I’m getting fed up waiting for the house we’re buying to be ‘ready’ (buying in the loosest term – we said we’d buy, they said they’d sell to us…).
It seems there are about 4 in the chain, the estate agents are a bunch of 22 year old slick haired lads who clearly aren’t ‘career agents’ and as such don’t seem to be working too hard or returning calls, and it seems that once a week a new person is added to the chain!

Theoretically, this could go on ad-infinitum and we’d get nowhere!

We haven’t even got searches/mortgage valuations done yet as the agents/solicitors have advised us not to (which is completely fair enough).

So, realistically, how long should I wait before i can even start ‘buying’ the house I’m meant to be buying! It’s been over 4 weeks now, and the chain isn’t looking anywhere near complete!

(and breathe……)

DrP

each purchase is “individual” and depends on lots of things eg. the chain – have the buyers got their mortgage offers?, searches etc
i would say at least 4 weeks from instructing mortgage valuation, searches etc so it could be several weeks or even months
try telling the agents that you will look around for something else if things don’t proceed quickly – after all its a buyers market

get yourself a piece of string…

i’ve just sold mine. i have no chain, he’s a first time buyer and i’ve been told 12 weeks til completion.

12 weeks….!!!

What are they doing? Counting bricks?!

DrP

Throw your toys out of the pram and threaten to pull out. Be a brave seller who ignores you in this Market.

I hate to disappoint you but given the difficulty of getting loans and the prevalence of redundancy chains are going to be bad news, 3 or 4 months is my experience in normal circumstances but now who knows, you might be lucky but my advice sort some alternatives if you can so your not so dependent on everyone else in such an uncertain market.

To try and make it easier for you some people bought Spanish apartments and houses in Alcadeisa, just near me in 2004. Their deposits were from €50,000 to €70,000 and still not a single brick has been laid.

In Gibraltar, there is a major scandal as the government built apartments that only Gibraltarian people are allowed to buy still have not been completed and it will be months. The government made the purchasers take out mortgages months ago, and many are a few thousand out of pocket with no move in date in sight.

Does that make you feel better?

4 weeks LOL !
My ‘easy’ move was 4 months, the second 7 months

Someones got to say it, so I will – s’alot easier in Scotland.
1. Wander around half a dozen flats on a Thursday evening
2. Wander around half a dozen more flats on a Sunday afternoon
3. Repeat for 6 weeks
4. Find one you half fancy and can maybe afford if you sell a kidney
5. Register note of interest and instruct a valuation / survey.
6. Wait for the vendor to set a closing date then think of a number, double it, double it again and put that in as an offer.
7. Wait for the closing date to arrive.
8. Ring your solicitor and be told that the flat went for double the offers over price and your bid was £20k short of the winning one.
9. Return to step 1 and repeat

😉

Just been round another house.
How easy is it to add an extra level? 😉

DrP

Our first house took 5 weeks – the 2nd took just over 5 months. All worth it now, but the missus was eight and a half months pregnant by the time we moved in, and I thought she would blow half way through the day.