Is anyone moving now?

[Muzzer79]

We put our (3 bed semi, East Midlands, desirable town) place up for sale at Easter.

Accepted an offer last week.

Now the hard part begins - finding something to move to. We want to stay in the same town, just go to a 4 or 5 bed detached.

There was a small flurry of property coming on to the market at Easter, around the same time ours did. However, since then there's been pretty much nada.

We are willing to look at going somewhere temporary to get our sale done but would rather avoid it.

Still, early days. Our buyers have given a 4-5 month lead time so we have a bit of time.

[Welshbeef]

Muzzer79 said:

We put our (3 bed semi, East Midlands, desirable town) place up for sale at Easter.

Accepted an offer last week.

Now the hard part begins - finding something to move to. We want to stay in the same town, just go to a 4 or 5 bed detached.

There was a small flurry of property coming on to the market at Easter, around the same time ours did. However, since then there's been pretty much nada.

We are willing to look at going somewhere temporary to get our sale done but would rather avoid it.

Still, early days. Our buyers have given a 4-5 month lead time so we have a bit of time.

I checked again today 1 less property in our close area than before and nothing new coming on.

What are people waiting for? Is it furlough/covid/economy/stamp duty/ putting off moving for more years as they have been upgrading their houses the last year and want to have benefit of it vs let new buyer take it.

[Evoluzione]

redrabbit29 said:

Evoluzione said:

We're about 12 months in, I bet it won't be far off 14 when we're done.
If we ever get there.

I really feel for you. It actually took us nearly 3 years to actually sell and move. The first time we sold, just before we exchanged a legal issue came up. It ended up costing us over £15k to sort out - blame leasehold law for that!

It also took us around two years to resolve.

We put our flat back on the market in September and look to be moving soon. I felt I rushed a bit due to the stamp duty holiday and the thought of trying to save some of the £15k we lost in the legal issue. Hopefully the house lives up to our expectations. My partner is really excited but I'm not (hopefully that will change)

I really hope things improve for you, it is so demoralising and exhausting when you're in limbo, waiting day-to-day and week-to-week for an email, or a call, or an update. It really did dominate our lives and caused a lot of arguments between us when we were both really worried or upset about something.

Best of luck

Thanks, if we get it it will have been worth it, but it's been tough.
I'll post a pic and sing it from the rooftops if and when it happens.

[worsy]

SunsetZed said:

anarki said:

Need people's thoughts - I'm due to exchange and complete this Friday but a massive showstopper has reared its head last minute.

FTTC broadband is no longer available to the property due to lack of space in the cabinet and there's no ETA on space becoming available. Which leaves me with 2Mb ADSL as the only option for the foreseeable.

It was showing as available all throughout Jan, Feb and March. I've spoken with aquiss, zen, BT, Plusnet, etc and all say they can't tell me when it would be available and won't put me on a waiting list due to them not being able to meet customers expectations.

Also put up a tweet to openreach asking for an ETA and they replied saying there are no plans to upgrade the cab.

I literally cannot live with 2Mb internet. I feel like pulling out the property purchase but would feel like a massive doing so and I'm obviously going to lose money (sol fees, surveyor costs) that I've already stumped up for.

Starlink broadband is not available. 4g speeds are ok outside but I can't test inside the property as I don't have the keys, so could be utter ste indoors.

I can't believe in 2021 the UK infrastructure for broadband is so poor in some areas, utterly ridiculous.

Can you speak to the neighbours and see if they have FTTC broadband and then get the appropriate Wi-Fi / cabling setup so that they could share with you temporarily?

Do the current owners have Broadband? Maybe the system is not sophisticated and thinks you want an extra connection?

[Muzzer79]

Welshbeef said:

What are people waiting for? Is it furlough/covid/economy/stamp duty/ putting off moving for more years as they have been upgrading their houses the last year and want to have benefit of it vs let new buyer take it.

I think it's

• Fear of Covid not being properly resolved yet so who knows if we're going to lock down again
• Those who have good houses know it and want to stay in them
• Those who would consider selling are in a vicious circle of not seeing anything to move to, so if they're reasonably happy where they are will stick it out.

[Welshbeef]

Muzzer79 said:

Welshbeef said:

What are people waiting for? Is it furlough/covid/economy/stamp duty/ putting off moving for more years as they have been upgrading their houses the last year and want to have benefit of it vs let new buyer take it.

I think it's

• Fear of Covid not being properly resolved yet so who knows if we're going to lock down again
• Those who have good houses know it and want to stay in them
• Those who would consider selling are in a vicious circle of not seeing anything to move to, so if they're reasonably happy where they are will stick it out.

In my area I know some neighbours and other people I chat to at kids rugby / sports. All live in the area and plenty are in the same boat as my family - all would like to step up and are browsing frequently (partly as covid is giving them opportunity to browse + they want bigger now). This means when something the next rung comes up the demand will be very high.

Builders are not really building enough 5-6 bed houses with a decent amount of land / of the ones they do the smaller older houses have bigger plots and as smaller house more outside space.

[Shnozz]

The ArtfulBodger said:

Wow! Thoughts of pulling out due to broadband issues?!

I take it you weren’t around in the late 90’s Early 2000’s when we had to put up with a shared phone line and a 56k modem?

We are a month in and still using a MIFi for all our internet needs. Luckily no one is into gaming and we both have jobs that don’t rely on fecking Zoom or Teams to get something tangible achieved!

The world is a very different place and more so since Covid. As has been reported elsewhere, many companies are downsizing office space etc to the point that its not if you would like to work from home, its a case of being forced to do so. It's no longer about playing Playstation or watching Netflix, but if you cannot attend Teams/Zoom meetings you are going to struggle I would say in any (formerly) office job. Not only that, but even if the internet was only required to deal with one occasional user, it might now have to be sufficient to have 2 parties working at home, on conference meetings, simultaneously. Add to that any child demands on the BB, whether through school or social.

A few years back I would have scoffed at needing mega internet connection. Not a gamer, streamed the odd Netflix but that was about it. Now its absolutely essential for my work and that of my partner (and she is a university lecturer so one of the last I expected to be WFH greatly).

[geeks]

anarki said:

Need people's thoughts - I'm due to exchange and complete this Friday but a massive showstopper has reared its head last minute.

FTTC broadband is no longer available to the property due to lack of space in the cabinet and there's no ETA on space becoming available. Which leaves me with 2Mb ADSL as the only option for the foreseeable.

It was showing as available all throughout Jan, Feb and March. I've spoken with aquiss, zen, BT, Plusnet, etc and all say they can't tell me when it would be available and won't put me on a waiting list due to them not being able to meet customers expectations.

Also put up a tweet to openreach asking for an ETA and they replied saying there are no plans to upgrade the cab.

I literally cannot live with 2Mb internet. I feel like pulling out the property purchase but would feel like a massive doing so and I'm obviously going to lose money (sol fees, surveyor costs) that I've already stumped up for.

Starlink broadband is not available. 4g speeds are ok outside but I can't test inside the property as I don't have the keys, so could be utter ste indoors.

I can't believe in 2021 the UK infrastructure for broadband is so poor in some areas, utterly ridiculous.

If 4G is ok outside then get a router that handles 4G and install and external aerial until you can get a more favourable service elsewhere. Surprised Starlink isnt available they have pretty good UK coverage now.

[dirtbiker]

Will hopefully be joining the movers on this thread in the next week or so - found a place that we like and have had the survey, photos and particulars done on our house this week. Going to be a wee bit scary as my wife is currently 35 weeks pregnant so hopefully we have time to do viewings and get an offer accepted before heading to the hospital for baby #2 to arrive!

We're in Aberdeen so have the fun of the Scottish system to deal with but our house is pretty desirable given it has a good garden and space for folk to work from home so fingers crossed it'll sell quickly for a good price! The only downside is that someone built a utility room into part of the garage but there's still space for all our bikes and prams.

Any tips for minimising the stress throughout? We'll be porting the mortgage hopefully and we'll get movers in to do the heavy lifting.

Exciting times, the new place is a good bit bigger, really nicely upgraded and has a double garage - woop!

[SunsetZed]

I've been monitoring this thread since submitting an offer on 7th January and we've now exchanged and will be completing on 7th May. I'm not superstitious at all but even so I didn't dare post on this thread for fear of jinxing things, particularly as we submitted an offer on another property in August last year and then withdrew when we had this offer accepted as after 4 months the sellers hadn't found another property and didn't seem to be looking seriously either, a view that was reinforced by the fact that the property was never relisted after we withdrew.

We accepted an offer on our previous property at the start of November last year, moved out in Jan-21 into a rental in a new area in time to meet the school application deadline and completed on the sale in March after a delay at the bottom of the chain due to flat fire survey requirements.

Considering it was a chain free purchase of one property I was hoping it was going to be a quicker process and I know the seller was as she has been extremely stressed during the process and threatened to pull out a couple of times if exchange wasn't done earlier this month. Watching prices in our area going up daily with very few new properties going onto the market added to our stress significantly and the whole house buying process is not exactly fun but most importantly we've got through this and we're moving into our forever home and are now sleeping well!

We've got a one week overlap between the rental and the purchase so won't move in until a week after we get the keys so that I can at least get 3 bedrooms painted and maybe a little more if things go well!

Also thanks to Sarnie for the help in moving our mortgage as well.

[Sporky]

dirtbiker said:

Any tips for minimising the stress throughout? We'll be porting the mortgage hopefully and we'll get movers in to do the heavy lifting.

Get the movers to pack too. Not having to do that for my last move made a massive difference to the process.

Though do make sure you've got a grab bag/box/crate with the stuff you need - for me that was my tablet, headphones, Kindle, and the stuff I needed for breakfast and morning coffee. Breakfast is much more than merely critically important to me, as is the ability to drown out the world and do puzzles. Your requirements will vary.

[SunsetZed]

Sporky said:

dirtbiker said:

Any tips for minimising the stress throughout? We'll be porting the mortgage hopefully and we'll get movers in to do the heavy lifting.

Get the movers to pack too. Not having to do that for my last move made a massive difference to the process.

Though do make sure you've got a grab bag/box/crate with the stuff you need - for me that was my tablet, headphones, Kindle, and the stuff I needed for breakfast and morning coffee. Breakfast is much more than merely critically important to me, as is the ability to drown out the world and do puzzles. Your requirements will vary.

Good tip, unfortunately due to Covid currently all the firms I spoke to recommended doing it yourself if you can. Top tip in this case is to think carefully about how long it will take you to do and double it.

Also when packing go room by room so that you feel as though you're making progress and are clear on what you still have left to do.

[Sporky]

SunsetZed said:

Good tip, unfortunately due to Covid currently all the firms I spoke to recommended doing it yourself if you can.

Ours were pretty sane about it (and I don't mean that to diminish the seriousness of a pandemic) - this was mid-January. All the windows open, we bundled up in one room which they left until last, masks whenever we were in proximity. I'm not surprised most are being very cautious and can't blame them for it, but I think it's possible to do it with reasonable levels of safety. The vaccine rollout should make things easier too.

To be fair it was probably easier for us - just two people and two dogs, and we had no specific time deadlines as we already owned the other house. I don't plan on ever moving again, but if I do we'll have the movers pack again.

[geeks]

Sporky said:

dirtbiker said:

Any tips for minimising the stress throughout? We'll be porting the mortgage hopefully and we'll get movers in to do the heavy lifting.

Get the movers to pack too. Not having to do that for my last move made a massive difference to the process.

Though do make sure you've got a grab bag/box/crate with the stuff you need - for me that was my tablet, headphones, Kindle, and the stuff I needed for breakfast and morning coffee. Breakfast is much more than merely critically important to me, as is the ability to drown out the world and do puzzles. Your requirements will vary.

Have to agree with this, we packed a few things up ourselves but the movers did the bulk of it in our last move and it made the whole thing so much less stressful and it is what we intend to do again when we move next year

[dirtbiker]

Thanks folks, that does sound very sensible. We had a bit of a clearout when we were getting the house ready for photos and will do some more tonight as we expect to have viewings starting from tomorrow. All come around and got real a bit fast, to be honest! Fingers crossed we don't have too many of the silly antics mentioned in this thread when it comes to the rest of the process!

[chopper602]

geeks said:

If 4G is ok outside then get a router that handles 4G and install and external aerial until you can get a more favourable service elsewhere. Surprised Starlink isnt available they have pretty good UK coverage now.

I've just looked Starlink up, as it's available where we are moving to, as like someone else, there is poor broadband. It's around £400 for the equipment, £50 for shipping and then around £90 a month for the service. Currently the 'antenna' needs an unobstructed 100deg cone to 'line of sight' to prevent service interruptions. if you want to roof mount it - that's extra too

[chopper602]

Surveys - Level 2 Homebuyer - are they worthwhile on a 15 year old property? The mortgage valuer has been in and there is nothing untoward that would prevent the small mortgage we are taking out being offered, but I'm not sure the worth of spending £4-500 on a report that says it's got a "roof and walls and we haven't inspected the electrics or plumbing".
Am I daft ?

[Shnozz]

chopper602 said:

Surveys - Level 2 Homebuyer - are they worthwhile on a 15 year old property? The mortgage valuer has been in and there is nothing untoward that would prevent the small mortgage we are taking out being offered, but I'm not sure the worth of spending £4-500 on a report that says it's got a "roof and walls and we haven't inspected the electrics or plumbing".
Am I daft ?

My view is that you either have a valuation only survey or go the whole hog if an old property and a full structural. Anything in between seems a waste of time.

That said, I would only have a valuation survey because of a mortgage. I’m perfectly capable of searching local property prices to deduce whether it’s priced right.

[ooid]

chopper602 said:

Surveys - Level 2 Homebuyer - are they worthwhile on a 15 year old property? The mortgage valuer has been in and there is nothing untoward that would prevent the small mortgage we are taking out being offered, but I'm not sure the worth of spending £4-500 on a report that says it's got a "roof and walls and we haven't inspected the electrics or plumbing".
Am I daft ?

On my previous house (100 years old Edwardian...), I had a full structural survey (Building survey called now?). The report helped me to reduce 30k off the purchase price. Homebuyer survey is a bit like neverwhere, so yes go for the whole package if you can.

[Flooble]

ooid said:

On my previous house (100 years old Edwardian...), I had a full structural survey (Building survey called now?). The report helped me to reduce 30k off the purchase price. Homebuyer survey is a bit like neverwhere, so yes go for the whole package if you can.

RICS have three levels now: Valuation, Homebuyers, Building.

• Valuation is basically what used to be called a drive-by.
• Homebuyers is a quick glance around while they fill in a template.
• Building is more detailed but still only addresses visible and accessible areas so you are going to depend on getting a good surveyor. The one I use lifts drain covers and tries to get into lofts, if given half a chance he has ladders and will go up and have a look at the roof. He'll go all along a wall with his damp meter and will flag up if something is suspiciously "inaccessible". On the other hand you could get someone whose been given 15 surveys to do and regards roofs, lofts, drains etc. as "inaccessible".

You also have structural engineers, who can go into even more detail, but that would be more for if you were buying a house that was subsiding or similar.

It's important to get confirmation of exactly how far your surveyor will go with their inspection - you want one like mine who will actually test stuff and open doors, not someone who will only look at the surface.