Quick Question After Offer Accepted

evening_all

Hi,

We are FTB and we've got a feeling we might have an offer accepted on a house today, however what are the immediate steps to take after the vendor has accepted?

Do we need to put in a formal written offer with conditions in or is it all verbal with the EA? We want to make sure the house is taken off the market as part of the acceptance.

Then obviously we need to instruct solicitors to start the ball rolling.

Thanks.

sarah_elton

Did you tell them you wanted it off the market when you made the offer? If not, call back and add it now. I posted on here recently as our vendor's wouldn't take it off the market until our mortgage was approved and I was getting annoyed, but other posters said this was pretty standard.

You don't need to put the offer in writing. Once your offer is accepted, the EA will write to you and the vendor, putting the details in writing.

If your offer is accepted you need to:

1) Instruct a solicitor (ring round, get quotes, pick one and tell them you want them to start work)
2) Do your full mortgage application

You also need to arrange a survey. You'll have to have a mortgage valuation done by the lender but you can upgrade to a Homebuyer's Report or Buildings Survey (as appropriate).

You can use your own independent surveyor but then you effectively pay the basic valuation charge twice, as you still have to have the bank do it. If you're buying something that needs major structural work, or is an unusual build, then I'd suggest finding a good local surveyor. Otherwise your lender's one will be fine (just make sure they're a member of RICS, though I doubt any lender uses one who isn't).

There'll be a mad couple of weeks of form filling for the bank and solicitor, then you won't have to do much for a month or two!

evening_all

sarah_elton wrote: »

Did you tell them you wanted it off the market when you made the offer? If not, call back and add it now. I posted on here recently as our vendor's wouldn't take it off the market until our mortgage was approved and I was getting annoyed, but other posters said this was pretty standard.

You don't need to put the offer in writing. Once your offer is accepted, the EA will write to you and the vendor, putting the details in writing.

If your offer is accepted you need to:

1) Instruct a solicitor (ring round, get quotes, pick one and tell them you want them to start work)
2) Do your full mortgage application

You also need to arrange a survey. You'll have to have a mortgage valuation done by the lender but you can upgrade to a Homebuyer's Report or Buildings Survey (as appropriate).

You can use your own independent surveyor but then you effectively pay the basic valuation charge twice, as you still have to have the bank do it. If you're buying something that needs major structural work, or is an unusual build, then I'd suggest finding a good local surveyor. Otherwise your lender's one will be fine (just make sure they're a member of RICS, though I doubt any lender uses one who isn't).

There'll be a mad couple of weeks of form filling for the bank and solicitor, then you won't have to do much for a month or two!

Excellent thanks for your help. So once we've done our full mortgage application and it goes through, does the lender then arrange for the mortgage valuation?

I think we already know what solicitor we're going with so that should be ok from there.

Thanks again, you've been most helpful.

TrickyDicky

evening_all wrote: »

Excellent thanks for your help. So once we've done our full mortgage application and it goes through, does the lender then arrange for the mortgage valuation?

The mortgage company will probably charge you a fee for a valuation, and theres no way around it. Our HSBC one was £200 for a valuation, £700-800 for homebuyers survey or £1100 for full structural. Given these prices, and the obbligation to get at least a valuation, we instructed a 3rd party surveyor to do a homebuyers report because it saved us about £100 (£200 for HSBC valuation and £400 for our own homebuyers report).

The lender will ring you and the homeowner to organise the valuation, but after you've paid (for use directly to the 3rd party).

evening_all

TrickyDicky wrote: »

The mortgage company will probably charge you a fee for a valuation, and theres no way around it. Our HSBC one was £200 for a valuation, £700-800 for homebuyers survey or £1100 for full structural. Given these prices, and the obbligation to get at least a valuation, we instructed a 3rd party surveyor to do a homebuyers report because it saved us about £100 (£200 for HSBC valuation and £400 for our own homebuyers report).

The lender will ring you and the homeowner to organise the valuation, but after you've paid (for use directly to the 3rd party).

Sorry, just another point, you can always get the fee 'the lender' charges for the valuation added to the mortgage can't you?