How long does an offer usually stay in place?

advic_2

As above really, if we go down the road of trying to move anytime soon (i posted a thread a few days ago re credit history). If I could successfully get a mortgage offer from someone, what kind of time limit do they generally have on them - and can you get them extended if you're not quite ready?

Senior_Paper_Monitor

Generally 3 - 6 months from offer to completion (extension usually possible if valid reason can be demonstrated, but not always and limited extension offered)

advic_2

One more equally novice question. The place we're particularly interested in has an asking price of £250k and we have £50k equity in the current house + around £5k cash. Ignoring the small amount of cash (which id plan to be using for stamp duty, fees etc), id expect my starting point to be trying to get a mortgage offer for £200k. However, I would also expect to negotiate down the £250k asking price to a lesser amount. What happens in this instance, would I have to go back and re-apply for a new mortgage at the lower amount or would the original offer be revised downwards by the lender?

herbiesjp

Get the mortgage agreed for the higher amount, and then anything lower should be fine.

Mrs_Z

No, you would not need to re-apply - they would make an amendment. We recently had this with a flat that we're buying, once we got the survey results, we revised our offer £3k downwards, which was accepted by the vendor. The lender was notified and they just issued a letter to confirm the new amount. The sale then proceeded from there as normal.

advic_2

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated.