Did you emigrate before your house was sold?
 

As you know I finally got my visa last week, but I still haven't sold my house.

Been talking to the hubby this weekend and he wants me there as soon as poss, and suggested that if I received an offer soon then I should move over to AZ and see the rest of the sale through from over there.

Anyone already done this? Any thoughts?

Cheers ~ Andie :)

Re: Did you emigrate before your house was sold?
 

I did. I left the sale in the hands of my solicitor. Once it was sold, they sent the cheque to my mother's address for her to pay into my UK account.

Talk with the solicitor dealing with the sale and also your estate agent if you plan to move. Plus, your house will be empty which may help sell it quicker. The buyer knows they can move in whenever they want to.

Re: Did you emigrate before your house was sold?
 

So no problems with that then? Weren't you worried that the buyers would pull out and leave you paying the mortgage? Are they allowed to do that?

Sorry I'm being a bit thick, but it's my first house so I've never gone through a sale before, and when I bought it, I didn't go through an estate agent so I'm a bit in the dark about the whole process.

Re: Did you emigrate before your house was sold?
 

If you have concerns, speak to the estate agent and the solicitor who will advise you on the best thing you can do.

I was lucky in that the buyer didn't back out. They looked at it, loved it, bought it. Mine was very easy.

Re: Did you emigrate before your house was sold?
 

We 'almost' did this. Our completion date kept changing so we made arrangements with the solicitor to go ahead and move and he would deposit the funds into our UK account. We signed everything early and gave him permission to complete without us. He said they do it all the time, so speak with yours and see what they say.

In the end we were able to complete 3-4 days before we left.

Re: Did you emigrate before your house was sold?
 

Yes, either you or the buyer can back out up to the date of completion. Once you have exchanged contracts (generally 1-4 weeks before completion) the buyer will pay a deposit of 10% or so, and they will lose that money if they back out (as far as I know).

Assume this is a private sale then if you don't have an estate agent? If yes, speak with your solicitor about timing of exchange and completion to get an idea of what is realistic. We sold our flat in 10 minutes of it being listed, but it took 14 weeks to exchange as the buyers solicitor worked at a snails pace.

Re: Did you emigrate before your house was sold?
 

Hi Andie

We did the sale of our house from here. All via email and fax. Engage the services of a good solicitor, get your ass on a plane and get to your hubs asap.

I would have been on the first plane outta there once I had my visa.

What will happen, will happen. You staying in the country will not stop buyers either going ahead or pulling out.

Re: Did you emigrate before your house was sold?
 

We sold our house after we'd been living here a couple of years. The estate agent and solicitor handled everything. They paid the cheque into our UK bank account, which we then transferred to the US.

Re: Did you emigrate before your house was sold?
 

note of warning - my aunt and uncle moved to France, left their house sale with their solicitor (also a very close friend and head of the local Catholic Church choir) and he stole every penny!

They only received a minimal payout from the Law Society, or whoever it was, about 45% of the actual amount stolen.

he was sent to jail but out now and living in Ireland in a 6 bed house and kids at private school even though he's not working! They could only prosecute for money actually found that he'd stolen - by all accounts he'd done about 20 peoples accounts for a cool 2.3 million!

Re: Did you emigrate before your house was sold?
 

That's why I did my homework on the solicitor first. Wouldn't want to leave my money in the hands of someone I couldn't trust ;)

Re: Did you emigrate before your house was sold?
 

Oh my god! that's awful!!

The solicitor that I will be using has been in the business for years, in fact he did the contracts when I bought the house. I hope he doesn't get the same idea!

Sorry about your Aunt and Uncle though. :(

Re: Did you emigrate before your house was sold?
 

It was a private sale when I bought the house, but I'm using Sykes Waterhouse to sell. They are totally useless to be honest with you, but my friend said that all estate agents are the same.

I'm just waiting to hear from two more viewers who are interested in the property, so hopeully a couple of offers will be coming my way in the next few days.

Thanks for the advice :D

Re: Did you emigrate before your house was sold?
 

Good luck! Hope it works out and that you can soon be with your hubby!

Re: Did you emigrate before your house was sold?
 

Hahaha! You just want me over there to go on the p!ss dontcha! :beer:

We have friends in Mesa so next time I'm out that way I'll give you a shout hun :)

Re: Did you emigrate before your house was sold?
 

thats what they thought considering he was a very close firnd and pillar of their church community - seems he got into troubles with school fees and just nucked everyones money! had been a solicitor for 28 years by then!!

mistake they made was having him get the check as the middle man - now you should get the straight wire transfer