How long will it take?

twistedpro

Hi i was wondering if anyone can help, i am in the process of buying a house and have been applying for mortgages. I had a Halifax application in and they came back with a lower offer than i wanted however i could make the difference for the deposit so have continued with the application. However they keep postponing giving me a formal offer asking for more identification, loan amounts etc. This has been going on for around 7 weeks now.

After i found out about the halifax one i have put an application into RBS to see what they would do, they have come back everything is ok however they need the survey which is going to them tommorrow (it has been valued at the agreed price).

The people i am buying off have given me a deadline of a week to have a formal mortgage offer in place or they will cancel the sale. Does anyone think i could get the RBS one in that time. Halifax say they have everything they want but who knows. Am i likely to be up the creek without a paddle? I am not sure what to do.

TEDDYRUKSPIN

Don't you just love the mortgage process in England.

(1) It seem you have strangely applied for two mortgages, one with Halifax and another with RBS? Strange. Just a word of warning, don't carry out too much credit checks. This alone can fail your mortgage.

(2) You mentioned the buyer will put out of the sale if a formal mortgage offer is not in place? Just to say, if you have made an offer through an estate agent, this house will be on the market anyway. So I would not worry that some one will grab it. This is blatantly a way for you to rush the whole process up. But to be honest, 7 weeks on your behalf to obtain a mortgage is rather taking the 'sea biscuit'.

(3) Usually a survey will help and this will mean that you are doing serious business. As for the whole application front by RBS, you should know by one week if your application is successful or not.

Anyway, just a note for you. People always blame the company in question on holding up the mortgage application. As long as you have provided them with all the material i.e. ID & VA, income proof, paid the arrangement fee etc, and as long it is affordable, the mortgage will go through fine.

As a very crude guideline:

(1) One to two week for the mortgage application and survey to be carried out. Final offer documents should be sent to you by the 2nd week which you must sign and return. Sometimes a survey will not be carried out if this form is not returned.
(2) Three to four weeks for the solicitor and their solicitor as well as the wonderful banks/building societies to get everything right.
(3) Four to six weeks to move in, if all paper work is legally carried out.

But on average expect 6 weeks to 3 months to move in.

Welcome to the stressful process of house purchasing.....

PS. You will be living in wickes, b&q and any local hardware store after you move in. This will be your second friend.

twistedpro

thank you for your advice, with regards to the 7 weeks this was when i first applied for my halifax mortgage and the survey for that was completed around 6 weeks ago. I have provided everything asked within a day and a week later they ask for something else.

I applied from a different company as it was taking forever and at the ltv they were willing to give with the new company was 1% better which provides a much better deal.

I have not tried to slow the process down i want it to go through as quickly as possible

Hopefully i can get something tied up asap and will do some more chasing tommorow

Mrs_Bumble

As Teddyrukspin says welcome to the process and be grateful that you don't do it for a living! Lenders at present are quite happy to move the goalposts and make everyone jump through numerous hoops. But if the RBS deal is 1% less and they come through will hopefully be worth the stress and the expense that you must have had up to now!

Good luck!