Currently buying/selling a house? How is it going? READ MOD NOTE POST #1

Ok. Today went by quick. Solicitor received funds from purchasers in the morning, but the searches were missing. Sorted around 2 pm. Then he transferred our funds to the developer. Boom!, we have moved! And what I find more incredible is that virgin broadband said that we would only need to connect our modem and after going through 20 out of 85 boxes, I found the modem and it works!

setanta1984 wrote: »

Finally received our keys tonight 8 and a half months after going sale agreed in mid March - coincides almost exactly with the first lock down and the whole pandemic crap starting. Makes it all feel never ending! Doesn't feel real tonight.

The one thing I've learned about this whole process is to assume that, and be prepared for, every single person/entity you have to deal with throughout being stone cold useless. If we as buyers didn't nag and pester and follow up everyone in the process, at every step, from solicitors, banks, brokers, engineers, councils, land registry etc. (and in a lot of cases, actually do their work for them) we'd be waiting another 9 months. Appreciate the restrictions crap didn't help but not an excuse for most of the screw ups and delays imo.
It's actually incredible how outdated, inefficient and bureaucratic the entire process is. Even today on closing day, vendors solicitor managed to not have all documents needed and was flapping about adding even more stress, right to the end.

Never ever going through this again! The stress has taken a couple of years off me at this stage surely.

Quick one someone may be able to help with before I enquire to find out next week - the cashback offers on mortgages - how exactly do they work? When do you actually get the cashback? With KBC if that matters.

Great advice, I thought I could trust my solicitor but learned that the hard way that you need to assume they are actively working against you nearly and plan for that worst as otherwise things will sit by week/s at a time.

I feel like (some) solicitors sometimes are like Dory/a robot where each time you ask something or for an update it is like the first time meeting them the way they act with basic questions.

BOI cashback is within 45 days of drawdown (I was told up to but likely less), not sure about KBC.

Unfortunately I went with BOI so in a year or so of closing I should do a switcher, less work but not sure I want to go through with it now as I need to deal with another solicitor.

setanta1984 wrote: »

Finally received our keys tonight 8 and a half months after going sale agreed in mid March - coincides almost exactly with the first lock down and the whole pandemic crap starting. Makes it all feel never ending! Doesn't feel real tonight.

The one thing I've learned about this whole process is to assume that, and be prepared for, every single person/entity you have to deal with throughout being stone cold useless. If we as buyers didn't nag and pester and follow up everyone in the process, at every step, from solicitors, banks, brokers, engineers, councils, land registry etc. (and in a lot of cases, actually do their work for them) we'd be waiting another 9 months. Appreciate the restrictions crap didn't help but not an excuse for most of the screw ups and delays imo.
It's actually incredible how outdated, inefficient and bureaucratic the entire process is. Even today on closing day, vendors solicitor managed to not have all documents needed and was flapping about adding even more stress, right to the end.

Never ever going through this again! The stress has taken a couple of years off me at this stage surely.

Quick one someone may be able to help with before I enquire to find out next week - the cashback offers on mortgages - how exactly do they work? When do you actually get the cashback? With KBC if that matters.

Cashback should happen within 30-45 days, depending on your bank. Your loan offer should state the days it will take.

Best of luck!!!

Any second time buyers have experience with Life Insurance lately? We had a policy for our first mortgage and as I am pretty clueless about these things, I didn't realise we would need to increase cover and extend the term when drawing down our new mortgage. KBC had asked for 3 months of statements for the Life policy which I supplied about a month ago and no one flagged that our cover was insufficient until our solicitor mentioned it about 10 days ago, and the bank also raised it on Monday. I increased the cover to match our new mortgage amount and extended it by two years, thinking this would give us 30 years. Unfortunately the extra 2 years were added from March (we originally took out the policy in March 2018), so the policy expires in March 2050, while our mortgage runs to December 2050 (provided we can drawdown this month). This is the only outstanding document required by the bank, and the provider issued a letter stating the change in cover on Friday evening which is when I noticed the issue about March versus December. Am I right to presume the bank wont accept it as it falls about 9 months short of the term of our mortgage? It's such a pain because we had to submit health questionnaires which had to go to the underwriters and I spent all week chasing them to get it through, only to find it is probably not good enough. KBC have said the last day for documents required for drawdown before Christmas is the 11th of December so I am up the walls that this won't be accepted and wont be rectified in time. Any advice from anyone more experienced? Fingers crossed I'm stressing over nothing but fully expecting KBC to reject it...

dev_ire wrote:

You won't get drawdown funds without full cover, best to ring life insurance and they will increase it by a year to make sure you have 2-3 months to complete this sale and then cancel if you finish a few months early in 30 years.

Thanks yes I got back to them straight away but the underwriters had finished up apparently, thenagent I spoke to said that they usually only allow once change to the policy which we have already done now with the recent change so she said she will see if they can just tweak that one part about the term seeing as it had only just been processed. Worst comes to worst I suppose we cancel the policy and then start a new one but I'm so afraid that the turnaround time with the underwriters just wont be quick enough to get the new policy schedule into the bank by the 11th.

setanta1984 wrote: »

The one thing I've learned about this whole process is to assume that, and be prepared for, every single person/entity you have to deal with throughout being stone cold useless. If we as buyers didn't nag and pester and follow up everyone in the process, at every step, from solicitors, banks, brokers, engineers, councils, land registry etc. (and in a lot of cases, actually do their work for them) we'd be waiting another 9 months.


.

I'm going through this now, and so far I have been lucky, though I haven't got the keys yet. I found the bank good to deal with (BoI) and the solicitor was a little slow but finally got it together. I am now waiting on vendor's solicitor to give a closing date. That may be a hold up.

The only delay I did have was with the engineer who did my property survey. He told me he would do it within a week, and two and a half weeks later I was still ringing him up every day looking for it.

That said, I think my purchase was fairly straighforward, and didn't require a lot of bureacracy. I have heard other stories of deals taking months and months to go through. Again, as I have said before here, Ireland is one of the slowest countries in Europe in which to buy a house.

setanta1984 wrote: »

Finally received our keys tonight 8 and a half months after going sale agreed in mid March - coincides almost exactly with the first lock down and the whole pandemic crap starting. Makes it all feel never ending! Doesn't feel real tonight.

The one thing I've learned about this whole process is to assume that, and be prepared for, every single person/entity you have to deal with throughout being stone cold useless. If we as buyers didn't nag and pester and follow up everyone in the process, at every step, from solicitors, banks, brokers, engineers, councils, land registry etc. (and in a lot of cases, actually do their work for them) we'd be waiting another 9 months. Appreciate the restrictions crap didn't help but not an excuse for most of the screw ups and delays imo.
It's actually incredible how outdated, inefficient and bureaucratic the entire process is. Even today on closing day, vendors solicitor managed to not have all documents needed and was flapping about adding even more stress, right to the end.

Never ever going through this again! The stress has taken a couple of years off me at this stage surely.

Quick one someone may be able to help with before I enquire to find out next week - the cashback offers on mortgages - how exactly do they work? When do you actually get the cashback? With KBC if that matters.

I'm not sure if we were unlucky but I can relate fully to this.
We were thwarted and delayed by solicitors, estate agents, buyers, sellers, land registry every step of the way. (in a chain).

A certain Bank based in the north of this country were the most incompetent and disorganised faction of the lot.
We naively (or foolishly) dealt with the bank directly as opposed to a broker: never again.
Despite my wife and I having 50% cash and good jobs unaffected by pandemic we were continuously held up by them: documents going missing, no updates from anyone, an EA they appointed told the bank he had done the evaluation of the house we were buying when he had never actually done it causing all sorts of hassle....tons more stuff.
I was told by a staff member 'I only go to the office Mondays and Fridays- I work from home tues to thurs'.
So basically my application or any queries would only be dealt with on a Monday or a Friday. Working from home seemingly absolved her from dealing with mortgage customers. I am still incredulous at their carry on.
Nothing got done unless we pushed everyone and everything every step of the way.
We moved in in October after 8 months of stress. I think i still have PTSD
But I can assure you of one thing -when you get in the door to your new place you rapidly forget all the bull**** you went through and it will be worth it.

mcsean2163 wrote: »

We were bidding on a house in Kildare (asking between 700k and 800k and the last time we checked it was €135k over the asking and €65k more than we could afford. Any ideas if this is normal?

We're considering another house in Kildare but not sure if I want to go through the same process again, i.e. investing dreams and energy in something that never happens.

Is the market crazy again or were we just unlucky?

Finding similar but in a much lower bracket than you. With the council Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan and are not allowed to bid above 320 which just means we are getting outbid at every turn. It's very disheartening.

mcsean2163 wrote: »

We were bidding on a house in Kildare (asking between 700k and 800k and the last time we checked it was €135k over the asking and €65k more than we could afford. Any ideas if this is normal?

We're considering another house in Kildare but not sure if I want to go through the same process again, i.e. investing dreams and energy in something that never happens.

Is the market crazy again or were we just unlucky?

I dont think the market has ever not been crazy, it just temporarily went on hold with covid! im finally over the line with a sale and wouldnt wish trying to buy on my worst enemy. You really have to take the emotion out of it and deal with them as transactions as you would be driven mad otherwise

Currently have the highest bid on a house that would need a bit of work. New kitchen, windows front and back and a front door to start with.

However an estate agent from a previous house i was interested in said the seller would meet us in the middle re our valuations

This works out around 10k dearer that the house im currently bidding on. It has a new kitchen , new windows, downstairs toilet pretty much turnkey

It appears to be a no brainer to spend more money now for the better conditioned house? Both locations are fine for us

Starlord_01 wrote: »

Was in a very similar position to yourself before we went sale agreed. We sat down and picked out the pro's and con's of each property, disregarding the money involved.

Thats probably what we will do. When its wrote down in front of you it becomes clearer

Sweet.Science wrote: »

Currently have the highest bid on a house that would need a bit of work. New kitchen, windows front and back and a front door to start with.

However an estate agent from a previous house i was interested in said the seller would meet us in the middle re our valuations

This works out around 10k dearer that the house im currently bidding on. It has a new kitchen , new windows, downstairs toilet pretty much turnkey

It appears to be a no brainer to spend more money now for the better conditioned house? Both locations are fine for us

I think for me it comes down to the style and quality of those newew features. Take 10k off the price of all the work in the cheaper house. Would you be willing to pay that figure to design your own kitchen, pick your own windows doors etc.?

The_Brood wrote: »

Looks certain now the deal won't happen this year, despite nearly all parties previously assuring that it would. At final stage - contracts have been signed, so just awaiting closing date and drawdown - but things moving at glacial speed simply because for some reason everything must be done by post, emails are not enough - which throughout the entire house-buying process has resulted in near endless delays.

Not sure if that is super normal or not, but yeah. Always some delay with the post, always emails are not enough solicitors etc need post...and endless delays ensue.

Edit: reading this thread...I guess not alone at all. holy crap. So it's completely normal for the house buying process to be an endless, overbearing slog dragging on for months and months past what is expected, with your nerves ripped apart and having to do most of the work for all parties involved, doused in uncertainty every step of the way....

The big question is how.is.this.tolerated. Why do voters not make this a political issue, why does no one speak up for this...

I have had a pretty good experience, my solicitor and broker have communicated with me almost exclusively via email and anything that could be done via docu-sign or via email has been done. Ive only had to drop in about 10 signed documents to solicitor and none to broker.

I really needed it too as i went sale agreed at the end of nov and sale had to be completed before the end of year otherwise my exemption was gone and the sale would have fallen through.

Really does show the worth of a good broker and solicitor

brisan wrote: »

If locations are both fine then spend the 10k extra on the turnkey
It will cost a lot more than 10k for all the work you mentioned
I hope it works out for as I know you have been looking for a long time in an area I grew up in and bought my first two houses in
A downstairs toilet is a godsend with young children

Cheers . Think this could be the one alright