Tips to speed up purchase?

philw1985

Hi, im new to the forum so please forgive me if this subject has been covered before!

Right here's my story...
I'm a first time buyer purchasing a house with my girlfriend. We have found a property we like and have had an offer below the asking price accepted yesterday. We immediately spoke to the co-op and applied for their 4.99% fixed mortgage as they seemed 1% less than the best of the rest. We were approved over the phone and have been told the paperwork is now in the post. So we then appointed a conveyancing solicitor today and have just been to the EA to provide them with ID, etc. The EA has told us that the vendor wants to complete the sale ASAP as she has to relocate for a new job in 3 weeks and that in the 2 weeks the property has been on the market she had 3 offers (one being over the asking price) but she accepted ours as we have no chain. Now the EA were pushing us to use their mortgage advisor, solicitors and surveyors to speed the sale up and saying they've heard the co-op have been really slow and they don't want the vendor to get cold feet (think this may be pressure tactics to get us to use their services). The vendor has agreed to take the property off the market for us but obviously we want the sale to go through as fast as possible.

Anyone have any ideas how we can speed the process up?

Oh and am i right in thinking we should have a seperate home buyers survey or is that included in the mortgage providers property survey??:think: If so do you think we should get that done now before our mortgage has been completed and show the vendor were serious?

Regards

Eric1

philw1985 wrote: »

The EA has told us that the vendor wants to complete the sale ASAP as she has to relocate for a new job in 3 weeks and that in the 2 weeks the property has been on the market she had 3 offers (one being over the asking price) but she accepted ours as we have no chain.

That's their problem, not yours. The vendor is lucky to have a no-chain buyer and should not push it. Otherwise, they could have auctioned it.

philw1985 wrote: »

Oh and am i right in thinking we should have a seperate home buyers survey or is that included in the mortgage providers property survey??:think: If so do you think we should get that done now before our mortgage has been completed and show the vendor were serious?

You can probably upgrade the lender's valuation to a homebuyer's survey, or have it separately, or not at all. Depends on the property. I think a separate full survey is a better investment if you can afford it.

NyimaR

Keep on top of everything. Regular calls to the EA and your solicitor to keep up to date with where you are so you can make sure where they are and that nobody is sitting on any paperwork. Don't worry about being annoying - you're paying for the privilege!

QTPie

Personally I would never use the EA's mortgage advisor/solicitor... not independent enough. You already have a cracking rate AND have applied - why would you want a mortgage advisor now? Just tell the EA that you have already applied for a mortgage and appointed a solicitor...

You say that your mortgage has been agreed? Has it been formally approved OR did they say "all looks good, will be straightforward, will take a couple of weeks to process the paperwork"? Britannia now handle the mortgages for the coop.

What Has the valuation/survey been done yet? The mortgage lender should offer you a choice of valuation/survey: valuation only, homebuyer, full structural.

Unless a cash buyer comes out of the air and gazumps you, the seller should not get cold feet and drop you. Even then, it is not likely that the cash buyer could complete much quiker than you. The EA is just trying to pressure you into using their services...

Tips: become your solicitor's new best friend.... Keep in regular contact to check progress and to see if there is anything that you can do. I always try to do things ASAP and deliver by hand to speed things up.

QT

m.and.me11

Hello, make sure u keep on hassling the EA, solicitor and co-op. If you really have your heart set on the property u could speak to the EA and ask them if the seller would consider taking a small deposit to secure it?

philw1985

thanks for the advice guys.

You say that your mortgage has been agreed? Has it been formally approved OR did they say "all looks good, will be straightforward, will take a couple of weeks to process the paperwork"?
QT[/QUOTE]

pretty much yeah we applied over the phone last night and were told everything looks good and its gone through so i expect we will get all the paperwork in the post and have to sign and send off payslips, p60's etc. before its formally approved.

I think we will upgrade the lenders survey and push them to do it as soon as they can.

Cheers

QTPie

Beware of Coop/Britannia when they say this.... We applied in branch - and were told the same - and it took 5/6 weeks of he'll to get the approval... (although our main problem was large deposit and they took considerable convincing that it wasn't obtained by money laundering...). You might be a lot luckier...

But the rest if what I say still stands: you are a great buyer, hard to beat - just keep on top of Coop and Solcitor...

QT

philw1985 wrote: »

thanks for the advice guys.

You say that your mortgage has been agreed? Has it been formally approved OR did they say "all looks good, will be straightforward, will take a couple of weeks to process the paperwork"?
QT

pretty much yeah we applied over the phone last night and were told everything looks good and its gone through so i expect we will get all the paperwork in the post and have to sign and send off payslips, p60's etc. before its formally approved.

I think we will upgrade the lenders survey and push them to do it as soon as they can.

Cheers[/QUOTE]

DVardysShadow

philw1985 wrote: »

Now the EA were pushing us to use their mortgage advisor, solicitors and surveyors to speed the sale up and saying they've heard the co-op have been really slow and they don't want the vendor to get cold feet (think this may be pressure tactics to get us to use their services). The vendor has agreed to take the property off the market for us but obviously we want the sale to go through as fast as possible.

Personally, I don't like EA's to have in house or associated Mortgage or Conveyancing. As buyer, you end up pressurised - as seller, you cannot be confident that the Agent is not punishing viewers who don't use his services. It should be illegal, IMO.

As for the time it takes, there is a lot of money at stake and it takes time to check everything to protect the lender and to protect you. Expect it to take 4-6 weeks. Don't let things drift, but don't make a pain of yourself by barking around people's heels just for the sake of it.

jockosjungle

Not really much more you can do, there MA won't be able to beat 5% and why should you take out a higher rate just to speed the process up. No offence but if she genuinely expected to go from putting the house on the market to completion in five weeks she was being optimistic to the point of madness.

Not much more you can do really, what time do you get home from work at? Do you currently live together?

All you can do to speed up the process is what we did, make sure we knew the post box that had a late pickup (in Warrington 630pm) and make sure when we received something from the solicitor or lender, that we sent it off the day it was received.

Make sure you have six months of bank statements handy as well as both having six months payslips ready to go, they will almost certainly ask for some combination of these

R

philw1985

thanks again for the advice.

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Personally, I don't like EA's to have in house or associated Mortgage or Conveyancing. As buyer, you end up pressurised - as seller, you cannot be confident that the Agent is not punishing viewers who don't use his services. It should be illegal, IMO.

Couldn't agree more they really pushed to use their MA and conveyancing but it was going to cost us a lot more money so we stood firm. They made it out that if things didnt move quickly then we might lose the house and there was lots of other interest but as someone else said earlier unless a cash buyer appears its not going to happen much quicker than we can do it in.

We dont currently live together and we both dont get home from work till after 5 so i think finding the late pick-up postbox is a good idea I will look into that. Bank statements and payslips already out and waiting to go.

Cheers

gary2007

I agree with the rest of the comments. Sounds like they are pressuring you to use their own services. Put on as much pressure to chase things up with the EA, Solicitors and Lender.

Did you use an IFA or not? Sometimes they have good contacts to speed things up.

Good luck