Sale Agreed - Closing

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LM26

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Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has recently sold their house. We have sale agreed, deposit was paid 2 weeks ago yesterday.

The buyer has yet to organise a survey and yet to organise a valuer (they need this done prior to purchasing as the person buying is under 18 and is buying house out of a claim) - our estate agent has said he will chase them up this week.

Just wondering if anyone can tell me their experience of how long it roughly takes in this current market to get to signing of contracts stage.

Any feedback appreciated.
 
To the best of my knowledge, you cannot enter into a contract with someone under the age of 18, so hopefully the EA will be dealing with parent / guardian or another adult with power of attorney.
 
Its another layer of complex awkwardness on a transaction in a market that is very volatile where anything can happen.

Your solicitor should be talking to the purchasers solicitor to get a feeling for what is happening and to try and tease out an expected timeframe. Bear in mind that until the contracts are signed there is no binding contract so if the purchasers solicitor is not fully advised by their own client it may be nigh on impossible to work out a time scale.

The only issue you need to concern yourself with can you give vacant possession by the agreed date. The issue for the purchaser is can he organise legal representation and his funds - particularly if the funds are lodged in Court - which is most likely. If the funds are in Court and if the minor is a Ward of Court, that adds significantly to the time issues.

mf
 
Thanks for the feedback.

Mathepac, yes we are dealing with her mother so are ok in that regard.

MF1, thanks for advise, solicitor is off for a few days but will touch base with her on Monday and see if she has contacted the other solicitor. We can leave whenever it suits them as we have a place to rent available now, while we are house hunting. I'm just going to try and be patient but its so difficult, as we just want to move on asap, but I do appreciate that we got sale agreed very quickly and as you say it has an added difficulty of going through a seperate process, in possibly the courts.
 
I know from my experience, we signed the initial contract with the deposit about 5 weeks ago and we are due to close and get the keys on Tuesday next week. The sellers asked for this dat so they could get everything moved on the Bank Holiday weekend.

We have been lucky though in the sense that there has been no hitches, everything has gone smoothly. We are just waiting for Cheque to issue, the bank doesn't need anything else.

(Touch wood it keeps that way for next Tuesday!)
 
Locke, thanks for sharing your experience, sounds like you have had a smooth transaction, and best of luck for next tuesday.

Did you had a structural survey carried out?
 
Hiya,

Yeah we did. It wasn't part of the Mortgage Conditions, but we were buying a second hand home and wanted to be satisfied. That set us back €400 and glad we done it. It didn't take long for him to do it either, whole thing from original request for it to final meeting to discuss findings was about 4/5 days.
 
You say your estate agent said they'd speak to the buyer 'this week'. Any estate agent I've dealt with says 'I'll call them and get straight back to you'. That's what I expect - not some sort of nebulous when it suits me, if I remember type of thing. Ring the estate agent again and ask them to contact the buyer to see is are the surveys being planned.
In this market you need to keep on top of it - you don't want your house off the market for months because someone is stringing you along....
 
Thanks Locke for the info.

Thanks sadie for the opinion, I totally agree with you. The buyer said they would organise the surveys in a 2 week period which came to an end tuesday gone. They paid the deposit very promptly and so I had hoped they would show the same initiative with this.

The EA said it is still early days and in other words 'relax' but how can you when it all means nothing until contracts are signed and as you say the longer it goes on the more at risk we are.

My husband has been dealing directly with the EA and he is giving the EA til Friday close of business (in his head, this wasnt a deadline told to EA) to come back to him and if he doesnt, he will ring on Tuesday (bank hol monday) and start putting the pressure on him and keeping it on. Sounds like we might be playing this a bit too nicely at the moment!
 
Two weeks is not a lot of time to wait on the survey being done. You are lucky at the moment to have managed to sell your house and I don't think I would get too heavy-handed with deadlines with the EA and the buyer already. In the best of circumstances it can take many weeks to close a sale.
 
Hi Marg, I wasnt too clear on my previous post, I dont expect the survey to be done by now. The 2 week period I refer to was for arranging one i.e. they buyers said to the EA that they would make arrangements for booking a surveyor within that time, and as of yet all is quiet with them - we dont mind if they say one cant come out for another couple of weeks - we would just like to hear that they are actually trying to progress things.

I am very grateful for getting sale agreed and at the outset of this thread was just trying to get a feel for how long these generally take. From Lockes perspective a trouble free process takes approx 6 weeks so with the claim element of our purchaser we will probably have to expect it to take a few weeks longer.....I'll just have to learn to be patient :)

Thanks for your feedback, it has helped reassure me....
 
Hi OP,

I placed my deposit down last July for a house i am buying!

It went sale agreed and i was mortgage approved in principal with 2 banks but when i got the surveys done on the house the banks had issue investing in the house because it needed work and was a listed building, i was at the mercy of the banks for months,

The house went sale agreed at 400k, I was looking for 200k mortgage to buy it, i felt i was not getting anywhere with the banks, so i was going to pull out last month, but i renegotiated the price first and i offered 300k, and i accepted at 310k, I have just gone back to the banks again with the revised offer, they are slow and picking at many different things, if its not the house its me and my profession.

My broker feels confident he will get the full loan approval soon, i really hope so- the not knowing is a pain, but i just wanted to point out that the climate for getting mortgages is slow and rocky out there.
 
Hi LM26 - I think I misunderstood what you meant! It may well be worth contacting the EA just to see if they have heard from the buyer. The buyer may have put things in motion but not yet informed the EA. With so many houses on the market, you don't want to run the risk of something going wrong, but not come across as desperate either (a fine line to tread :) )
 
oilpainting, what a long time you have been waiting. That is a great reduction you have gotten on the house though! Good luck with getting approved. The buyer we are dealing with has the cash but someone has to approve the purchase so in essence there is a procedure to follow through, which could take some time so I'm trying to prepare myself.

Marg, yes there is a fine line, it is a buyers market so we want to definitely stay cool and not desperate.

Will keep you posted, thanks!
 
oilpainting, what a long time you have been waiting. That is a great reduction you have gotten on the house though! Good luck with getting approved. The buyer we are dealing with has the cash but someone has to approve the purchase so in essence there is a procedure to follow through, which could take some time so I'm trying to prepare myself.

Marg, yes there is a fine line, it is a buyers market so we want to definitely stay cool and not desperate.

Will keep you posted, thanks!

Yes its a great reduction i was blessed in the end that the sale did not go through last July.

Sounds like your buyer is going through the motions, and if they are cash buyers it is only the approving of the purchase that needs doing, i think the solicitor would do this relatively quickly, my own solicitor told me that the quickest sale she ever did was in 2 months.

Your buyer sounds keen anyway, hope it goes through for you.
 
Hi, I just wanted to give you an update on my scenario. Its been 10 weeks exactly since deposit was paid and we are signing contracts on Friday thankfully. I think I was very impatient at the beginning. Im sure 3 months or so is about average, its just such a stressful time hoping that it doesnt fall through especially in this climate!
 
Hi LM26 Ive been following your story but I'm from the other side of the fence I went Sale Agreed in May and although we signed the contracts about 2 weeks ago we're still waiting on the Vendors solicitor to finalise and sign off from their side. (I believe some document has gone missing!) It looks like another bank holiday may pass me by without a house but at least Ikea will be open.....
 
I put a deposit down on a house end of December 2008 .... still can't get the place!

Sellers are monkeying around. And I've yet to get a structural survey done.

I was good to go by the end of January (mortgage in place, Liffe Assurance and House Insurance sorted. Structural survey booked) .... if they want a sale now they'll have to give me a big reduction.

What a country .... buyer willing to buy .... sellers delaying the sale.

I have put their solicitor (and auctioneer) on notice that I am starting to look for other suitable property ..... and that it will be their loss!
 
Thanks Locke, really delighted. Did your purchase go through smoothly in the end - are you enjoying the new house?

stargirl01 thats a pain. Has your solicitor not advised you exactly what is missing, as I assume (s)he requested it? Is it an old property you are buying? Our house that we are selling is approx 40 years old and there was a couple of panic moments about documents not being available when we bought it, was a very stressful time!

Paddybloggit, cant believe that. Its a buyers market after all and as you say your dec 08 offer will be reducing in line with same. I cant believe they have kept you hanging on like that!! Best of luck, hope you find a better property at a better price!
 
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