The race to be in for Christmas!

A question about : The race to be in for Christmas!

Hi everyone who has had an offer accepted recently (late September and October),

Just thought I will post this thread as a bit of a 'support' group for those hoping to get into their new place for Christmas! My story can be seen in my sig and currently, we are waiting for all the searches to finish before we can talk completion and exchange dates. The environment/drainage/water search has come back as OK but still waiting for the local authority search and hoping that will come in this week so we can start talking dates! Everything has been going smoothly so far (except for a slight delay in mortgage offer due to hubby's unusual pay scheme)... BUT...

I'm feeling a bit anxious at the moment as we haven't heard much from our vendors... Vendors are a married couple who has already found a property they like near the wife's mum and they are buying from an old lady who is moving in with her daughter so that's the end of the chain.

Got our mortgage offer on Friday and called the real estate agents' to let them know. Of course, our lovely (cough! cough!) EA has gone on holiday and is back on Wednesday. In the meantime, her horrendously talkative colleague who is taking her cases has not returned any of my calls. I called 3 times on Friday and our mortgage advisor called as well and guess what, SHE WAS ON THE PHONE THE WHOLE TIME! I spoke to her one time and she told me she will call me in 2 minutes and did she? Hell no! I don't think she is avoiding us specifically as I didn't say who I was the 1st and 3rd time I called. How can anyone been on the phone so much? What do these EAs do on the phone all day?

Anyway, our solicitor is going to notify the sellers' solicitor that we have got our mortgage offer so fingers crossed. If everything goes well, we are really hoping to be in for Christmas. It's our first house so it's all exciting though I don't dare to get too excited yet as I keep thinking something's going to go wrong... Re-assurances please!

Angeline x

Best answers:

• Hi There,
  we have also had our mortgage offer on 20th oct was so excitin, currently just instructed solicitors for searches etc so that should take a good few weeks 2-4 weeks maybe?? think it varies though.
  we are aiming to complete a week before xmas but no set dates yet as we have just had our property sold up north so they are currently gettin their mortgage sorted..
  Who's next please lol....
• EAs are on the phone all day long that is their business - if they did not phone prospective purchasers/solicitors etc houses would not get sold !!
  good luck
• Neither of you wil be in for xmas
• Offer Accepted on 17th Oct
  Instructed Solicitor on 18th Oct
  Survey Done on 23rd - Awaiting Results
  Sent Cheque to Solictors for searches 23rd Oct
  I'm very much in the early stages, searches should be back in 2-3 weeks.
  I'm chain free, the vendor is buying and i think has put an offer in.
• I had offer accepted 13 Sept, survey done, mortgage offer done
  Solicitors dragging their feet on searches and checking the lease
  Had a dream last night that the EA phoned me to say we are working on a completion date of 3rd July! Have woken up this morning and sent nagging emails/left phone messages for everyone involved!
• Offer accepted on 12th September
  Instructed solicitor on 14th September
  Cleared funds to solicitor for searches 2nd October
  Survey completed ~5th October
  Draft Contracts Received 17th October
  Searches completed 23rd October
  Awaiting appointment to sign for exchange
• Hi
  I'm in the same situation. Have had searches, mortgage offer etc done and our conveyancer should be sending us the contract to read and sign, this week. We're going to try and push to exchange contracts at least before end of Nov as we'll be on holiday and want to go away with a piece of mind. Honestly I don't think i've had a decent night's sleep ever since we started the buying process in Sept!
• You can see by my signature how things are going!! Never assume anything is a lesson I've learnt this time round.
  Our Vendors Solicitor is the one holding everything up and our Vendor was the one who has stressed that she wanted a quick sale (there is no onward chain) well we've given her that and our buyer is ready to go (contracts signed just need to set dates) so the ball is in her court now.......and it has been for 3 weeks.
  If we're not in by christmas people are going to have some serious explaining to do.Good luck everyone!
• Hi
  We sold our house on Friday. Our buyers are on rented, so no chain. We are buying a George Wimpey House which will is virtually ready.
  All Solicitors instructed, mortgage offers for us and our buyers are in place.
  Our house is only 4 years old, so survey shouldn't be too much of a problem.
  Our buyers want to be in 2-3 weeks before Christmas, what is the likelihood of it all going through before Christmas?
• I am in a similar situation too, been waiting for the mortgage offer since 28th of sept, as our letting agent FKD up, they were sent the info for them to do a rental reference....they chased them up on the 11th Oct, and I called tmy MA on thurs (19th) she said they still dont have it so I called letting agents who were "doing it right that second" but couldnt answer the q about whether we pay every month!! and the landlord was away!!! so i called MA she said to send bankstatements showing payment going out. Faxed that on thurs, so for mortgage offer just waiting for reference!
  We and the vendor and their vendor want to move end of november,,,, but time is slipping away everyone else in the chain is ready, we have the searches which will be done any day now, as they were started about 2-3 weeks ago... so hopefully once Mortgage offer comes thru it should move fairly quickly.... HERES HOPING!!!!
  Good luck to every one!!!
• We had our offer accepted on 25th August and accepted an offer on ours on the same day. The survey was done on 9th Sept. The mortgage offer was received on 11th Sept. Conveyancing started on 14th Sept and fixtures and fittings lists, searches, contract pack details etc were almost complete up until yesterday. We were waiting on one last piece of paperwork and thinking we would be exchanging by end of next week. Then our vendors vendor (top of the chain of 3 purchases) decided she isn't going to move until January. So while the rest of us had all got used to the idea we would nicely settled in before christmas, it just took one individual to decide something like that for it all to change in an instant! So bah humbug!
• Hi,
  Good luck vibes to all! It will be good to check on how things progress for everyone. Dccarm, can't believe you have got a date so quickly, our solicitor won't talk dates till all the searches are in... MascaraMinx, I've read about your story on these forums... The frustrating thing is I have no idea if our vendors want out by Christmas or not. When we met her on the second viewing, we asked how likely it would be for us to get in before Christmas, and she said no problem but then again, she was selling a house.
  Fingers crossed everyone!
  Rgds, Angeline
• I have known a sale go through in a week, nothing is impossible! However thats obviously not the norm.
  It seems more often than not its one headache after another. Thats how its been for me this time, I am so stressed its unreal!
  Cant wait to exchange (if we ever do) so that it will all be over.
  Ho hum.
  Latest problem is the FTB at the bottom of the chain, has had her mortgage refused as her work contract expires in a month, and so she has gone to another lender, cant see that being accepted though! It took her 7 weeks to get the first valuation done! And then it was refused, I just cant believe it, never have I known such incompetence.
  However she has got the second lender to get a mortgage valuation done today, two days later!?!
  Give me strength please.
  Rest of the chain ready to exchange..............
• Went to see solicitor yesterday and he says not to worry, HE can complete on the repo we are hoping to buy within the 28 day deadline. Problem is our chain below (only 2 involved)... apparantly my buyers seolicitor says by me buying a repo could mean nothing goes through!!! as I apparantly said I'd move out so as not to hold up the chain. I did say this but I said If I cant find a house, I will move out, well Ive found a house and now they dont think they will make my repo's deadline. Searches on my house back this week, searches on start of chain back next week, searches on my purchase not even started so how is it my solicitor is so confident yet the other solicitors cant do it with a head start.
  Aaaaagh and after reading your stories, Im even more doubtful now.
  Good luck everyone
• Hi everyone, I'm new here and also in the process of buying - seems to be going soooo slow at the moment and so I'm starting to hassle people. We originally thought we were moving in April, but the chain fell apart, and we have had 2 other failed offers on our house since then, so every day I'm expecting something to go wrong. Our buyer seems to have little clue about what he's doing and he is selling privately to a FTB so I'm worried about that link in the chain with noone monitoring it. REALLY want to be in for Christmas, I've targeted 15th December, but my vendor wants the 1st. A bit soon I think....
  Good luck to everyone else!
• Mine has sold after four weeks to a city person chasing his rural dream
  His has sold to first time buyers who are ready to exchange and pretty p'd off with my buyer at the five weeks it took for him to offer on somewhere, and then two weeks to do his mortgage application yesterday
  we had our offer accepted on dream home yesterday - it is empty so we are in with a chance of the target 8th December date, but I will believe it when it happens.
  Solicitor is working on sale, waiting for pack to complete on purchase.
  Cant find my P60 or prove my ID due to change of name a few months ago . Anyone know how long it will take to get my driving licence back if i send it today?