Is this a very bad sign?

michael1234

Hi

We are really, really worried our buyer won't get his mortgage since my wife has her heart set on a house which we can only get if we sell ours. This is what we know.

Our purchaser applied for his mortgage nearly 2 weeks ago with the "independent" mortgage broker at our estate agent. The mortgage survey was done 3 days ago on Tuesday. It has come back without significant problems.
He has apparently got a good deposit and good job but that could just be estate agent waffle.

However, we've just been told its been referred to the underwriters and he should have a decision on Monday. We are really, really nervous and certainly won't enjoy this weekend waiting.:(

Is is very likely to be bad news ? Why wouldn't he have been referred before they commissioned the survey ?

Any thoughts most gratefully received!

dunstonh

Our purchaser applied for his mortgage nearly 2 weeks ago with the "independent" mortgage broker at our estate agent.

rare to see an independent mortgage adviser via an estate agent. Most are tied agent (insurance) offering whole of market or multi-tie whole of market or network whole of market.

How much did the advice cost you out of interest (given the unusual status)? (as independent means fee based)

Is is very likely to be bad news ?

Without the facts its hard to say. It could be random check through to pushing income limits or too much existing credit or poor credit history. Normally, you would know if you are pushing limits in any area.

Why wouldn't he have been referred before they commissioned the survey ?

Maybe the valuation hasnt come up as much as expected and its pushing loan to valuation limits.

Chinkle

I'm afraid you won't get an answer here based on so little information.

My guess its 50/50:

Could have been pulled for a random check

Could be any one or number of other things in his application.

Crinz

As stated above, impossible to say.

Might be random checks, might be something else. I will say that the High Street bank that I work for pulls about 40% of all cases for random checks now so could be as simple as that. Its more to do with making sure that the Adviser is doing the job properly than checking up on the customers.

Senior_Paper_Monitor

But demonstrates why using the estate agent's mortage broker (independent or not) is not the wisest thing a purchaser can do !!

As a purchaser, never forget who the estate agent (and his associates) work for.

luckyfool

With some lenders it doesn't cross the underwriters desk until all the documentation and survey are already in. It could just be a completely standard part of the process. Without knowing more I dont think there is any point in worrying about it. Equally, I don't see that who the buyer's broker is has anything at all to do with whether this referral is a problem or not.

Senior_Paper_Monitor

Mr Fool (sorry I didn't choose the name ),

If the buyer had not used the estate agent's broker, the seller (our OP) would not even know a possible problem had arisen - that is the point of my post, not whether there is an actual problem (which as you correctly say we don't and can't know)

luckyfool

Hmmm, true. Sorry, I was focussing on the original post, and the question raised there, and didn't see the relevance of who the buyer was using as a mortgage broker. As an independent broker I equally have a pretty low opinion of estate agency brokers, and equally don''t think the information sharing with the estate agent does the buyer any favours at all. In circumstances like this a quick potentially innocent update passed on to the vendor without an explanation is suddenly blown up beyond all proportion into ruining their weekend while they wonder if the buyers mortgage is about to fall apart or be declined.

michael1234

Many thanks for the replies.

Does seems a bit mean if a mortgage provider doesn't do most of the checks before they make the aplicant potentially waste his cash on a survey although I'm certainly quite prepared to believe that some do that.

Also agree with the comments about going with EA's financial guys.

Guess I we'll just need to hold our breath until Monday !

Mobility151990

michael1234 - at NBS we don't look at it until underwriter is assigned. It's normal.

michael1234

Just to follow up, we found out today that the purchaser was declined .:mad:

Apparently, he applied to NatWest even though he originally had an offer from the Halifax who he also banks with. :mad:

Really annoying that banks are happy to take up front fees for stuff without even looking at an application. We know the survey was fine so the decision could have been taken without doing it.