Estate Agent requirements for making an offer... seem a bit over the top...

arthur_22

Is it the done thing to tell an EA what your deposit is before you put an offer in, together with showing the mortgage agreement in principle? Doesn't that completely give away your maximum price?

wodgerdodger

In the current mortgage market there are very few if any Lenders who will offer better deals to the Intermediary/broker market rather than to their direct applicants.

There some Lenders who have never used brokers Brittania, Coop, HSBC and the Post Office to name 4. Until Lenders actually decide to compete for market share rather than "prudency" I would always avoid the in house Estae Agent adviser especially so if he is employed by them as well.

Very often they will only have a limited panel of Lenders to choose from and their inclusion on the EA's panel will not be down simply to mortgage range or the level of commission they receive. It could be other factors such as the Lender's refer their valuation business to the companies valuers or their repossesions to their residential sales arms in return for mortgage referrals.

By all means show them an AIP; not that they prove a lot as by and large they havent been credit checked/scored, but dont subject yourself to full disclosure of financial detals.

There will however be cases where unusual circumstances of the property or your financial background requires a more widespread search of Lenders; in these situations, always use a whole of market independent broker.

sonastin

Glad to hear it worked out OK for the OP but just to continue this some more...

If the EA insisted I come and listen to the great deals that their broker could get from me, that is exactly what I would do - listen. I'm sure he'd love to know my salary and deposit and all that other lovely financial information but that's not what I agreed to so I wouldn't be telling him. He could spend the time selling his services to me and showing me the great deals he can get which better the lender-direct options for a variety of scenarios. If he was convincing, I might make another appointment to get some mortgage advice. But most likely he wouldn't be so I wouldn't need to bother.

Then I'd go back to the EA and say I listened to your FA. Now here's my AIP and my offer - off you go...

geoffky

sonastin wrote: »

Glad to hear it worked out OK for the OP but just to continue this some more...

If the EA insisted I come and listen to the great deals that their broker could get from me, that is exactly what I would do - listen. I'm sure he'd love to know my salary and deposit and all that other lovely financial information but that's not what I agreed to so I wouldn't be telling him. He could spend the time selling his services to me and showing me the great deals he can get which better the lender-direct options for a variety of scenarios. If he was convincing, I might make another appointment to get some mortgage advice. But most likely he wouldn't be so I wouldn't need to bother.

Then I'd go back to the EA and say I listened to your FA. Now here's my AIP and my offer - off you go...

I value my time more than you do...

Doozergirl

I've been asked for proof of ID and proof of funds today and it completely took me by surprise. I've never been asked unless it was a repossession so when the EA first asked, I thought 'oh' it must be a repossession. But then thinking about it this evening, the conversations I've had with her haven't indicated that at all.

I did reject the mention of needing a mortgage the other day and it wasn't put to me today that this was being requested was because I hadn't taken up their offer of meeting the mortgage advisor - in fact they didn't strictly offer me an appt.

I will speak to my bank manager in the morning to confirm that he will write to them if I need him to, but I'm not comfortable providing ID etc before an offer (which is admittedly very low) is broached with the vendor - I'm not confident that it will even be accepted!?

Is the only reason for this practice by EAs to annoy you after you don't have an appt with their advisor? I really don't think this is a repo, although it is part empty.