Is that ok?

K_and_N

Hi,

We put in an offer to buy a property via the agent. Now the agent said we need to speak to their mortgage advisor on the phone to make sure that our financial affairs are in place before they can forward our offer to the owner.

Is that normal? More importantly, what kind of information we should and shouldn't disclose to them?

We have AIP in place arranged by HSBC. We told them that and they said it is ok for us to go with HSBC but still we need to speak to their mortgage advisor.

Thanks a lot.

K & N

sooz

Atleast it's only on the phone.

Call them up, & say, yes, we have a mortgage AIP in place.

Mallotum_X

Dont give them any more info than to confirm you have the HSBC in place. Most oif all do not agree to anything they try and get you to do, whether thats sign up to something or requests for more info. Dont tell them the AIP level you have with HSBC.

They will either
A) be trying to find out the max you can afford to up the offer, or
wanting commission for themselves.

G_M

Very common. Depends whether they give you a hard sell. Just make sure
a) you make it clear you have finance in place (if necessary offer to show a copy of your AIP - consider editing it if the amount is higher than your offer or they'll tell the seller "This buyer has more money available, don't accept the offer" !)
b) make clear you are not interested in discussing alternative mortgage OR legal offers (find your own solicitor)
c) Give away as little as possible about your savings/deposit as well as the mortgage - it helps the sellers negotiate on price
d) Then follow up by putting your offer in writing

Unless, of course, you WANT a 2nd opinion on your mortgage.

K_and_N

Thank you all for your quick replies.

If the estate agent still insist, can we go direct to the seller? Or is it something we are not allowed to do?

K & N

celyn90

We asked the bank to issue us with an AIP for lower figure than we would actually be allowed to borrow - so it is just what we want to borrow instead

lindos90

All good dvice here, the Ea will say its for 'this and that' but the real reasons are listed above.

As said before, reply firmly but friendly, you dont want to come over as a time waster. If the Ea says they are not prepaired to forward your offer without jumping through their hoops first, they are wrong. They have an abligation to forward all offers made to the vendor.

Most EAs will eventually not insist on you having a financial interview, but they present it as a 'must' as its an opportunity for them to use their financial advisor, push a particular solicitor they will 'introduce you to'and get commision for it etc.

Stick to your guns and they will hopefully pass on your offer anyway. if they dont, come back on here and get more advice, there are also several previous threads on the same subject. This one for example..

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2906220

PS, good luck with your house hunting:beer:

lindos90

celyn90 wrote: »

We asked the bank to issue us with an AIP for lower figure than we would actually be allowed to borrow - so it is just what we want to borrow instead

Thats exactly what we did, we decided to borrow as much as we thought we could afford, rather than the EA financial advisor selling us the product that gave him the most commision, or let on to him (and the EA office) how much we could get a mortgage for...as that would have been axactly what the EA whould have given as a counter offer fromt he vendor!

sonastin

Tell them that you have an AIP in place which should be sufficient proof that you have financing in place and can afford the property. Tell them that you will speak to the in-house advisor once the offer has been accepted. Decide later whether or not you want to keep the appointment with the in-house advisor.

betmunch

All good advice, especially agreeing to meet the in house advisor AFTER the figure has been agreed.

Personally I would listen to what they have to say and see if they can offer you anything better. It is highly unlikey they will beat the HSBC, however they will give it a shot and will present something to you that you might be interested in if HSBC turn you down.

If there is anything you are unsure of after the meeting you can always come back here. I'd be particularly wary of anything implying your offer isnt up to scratch unless you take the in house advisors mortgage or in house solicitors.

K_and_N

Thank you for all good advice here.

We managed to get another AIP from HSBC with lower figure and we were going to send the estate agent a copy. But before we do that, they told us that they have another substantially higher offer (don't really think they do) and we need to increase ours.

So we asked how much is the other offer and surprise surprise...they said they aren't allowed to disclose this because of data protection act. We told them that there is no point in sending our AIP because that other offer could be something we are not willing to match.

Then they said we need to increase our offer close to asking price. Our offer and the asking price are about £15000 different. What would be the best way to reply the estate agent? We're thinking to increase our offer by around £2500 each time until it gets to our walk-away price. Is it a good strategy? Or should we go straight to walk-away price?

Thanks.

K & N