EA insists I see mortgage adviser before I can make an offer....

shimano

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Lots of people are suggesting that the offer to purchase should be made in writing. In my opinion, not a good idea. Unless your offer letter is carefully worded by a lawyer (or someone who understands the law better than I do) you are likely to be committing yourself to buy, no mattter what the survey turns up. Personally, I would send the vendor a note making her/him aware that I was seeking to make an offer through the EA.

Not really...put "Subject to Contract and without prejudice" at the top. You are offering and not committing. The exchange of contracts governs the purchase, not an offer letter.

As to the topic, don't bother showing the EA anything, it's none of their business what your finances are. If anything, like everyone says, disclosing them will be detrimental and they will know your position. You can show credibility in a variety of different ways.

When I bought recently they tried it on and I refused. I just said it was none of their business. Stand your ground.

betmunch

I love this debate, it comes up so regularly.

Always has a few sellers backing up the EA, always has a few buyers saying they shouldnt have to prove they have the funds.

The fact is this:
You DO NOT have to see the in house MA to have your offer put forward, if you make an offer and you do not feel it has been put to the vendor then you need to complain to the EA and the to their governing body.
Having said that, why not go and see the in house advisor, they might actually be very good and have a product, or idea you have not considered. Not everyone can go straight to HSBC, and many that do end up regretting it anyway.

In the office I work in any offer will need to be qualified by the MA, however, if the buyer refuses to do this the offer still goes forward as unqualified and the Vendor makes a decision based on that information.
If a buyer does come in for the offer check they will be offered a comparison service which they can choose to use or not as is their want, but provided they bring in their AIP and proof of deposit the offer goes to the vendor as qualified and proceedable, which is a much stronger offer and more likely to be accepted.

You must remember its the Vendor that makes the final decision, not the EA, you should give the Vendor as much positive information as you can to secure the house.

retepetsir

Thanks for that. It's all new to me as a FTB.

"Not everyone can go straight to HSBC, and many that do end up regretting it anyway."

Just a question, where does that statement come from?

When researching, HSBC offered the most competitive mortgage with a 10% deposit and they don't show up on IFA broker searches.

"Having said that, why not go and see the in house advisor, they might actually be very good and have a product, or idea you have not considered."

Wasn't that the original issue, that the MA is tied in to the EA and therefore finds out details about maximum mortgage values which can be obtained?

What is your position in the office, as it sounds like you work for an EA.

Blackpool_Saver

betmunch wrote: »

You must remember its the Vendor that makes the final decision, not the EA, you should give the Vendor as much positive information as you can to secure the house.

This is exactly the same when you are looking to rent a property (not all renters are low life's) I always make sure that pertinent information is supplied to the Landlord not to the letting agent. I don't fit into letting agents pigeon holes for vetting, and a covering letter to the owner is always useful.

I have bought and sold many properties, I arranged my own mortgages over the internet and by phone, I did not make use of so called financial advisers who are tied to in house products.

betmunch

HSBC are known for cherry picking their applicants at the moment and have a large amount of applications fail after getting an aproved AIP, just check in the Mortgages and Endowments forum here for a few horror stories and questions about speed of processing. Please note, I am not questioning the rates they offer, its the problem getting this mortgage to offer stage that causes the grief

Just because a MA is in the office of the EA doesnt mean he wont have good projuscts to offer you as a client. All the big companies negotiate exclusive deals just for them so its quite posible they will have something market leading for you.

Last time I mentioned what I did in the office I was told off so I'm not going to do it again, needless to say its pertinient to this thread. Also I work for one of the large chains of EA's so I do know what I am talking about

retepetsir

betmunch wrote: »

HSBC are known for cherry picking their applicants at the moment and have a large amount of applications fail after getting an aproved AIP, just check in the Mortgages and Endowments forum here for a few horror stories and questions about speed of processing. Please note, I am not questioning the rates they offer, its the problem getting this mortgage to offer stage that causes the grief

Just because a MA is in the office of the EA doesnt mean he wont have good projuscts to offer you as a client. All the big companies negotiate exclusive deals just for them so its quite posible they will have something market leading for you.

Last time I mentioned what I did in the office I was told off so I'm not going to do it again, needless to say its pertinient to this thread. Also I work for one of the large chains of EA's so I do know what I am talking about

Well that's interesting, I'll take a look in that forum. You can't lie in terms of commission though, surely the EA would get commission on the finance deal...

googler

retepetsir wrote: »

Well that's interesting, I'll take a look in that forum. You can't lie in terms of commission though, surely the EA would get commission on the finance deal...

IFAs get commission from Life Assurance companies for selling their products.
Auctioneers get commission from sellers for selling their goods.
Car salesman get commission from loan companies for selling finance deals on the cars
etc etc for a myriad of instances

Why is commission paid to an EA from a Mort Advisor or Co seen as any worse than any of the above?

princeofpounds

christ, there is a lot of misinformation and understanding on the thread about this question.

The legal position is quite simple. An estate agent has to pass on an offer to purchase made in writing under law. The only exception to this is if they have received *specific* instructions from the vendor to screen offers. Normally this is something like 'I don't want to receive offers under £x'. Very rarely would a vendor say 'they must see your wonderful mortgage advisor so he can pitch his product', although I suppose it is not impossible.

They also have a duty (not statutory) to evaluate how proceedable the offer is. This is the normal excuse for getting you to see their mortgage advisor. The truth of the matter is though that the mortgage advisor does nothing special to evaluate proceedability. Normally EAs do this themselves quite happily, unless of course they are trying to push your their mortgage product.

It is *perfectly* reasonable and in fact possibly to be encouraged that a buyer does not see an EA's mortgage advisor.
- It creates a conflict of interest where the EA/MA are agents of both the vendor and the buyer.
- There are serious questions of confidentiality when the buyer's negotiating position is compromised by unnecesarily invasive questioning from the MA.
- It can be a waste of time when a perfectly acceptable mortgage deal has already been found.

Of course the MA is always technically a separate company, but the ultimate ownership is almost always under the same umbrella.

If you are a buyer being blocked by an EA in this manner you have a few routes to deal with it beside just threatening to walk. Unfortunately there is not specific regulator for the EA industry. However, trading standards might be interested about the failure to pass on written offers and bully people into seeing MAs. Any voluntary association of EAs might be interested in a complaint too if the EA belongs to them. They are toothless, but this practice is specifically prohibited by most of them (worth bearing in mind for those people who think this is harmless that the EAs own associations consider it against best practice).

But probably the most useful method of complaint is direct to the vendor, many of whom would be interested to know that the EA is blocking a transaction to secure their own advantage.

princeofpounds

Why is commission paid to an EA from a Mort Advisor or Co seen as any worse than any of the above?

It's a very simple phrase called 'conflict of interest', and you might add 'client confidentiality' to that.

retepetsir

Hmmmmmm. Now I've got to decide what to do! May cancel/delay the meeting with the EA's own MA before we make our first offer in writing.