Estate agents!

dottiepeas

Hello,

Had a quick question about estate agents!...
We saw a house we are interested in making an offer on, but the estate agent said we must book an appointment to meet their in-house mortgage advisor, as he needs to see proof of the mortgage agreement in principle we have with first direct.
Is this normally what happens??
Do they the agent, really need to see the agreement by the mortgage provider we are using?......or is this just a sneeky way of them trying to persuade me to use their in-house mortgage advisor??....

Anyone else been asked for the same thing??....

Many thanks!

Home_Swap_Advice

It depends. The vendor may have instructed the agent to only allow fully qualified people to view the property. If you decide to offer on the property, they will need this information anyway.

It is always best to shop around for your mortgage so it might be a good idea to go in just to see what they have to offer.

However, if you do have a mortgage arranged, ask the agent to give your advisor a call and confirm the details (or vice versa).

spuds_2

Just an attempt to get you to use their guy, imo - he will ask you what you have arranged and see if he can do better. If you are getting the FD tracker there isn't much to beat that at the moment. No harm in going to the appointment, though it seems a bit cheeky to ask you to go before you've actually made an offer.

Also, it will mean letting them know how much you can get from FD - they could ask you to up your offer based on what they know you can get.

fatpig_2

dottiepeas wrote: »

Hello,

Had a quick question about estate agents!...
.

s!

Very devious people IMHO. Don't let one anywhere near your Granny.

oldone_2

Is still being discussed in this thread

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1504745

My own view is to tell the E.A. you will under no circumstances discuss any finances until you have viewed and have had an offer accepted.It is at this stage you can show the proof they require. If they don't like it just walk away, plenty of other properties on the market.

What if you went into Comet for a washing machine, and before you were allowed to look at the machines they asked you to discuss with their financial advisor whether you could afford them.Why should house buying be any different.

Robert_Sterling_3

The Estate agent is
a) Working for the agency.
b) Working for the seller.
c) Not working for you

BazzerJ

oldone wrote: »

Is still being discussed in this thread

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1504745

My own view is to tell the E.A. you will under no circumstances discuss any finances until you have viewed and have had an offer accepted.It is at this stage you can show the proof they require. If they don't like it just walk away, plenty of other properties on the market.

What if you went into Comet for a washing machine, and before you were allowed to look at the machines they asked you to discuss with their financial advisor whether you could afford them.Why should house buying be any different.

I used to work for Taylors, they use this all the time, and I got irritated by the amount of pressure they put on us to get mortgage appointments, so I can understand this view point.

However, Washing Machines do not cost 100k+, you can walk in to comet and walk out with a washing machine, you cannot do this with a house.

Getting proof of finances is a very good idea if you are a vendor as so many people (first time buyers especially) don't know enough about mortgages to realise that they might not be able to get one. Nothing more frustrating for a vendor if someone puts a fantastic offer in, only for it to be withdrawn because the buyer couldn't get the mortgage. I dont necessarily agree with vendors not letting people view a house, but if they have been messed about in the past its understandable.

courtjester

Note that the estate agent would be breaking the law if they refused to pass on your offer because you declined to see their mortgage advisor - agents are legally obliged to swiftly pass on all offers to the vendor.

It's quite reasonable to ask for evidence of ability to proceed with the sale - the vendor does not have to accept any offer or can stipulate terms of acceptance of an offer, including evidence of mortgage agreed, but the agent cannot make it a condition that you see their mortgage advisor before allowing you to make an offer - if they do, complain to the Ombudsman or whichever body the agent is signed up to.