Peter and his lovely partner Kristina reached out to us in early March 2024 wanting to buy a property. After our initial phone call, we knew we could help them since everything on their end was in order – they’re both hardworking and honest people.
Just 11 days after our first call, they had their mortgage offer in hand, and the solicitors we recommended got straight to work. However, communication from the sellers was confusing and slow. If we asked them 10 questions, we’d only get 4-5 answers back, and those came very slowly. It was odd and frustrating, but we didn’t suspect anything intentional at first.
By late April, our solicitors were ready to set a date for the key handover, which we thought the sellers would be thrilled about, but that wasn’t the case. After several days of digging, we found out that the sellers were part of a chain and had started buying a new build property – something they conveniently forgot to mention. Had we known, we would have warned Peter and Kristina about possible delays, as these things take time.
The sellers’ lack of transparency and deliberate delays were pretty unprofessional. Finally, we set a handover date for late June, which got postponed by a month to late July, and then finally, on August 2, 2024, the key handover happened.
Overall, the purchase took 5 months, which isn’t bad for a summer time purchase but would have been a different experience if we’d been informed about the chain. As always, we don’t want to discourage anyone from buying, even in a chain or with new builds. Despite the challenges, it all ended happily.
Congratulations on your beautiful new home, Peter and Kristina! We think it was worth the wait and thank you for choosing us
