Chicken or egg?

scn1000

Having sold our house just over six months ago and now renting, we are now considering purchasing again, but haven't yet found anything we like.

I would be grateful for some advice. When I spoke to the mortgage adviser from one of the popular mortgage comparison websites, it was recommended that we should find the house we like then make an offer on it before applying for a mortgage. That would reduce the amount of enquiries being recorded on our credit check file. However, a couple of estate agents I have spoken to recommended that I should have a mortgage offer in place prior to putting an offer on a property.

Does anyone have any views as to whether one or the other is the more preferable?

Regards

getmore4less

It depends.

IF you have a masive deposit and good income multiples for your target spend then a mortgage should be easy so why bother applying till you are neared a purchase, most offers would laps and you would then have more fess. If you think rates awill go up and want to fix then getting a deal sorted now might be the thing to do.

If you are going over 80% ltv and or have a income multiple heading well over 3 then you may want to have an idea of what you can borrow before falling in love with a place you can't afford.


Personaly If I was renting I would start looking for a place to get a good feel for the market and wait for prices to drop a lot more.

Comyface

Most agents round here insist you have an Agreement in Principle before they will submit an offer to a vendor, to avoid time-wasters.

I agree with getmore4less though, get one if you need confirmation for yourselves now, otherwise wait until you're about to put an offer in. Most lenders can issue an AIP very quickly ('15 minute mortgage promise' used to be advertised by Halifax for instance).

Good luck scn.

herbiesjp

scn1000 wrote: »

When I spoke to the mortgage adviser from one of the popular mortgage comparison websites, it was recommended that we should find the house we like then make an offer on it before applying for a mortgage. That would reduce the amount of enquiries being recorded on our credit check file.

Not sure why your adviser would say that.

By saying that, the adviser is saying that you would need multiple credit checks to get an angreement in principle - which is not correct, only one credit check would suffice normally, which would not cause a problem.

If you know a maximum purchase price, you know your deposit, and you fit the lending criteria, there is no harm harm in getting an agreement in principle.

However your circumstances might change, and the lender who you do the AIP with now, may not be the best lender for you when you find the property you would like.

So best plan is, look around, find a property, work out your figures and then get an AIP done.


No harm to your credit file, and estate agents happy. :j

Cat695

herbiesjp wrote: »

Not sure why your adviser would say that.

By saying that, the adviser is saying that you would need multiple credit checks to get an angreement in principle - which is not correct, only one credit check would suffice normally, which would not cause a problem.

If you know a maximum purchase price, you know your deposit, and you fit the lending criteria, there is no harm harm in getting an agreement in principle.

However your circumstances might change, and the lender who you do the AIP with now, may not be the best lender for you when you find the property you would like.

So best plan is, look around, find a property, work out your figures and then get an AIP done.


No harm to your credit file, and estate agents happy. :j

Herbies

without going through MSE main page on mortgages isn't there a way of getting AIP but without getting a credit check done....I swear I saw something on the MSE site by martin.

or am I wrong

Robert_Sterling_3

Chicken .....

herbiesjp

Cat695 wrote: »

Herbies

without going through MSE main page on mortgages isn't there a way of getting AIP but without getting a credit check done....I swear I saw something on the MSE site by martin.

or am I wrong

Some lenders will leave a "soft" foot print on the credit file which is visible only by the applicant and the lender that did it

Other lenders will leave a "hard" foot print which is visible for all to see on the credit file.