if you can exchange contracts straight away when selling houses. I have had my house on the market for nearly a week and had a viewer tonight who seemed interested. Tried to make an offer but said he would have to speak to my agent. I think he is going to try and knock me down by about 12,000 but I want a bit more. He did say though that he wanted to exchange contracts straight away. I wasnt aware that you could do this and feel like he will try and push it through fast. I need some time as I havent found a house yet. I was waiting for an offer on mine and then was going down to Clacton for the day to have a good look. If he makes an acceptable offer I dont know what to say about contracts as i am not sure if I can do this. Are there any conveyancers or legal people who can give some advice.
Thanks
Sue

Have you got a solicitor sorted out yet, you are going to need one anyway so I would get one sorted out asap and get their advise.  I think you can exchange pretty quickly but the completion has to wait for searches etc.  I think your solicitor will want to confirm the buyer has the funds before committing too.  Don't see why you should drop your price if he is the one after a quite sale.

If you have exchanged contracts I thought that it was only about a week to completion. I thought searches and things were done prior to exchanging contracts. I dont want to drop my price but market is dead at the moment and am worried I might be waiting fo months for another one.

You could be right, can't you speak to your solicitor in the morning?  Being a wee bit of a gambler myself, though, I would have said the buyer had played his hand by asking for early exchange so personally I would have pushed for full price but only you know how important the sale is to you :)

I dont have one at the moment. I am going to use a liscensened conveyancer rather than a solicitor as they are cheaper but do the same job. I will have to start looking for one tomorrow.

Good luck, hope the deal works good for you  :)

We once put a For Sale sign up in the garden on 8th Dec. We moved out day after Boxing Day!!! The buyers actually wanted to move in before Xmas & could have done except I held out against being Homeless at Xmas
If the buyer is prepared to forego having searches done it's perfectly possible.

Is he a cash buyer? I've never found a mortgage company that could sort finance quickly, and what about a survey? Talk to your estate agent as well as your legal folk, estate agents can offer you advice on how the sale should progress. I don't know your circumstances but could you proceed and move in with family or rent whilst you find your next place if he is desperate to act quickly, you then wouldn't be part of a chain that could break and hold things up. Good luck!

Thats sounds right Isabel. Our house was vacant but we still had to wait for the searches to be complete. Didn't help that the homeowners solicitor seemed to want to drag it out, failing to send vital info to our solicitor etc

I havent heard anything from the estate agent today so looks like hes changed his mind about putting in an offer. I couldnt move in with anybody as with 4 kids 2 dogs 3 cats 2 rabbits and a tortoise I dont think I would be very popular. He was not a complete cash buyer. He had 180,000 cash but would have to get a loan to finance the rest. I think I was panicking because I need time to sort things out with the kids and find somewhere to live. Also I have to give my notice in at work. Its ok when you talk about things but when it acctually starts to become reality it gets scary. I am only moving because I want a smaller mortgage and having lived in the same place for the past 40 years I thought I would like to start again somewhere else but its a big step and if I dont like it there I cant come back as I wouldnt be able to afford to

Some people say more than their prayers when they are out viewing :) I would just forget about it and it will be a nice surprise if that offer does come through.  Doesn't sound like your need to move is hugely pressing so you should be sitting pretty for getting the price and terms that you want :)