As usual the solicitor says it’s going to take three months! I have a file full of all the search malarky and other documents from when I bought it two years ago and he is going to do it all over again. I was told once there is no reason why it shouldn’t take six weeks. Money for old rope I say.
I’ve just sold my house
by 34 Comments
I’m in the course of selling my flat (1 viewing tomorrow and 2 on Friday). It’s all a massive pain in the hole, isn’t it?
“I’m gonna sell my house in town.
And I’ll be there
To shine in your Japan.
To sparkle in your China
Yes I’ll be there.”
I worked within the mortgage value stream for one of the major banks for a while, and the entire process is completely outdated, ridiculously slow and unreasonably expensive. A number of up-coming FinTech companies are trying to challenge the system – proposing that a house purchase can be carried out in half the time it currently takes, if not less. But it is a historic gravy train and the legal firms do not want to collaborate with any financial organisation trying to change things.
I haven’t moved for 13 years and don’t intend to again, but it was a massive PITA. Our buyers were renting and hand given their notice so, to move things along, I took a day off work and ferried letters between solicitors offices (about an hour drive apart). Faxes and emails were just not in their vocabulary, despite it being 2011.
Having thought we’d downsize in 3 – 5 years, we actually think we’ll stay put if we can manage without the funds that downsizing would release. We like the area and neighbours and we’d almost certainly have to do work anywhere we went to. As others have said, it’s a PITA and expensive too!
The most important aspect of buying a house in Thailand is having a wife you can trust, because it’s going to be in her name (farangs aren’t allowed to buy land in Siam and a good thing, too). But it’s a stroll in the cake after that. We not only bought it, we built it, and everything was done within a year while we lived in a bijou rentalette. One piece of paperwork for the land, two for the house – no agents and NO SOLICITORS! Paid in cash because it’s cheap out here. The only way I’m going to move again is in a box to the temple oven around the corner, when I’ll be smokin’ hot for the first time since my twenties.
The nineteen- twenties…
Men – It can be done! House sales with no solicitors! The finances are arranged between buyer and seller – you know, like anything else – and the land rights are dealt with by the Town Hall, who issue you with a sustificate. The builder designs the house, based on what he knows how to do, or he’ll follow your design (rather, my design) if you keep a watchful eye on him. My wife sourced all the building materials, based on the shopping list the builder drew up, which ensured we got the lowest price and the best quality.
The system works perfectly well, in spite of no Estate Agents either. You keep your eyes open for For Sale signs, and in what is a very fluid market there’s always a choice. It’s rare that an old house (i.e. forty years or so) is bought and lived in, they’re more frequently demolished to make way for a new (and ghost-free!) habitation. Whe I think of the nightmare slewage of paperwork and meetings and mounting expenses associated with my last house (in French France) … *pfft*.
Buying a piece of land and building a house is one thing … selling and buying a house when there are additional people in the chain before and after that is something I couldn’t do and I’ve spend a life in construction management.
Between us we’ve bought 4 times and sold 3 times in the past 12 years or so, and hope never to do either again, if only because it’s such a PITA packing and unpacking. The process of buying and selling seems way easier and quicker in Oz, presumably because nobody has to go looking through manorial records and all that nonsense. Most amusing moment: Mrs Thep was dithering over how much to borrow for the most recent purchase and her mortgage advisor told her to put her big girl pants on, darl.
Just moved – me the records and err .. the wife. It is my 24th move. Attached is a pic of the remocals van arriving at a 40 foot high roof container to get the belongings after clearing out the townhouse we were in. Christ there was a lot of stuff. The container loks like a leggo block.
I have bought/sold 7 times. That too is a pain the arse and an expensive one too.
Moving is up their with divorce, death in the family and losing your job
as one of the most stressful things that can happen to you
Apparently the average number of house moves someone will make
during their lifetime is eight
I’ve moved countries nine times and houses/flats, around 25 times.
Never want to see another estate agent or removal van ever again
I am about the same, but am planning one more at least when I retire
I’m lagging behind the curve with a mere two.
Part of the reason being it was such a massive pain when we last did it in 1991.
We also like the area and the people.
But if the average is eight, some people have to move a lot to compensate for my two lowering the average.
@Carl having seen your house and the area you live in I would be more than happy to stay there.
Having recently retired we were considering downsizing but then thought you know what with stamp duty this could potentially cost us up to £50k in duty and fees. The govt get more than enough out of us as it is.
Plus downsizing really means moving somewhere not as good.
Think it can be done in 30 days here. Not sure if still different in the UK (less official), but making an offer here is done in writing and normally involves paying an immediate non refundable deposit if offer accepted. Much less chance of people backing out then
Much like Scotland
Ah yes, should have said England and Wales
I have only moved from a house I owned twice.
Once in 1992 and once in 1998, and that was subsidised by a company relocation package (remember them?).
I have been at my current abode for 26 years and have no need to move on unless we downsize when the current teenagers fly the nest finally.
Rather than pay the cost of moving I would rather invest in a new lawn, a new kitchen and some painting and decorating as the place looks a bit tired.
Is a lawn investment like a hedge fund?
O, I say, cigar for the balding man with a suntan!
Can I have a chapeau instead?
Chapeau for the chap with the eau.
Mother-in-law is in a care home and it’s been a real pain selling her flat, not least that we were paying her care home fees until the sale went through. Once buyers were found their solicitor was so incredibly slow, we had to point out to the buyers that MiL was deteriorating quickly and if she died before the sale went through it would go to probate and they’d be lucky to get in before Christmas. It’s amazing how quickly solicitors can actually work when pressured, exchange and completion happened on the same day rather than 2-3 weeks apart, we got the fees we paid back and now her bank balance will be bled until almost dry with the cost of the care home.
Just worked out that I’ve moved the average 8 times. As others have said, it’s been a PITA each time.
With one sale our agent never turned up for *any* of the numerous viewings, and so we had to show people around the house and try to sell it ourselves, over and over again, for months. And for that the agent still pocketed their percentage.
And once when we were buying, the agent sat in the hall, said absolutely nothing about the property, and let us wander unaccompanied, able to (if we were of that sort of mind) rummage through drawers and have a sneaky peek to our hearts’ content. When we eventually gave them a few questions, they mumbled a few half-hearted answers and proved to be no use at all. We quickly walked away. If I was the owner, I would have been outraged at their lack of effort.
In contrast, an agent we used in Canada was faultless, and could not have done a better job. He knew everything about the home and the neighbourhood, made the whole business a breeze, and even saved us money each step of the way. If only the ones we used in the UK could have been anywhere near as good.
I’m not too bothered about the agent showing people around. My place has been in the market for a week and the agent has accompanied all but one of the half dozen viewings so far, but she saw that I’m happy to do the chat myself and has pretty much kept schtum. I chose that agent as they already had two flats in my block sold subject to contract and so far they seem to be very active on my behalf. The solicitors are another matter. I contacted 3 for estimates and not surprisingly the job went to the only one who was professional enough to reply promptly.
[I think this is move 15 including childhood homes and short term student dives; I’ve been in this one for almost exactly 25 years.]
Edit – The main thing I’ve learned so far is not to waste time telling investment buyers what a great place it is to live, just let them look around and answer their questions. People looking for a place to live themselves are much more open to having the views and so on pointed out to them.
Yes my experience with Canadian (and American) agents (“realtors”) has been very good. You generally pay a lot for it, but they dilligently manage the process from start to finish with extreme professionalism.
Still takes 3 months though
When we got posted and sold up, from first visit to sale was maybe 10 days.
Wow my mates moving in New Mexico he’s been told 2-3 months
Back when I was a single man I invested in a two bed apartment as my bachelor pad the week I turned 40 to be finally paid off the week I turn 65. When I met my wife she owned half of a 4 bed house she had lived in and rented to other women who were her best friends – a lovely set up. She moved in with me. Marriage and two children later, we moved into her house and rented out the apartment. Two years later, her aunt died and thanks to whatever idiot solicitor did the purchase, instead of the property passing to my wife, we ended up with a massive inheritance tax bill on top of two mortgages just ahead of the birth of our third child.
We struggled on for years but the impact of the increasing European Central Bank rate our tracker mortgages became crippling and over a year ago we decided to sell the apartment. The housing situation in Ireland is dire so I told my really sound tenants that I would try to sell to the local authority so they could stay. 5 or 6 months later a Housing charity said they would buy it. A figure I’d indicated in my application in March 23 was agreed and we sat back to let solicitors sort it out. We’re still waiting. Certain documents that our buyers think are essential can’t be found and according to my original solicitor didn’t exist when I bought it. They come back every month or two with page after page of queries and it gets kicked down the road again. Were I to put it up for sale now we’d get €15 or 20k more than we agreed last August but we’d have to throw our tenants out. We’ve asked the buyer to up their offer as they’ve stalled so long. In the meantime we live from month to month barely getting by and any kind of extravagant spending even on a decent holiday for the kids is on hold. We have borrowed from family for emergencies like our ancient car dying.
The whole process is grinding us down and we’re totally blaming solicitors whether my current or original are the cause of this or whether the buyer’s is just running up their bill by being unnecessarily obstructive. I work with offenders and I think some of them have a better moral code than some solicitors. I wouldn’t piss on one if they were on fire.
Forms forms forms. I bought the flat where I now type in 1999, before internet access was a given. I remember a couple of brief meetings with my solicitor, involving taking some bills and so on as ID, during which the necessary details were completed. Now I’ve had to complete 3 forms including 5 pieces of ID to prove my identity and address before the solicitors even send me a code to the ID verification app they use (which is of course different to the one my estate agent uses).
Only yesterday we accepted an offer on our house in north London. We’ll be moving to Edinburgh, probably Portobello, to see out our days.
The agent put the house on the market the market on the Wednesday. Then Friday and Saturday intensive viewings. Offers, second viewings, and second officers done within a week – I don’t think that part of process could have been done more quickly or efficiently.
Now the paperwork and survey grind starts, and I suspect we’ll have to put everything in storage to be cash buyers in Scotland. Sellers aren’t keen on getting bogged down in English chains.
U sold the flat my mum lived in which my brother and I bought. It took over a year, mainly due to a useless estate agent going for too high a price. We though, “oh great”, but it just didn’t move. Not a viewing. Moved it to an agent with a “shift this” brief and she repriced it and sold it to the first viewer. My buyer’s buyer was a property company which should have made it easier (no mortgage etc) but it ran into big company BS – on X can sign this and he is away until next Friday etc. Infuriating.
What did work was we had an excellent solicitor with great systems so everything was on line and super efficient. Sadly they have closed the shop now but they were great.
I’m currently selling a house in France which is easier in a way. The environmental surveys etc are horribly expensive but there is only one solicitor (notaire) who acts for both parties which obviously makes it easier, surveys don’t exist, and if you offer the asking price they have to accept it. When I bought my place back in 2001 it took 6 weeks! Also gazumping isn’t allowed.