How far will house prices fall [volume 5]

[princeperch]

spreadsheet monkey said:

Well done for getting your house sold, but brace yourself for a possible January completion date. We sold our place a couple of months ago, and still haven't exchanged yet, despite having a simple chain of four parties. Mortgage approvals are taking a lot longer than usual, surveyors are fully booked up, and Land Registry staff are swamped.

Agreed - my bro in law has been waiting a month for a surveyor to come out and value his house for a remortgage.

Well done on getting an acceptable offer btw - 4 viewings isn't great but 2 offers from 4 viewings is bloody brilliant.

[surveyor]

We exchanged on Monday. I'm officially excited.

[soxboy]

We completed on our remortgage on Monday, it took about 4 months from start to finish. The lender was quite good, it was the solicitor who held everything up.

[surveyor]

soxboy said:

We completed on our remortgage on Monday, it took about 4 months from start to finish. The lender was quite good, it was the solicitor who held everything up.

Tell me about it!

[Sheepshanks]

ooid said:

I might join the christmas completion gang too. My property is currently under offer. It had 4 viewings in total, and got two offers in the first week of putting in the market. Does not look so bad so far but I would never trust anything until the completion, seen enough of shockers in this weird housing market over the years.. lol

Have you accepted the offer?

[red_slr]

Well, our second offer has been declined.

It must be a sellers market and then some.

Offered 5% under asking. Property is up for 30% higher than it sold in 2018.

[ooid]

Sheepshanks said:

Have you accepted the offer?

Thanks Gents.. Yes I did accepted the offer, the usual process has started this week. Happy to give more info here once its completed, it might not be appropriate now too early!

[MX-6]

spreadsheet monkey said:

ooid said:

I might join the christmas completion gang too. My property is currently under offer.

Well done for getting your house sold, but brace yourself for a possible January completion date. We sold our place a couple of months ago, and still haven't exchanged yet, despite having a simple chain of four parties. Mortgage approvals are taking a lot longer than usual, surveyors are fully booked up, and Land Registry staff are swamped.

I don't want to come across as too negative, but in my experience and from what I've heard from others, moves just seem to take forever these days. Even before covid it took me over 6 months to move last year, despite only having three parties in the chain (my buyer and seller were chain free), I think my conveyancer was exceptionally dire even by conveyancer standards, but still... A friend of mine has only just recently exchanged, he agreed his sale and purchase in February, so some horror stories out there...

[anonymous-user]

MX-6 said:

I don't want to come across as too negative, but in my experience and from what I've heard from others, moves just seem to take forever these days. Even before covid it took me over 6 months to move last year, despite only having three parties in the chain (my buyer and seller were chain free), I think my conveyancer was exceptionally dire even by conveyancer standards, but still... A friend of mine has only just recently exchanged, he agreed his sale and purchase in February, so some horror stories out there...

On a positive note, we offered on our house on the 17th of August and got the keys on the 23rd of October this year. We had only spoken to a mortgage broker about the possibility of a mortgage a few days before we made the offer.

We were in rented accommodation and the seller was moving in with family so there was no chain. It all went so smoothly that I didn't have to chase anybody or make a single phone call, it all just seemed to happen. Even the mortgage broker said I seemed calm when he spoke to me a month into the process, but honestly I had nothing to get stressed about.

So it can happen, but equally I have tried to buy a house in the past only to have the sellers decide they no longer want to sell half way through and just refuse to speak to anyone and tell them.

[ooid]

MX-6 said:

I don't want to come across as too negative, but in my experience and from what I've heard from others, moves just seem to take forever these days. Even before covid it took me over 6 months to move last year, despite only having three parties in the chain (my buyer and seller were chain free), I think my conveyancer was exceptionally dire even by conveyancer standards, but still... A friend of mine has only just recently exchanged, he agreed his sale and purchase in February, so some horror stories out there...

I agree, it really depends on people though. My last property, the buyer was "full cash buyer". He made the offer on November, we were able to complete in mid April.

[p1stonhead]

ooid said:

MX-6 said:

I don't want to come across as too negative, but in my experience and from what I've heard from others, moves just seem to take forever these days. Even before covid it took me over 6 months to move last year, despite only having three parties in the chain (my buyer and seller were chain free), I think my conveyancer was exceptionally dire even by conveyancer standards, but still... A friend of mine has only just recently exchanged, he agreed his sale and purchase in February, so some horror stories out there...

I agree, it really depends on people though. My last property, the buyer was "full cash buyer". He made the offer on November, we were able to complete in mid April.

My last two have taken 7 months each. It’s infuriating and nothing really major or unexpected even went wrong!

The conveyancing system moves like snails.

[rah1888]

Exactly.

An army only marches at the pace of its slowest man.

It's very similar with a housing transaction - things will only go as fast as the slowest component lets them go.

[Sheepshanks]

ooid said:

Sheepshanks said:

Have you accepted the offer?

Thanks Gents.. Yes I did accepted the offer, the usual process has started this week. Happy to give more info here once its completed, it might not be appropriate now too early!

Ah OK,. I would have said that was Sold Subject to Contract. However the EA left our sale showing as Under Offer right until exchange.

Agree with others, if the process has only just started it'll be pretty miraculous if it can be done before Christmas, although perhaps the usual seasonal slow-down may help.

[vonuber]

Well the other half exchanges next week. She got a 4 bed semi, asking price was 600 and dhe got it down to 525. It's 5 mins walk from cheam centre, and 2 mins from the park on a quietish side road.
150msq, with front / rear gardens. Needs the roof sorting, and we want to extend the kitchen and sort out the bathroom. Also needs a complete redecorating too, hence the money we managed to get off. Was a probate property i think.

Either way, hoping to move in the summer once the majority of work is done.

[Bullet-Proof_Biscuit]

vonuber said:

Well the other half exchanges next week. She got a 4 bed semi, asking price was 600 and dhe got it down to 525. It's 5 mins walk from cheam centre, and 2 mins from the park on a quietish side road.
150msq, with front / rear gardens. Needs the roof sorting, and we want to extend the kitchen and sort out the bathroom. Also needs a complete redecorating too, hence the money we managed to get off. Was a probate property i think.

Either way, hoping to move in the summer once the majority of work is done.

What sort of house? Cheam is nice, I've been to a few work beers there

[Bullet-Proof_Biscuit]

These horror stories of 6/7 months to buy are a bit scary!? I've gone down the chase things every week policy now, no mercy. I'm FTB a probate so no chain.

Mortgage applied 30/10 (30 business days by Nationwide because 90%ltv)
Conveyancer instructed 30/10
Valuation (physical) 6/11
Valued subject to retention 16/11
Draft contracts received 16/11...... Seller delay because..
Searches sent 17/11
Survey for retention 24/11.
Mortgage offer due subject to no queries that take time 11/12
Searches due 15/12 worst case?
Conveyancer probably closes w/c21/12..
Curve ball- AIP expires 22/12.
Exchange..
Complete..

Maybe I'm over thinking it..

edited with stuff

Edited by Bullet-Proof_Biscuit on Thursday 19th November 19:11

[NickCQ]

Bullet-Proof_Biscuit said:

Searches sent 17/11
Searches returned 15/12 worst case?
Conveyancer probably closes w/c21/12..

Seems tight to get searches back, raise relevant enquiries and get them answered properly

Bullet-Proof_Biscuit said:

Mortgage offer 11/12
Curve ball- AIP expires 22/12.

AIP not an issue if you have a mortgage offer...

[22]

Mortgage application 10 August with NatWest. I had to provide some additional info to underwriters (only director/no shares/employee-owned company, even Sarnie had got twitchy) but I think this human intervention ended up being useful. Offer 20 August, completed 12 October (solicitor/conveyancer firm owner a friend of my parents, but not local).

Sellers were time-sensitive and we'd been waiting for something like that. It looked a bargain at the time, it still looks reasonable value (Buckinghamshire).

[vonuber]

Bullet-Proof_Biscuit said:

What sort of house? Cheam is nice, I've been to a few work beers there

1930's one, I think once the work is done it'll be really nice.
Either way we had to move, my 2 bed flat is just too small for the 4 of us now.

[ooid]

Bullet-Proof_Biscuit said:

These horror stories of 6/7 months to buy are a bit scary!? I've gone down the chase things every week policy now, no mercy. I'm FTB a probate so no chain.

Mortgage applied 30/10 (30 business days by Nationwide because 90%ltv)
Conveyancer instructed 30/10
Valuation (physical) 6/11
Valued subject to retention 16/11
Draft contracts received 16/11...... Seller delay because..
Searches sent 17/11
Survey for retention 24/11.
Mortgage offer 11/12
Searches returned 15/12 worst case?
Conveyancer probably closes w/c21/12..
Curve ball- AIP expires 22/12.
Exchange..
Complete..

Maybe I'm over thinking it..

The agent (If you have), and you should be chasing daily, otherwise it really escalates/delay. I've instructed my own structural survey last time, and will probably do the same now. It costs a bit(850 GBP?), but gives a good/speedy and legit result and in 1-2 day would be able to go over all details confidently.