1st Time Buyer - Time to back out of sale ?

Ashleighc2013

Hi all,

Looking for some reassurance, or some other folks first time buying experiences?
After viewing over 15 properties we finally found one we loved, that ticked all the boxes for us. We put in our offer, it got accepted & we paid the booking deposit the same day. The 'For Sale' ad got taken down off the internet etc. Since then everything has gone at a go-slow.

Our solicitor cant seem to get in touch with the vendors solicitor. When our solicitor finally got through to the solicitors office to speak to someone, he was told they were unaware of any sale on the property.
After getting in touch with the EA we were sent an email stating that it is merely a logistical issue, that the vendors are on the other side of the city and haven't had a chance to meet up with the solicitor.

As it is coming up-to our 5th week since we went 'Sale Agreed' I am starting to wonder will the ball ever get rolling at all? I know we are just at the start of a long road, but not having control of anything is driving me crazy.

VW 1

Powerhouse wrote:

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Ashleighc2013 wrote:

As it is coming up-to our 5th week since we went 'Sale Agreed' I am starting to wonder will the ball ever get rolling at all? I know we are just at the start of a long road, but not having control of anything is driving me crazy.

From experience just settle in and relax, it moves at a slow pace at the best of times.

We were told the vendors wanted a quick sale and it was 17 weeks from start to end of process, excluding the 4 weeks of bidding.

Ashleighc2013

VW 1 wrote: »

From experience just settle in and relax, it moves at a slow pace at the best of times.

We were told the vendors wanted a quick sale and it was 17 weeks from start to end of process, excluding the 4 weeks of bidding.

We were told they wanted a quick sale also, and were cash buyers ready to go!! Trying to remain relaxed, looking at the housing prices going up on daft does me no favours!

wench

I wouldn't pull out of the sale yet, but I would keep looking at other properties.
You don't want this to fall apart in 6 months time when the market has passed you by.

carrieb

I've just sold an apartment. I wanted a quick sale. The buyer was a 1st time buyer with no ties. The apartment was empty. It took over 4 months also. It's the solicitors and the EA. The amount of phone calls and emails we had to make was unreal. Nobody talks to anybody. We were getting told things days after they happened and we would then have to start chasing things up. It's all letters and snail mail. No joined up communication. Nobody in the whole process is proactive, everybody is reactive. It was one of the slowest processes I've ever been involved in. I have never been so frustrated. Your story doesn't surprise me at all, in fact I'd say it's normal. If you really want the house I'd hang in there. It'll be the same if you pull out and buy somewhere else.

Ashleighc2013

wench wrote: »

I wouldn't pull out of the sale yet, but I would keep looking at other properties.
You don't want this to fall apart in 6 months time when the market has passed you by.

We have been keeping our eyes open, havent seen any other properties jump out at us as of yet.

Surely if we see another house we like and want to put a bid down & it is accepted we'd have to pull out of this one ? Is that not gazumping?

Ashleighc2013

Parchment wrote: »

What we kept telling ourselves was that even though getting our house was a HUGE deal to us, its just another transaction to the bank, the EA, the solicitors and the vendor. That helps you stay logical about it.

Thanks for the reply, tbh I never really looked at it like that. I just assumed the EA and the solicitors would have pushed it along because they would want their payment.
Oh how naive I was when I started this process.
How can anyone be excited about buying their first home? This process just drains the life & soul out of you.

thisonetaken

Buying a house is a tediously slow process, but for the seller not to have been in touch with his solicitor after 5 weeks would set alarm bells ringing. If it was me I would withdraw the offer and move on.

wench

thisonetaken wrote: »

Buying a house is a tediously slow process, but for the seller not to have been in touch with his solicitor after 5 weeks would set alarm bells ringing. If it was me I would withdraw the offer and move in.

Exactly, slow progress after the process gets going is, unfortunately, normal.
For them to have not even instructed their solicitor yet, because they "live on the other side of the city" is ridiculous.

swimming in a sea

Its not in the interest of a solicitor to get it done quickly either. When I got my bill I see charges for attempted calls and repeat letters they sent to the other solicitor. I've no proof they sent any of these letters but they don't release the mortgage money to the vendor until his bill was paid, so what can you do.

wench

Ashleighc2013 wrote: »

We have been keeping our eyes open, havent seen any other properties jump out at us as of yet.

Surely if we see another house we like and want to put a bid down & it is accepted we'd have to pull out of this one ? Is that not gazumping?

Yes, when you find something else, you can pull out of this sale then. You aren't committed to it until you sign contracts.

It isn't gazumping, that's where a seller accepts more money from another bidder after agreeing to sell to you.

It may be the more "honourable" thing to only engage on one property at a time, but in 6 months or a year when this crowd of messers finally decide they aren't selling, you're the one left up the creek.

Sean Fantastic

thisonetaken wrote: »

Buying a house is a tediously slow process, but for the seller not to have been in touch with his solicitor after 5 weeks would set alarm bells ringing. If it was me I would withdraw the offer and move on.

I wouldn't withdraw the offer but keep on looking elsewhere.

al_E_kat

Keep looking, but keep your stake in this one too!

Happened to my brother and his partner, they went sale agreed on a bank repo in May and then the whole process went to a standstill. Eventually they bit the bullet and decided to look again at the end of the summer before their approval expired and went sale agreed elsewhere and then all of a sudden the bank repo got moving:rolleyes:

So they ended up with 2 properties to choose from, they went with the original and couldn't be happier now but it wasn't without complications!

Best of luck!

DavyD_83

swimming in a sea wrote: »

Its not in the interest of a solicitor to get it done quickly either. When I got my bill I see charges for attempted calls and repeat letters they sent to the other solicitor. I've no proof they sent any of these letters but they don't release the mortgage money to the vendor until his bill was paid, so what can you do.

I assume this is why I was advised to contract a solicitor with a fixed cost for the conveyance when buying our house.
Our solicitor had a set fee, plus costs of any searches etc, which were itemised.

to the OP, as everybody has said, it's a slow process. And for EA, solicitors etc, it's just another in the pile of transactions and papers they are working through on a daily basis. I assume in some cases if a mail or call isn't answered, it probably goes to bottom of the pile to be tried again when it reaches the top.
Every piece of work they do moves them towards some payment, or they wouldn't be doing it at all. Unless your purchase is worth a multiple of all others to them, you really won't get any priority.

It is the slowest and most frustrating process ever, but starting over isn't going to make it any quicker.

Good Luck with it all, hang in there

Sebastian Dangerfield

Ashleighc2013 wrote: »

After getting in touch with the EA we were sent an email stating that it is merely a logistical issue, that the vendors are on the other side of the city and haven't had a chance to meet up with the solicitor.

Have you tried, via the EA, asking that they proceed to do so immediately, as a show of good faith? Delays between solicitors are par for the course, but 5 weeks because the vendors can't be bothered to start the process seems like an unnecessary issue to me.

Ashleighc2013

Sebastian Dangerfield wrote: »

Have you tried, via the EA, asking that they proceed to do so immediately, as a show of good faith? Delays between solicitors are par for the course, but 5 weeks because the vendors can't be bothered to start the process seems like an unnecessary issue to me.

Yeah we have, he had said he was putting pressure on them as well as the solicitor to get process moving/

Samuel T. Cogley

Don't pull out but keep looking, sale agreed and booking deposits mean very little and the latter is fully refundable. The average time to close is (according to DAFT) about 4 months with a significan number taking longer. Any promises od a quick sale etc. will be nonsense in the vast majority of cases.

allybhoy

carrieb wrote: »

I've just sold an apartment. I wanted a quick sale. The buyer was a 1st time buyer with no ties. The apartment was empty. It took over 4 months also. It's the solicitors and the EA. The amount of phone calls and emails we had to make was unreal. Nobody talks to anybody. We were getting told things days after they happened and we would then have to start chasing things up. It's all letters and snail mail. No joined up communication. Nobody in the whole process is proactive, everybody is reactive. It was one of the slowest processes I've ever been involved in. I have never been so frustrated. Your story doesn't surprise me at all, in fact I'd say it's normal. If you really want the house I'd hang in there. It'll be the same if you pull out and buy somewhere else.

I had the exact same scenario as this, went sale agreed on an apt i was selling back at the tail end of October, was assured by the EA that the buyer was anxious to get it closed off before christmas.. had to evict the tenants obviously prior to this so the apartment was sitting vacant for 6 months and had to pay management and LPT fees for 2017. My solicitor couldnt get in touch with the buyers solicitor anytime she tried contacting her. Sent her repeated emails and registered mail etc etc.

It took me to ring the estate agent and tell him in February that if the the sale didnt go through by the first week in March i was withdrawing from the sale and re advertising it with another firm and ...he obviously passed this message onto the buyer and then suddenly things sprang into life and within two weeks it was gone. In the end it was actually really manic and stressful whereas it could have been a much smoother and painless experience had either the buyer or the solicitor performed there duties adequately.

Im kind of sorry i didnt do this as in the 5months it took to sell, the value of the property had risen by roughly 10k and id also been paying a mortgage on a vacant property with no tenant.

The only advice i can give to you is to ensure that all your documentation for your loan approval is fully in order and recent, payslips \ p60's, 12 month bank statements \ credit card bills \ salary certifates etc.
Also get quotations for life assurance \ mortgage protection \ home insurance and have that lined up and ready to go. If you are wary about the seller withdrawing then dont complete the survey or valuation until you have been issued contracts or are reasonably satisfied that the seller is actively trying to sell the property. But again, have contacts for both of these so that when you need them you know who to call

allibastor

First house I bought in 2012, went sale agreed on a monday. Friday six weeks later got the keys.

Buying now, had to pull out of one sale as was sale agreed for three months and no contract, went sale agreed a few weeks ago on different house and contracts went to solicitor already.

Out of interest, how long does it usually take to close once solicitor has the contracts, usually?

Eric Cartman

carrieb wrote: »

I've just sold an apartment. I wanted a quick sale. The buyer was a 1st time buyer with no ties. The apartment was empty. It took over 4 months also. It's the solicitors and the EA. The amount of phone calls and emails we had to make was unreal. Nobody talks to anybody. We were getting told things days after they happened and we would then have to start chasing things up. It's all letters and snail mail. No joined up communication. Nobody in the whole process is proactive, everybody is reactive. It was one of the slowest processes I've ever been involved in. I have never been so frustrated. Your story doesn't surprise me at all, in fact I'd say it's normal. If you really want the house I'd hang in there. It'll be the same if you pull out and buy somewhere else.

solicitors and estate agents are the absolute worst people in Ireland for this, their professions are an absolute joke in which calendars and clocks are non existent.

eezipc

For what it's worth, I bought a house in cash almost two years ago. It went sale agreed before Christmas but I didn't get the keys until 1st May. At the beginning I was told the owner wanted a quick sale but it just went so slow. I nearly cancelled a couple of times and I had started looking elsewhere but it finally came through. From what I can tell, the reason it went so slow is posting letters. The owner would post a letter to their solicitor, who would post a letter to my solicitor (both solicitors are in the same small Mayo town). My solicitor would email me and post documents to me in Galway. Then vice versa.

The_Conductor

A quick sale is anywhere between 3-6 months- if anything at all happens to delay the sale, its far from unheard for it to take a year or even longer.

The 6 months closing average on DAFT- I'd argue is complete and utter poppycock.

It really is this bad in Ireland- and there are a number of reasons for it- including the simple fact that a significant cohort of the better solicitors who handled conveyancing during the boom- either exited the law profession altogether (I can name over 10 without trying who are working in Deloitte and a few other companies in Joburg and Zimbabwe- not sure how or why the Irish are so popular there- but hey), or have moved to unrelated legal areas and don't want to get burnt again.

There is a specific issue with a lack of skilled solicitors in conveyancing.

Allied to this- you have estate agents up to their usual tricks with pretty much everyone- without any consequence.

allibastor

The_Conductor wrote: »

A quick sale is anywhere between 3-6 months- if anything at all happens to delay the sale, its far from unheard for it to take a year or even longer.

The 6 months closing average on DAFT- I'd argue is complete and utter poppycock.

It really is this bad in Ireland- and there are a number of reasons for it- including the simple fact that a significant cohort of the better solicitors who handled conveyancing during the boom- either exited the law profession altogether (I can name over 10 without trying who are working in Deloitte and a few other companies in Joburg and Zimbabwe- not sure how or why the Irish are so popular there- but hey), or have moved to unrelated legal areas and don't want to get burnt again.

There is a specific issue with a lack of skilled solicitors in conveyancing.

Allied to this- you have estate agents up to their usual tricks with pretty much everyone- without any consequence.

Agree with this, a bad EA can hold things up, but its between four or more parties and if one goes away or slows it up it knocks on.

Its a plain in the whole alright. My first sale was so easy as the seller had literally everything ready to go in his solicitor so once the deposit went in contracts were over within a week.
I think the fact it was a cash sale and conveyance solicitors were not much worked in 2012

Ashleighc2013

Thanks very much everyone for your replies, they are very much appreciated & given us some food for thought!

We are going to look at another house next weekend, and will keep our eye on the market.

We have everything done on our side, mortgage protection, life insurance etc. so hopefully when things get going it will happen quickly!!

Will post an update here when I have one

kippy

I suppose the key quote I'd live by here is:
"Assumption is the mother of all F-ups."

One would assume that paying regulated professionals (solicitors, EA's, Bankers, Surveyors, Valuers) thousands of euros to complete a set of fairly standard (in most cases) tasks would be a straightforward deal - a lot of the time these folks deal with each other on a regular basis. You'd expect not to have too much interaction to keep things moving.
Unfortunately in reality this is not the case. Now while there are "good" professionals in all of the areas mentioned above it's hard to get all the good ones in one transaction.
All I can say, is never assume, things are moving along in the background. Never assume that the auctioneer is keeping the pressure on both sets of solicitors or that something that looks obvious to you is obvious to some of these folks.

How to keep the pressure on - Keep on top of your own solicitor, ensure you know what is going on and the reasons for any holdups. Same with the auctioneer - keep on top of them to see whats the situation.

It can be an extremely frustrating process but unfortunately you have to act as the taskmaster in it all and assume nothing.

ThisRegard

Ashleighc2013 wrote: »

We have everything done on our side, mortgage protection, life insurance etc.

You shouldn't need both, unless you mean income protection?

athtrasna

ThisRegard wrote: »

You shouldn't need both, unless you mean income protection?

It's off topic for this forum but of course you need both. Life assurance covers payment to the surviving family, mortgage protection only clears the mortgage.

ThisRegard

athtrasna wrote: »

It's off topic for this forum but of course you need both. Life assurance covers payment to the surviving family, mortgage protection only clears the mortgage.

You don't need both. Life insurance can be bought to cover the mortgage and pay out to family members.

I suggest you research it before advising people to purchase both, it can be a costly mistake for them.

James Forde

Bringing this thread back on track.

Went sale agreed on the 8th of March & I just received confirmation that the contracts were issued today. So approx 6 weeks of a wait.

Issue was solely down to the bank finding/issuing the deeds apparently.
It really is annoying not having any control over the process, all you can do is keep the EA & your solicitor on their toes.

Hopefully you get some good news soon.

Parchment

athtrasna wrote: »

It's off topic for this forum but of course you need both. Life assurance covers payment to the surviving family, mortgage protection only clears the mortgage.

You dont need both - you need life assurance.

Mortgage protection is optional.

Samuel T. Cogley

Parchment wrote: »

You dont need both - you need life assurance.

Mortgage protection is optional.

You only need mortgage protection. The banks don't care beyond their loan being paid back.