Why do house sales take so long?

[wedge22]

My wife and I have been waiting for what seems like an age for some news on the sale of our house and today we get a letter from the solicitors. In it we have confirmation of our buyers mortgage but no searches completed and a list of questions 2 of which they already have the answers too. So now we have to answer the questions and then give them to our solicitor whom has to then post to buyers solicitors. It all take so long We just want it sold and then we can move to Vancouver.

[Dougal]

Property chain.

And people that are lazy or like to look round lots of houses even after they have confirmed to buy yours.

[wedge22]

It is a chain but they are the first people that viewed the property and they offered the asking price so I assume that they are happy and not looking elsewhere. Its just getting on our nerves as we need to sell all our stuff before we leave for Canada.

[0iD]

I hate buying/selling a hous, nothing but a pain in the jacksie from beginning to end. Still, light at the end of the tunnel tho Wedge old bud

[wedge22]

Cheers OiD
The light for us is our exciting move to Vancouver, I hope we bloody like it there.

[Steve A]

I have recenlty bought a empty house that had been reposest and that still took 4 months so i dont envy the people who want to buy/sell houses that have people in them, a think 6 months is about the norm, but all the forms, details you have to fill in is riduculas.

[Kumagoro]

4 - 6 months is pretty quick. Looking around here at how long most houses have
the sold board up it seems much longer than that. I personally would accept a couple
of grand less if the person buying doesnt have a downward chain just so less can go
wrong.

[mark22]

The finding a buyer part takes a while now because of the market slowdown. The actual contract exchanging part usually takes around a month if everything goes to plan and survey's are done quickly etc. We actually got it done in 2 weeks once when a buyer pulled out and the seller offered us the place at the last minute for our original offer and we all wanted it done as quickly as possible.

It is very annoying though, I guess it's a big step for lots of people and they want to take it slowly. And those damn solicitors are so sloooow, they gat paid to check and sigh a couple of forms and it takes them weeks

Now imagine doing it for a living

[dangel]

I always thought it was because solicitors want to draw it out and look important..

[Sair33]

We saw the house we wanted in July last year...... ...sold in September ...lost out on the first house we saw cos we hadn't sold in time ...found another one ...ready to complete before Christmas ...buyer pulled out ...found another one in February ...they then pulled out of the one they were buying ...and bought a new one that wouldn't be ready until end July this year ...meanwhile we moved into rented... ...and are still there now... : ...but the good news is ....we'll be moved into the house we eventually chose by the end of September..... Can't wait!!

Only 14 months... not bad really...

The solicitor part wasn't too bad, and probably would have been quite quick if all the other stuff hadn't got in the way! Lots and LOTS of boxes to sign though... I lost the plot as to what I had signed in the end!

My only advice is... buy a house, and stay there... forever... never, EVER move.

[Fatman]

I reckon it's because not everyone in the chain may feel the same imperative to move quickly. If they're first time buyers then they may be able to wait until they're 100% happy that it's 'right' and they've got all their reports, searches, surveys etc in place.

[smtkr]

This is the reason that I chuckle when I hear people talking about buying a house as a good investment. Yes, in the very very long term (assuming the U.S. housing market doesn't experience depreciation) you can make money on housing; however, as the parent of this thread has mentioned, you can't just liquidate that type of investment. Selling a house takes a lot of time as opposed to selling an equity.

[IBM]

We were lucky enough to buy our house in cash, and the seller was so pleased that he knocked £20,000 off the asking price.....not looking forward to selling it though....going to take sooooo long....

[Zak33]

We saw the house we wanted in July last year...... ...sold in September ...lost out on the first house we saw cos we hadn't sold in time ...found another one ...ready to complete before Christmas ...buyer pulled out ...found another one in February ...they then pulled out of the one they were buying ...and bought a new one that wouldn't be ready until end July this year ...meanwhile we moved into rented... ...and are still there now... : ...but the good news is ....we'll be moved into the house we eventually chose by the end of September..... Can't wait!!

Only 14 months... not bad really...

The solicitor part wasn't too bad, and probably would have been quite quick if all the other stuff hadn't got in the way! Lots and LOTS of boxes to sign though... I lost the plot as to what I had signed in the end!

My only advice is... buy a house, and stay there... forever... never, EVER move.

what she said....with brass knobs on !!!!