How long do mortgage offers last for?

united4ever

I'm moving into a new build in March and think I will go for a fixed rate mortgage. It seems pretty clear that the interest rate will rise soon but I heard that a mortgage offer usually lasts for 3 months. If I wait until January or February it's quite likely the interest rate will have risen. Therefore, does anyone know if I could get a mortgage offer now which will still be valid in March?

herbiesjp

Some lenders do 3 months some lenders do 6 months and some lenders do 12 months for new builds.

Which lender were you thinkig of using?

united4ever

herbiesjp wrote:

Some lenders do 3 months some lenders do 6 months and some lenders do 12 months for new builds.

Which lender were you thinkig of using?

Not decided yet, thought it was too early to look but judging from your response perhaps it's not - think I will try and find an independent financial adviser though not sure how to judge which would be the best one to go for though I hear you should ask two queations: are you whole of the market and do you charge a fee?

Thanks

Poppycat

I had an offer in March this year and it ran out last month but it wasnt the amount we needed

herbiesjp

united4ever wrote:

Not decided yet, thought it was too early to look but judging from your response perhaps it's not - think I will try and find an independent financial adviser though not sure how to judge which would be the best one to go for though I hear you should ask two queations: are you whole of the market and do you charge a fee?

Thanks

I would defintely start looking now.

Have you put down your deposit?

Do you not have a deadline by which time you need to have your mortgage offer and exchanged - a lot of these new builds have a 28 day timescale

Please note that not all IFAs deal in mortgage business - ideally you should be looking for a whole of market mortgage adviser, possibly fees free (the IFA of the mortgage world)

HTH

mrmajika

We had a mortgage offer that was good for 3 months.

We got this prior to the last interest rate increase, but still have to pay the current rates. (We just bought a house last week) We were told that the rates are subject to change and the rates are only set once you go to full application.

It might be different from lender to lender but this is the policy of our mortgage company (Halifax)

toonfish

mrmajika wrote:

We had a mortgage offer that was good for 3 months.

We got this prior to the last interest rate increase, but still have to pay the current rates. (We just bought a house last week) We were told that the rates are subject to change and the rates are only set once you go to full application.

It might be different from lender to lender but this is the policy of our mortgage company (Halifax)

a mortgage offer shouldn't change, unless it's a variable rate of course. Maybe what you had was an agreement in principle.

marcovan

I am in a similar position as the op (due to move in end of Feb) and we decided to use Nationwide. We have got the offer through and since it was a new build we are buying the offer is valid for 12 months.

dollarjon

most will extend if asked to you'll be ok