Home Buying in the U.K

To say it's been an "adventure" is an understatement. After selling up in the States more than 18 months ago, shipping everything over, building up credit and finally securing a mortgage, we found something within our budget, made an offer that was accepted and just waited for everything to fall into place. Finally after 4 1/2 months it FINALLY looks like it's gonna happen.....between bank surveys, structural surveys, dodgy estate agents, lost ownership records, council variations, two week holiday breaks, the left hand not knowing what the right is doing, mis-communications, assumptions etc, it's reminded me more of a Mexican stand-off than a simple real estate transaction. it's like who's gonna blink first......it's been so convoluted at times that finally last week I gave the estate agent 72 hours to sort it or I was walking away from the offer.........customer service as a whole has been discussed here before and while I don't have an opinion in general either way I can say that in the real estate industry it's sorely lacking....nothings what it seems. The government must recognize it too because they're introducing legislation and laws  that take effect in 2007 to simplify it and make it more straight forward.....good luck to anyone else contemplating it because it's no simple thing.

good luck to anyone else contemplating it because it's no simple thing.

Uh-oh. 

I'm not into comparisons because like Dorothy, I know this is'nt Kansas but in the States the real estate broker coordinates everything.....here you've got to stay on top of everything from day 1 and with different laws, rules, and regulations it can be somewhat discombobulating.....it's tough enough trying to understand the process even for the British thus the tightening up of regulations in 2007......it just seems like the perfect industry to apply Murphy's Law to......what can go wrong, will go wrong.

That's about how long it took us to get into our house here too.  We first made the offer in Nov 2004...and after price negotiations, offer acceptance, survey/inspection, waiting to get disclosure documents - warranties - etc from the seller, further more detailed inspections, working with our solicitor vs their solicitor (each apparently blaming the other and/or us/the seller for the delays), further price negotiations based on the detailed inspections, applying for & finalising the mortgage offer - a blizzard of documentation back & forth there, land searches & registry stuff, getting everyone to sign the contract, money changing hands (banks), etc etc etc...

We finally started moving in on Feb 25 2005.  And yes, I was on the phone with the solicitor, the bank, the inspectors, etc etc constantly - chasing one thing & another up.  We began to think it was never going to happen.

I never bought a house in the US so I've nothing to compare it to...but this was an awful palaver.

i'm in the midst of trying to buy a house right now. i thought the hardest part was actually finding a place to afford in the south east of england!

i agree with you about the estate agents being dodgy. i have been appalled at how shifty and totally unethical they have been throughout this process. i know there is a lot of debate about the government's plans re: homebuyers pack but anything that adds a level of transparency to the process and puts more onus on the seller and their agent to be upfront about issues can only be a good thing.

The government must recognize it too because they're introducing legislation and laws  that take effect in 2007 to simplify it and make it more straight forward.....

So be ready for the whole process to become even more long-winded and expensive.     

I never bought a house in the US so I've nothing to compare it to...but this was an awful palaver.

November to February doesn't sound that bad to me. I've never bought a house in the UK, but have done so in the US and that doesn't sound unreasonable! But whatever country you're in, buying a house can be a royal pain. The BF and I will probably be going through it all here sometime in 2006 and although I can't wait for us to have our own house, I wish I could just blink my eyes and be in it without having to go through all the preliminary stuff. Fortunately, one of BF's best friends is an estate agent, so that might help a bit.

November to February doesn't sound that bad to me.

Maybe it just seemed forever!   We weren't dealing with a 'chain' on our purchase either...just an empty house waiting for us -- right across the street from the flat we used to rent.

We haven't given up the idea of buying the house we're renting (well, I haven't anyway...) which would make for a chain-free buy. I suppose the best bit would be not having to move in so it wouldn't really matter how long it took. Our lease isn't up for a couple months, so I'm still searching for a solution... or a lottery win. 

I found the whole process a lot more difficult than buying in the US--at least in our area (NE Lincs). We rented for a year while we looked at areas & houses. The estate agents do NOTHING. And I hated that the homeowner is the one to show you around the house. The buyer has to do a lot more work on their own. It can really be an overwhelming process. I still have no idea what our estate agent did to earn their commision

The estate agents do NOTHING.

Thats an understatement....fortunately their commission is the responsability of the seller in my case......but you're right, they're useless. They make a great reason when you eventually sell to just contract a conveyance solicitor and do a FSBO.

I feel your pain. I am living the same nightmare. I swear I am on the verge of a meltdown or panic attack on some days.  God bless the US Multiple Listing System and a Realtor who screens the properties for you, and drives you around to view them.  I swear the process of buying a vacant possession property, with none of our own to sell, has been so difficult that it will take dynamite to get me to sell up to move anywhere else in the future! The thought of having to do this to coordinate the sale of one property with the purchase of another is enought to make me absolutely nuts.

Our solicitor has been trying for 6 weeks to get copies of paperwork from the seller's solicitor that they should already have on file (like the insurance policy on the building since it's leasehold). Simple stuff and it is just absurd how complacent even our solicitor is about their delays.  I keep telling myself that I wil survive this but only time will tell 

Try doing it for a living 

My husband bought and renovated older houses in the States for a living. Now that we are in the UK we are going to do it here. Since my DH sold two houses before he left the UK for the States a few years ago......it was a nightmare.....buyers would make offers, things would toddle along and then the buyer would just change their mind and walk away.........after 6 weeks!

We are looking at houses to buy at auction now. God help us once we do one up and try and sell it. 

A bit late but we're currently in the process of buying a house. So far, from the date the offer was accepted, it's been a month. It does seem soooo long when all you want is to move in and start your new life and stuff.

At the moment we've only just had our mortage company approve everything (thanks to the not so brilliant mortgage advisor who was taking his sweet ass time getting the application in) and we're expecting to hear from them within the day about setting up their survey. We've had a survey of our own done and we're still waiting for some of the searches to come back. But our solicitor is a colleage of mine and he's promised to get things moving swiftly as soon as we get the lender's survey done.

So fingers cross, we're hoping for completion by end of March. It's a company that owns the house and it's empty and we're first time buyers so theres nothing holding us back except for the paperwork.

Yaye Ashley!  I hope it all comes together soon for you.  It was so exciting when we moved in here -- I still have trouble believing that this is actually *my/our* house -- I'd lived in rented accommodation for so long.  It still (even one year on) doesn't seem quite real!  (But then being over here, in the UK, sometimes seems unreal too!  LOL)