Currently buying/selling a house? How is it going? READ MOD NOTE POST #1

You usually get a closing date once the contracts have been issued for both the vendor and the buyer to sign. If it helps any bit, I went sale agreed at the very end of April and didn't get the keys until the first week of September, and the apartment was vacant and neither myself nor the vendor were in a chain. That being said, the delays were down to a mixture of my own solicitor, the vendor's solicitor and my mortgage advisor all taking annual leave at different times during the process, and the vendor's solicitor was also quite slow at getting some documents to my solicitor too. My advice is just keep on top of it if you can and don't be afraid to phone/email your own solicitor every few days to ask for updates.

Thanks for the feedback adn tips! I will start chasing them more, the EA is getting noticibly frustrated, informing us that our soolicitor is taking 2+ weeks to respond to the sellers solicitor. Really puts us in a akward situation.

Got a message from the EA today saying the sellers were hoping to have all contracts signed this week and asking for our preferred closing date. It's been 105 days now since sale agreed but it finally feels like the end may be in sight for us.

Something I couldn't find a clear answer on online was, is it the expectation that the "closing date" will also be the date that keys are handed over? I assumed generally that it was but I couldn't find anything to make it certain.

Closing date is the date the sale is completed and the balance on funds transferred. Sometimes you won’t get the keys til the next day, e.g if solicitors have different banks, funds can be slower to transfer, or it goes through in the afternoon but the EA isn’t there to give out the key etc. Depends to some extent on your solicitor. Some are better than others about making sure the funds are in the other solicitor’s account on time.

In my limited experience, once the mortgage is drawn down and sent, I’ve only seen a delay of a day or two for funds to transfer and the key to be released. Of course if it’s a Friday you could be waiting the weekend.

Ah okay. The sellers have specifically said they want to close on a Wednesday to allow time for things like setting up their broadband before the weekend, so presume this wouldn't be an issue for us.

Yeah, the mortgage protection insurers need a start date on your policy, which will be your closing date. You can always choose an earlier date but you'll be paying for days you don't need to. Do you have a closing date yet? Even if you don't, it's worth going through the process for the mortgage protection and getting a final quote if you haven't already done so. They give an initial quote based on just the details of your mortgage but then do a lengthy followup process asking about your health, so it's better to get all of that out of the way early.

Hey. Yeah. They call me and we are good to go now. Just waiting on the closing date now. Might just go ahead next monday anyway as get free month if i do and can still set it for a date in the future.

Does my solicitor just ask the bank for draw down now or request my deposit to be send to him.

In a similar situation. Was due to close on yesterday. The house we are selling closed but bank wouldn't drawdown until a document was amended. Sent yesterday but there saying that it takes 3 days to review. In inlaws and kids can't go to school as too far away. Bit of an unexpected disaster. Of course all kinds of thoughts going through my head like what if the bank refuse last minute.

Tieing up the last few ends before drawdown and uploaded proof of home insurance and mortgage protection, set the start date as the date our solicitor indicated for closing out the sale when we signed contracts it's the 24th of this month. AIB replied back all was fine but no money can be released untill the 24th which is fine just wondering could it delay things? I assume our solicitor can still request for the funds before the date?

Can you bid whilst waiting for AIP / Approval? Fairly sure we'll get approval it but it will probably be a couple of weeks.

About to put my house on the market. Estate agent coming on Friday to discuss. A year ago had no intention on leaving Dublin but lockdown has put a lot of things in perspective.

Been spending the last month trying to get the house market ready. Biggest change is taking the paint off the red brick exterior bringing it back to original red brick/sandstone. Was quoted an extortionate amount so after researching on YouTube took it on myself and delighted with results and relatively cheap outlay. Had the whole interior painted about 18 mothns ago so just washed all the walls with sugar soap to bring back to newly painted look.

Biggest surprise is the amount of clutter, which have no need for. Currently bagging it up and have organised for someone just to take away (fully registered). Tomorrow going to finish off whitewashing the little back yard. As a guy living alone, might lack the (and I hope doesn’t come across as s3xist) feminine touches so my friend is going to come and help stage it with cushions and dressing the table etc to make it attractive for potential buyers.

From a valuation perspective I have a ballpark amount in mind but really going into the meeting with Estate agent a bit blind. From researching myhome.ie and daft.ie there is no really comparable properties. In my opinion it’s location is class. Schools, dart, village, sea etc on its doorstep but it also has its drawbacks (no garden) so that could impact.

I’ll try and keep thread updated on progress. Lot of useful information from posters which I’m thankful for.

So has anyone else noticing a bit of a slowdown in the market?

There are definitely fewer houses coming on the market. We are looking in North Dublin and this week so far no new (secondhand) houses appearing on the market.

I'm in the same boat. Finally got a closing date (23rd instead of 24th) and also with AIB, and originally had started cover same date as yourself. However, was advised that the cover for mortgage protection should really start quite a bit earlier, ideally 10 days or more before the drawdown date, as it will need to actually have started before they can finish processing it (and banks being slow, you wouldn't want to just give it 1 or 2 days for risk of holding things up).

I'd call your insurer or broker an ask to move the start date forward on that.

You can. I have a friend who managed to go sale agreed on a probate without even talking to a mortgage broker. That said, to this day I'm mystified at how he pulled it off. My own experience in both bidding and trying to secure a new build is that without at least mortgage approval in place, you're treated as a tire-kicker and won't be taken seriously. So give it a go if you want, but I wouldn't be optimistic about your chances of getting anywhere.

Tbh, I'd ignore the asking prices on ads and look at the Property Price Register instead. Asking prices are guesses that may easily be overly optimistic or too pessmistic. The PPR will show what people are actually paying in an area (and you'll often find old ads still up on property websites if you search for the exact address on Google, in order to see the condition of the place). It won't be quite as up to date (since the latest ones will usually still be at least 2 months old) but it's real data.

We're sale agreed since the end of May (FTB) on a property which is a probate sale. We were told the probate would be granted in mid-November, however the vendor's solicitors now have come back saying the papers have not even been lodged in the probate office yet and that this could drag on for a while longer yet.

Our letter of offer is due to expire in December, so we will have to apply again. However, we are expecting our first child in January and my partner will be on maternity leave from then (without pay). Does anyone know where we stand here? Will bank tell us to jog on now?