House Buying Is More Stressful Than Divorce, Death or Bankruptcy

[Figaro]

Wow, that is a lovely view. (But my second thought was - oh my God, the parking!)

A private sale would be brilliant, wouldn't it. I hope all your efforts pay off.

[Cerise]

I'm pondering leaflet dropping in preferred streets. The market is so tight here that I think it's probably worth a go.

[Livilla]

With that kind of crazy housing market it is definitely worth trying the direct approach of anywhere that you might be interested in, Derek - something comes of it. At east you were only 90% on the viewing, rather than heart set on somewhere? (and hopefully your place will also sell just as quickly when you come to sell?).

[Figaro]

I feel like such a novice when it comes to the entire house buying process!

The mortgage company are organising a valuation of the property. Obviously we are hoping they won't downvalue it. Does anyone know how much scope there is - I'm assuming there is e.g. 5 to 10% leeway or something?

[Derek Nimmo]

Unless there's an issue, I think they usually value it at the amount you've agreed for sale.

[Figaro]

Oh ok, that would be handy then

[Ella77]

They *want* to lend you money for 25 years! Good luck.

[Figaro]

Yeah, having just worked out how much interest we will pay them, I can see why

Thanks!

[Kenickie]

There's no leeway as such; either they down value it and won't lend you as much or they'll value it the same. Mostly it'll be fine, especially in a rising market, and if you've not got a high LTV.

[Kenickie]

They rarely do more than a drive past so if the price isn't out of step with the rest of the street you'll be fine.

[smalex]

My friend did have issues with this, when she'd got into a ridiculous bidding war with someone else, and ended up offering quite a % more than the house was originally marketed for (and needing a 9-something % mortgage).

[Estrella]

I think our chances of buying the place we've found are pretty slim. The vendors sound like they're pretty set on getting close to the overinflated asking price which we are not prepared to do. We have an appointment with a mortgage broker to get things in place in case they shift downwards but otherwise I think it's a no-go

[Princess Morripov]

Oh that's annoying Est. Do they realise how over the top the price is? Do the estate agents not realise? Perhaps it'll drop in price when they realise it's not selling?

[Figaro]

Yes, surely the EAs must realise. It might just take a bit of time for the vendors themselves to realise they're getting zero interest, but it may be that the EA has been telling them this all along.

The valuation for our new house (hopefully) is taking place next Friday. Apart from that we're just waiting for the conveyancers to sort themselves out. We decided to just use the one recommended by our mortgage broker because it came with free insurance in case things fall through, but thank you to everyone for the recommendations. (Absley/Rebs, yours was still too busy to take on new work for a few weeks!). Anyway, our conveyancer is online so we got everything to them within about 12 hours of them asking for it (because we just had to scan it all in), but the vendor is using one where everything has to be done by post, so we're still waiting for them to even receive signed confirmation that the vendor is instructing them, initial documents etc. My solicitor says she can't do anything until she receives the draft contract from them. I wish they'd hurry up!

[Angus]

Are you hoping to move before you give birth, Fig?

That's annoying, Est, but certainly seems to be common over here. I've viewed 2 houses where the EA has told me they're overpriced but the vendor insisted. We viewed one on Saturday and they'd already had an asking price offer before we got to our viewing, the house had only gone on the market the day before. Luckily it wasn't for us, but there's nothing on the market really round here and everything goes so quickly.

[Figaro]

Yes, hoping, but not necessarily expecting! I'm due on April 5th and we'd like to move by mid-March. There's no chain involved so 2 months isn't absolutely impossible, but we recognise that it's not likely, and if we have to wait a little that's fine too.

[Angus]

That's good Although like you say, it's not impossible. Fingers crossed!

[Lucy666]

Our no chain move had no complications at all but still took about 3 months from making an offer to moving day, just to help your expectations. This was in 2007, granted so things might move quicker now.

[Derek Nimmo]

This was in 2007, granted so things might move quicker now.

I don't think technology has changed the essential uselessness of (the vast majority of) conveyancers, the slow process of banks etc unfortunately!

Best of luck with it Fig, and how maddening Est. I hope nobody meets their inflated expectations.

[Princess Morripov]

I think the only way you can make things go quicker is to ring your conveyancer every day and make them hate you so much that they just want you off your hands. I managed to buy a house in 6 weeks from mortgage application with that method it does take a lot of your time up though.