Mortgage in principle before viewing?

Jackinbox99

matt1987 wrote: »

Well I now have my mortgage in principle with Yorkshire Building Society, and have found a property we like!!

Were going for a 2nd viewing tomorrow, and then after that the fun shall commence with offers!!!

Property is up at 117,500, and thinking of offering 100k as a start, what do you reckon?

Depends how desperate the sellers are. I offered 10% less than asking price on a house a few weeks back and was refused. Offered 5% less, still refused. Ended up offering 2k less than asking price and still refused.

So, i moved onto another house, where I actually had to offer 10k MORE than asking price in order to get offer accepted due to other parties interested.

Id start at 10% less if i was you and work up to what you are prepared to pay.

matt1987

cant afford 10% less. Max i can go to is 105k so we will have to wait and see.

Its been on the market now 7 months and I get the impression they are pretty desperate to sell!

We shall wait and see!

matt1987

Just made my first ever offer on a house!

My offer was £102,000!! Lets see what happens! The waiting is killing me, but I have said its valid for 24 hours.

Doshwaster

Advice varies on this but this is what I did

- went to see my bank. Got an AIP. Had no intention of getting a mortgage from them.
- went to see lot of houses with a bunch of different EAs
- Before make an offer, I appointed a solicitor and went to a couple of IFA get get a better idea of the mortgage market.
- made offer making it clear that I already had an AIP and solicitor in place and could proceed fast
- When the offer was accepted, went back to the IFA I trusted the most and arranged the mortgage

I didn't follow-up on my bank's AIP but it was just a useful piece of paper to have.

The advantages of getting an AIP first are that it gives you a better idea of what your budget is - nothing worse than having an offer accepted then being unable to get a mortgage- and it shows EA/sellers that you are serious and not a time waster (as a lot of house viewers are apparently - it's their hobby to nose around other people's homes)

Just be wary about applying for too many mortgage quotes as these appear as searches on your credit file and some lenders take this as a bad indicator. Don't apply for a mortgage unless you are >95% certain that you will be accepted.

matt1987

Thanks doshwater, I do have an AIP now, with YBS... they were the first people to do a credit check so im ok!

I havent appointed a solicitor yet but I have made an offer! Reason for this is because YBS will be paying for most of my legal fees with the mortgage I am having, I will just be paying for Land Registry and searches and any other help I need. However, this has to be through their own appointed solicitors, so I dont get a choice.

I was advised by YBS to make an offer, and once accepted go to them and do the application. They will take care of it from there!

Doshwaster

matt1987 wrote: »

I was advised by YBS to make an offer, and once accepted go to them and do the application. They will take care of it from there!

It still may be worth appointing your own solicitor to check over the paperwork. There will be a lot of it. The YBS's solicitor will be acting for them - not for you - and they will probably have been awarded the contract on a lowest tender basis. A couple of hundred pounds worth of legal advice could save you thousands further down the line.

matt1987

ahh ok then, I will see what happens with this offer and I may appoint my own solicitor.

Rainmaker_uk

Senior_Paper_Monitor wrote: »

Apologies for posting the following for a further time.

Where we have clients who feel they are being pressurised by estate agents we provide them a copy of the following (nothing to stop you doing the same) .......

We regularly have clients advise us that the estate agents for the property are ‘pressurising’ that “unless you use their broker you may not be able to get the property”- we have no problem with you seeing anyone you wish, BUT it is not legal to ‘make you do so’, nor to indicate that it will ‘impact on your ability to buy the property ifyou do not’.

Additionally, extra ‘credit checks’ / ‘Decisions in Principal’ may adversely affect your credit rating:

You may find the following extract useful:

Extract from The Property Ombudsman Code of Practice for Residential Sales (as of 22.02.10)

· as recognized by the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA)

· as approved by the Office of Fair Trading under its Consumer Codes and Approval Scheme


6. Submission of Offers

6a By law, you must tell sellers as soon as it is reasonably possible about all offers that you receive at any time until contracts have been exchanged (in Scotland, missives have been concluded) unless the offer is an amount or type which the seller has specifically instructed you, in writing, not to pass on. You must confirm each offer in writing to the seller, and to the buyer who made it, within two working days.

6b You must keep written or computerised record of all offers your receive – including the date and time of such offers – and the seller’s response. Such records should be made promptly.

Discrimination

6c By law you must not discriminate, or threaten to discriminate, against a prospective buyer of the seller’s property because that person declines to accept that you will (directly or indirectly) provide services to them. Discrimination includes – but is not limited to – the following:

· Failing to tell the seller of an offer to buy the property.

· Telling the seller of an offer less quickly than other offers you have received.

· Misrepresenting the nature of the offer or that of rival offers.

· Giving details of properties for sale first to those who have indicated they are prepared to let you provide services to them.

· Making it a condition that the person wanting to buy the property must use any other service provided by you or anyone else.

I was recently told by an estate agent that they would not let us view a property if we did not go in to their offices first and show them a decision in principle... Is this legal?

somethingcorporate

Rainmaker_uk wrote: »

I was recently told by an estate agent that they would not let us view a property if we did not go in to their offices first and show them a decision in principle... Is this legal?

It's their business, they could stop you coming in unless you were wearing a silly hat if they wanted to!

Of course it is legal - it prevents them wasting their time with tire kickers and dreamers.

Senior_Paper_Monitor

It is legal for them to that.

If I was you, I would instantly react by writing to the owners explaining what has happened and asking if they wish to deal directly with you.

If I was the owner, I would probably accept and be willing to fight the EA to death if there was a subsequent sale before paying a penny of commission to them.

But I dislike estate agents and have always enjoyed a damn good brawl ! :)