Mortgage - does this sound right?

debbieallan

Putting our house up for sale with a view to trading up. Phoned our Skipton BS before Christmas as I wanted to discuss how much extra I could borrow and if they were still lending. They were a bit evasive but said I should have no problem. I've no outstanding credits/loans - only a small mortgage - and no bad debts. I've been a customer of theirs for 17 yrs and only want to borrow about £30K over 12 years (earnings £60K) but they said they couldn't do anything else until I see a house I want to buy. Is this normal? What if I was lucky enough to sell my own house quickly and then need to find another one and the mortgage application takes ages?

Robert_Sterling_3

Wether or not they will lend to you and if so how much they will lend you depends on the LTV ratio which you will not yet know.

brightbuy

Unless you live in a really sought after area and your house is the only one on the market, and priced well, then I would very much doubt you could sell quickly.

The problem will be whether you can sell your house at all in this market, or for what you need to buy on. If you are relying on a house sale to fund your onward purchase, then I suggest you contact a few estate agents and ask them for a realistic valuation. I have clients that have been unable to sell for over 12 months and have reduced their asking prices by more than 30%.

Mortgage offer speed depends on the lender and their workload. Some can do it in days, some may take weeks (unless you go with C&G who probably will have an offer ready for you this time next year).

debbieallan

Thanks, it seems this is quite normal then. I know our house may not sell. It's only a small house so I'm not going to lower the price too much. Waiting on a home report to be done. I've already paid for this and the marketing fee but if we lose that it doesn't really matter. We don't particularly need a bigger house just wanted one!