The wait is killing me!!

Kenno90 · 28-06-2019 3:58pm #1

I went sale agreed on a property a couple of weeks back and now that the initial excitement has died down, im getting more and more frustrated with the lack of progress.

Currently my solicitor is waiting on documents from the vendors solicitor but we've heard nothing all week. I understand you need to be patient but its the lack of communication that is killing me.

How long does the average buying process take (for second hand houses). Coming up to a month in sale agreed.

A2LUE42 · 28-06-2019 4:00pm

took us 8 months with all the delays on the vendors side... try not to focus on the time, it will just drive you nuts.

rwald7 · 28-06-2019 4:07pm

I sold my apartment recently. Went sale agreed last October. Sale closed, keys handed over etc at the end of March. Solicitors move at their own pace, and nothing much you can do about it unfortunately!

stargazer 68 · 28-06-2019 4:08pm

Yep took us 4 months with Christmas in between. No delays luckily but you just never know

Ursus Horribilis · 28-06-2019 4:16pm

Mine took 6 weeks a few years ago. It was only really towards the end that communication picked up. Most of the time there isn't a lot to report really.

charlietheminxx · 28-06-2019 5:01pm

I put a deposit on a new build in early February. There have been delays along the way and we are probably at least 2 months away from snagging... you think your wait is bad?!

Jack_92 · 28-06-2019 5:47pm

I went sale agreed start of February and got my keys today! There were a few delays but I imagine 5 months would be standard?

Wildly Boaring · 28-06-2019 5:51pm

Sale agreed nearly 6 weeks ago - selling

Took them a week to put down deposit.
Our solicitor got contracts out within 4 days.
Couple queries and answers in the next 5 or 6 days.

Now nothing from the last 2 weeks.

Sale agreed 3 weeks ago - buying
We put deposit down that day
Nothing at all from vendor.....

Chatted to our solicitor today. We and he are very quick and organised.

Seems lot of people are deffo not!!

Evd-Burner · 28-06-2019 6:08pm

5 weeks sale agreed.
Official loan offer arrived to my solicitors today.
Vendor sent contracts this week and my solicitor was immediate in querying a number of issues.

My solicitor seems to be on the ball so I am hoping it is a fast process, we are first time buyers and the house we are buying is currently vacant so we are hoping to be in ASAP.

Wildly Boaring · 28-06-2019 6:52pm

Evd-Burner wrote: »

5 weeks sale agreed.
Official loan offer arrived to my solicitors today.
Vendor sent contracts this week and my solicitor was immediate in querying a number of issues.

My solicitor seems to be on the ball so I am hoping it is a fast process, we are first time buyers and the house we are buying is currently vacant so we are hoping to be in ASAP.

For my info as a seller
Did it take 5 weeks for your bank to issue the letter of offer?
How long to get valuation done?

Think this is what our delay is right now with the sale.

looksee · 28-06-2019 6:57pm

Sale agreed three weeks ago, my solicitor doesn't hang about, the contracts have arrived so apparently the vendor's solicitor is not too bad either. Within another 4 weeks I hope.

Selling my own house went quite efficiently till the very last minute. Closing date agreed, the day of closing they decided they didn't want to buy on the 13th of the month and it had to wait another day...

Evd-Burner · 28-06-2019 8:53pm

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

For my info as a seller
Did it take 5 weeks for your bank to issue the letter of offer?
How long to get valuation done?

Think this is what our delay is right now with the sale.

Went sale agreed on the Monday of week 1 but we were still pending our AIP from the bank. We paid the booking deposit Thursday of week 1 and arranged our engineers survey for the Tuesday of week 2, Wednesday of week 2 we got AIP from the bank and a valuation was arranged for Tuesday week 3. Wednesday week 5 the solicitor received the vendor contracts and today received the loan pack.

Now we are waiting for the vendors solicitor to answer our queries, if they had of been faster with the contracts we could have queried earlier.

whiskeyman · 28-06-2019 8:56pm

I reckon 6-8 weeks is the norm if it's fairly straightforward.
Any issues can then cause delays.
I presume you've your survey done?

Wildly Boaring · 28-06-2019 9:16pm

Yeah. On selling side
Sale agreed and deposit week 1
Engineer week 2
Contracts week 2
Contract queries week 3
Queries answered start week 4

Week 5 just ended.

No bank valuer yet.

Purchase is new build and I'm not going to start pushing them till we get further on the sale side

Wildly Boaring · 28-06-2019 9:17pm

We bought in 2012 in 8 weeks

Westernyelp · 28-06-2019 10:02pm

1st viewing to collecting key in 15 days. It's a lottery really

looksee · 28-06-2019 10:18pm

When we bought a house 30 years ago the deeds were sent back from the Land Registry to the solicitor by registered post. There was a mail robbery and our deeds vanished. New ones had to be issued. When I went to sell the house 30 years later I had to sign an undertaking that the original deeds were still missing and if they should turn up I would hand them in. I suppose stranger things have happened, but not much really.

Graham · 28-06-2019 11:07pm

Westernyelp wrote: »

1st viewing to collecting key in 15 days. It's a lottery really

That's pretty impressive Westernyelp.

Westernyelp · 28-06-2019 11:12pm

Graham wrote:

That's pretty impressive Westernyelp.

Vacant house. Cash buy and solicitors who happened to sync up. Lucky

Sunrise_Sunset · 29-06-2019 7:14pm

I'm nervous about the wait too.
Sale agreed 4 weeks on selling.
Sale agreed 2.5 weeks on buying.

I have a window of 6 months to ensure that I can keep my tracker interest rate, so I really need to ensure that both timelines are pretty much co-ordinated.

s7ryf3925pivug · 29-06-2019 7:16pm

Three months last year but it was mainly due to problems getting mortgage protection

Sheep Shagger · 29-06-2019 7:19pm

Put a deposit down in April 2018 on a new build, were supposed to get they keys early 2019 and now we are looking at mid July...

Phileas Frog · 29-06-2019 7:48pm

Apparently solicitors take August off (I'm told!) so if it's not done by the end of July, it'll be September. If that's the case, it looks as if I'll be caught out myself

Sunrise_Sunset · 29-06-2019 8:07pm

Phileas Frog wrote: »

Apparently solicitors take August off (I'm told!) so if it's not done by the end of July, it'll be September. If that's the case, it looks as if I'll be caught out myself

What?! :eek:

Corruptedmorals · 29-06-2019 9:20pm

Couldn't see that as an across the board thing...the courts aren't open in August but that wouldn't be a big deal for solicitors who deal mainly in property and wills etc. I do expect annual leave to get in the way of ours a bit, we are only one week in.

Sleeper12 · 29-06-2019 9:29pm

Try not get too excited. Sale can fall through until contract is signed. Fing crossed all works well for you

ciarang85 · 02-07-2019 1:48pm

How long is a piece of string,

Went sale agreed October 2017
Meant to close in January 2018

Finally closed in June 2018 and the vendors we not in a chain

happyfriday74 · 02-07-2019 2:06pm

Courts are closed but you dont need the courts for conveyancing of a house.

Phileas Frog · 02-07-2019 3:15pm

happyfriday74 wrote: »

Courts are closed but you dont need the courts for conveyancing of a house.

Courts closed, most solicitors go on holidays. You do need a solicitor.

Samuel T. Cogley · 02-07-2019 5:35pm

OP same advice I give everyone is keep looking. I hope it doesn't but sales fall through all the time. Ours did and although we ultimately got the house there was a period where the vendors lost the house they were buying and didn't bother to tell us.

SozBbz · 03-07-2019 12:06pm

OP, you need to understand what Sale Agreed means.... basically nothing. You need to calm down the excitement, its misplaced at this point. By all means plan yourselves a big slap up meal the week you sign contracts and have champagne on ice for the day you get your keys, but until then theres a lot that can go wrong.

Also, expecting things in a few weeks is unrealistic. IMO its a 2-3 month process, assuming all is standard. Also, the last time I bought was roughly the same time period, summer months, and yep both solicitors headed off on holidays in August. Not for the whole month, but at different times, so effectively nothing happened that entire month.

We're Sale Agreed too - am basically telling no one outside of immediate family etc, because even from that small cohort, the congratulations are frankly annoying. We are not there yet. Congratulate us when we have the keys in our paws and no sooner.

We're trying to buy a house thats roughly 120 years old. Have had survey done which recommended further advice from roofing and damp specialists. Damp report wasnt great, but nothing awful, however the roofer has established that the entire roof covering needs to be replaced (slate and felt) so we're now back to the vendor, so its tense times. We've asked for the cost to be deducted from our offer...so that will likely go down like a tonne of bricks. We hope to be able to compromise but you never know.

bikeman1 · 03-07-2019 12:23pm

A little over 3 months for me. And that was with a proactive seller (buying another place - tenants had moved out) and me being as quick as I could with everything. Any requests were sent straight back. Meetings agreed ASAP.

You will always hit a delay. In my case it was the management company who were going through their own internal problems and not replying back to queries, and then my solicitor going on holidays for 10 days (I have no problem with that). Basically it takes time. My parents were dying to tell friends and family, but I said no way until I have the keys in my hand.

The Chinese takeaway and glass of bubbly in an empty home never tasted better.

The Mig · 03-07-2019 12:44pm

We went Sale agreed end of Jan and were told by the EA that the sellers wanted a quick sale. Got the keys on May 30th due to numerous delays!

Wildly Boaring · 03-07-2019 12:55pm

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

Yeah. On selling side
Sale agreed and deposit week 1
Engineer week 2
Contracts week 2
Contract queries week 3
Queries answered start week 4

Week 5 just ended.

No bank valuer yet.

Purchase is new build and I'm not going to start pushing them till we get further on the sale side

Slowly slowly catchy monkey.
Valuer been and gone.
Nothing further from their solicitor.

Just recieved first contract draft on purchase.
Now has to be posted to me for review.

These boys and girls operate in a different timescale.

I've told noone beyond immediate family and have to keep reminding all, including my wife, that we are nowhere yet.

Mid week 6 on sale. 3 on purchase

realmoonunit · 03-07-2019 1:08pm

We are in the process of selling looking like 10 weeks, there was an issue with roads and services though that had to be ran by the bank (this caused a 2 week delay). We are also in the process of buying, hoping to reduce this timeline, my solicitor is on the ball though and chases regularly.

lucast2007us · 03-07-2019 1:12pm

Try buying from a receiver that's not stressful at all.

uck51js9zml2yt · 03-07-2019 4:10pm

Sold my house and I took 3 months to close. Bought a house and closed it in 6 weeks. The timing was out by a week!

Looly8726 · 03-07-2019 8:47pm

Bought recently, vacant property. sale agreed to closing was around 9 weeks.
Bought a few years ago. Vacant property. Sale agreed to closing almost 6 months!

conor2469 · 08-07-2019 3:43pm

Going through this as a buyer at the moment.

Went sale agreed and paid booking deposit 4 weeks. We are still waiting for the Estate Agent to send the sales advice note out, apparently they are trying to contact the seller to get their solicitors details..... The estate agent isn't being very proactive, apparently they have emailed them and are waiting for a reply....

Kenno90 · 09-07-2019 11:41am

Appreciate all the replies. Currently waiting on all documents from the vendors but told we'll have them within the week. Its moving, progress is progress.

Wildly Boaring · 11-07-2019 9:24am

Their solicitor off last 2 weeks.
Ours off next 2 weeks.

Like a bad joke.....

Corruptedmorals · 11-07-2019 10:29am

I'm a lot more patient than I thought I would be. No contracts issued yet but it hasn't been 3 weeks yet and meanwhile there's plenty of things to do. I think it's because always knew summer would be slower with legal/banks/valuers/insurers etc. annual leave that happy to anticipate it could be 3 months. Unless something crops up but it's FTB with no chains involved so hopefully not.

looksee · 11-07-2019 10:34am

Now, today, in final negotiations...

Sunrise_Sunset · 11-07-2019 11:28am

We are hopefully signing contracts next week but our solicitor has told us they are aiming for a close date of mid August. I'm hoping holidays etc won't get in the way. Would love to be in the new house before school starts back.

Wildly Boaring · 11-07-2019 10:57pm

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

I'm a lot more patient than I thought I would be. No contracts issued yet but it hasn't been 3 weeks yet and meanwhile there's plenty of things to do. I think it's because always knew summer would be slower with legal/banks/valuers/insurers etc. annual leave that happy to anticipate it could be 3 months. Unless something crops up but it's FTB with no chains involved so hopefully not.

We're 2 months on our sale at the weekend and our solicitor going away for 2 weeks. So 3 months not gonna happen.

Bought in 2 months last time.

Our purchasers went back to bank for better offer available, got a second engineer out and their solicitor had 2 weeks off.

Just gotta grin and bear it. Prefer a slow sale than no sale.

seannash · 11-07-2019 11:01pm

Any truth to the view I heard that solicitors draw it out so that they accumulate interest on your money sitting in their account??

Wildly Boaring · 11-07-2019 11:06pm

seannash wrote: »

Any truth to the view I heard that solicitors draw it out so that they accumulate interest on your money sitting in their account??

No
Sure the large deposit only happens at signing, rarely issues after that.

Only deposit up till then is with EA

looksee · 11-07-2019 11:06pm

So...agreed on price, signing contracts tomorrow.

No to the question about interest, client money goes into a separate account.

Amirani · 11-07-2019 11:08pm

seannash wrote: »

Any truth to the view I heard that solicitors draw it out so that they accumulate interest on your money sitting in their account??

Large corporate depositors are being charged interest on deposits these days, they're not getting paid interest.

ampleforth · 12-07-2019 12:06am

A2LUE42 wrote: »

took us 8 months with all the delays on the vendors side... try not to focus on the time, it will just drive you nuts.

3.5 months and was told that was fast...

Evd-Burner · 12-07-2019 1:23am

Signing contracts tomorrow. The house is vacant and we have nothing to sell so hoping to be in within a few weeks.

The wait is killing me!!

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