> In my area, most seller agents will ask that the seller get all the
> paperwork for the land in order ahead of time, since they know it's a de
> facto requirement for the sale to take place (you can get the sale
> annuled if you realize afterwards that the city was about to dezone your
> land to make an interstate offramp on it).  Likewise, most buyer's agent
> will ask that their clients get "preapproved" by their bank for a
> certain amount, mostly so that they don't waste their time looking for
> houses only to see the prospective buyer get rejected by the bank at the
> last minute.

Here in the UK the pre-approval from the bank is about the only thing 
done before the initial handshake. Most people don't even have a 
solicitor sorted until after a price has been agreed.

> The only things that need to happen between the first handshake and the
> key exchange (sorry for sounding like an IETF RFC) are a building
> inspection (3-5 days), finalising the preapproved mortgage at the bank
> (2-3 days) and going in front of a notary to sign the legal papers.

Oh if only it were that easy here :-) In theory all that needs to happen 
in addition to what you mention is a series of searches on the property 
(drainage/flood, environment etc), a few documents regarding exactly 
what is and is not included in the sale and setting up insurance. In 
practise even modern houses often have problems, things like services 
being rerouted by house builders and not properly documented, 
building/electrical work having been recently done without the proper 
certificates etc.

> parties has other conditions attached (ex: buyer needs to sell his
> exisisting property, seller's new house needs to be finished, etc...)
> this can take much longer.

In the UK most people need to sell and buy at the same time (literally, 
normally noon on the day of the move). If you're selling without needing 
to buy another house then you are in a very good position and it's worth 
a few thousand on the asking price.

> Luckily, in my province, by default rent leases last for 12 months and
> go from July 1st to June 30th of the following year, unless otherwise
> specified, so July 1st is traditionnally "moving day"*.  Even if you are
> moving from a house that you own to another house that you buy, someone,
> somewhere in that chain is an old person moving into an appartment, or a
> young couple moving out of an appartment.

Ouch - I assume you have a massive rush to get ready for a move by July 
1st then, if you miss it for whatever technicality then bad luck, you 
have to wait 12 months :-) Being involved with house purchases (estate 
agents, solicitors, removal companies) must be quite a seasonal business 
there...

Post a reply to this message