House buying process

I was in a similar position 2 years ago. Our quick sale lasted about 3mths! by the time the legal people get involved...

seriously, how it should work...

week 0 - get the cash ready - get an agreement in principle. I was able to do this before putting in any offers anywhere.

PUT IN THE OFFER, then:

week 1, get the surveyers in if you can or at least asap.

As soon as he has been in call him and get a feel for the report.

If it sounds ok then contact the legal guy and start getting the searches done. don't be tempted to do this the other way around as if you don't like the survey then you don't want to waste cash on searches on something you are not going to buy.

Things to think about: Is it a share of freehold? are there management companies invloved. Find out who they are and do a search of companies house to see if they have been doing their filings and who the sectary is.

week 2 leave the laywer to get on with things while you sort out the cash - chase the mortage company make sure it is all in place. Do another viewing. Still want it? make sure you do before it is too late...!

week 3 - chase laywer (I did this on an almost daily basis), how are the searches doing, is everything ok? exchange contracts.

week 4 - goto laywer and get him to arrange cash transfer on completion in that week. complete

In reality, you will spend weeks 3 - 10 sorting out problems from the survey, boundry disputes, the mortage company who has lost your paperwork, the management company who has not filled any companies house returns, getting it written into the contract that white goods are left in place, delays in the searches ...it just goes on....

you're thinking you can plan this!?!?!?!!!!!

You need to arrange, Mortgage, Survey, Solicitor / conveyancer property searches. Your biggest problem will be the solicitors they will be slow, not do exactly what you want or just ignore you. if feel you have the choice use a conveyancer. Because you are both chain free providing there are no hidden problems with the house, either legally or building wise theoretically it could be done in a couple of days. however a month or two minimum is more likely.

The Q

In article , jah_aaa writes

As long as it takes. Bear in mind your up against the legal profession not noted for their excellent "drop-what-were-doin-and-run-around-after you-now-this-instant" mentality.

Fortunately you aren't in the chain gang though.

Don't ever get excited until you have the keys in yr hot sweaty palm:-)

The quickest I've ever had to exchange (which is what matters) is 6 weeks but that was for a brand new house..

week 5-55 , realise that there is a 10 layer deep chain on the house that you want to buy, wait for another year before the chain eventually gets sorted because the lady you're buying from eventually buys a third property because the first two she woul have bought were chained from here to kingdom come.

Been there, done that....

/Morten

I just bought a house too. The owners had died, so no problems there. I had already sold my last house and was renting, so no problems there. I didn't need to get a mortgage, so no building society problems . The survey was simple.

And it took three months to happen. I used a conveyancer, not a solicitor but that was just chance. There seems to be a consensus that the conveyancer/solicitor is the holdup.

Mine did nothing until I hit the roof. And then she did one thing and then nothing more until I hit the roof. Repeat to fade...

I suppose the thing to do is to ask the solicitor for a time scale before you take them on, though in my experience they will tell you what you want to hear. Pah!

The time before, I did my own conveyancing and that was much less stressful though there is lots of paper shuffling to do

Anna

Hi there,

We're in a similar position to you - we're first time buyers, and are buying a house that is vacant, and has no chain.

We made the offer a few weeks ago, it was accepted, and we got our bank to process the details, and to book the survey. The mortgage loan agreement forms came about 5 days later, and we signed and returned these. In this time, the surveyor went around to the house to do the Homebuyer Survey, and I got my mum to pick up the report the following day. Once we had the report, we told our solicitor that we wanted the house, and to get on with it.

We paid for the searches in cash, and these searches were put in place on Monday. We've been told that this can take 2 to 3 weeks to be completed, then we'll be paying the solicitor a visit to sort everything out. I'm hoping this all goes as quick as possible, but I'm not hopeful.

I just want the house now, as we've put down plenty of money for searches and surveys etc... I hate the fact that after all this money spent, we don't have any right to the house yet. :-( I've just god bad visions of someone coming in and making a much higher offer.

Ste

In article , tony sayer writes

And how. When I was buying this place, the vendor rang the agents (who then rang me) 6 weeks after I had put in the offer asking why I wasn't getting a move on with the sale. The reason I wasn't getting a move on was because the vendors solicitors hadn't even made first contact with my conveyancers, even allowing for Christmas/New year, it thought this was a bit on the slow side.

Adrian

I made a cash offer first week of Jan. We hope to exchange this week. No particular problems, just bits and pieces delay matters. Vendor already has somewhere to go and wants the money so no chain involved. My advice is to maintain contact with the vendor and tell him/her what your solicitor says is the reason he can't exchange. Keep the solicitors on their toes and if there's a problem ask if there's a way around it.

Tres.

Between lawyers, searches and mortgage companies even quick sales can drag on....

Get your mortgage agreed in principle and sorted out as quickly as you can - you can lean on your solicitor to speed them up a bit, but you have no such leverage over a huge mortgage company. Mine dragged on for ages - 200k for a first time buyer's mortgage apparently raised eyebrows and had to go through several authorisation hoops at head office (which, of course, the people dealing with me neglected to mention at the outset).

You don't say where you are, but if you are in W or NW London area email me, I can put you in touch with an unusually quick & sharp solicitor.

First time buyer in Scotland, saw house, liked it, went rount to solicitor and told him to put in offer which he did that day, closing date was set for

4 days from then as more people had been interested, got call from solicitor on closing date to tell me offer had been accepted, next day went to solicitors office and signed the neccesery forms, 5 days later sellers signed their side of the paperwork, agreeing on a move in date of 4 weeks from then, from that moment on the contract is signed ansd sealed so the sellers cannot accept a bigger offer, basicly the deal was done within 10-14 days of me seeing the house. Why is the English property selling system so open to abuse? Why dont they change it?

Drew

In article , Drew writes

Good point. Why not?...

When I moved in 2001 I asked the estate agent who sold our flat to suggest a solictor who would answer my calls and do the work promptly and accurately. The guy he suggested did exactly that and the move was almost stress-free, contrasting wildly with the time in 1997 when I used the cheapest solicitor, and paid for it.

Yes, it was more expensive to use this guy because he takes on fewer clients, but the extra was well worth it.

The estate agents are dealing with solicitors constantly and so they should know who is good, who is sloppy and who plays golf in the office.

Regards

Neil

Doesn't the Scottish system require surveys to be done prior to offer? Or is it that the agreement to purchase (which is binding) can be broken if the survey throws up a problem?

Also, because of the Scottish system of sealed bids, you commonly have to bid signficantly more than the asking price to try and get it. Potentially you could bid 25% more than someone if you thought/were advised that most would offer 20% more and then find that the only other person offered 10% more. Depending on the deadline for offers, you could be sitting around for

2 weeks or so to hear if your bid is accepted. In this country, you can generally get a response in a day or so letting you know either to increase your offer, or consider other properties.

At least in this system you have a price and you're reasonably sure you can get it for that price (or less). Rarely does the price go over the asking price, unless it gets into a silly bidding battle increasing the price above the asking price - which I don't think is that common.

Whilst our system has its problems, from what I've heard, the Scottish system isn't favoured by everyone - even some Scots. I've also heard that more and more get-out clauses are being added making it far easier for someone to pull out - making it similar to the English method.

David

I believe they get to hold YOUR money in THEIR bank.

(Just casting aspersions here, mind you, I did hear in the slump Maggie caused such bods were topping theirselves LR&C)

snipped to make Mailgate send this damned post.

(I'm only allowed so much quote per reply line.)

(Hence the insertion of spurious spacing.)

You found an honest one? No wonder he had time to look after you.

Now what I need to do is lose this epic somewhere in the great out-there.

Bloody hell that was hard work!

The Scottish system is not perfect. Buyers generally have to pay for surveys with no guarantee of clinching the sale. When chains cannot be linked neatly, someone has to either bridge or move into temporary accommodation. On the positive side, it is a breath of fresh air to buy a house there and know with about 99% certainty that the accepted offer and agreed date will stand. Vendors usually don't waste everyone's time and effort putting houses on the market just to see if they get a nice offer and then and only then actually think about looking themselves.

The English system makes lots of money for everyone involved in the prevarication.

Not as such. The traditional method did in fact involve potential buyers doing surveys first and then making a virtually unconditional offer, taking a risk of having wasted the survey fee if someone else's offer is accepted instead, and the risk is of course greater the more buyers are bidding for one property.

It doesn't work like that. Once an agreement is in place (i.e. an unconditional offer has been unconditionally accepted), then that's that. It can be broken, but then severe penalties come into play.

In fact all offers are and have always been conditional, with a long list of ifs and buts, most of them standard and uncontroversial, but the practice has been catching on of slipping a satisfactory survey in as one of the conditions. Such offers are pretty well incapable of being unconditionally accepted, but what tends to happen is that they can be accepted subject to the condition being deleted. This then gives the buyer a day in which to get the survey done and make up his mind, and modify his offer by deleting the condition.

This tends to work well if you're the only buyer in the running. For when a closing date for competitive bidding is set, the competing offers may have deadlines for acceptance on them, and a seller will obviously give preference to a higher but conditional offer over a lower unconditional one only if the perceived risk of losing both is low.

There is also the "Surveys On Line" scheme where the survey is initially commissioned by the seller, and the buyers can buy a copy cheaply if they agree to pay the full price if they buy the property. But this is the more expensive homebuyer's report. If you only want a basic valuation and cursory inspection, you may as well pay for it.

That's OK. You bid what you think it's worth.

Unlikely. You can put an acceptance deadline on your offer, and if the offer is high enough, the seller is under pressure either to wait around for a higher one or to accept. Often he'll accept on the spot, or, if enough other interest has been expressed, announce an early closing date.

That is normal here too.

Potentially

I am not an expert, just relaying my experience, As far as i know you dont need a survey prior to offer and presumably the agreement to purchase wording can be changed, your point on having to bid more than the asking price is a valid one, it is very scary.

I did not know the asking prices in England was close to what you generly pay, up here yo have to go quite a bit over to have a chance, 30% is not uncommon. The Scottish system tends to be favoured by sellers and hated by buyers.

Yes, get out clauses are being added (mainly by English, Welsh and foreign buyers) but you run the risk of your offer being rejected if you have too many and another offer has fewer or none.

Drew