the chain actually want to move, we assume they do but it’s not a given. Their buyers (our sellers) don’t want to move out into rented as they are worried it won’t go through. We are also in the extremely lucky situation that we don’t need to sell in order to buy the house we want, so even if our buyers pulled out we would still be able to move forward if it all started moving again. We discussed moving into rented but given that we don’t need to sell it just seems too risky. If the chain completely collapses then we’ll be stuck in a rented place hoping that another property comes up (we waited two years for the one we are trying to buy now). Weighing up everything it makes more sense to stay put for the moment, although I feel desperately guilty for our buyers who have been extremely patient and will be the ones who get screwed over in the end if it all goes South.

Having said all that, the Estate agent rang earlier to say the people at the top of the chain are going to look at some potential rental places this weekend, so we may not be entirely dead in the water. The saga continues!

[Beena]

Fingers crossed, Chicky. Why are these things never straightforward?

I so LOVE that kitchen Beena. I always loved Habitat freestanding one and it really reminds me of that but much much nicer - 90s forever!!

I had the Habitat freestanding one in my first home. It broke my heart a little leaving it behind when we moved. I used to carry it out into the garden once a year to re-oil. The deVOL one looks much more refined, but is around 5x the price.

[Starry]

We are in! By the skin of our teeth really. Our house sale completed at 2.30pm so our belongings were in a van parked at a service station for three hours. Our sellers were due to leave at 6pm - at five to, we could see them strolling in and out.

It turns out they were under the impression that if the sale hadn't been completed by 4pm it would be the next day before things moved forward. Or at least that is what she told the agent when he rang to find out why they were still in the house. The general feeling is she was trying to pull a fast one, the solicitor said she always knew they needed to be out by 6pm and that their purchase would complete the following day. They needed to go into a b&b for the night. Having chatted to the neighbours and the local broadband guy, she seems like a strong personality, let's put it that way.

But we are in. Finally. They left us an attic full of paint, a freezer full of potato wedges and a garden I had to clear up after their dog before I could let the kids out in, but we are slowly unpacking now.

[happyhighlandcoo]

Congratulations, Starry!

It sounds like a stressful final few hours and not the most pleasant welcome (who would leave any of that stuff apart from maybe paint?!) but I hope you can get settled and enjoy your new home.

[FiveO'Clock]

That sounds like a good plan, Chicky x

[Ella77]

Congratulations, Starry! I’m sorry they left the place in such a mess.