House buying

[betty]

After being in a house chain for 9 months, and having had a previous buyer pull out on us prior to that, we finally received a phone call from our solicitor this morning telling us that we should be in a position to exchange contracts this afternoon. That is until our estate agent has just rung to inform us that the buyer at the other end of the chain has 'got the jitters' and pulled out! They had even signed their contract, although not exchanged, and had also paid the deposit. To say we are gutted is an understatement.

Let's just hope our numbers come up in the Lottery tonight! Oh well, we're off down the pub to drown our sorrows! C'est la vie.

 

Betty

[Kitty]

Crickey, Betty, what bad luck.  The English & Welsh system of buying and selling houses is so stressful.  Successive governments investigate this and never grasp the nettle for change.  HIPs were supposed to help but all they have done is add extra costs to the process.

Does anyone have direct experience of the Scottish system?  What are the pitfalls that are preventing the English & Welsh accepting a similar system?

 

[Sprogster]

The problem at the moment is that there is a credit crunch and banks are reluctant to lend and if they do only at conservative margins to people with impecable credit history. Therefore, even if you find a buyer there is no guarantee that they will be able to raise sufficient mortgage finance and complete, as their bank valuation of your UK property could well be below the agreed sale price! This is becoming an increasing problem in itself.

My advice is not to even consider a bridging loan in the current financial enviroment and in all probability it might well be that the French house you have set your heart on is still for sale, when you eventually do sell your UK house. I am in the Var at the moment and even on the Med in high season, the property market has gone very quiet, as the credit squeeze is not just a UK issue.

[KathyF]

[quote user="Cathy"]

Crickey, Betty, what bad luck.  The English & Welsh system of buying and selling houses is so stressful.  Successive governments investigate this and never grasp the nettle for change.  HIPs were supposed to help but all they have done is add extra costs to the process.

Does anyone have direct experience of the Scottish system?  What are the pitfalls that are preventing the English & Welsh accepting a similar system?[/quote]

We have family experience of buying in Scotland under the "offers over" system, under which you don't get a response to your offer until all the offers are in. If a property is proving popular, a closing date for offers will be set, otherwise you just seem to wait until the seller thinks there aren't any more offers to come. In our experience we were told that our first offer wasn't the winner and were invited to raise it if we wanted to. According to friends in Scotland the practice of setting a fixed price for house sales is becoming more common, perhaps as a result of the falling market and scarcity of buyers. Once a properrty is under offer its details are removed from display until completion or return to the market.

[mint]

[quote user="betty"]

After being in a house chain for 9 months, and having had a previous buyer pull out on us prior to that, we finally received a phone call from our solicitor this morning telling us that we should be in a position to exchange contracts this afternoon. That is until our estate agent has just rung to inform us that the buyer at the other end of the chain has 'got the jitters' and pulled out! They had even signed their contract, although not exchanged, and had also paid the deposit. To say we are gutted is an understatement.

Let's just hope our numbers come up in the Lottery tonight! Oh well, we're off down the pub to drown our sorrows! C'est la vie.

 

Betty

[/quote]

Betty, you have my sympathy.  Our house sale fell through no fewer than four times.  We went to France, put in an offer for a house, after ringing our solicitor who confirmed that the mortgage for the buyer was in place, nothing to be anxious about, etc. etc.

Well that scenario happened 4 times.  In the end, when the fifth and actual purchaser put in their offer, I refused to believe it and did nothing more about getting the removal people in or anything else.  In the meantime, we were lucky enough to afford to buy the French property without having access to the funds from the British property.

So, we sat in our British house and said, "yea, yea" but then the purchasers came back and said could we move out in 10 days?  So, it was panic stations from there on.

Don't despair, you only need one buyer and someone will be along soon!

Good Luck!

[betty]

Luckily we did not have our hearts set on any house in France, other than liking the look of one or two on the internet, but that's not to say we would have liked them in the cold light of day. We were/are planning on renting while we househunt so there are no plans to look at anything to buy until the money is in the bank. Sadly we are not in a position to buy in France and keep a property in the UK at this moment in time.

Everyone in the chain did have their money in place, it wasn't the fault of any lender, it was just one guy who changed his mind right at the last minute. As I said earlier, he had signed the paperwork and paid the deposit. According to our estate agent, the guy doesn't lose his money, because although the contract was signed, it had not been exchanged. We have not lost any money ourselves as the deposits for the removal company and the rental property in France had not yet been paid even though the completion date was going to be a week tomorrow.

This is actually our third disappointment since putting our house on the market at the end of August last year but this is the furthest that any of the sales have gone. The first buyer pulled out after 2 days (a bit of a timewaster), the second buyer pulled out right after the Northern Rock news hit the headlines (they were buying to let) but our third buyer still wants to continue with the purchase of our house, as does their buyer with theirs. So we will just have to wait and see what happens next. Funnily enough, our buyers buyer is an MP so maybe he might start campaigning to get the England and Wales house buying process changed as it was his buyer who pulled out!

It's all really been about bad timing. We could have put the house on the market earlier last year and sold long before the credit crunch ever started but we planned to have a winter let in France rather than trying to rent during the summer months. We had no end of interest in our house with at least 6 acceptable offers prior to the financial mayhem that started so it was not like our house was not popular. We actually thought at the time that we would not get a long let during the summertime anyway hence the reason for going for a winter one.  But after having to start searching last week due to the news that we might be moving quickly, I was inundated with offers of rentals so there seems to be some people in France who must be struggling to rent out their properties this year either short or long term.

Maybe some things were not to be. At least it will give us more time to get our French language skills up to a better standard than it is at the moment! We also didn't win anything on the lottery last night but we did have a good time down the pub!

Betty

 

 

[johnnyboy]

We have had our house on the market for approximately two months now.Interest at first came quite quickly,with a propective purchaser round within two hours of going on the agents website.

Seems to have dried up just as rapidly though,as no one round for about three weeks now.This is in south east,where the market was supposed to still be fairly active too!

Not only that we have dropped the asking price almost 10% in that two months,with very little change in the situation.

My honest advice is to avoid like the plague,any thoughts of bridging loans etc.

We bought three years ago in France and are nearing completion of our renovation.Knowing what we do now,we could have saved an awful lot of heartache in that time and found somewhere just as idyllic.

Please be sensible and sell before even thinking of looking any further,no matter how wonderful the house is.

Johnnyboy.

[Jacqui Too]

[quote user="betty"]

 We have not lost any money ourselves

[/quote]

What an awful experience you have had. I sympathise with you all the way as we are trying to sell my mothers house at the moment which has been on the market a year! we have had one offer which we accepted last autumn and that fell through.

But unless you solicitor is working for free you will have lost money on the fees they charge for the aborted sales! you probable won't get charged until their final bill when you do eventually sell.

[betty]

[quote user="Jacqui Too "][quote user="betty"]

 We have not lost any money ourselves

[/quote]

But unless you solicitor is working for free you will have lost money on the fees they charge for the aborted sales! you probable won't get charged until their final bill when you do eventually sell.

[/quote]

Thanks for that info. I will call the solicitor after lunch to find out what the situation is with his fees.

 

Betty

[mint]

You seem very philosophical about this matter, Betty, and it is the only way to be.

Someone, somewhere, will come along because someone always does.

Ours took 18 months in the end to sell but it all worked out fine and we are very happy in France.  Having said that, I would love to move to another area and /or another town and certainly another house.

Have considered buying one as soon as we find a house we like and can afford but, like you, I am keeping my powder dry.  No need to rush into things especially as the whole atmosphere around property markets in the UK and in France is so uncertain at present.

I'm looking around and, if a bargain does come along, then I'll probably go for it.  But, I'll only do it having worked out the finances and a worst case scenario in order to cut down as many nasty surprises as possible.

Very best of luck to you.

[dexter]

I`m so glad that I took the advice given to me, and walked away from a deal on a French property as I have said previously in this topic. One option suggested to me by my building society`s mortgage advisor was to arrange the finance to buy the property in France using the equity in my UK house, then when the final contract in France was signed, (this would have been about the end of January this year) take a six month mortgage break on the UK house `because you shouldn't have any problems selling within six months.`

I can imagine the trouble I`d be in now if I had gone with that suggestion but it was a non starter from the off, however I`m sure that some people would have taken the gamble.

Only 2 viewings to date and a drop in my asking price of £25k since October. But I sleep soundly every night.

The property in France is still on the market and has been reduced in price by £20k in the last fortnight, so I`ll sit and wait.and wait,and wait and eventually get what I want on my terms.  

[betty]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

You seem very philosophical about this matter, Betty, and it is the only way to be.

[/quote]

We were obviously still feeling a bit down and feeling sorry for ourselves with the news yesterday, but just before my last posting here this morning, I received a call from my best friend, who is in her mid 40's and  is very ill with cancer, with the devastating news that it has now spread to her brain. So it really all needs to be put into perspective. I can move to France later this year, next year or whenever once the house sells.  You just don't know what's round the corner so there is no need in getting upset about a silly old house sale falling through.

Sweet 17, I hope you find your new house soon. Best of luck.

Dexter, you and I both replied to ColinE, the OP, when he mentioned a bridging loan to warn him against it. I don't know if he did or not in the end. I hope everything went well for him. But your posting today just goes to show what would have happened to you if you had gone ahead with the house that you wanted to buy. Sorry to hear that you are still waiting for a buyer. Best of luck to you too.

 

Betty

[AnOther]

My sympathies too Betty, I'm thankful that we managed to sell last August just before the wheels started to come off. Hope it happens for you soon.

I'm in touch with ColinE BTW and no, he didn't bridge thank god, but he's still trying to sell in UK without too much luck unfortunately.