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Bovis Homes Unsympathetic to Would Be Home Owners
wagi
Posts: 14 Forumite
I recently found a Bovis home that was situated in a nice area and decided to put in an offer, which was accepted, providing the contracts exchanged within four weeks.
I went to see a mortgage advisor and a mortgage application was completed and submitted to the Nationwide Building Society.
The loan was agreed and a valuation was instructed. Unfortunately the valuation came back £25,000 under the agreed sale price. By this time approximately three weeks had been used up of the allotted four week exchange period.
Bovis agreed to extend the exchange of contracts period by another two weeks and another mortgage application was submitted.
After five working days the Mortgage Works asked for an application form to be completed in writing, which added another five working days.
With one week left to exchange contracts, Bovis said that they would not be prepared to extend the period any more, even by a few days.
My mortgage broker said that he may as well not submit the application because there wouldn’t be enough time to exchange contracts in one week.
With a few days left to exchange, Bovis phoned to say that they had a cash buyer and would not give me any more time to exchange contracts.
To be honest, I was gutted. My advice to anyone buying from these guys is make sure you have a loan up front – they don’t care about your circumstances. They are simply out to make money, regardless. I found them to be unhelpful, unsympathetic, cold, calculating and generally not interested in assisting the home buyer. Other areas of the country may be different – I dealt with Bovis in Cringleford, Norwich and also the area office for the South East. The sales woman called Lorraine ****** was particularly hard to deal with and my mortgage advisor nicknamed her “Unfriendly Lorraine”
A sad thing about “Cash Buyers” is that they are most likely to be investors who will rent out their house purchases to students or nurses and deprive someone of owning their own home.
To summarise, I think this is a poor show for Bovis. If they had some integrity they would assist buyers and work with them to secure a loan and be mindful and appreciate that buyers are having a difficult time in these market conditions.
Mortgage companies are expecting people to jump through so many hoops nowadays that it takes time to fulfill all their criteria and Bovis should understand this.
I went to see a mortgage advisor and a mortgage application was completed and submitted to the Nationwide Building Society.
The loan was agreed and a valuation was instructed. Unfortunately the valuation came back £25,000 under the agreed sale price. By this time approximately three weeks had been used up of the allotted four week exchange period.
Bovis agreed to extend the exchange of contracts period by another two weeks and another mortgage application was submitted.
After five working days the Mortgage Works asked for an application form to be completed in writing, which added another five working days.
With one week left to exchange contracts, Bovis said that they would not be prepared to extend the period any more, even by a few days.
My mortgage broker said that he may as well not submit the application because there wouldn’t be enough time to exchange contracts in one week.
With a few days left to exchange, Bovis phoned to say that they had a cash buyer and would not give me any more time to exchange contracts.
To be honest, I was gutted. My advice to anyone buying from these guys is make sure you have a loan up front – they don’t care about your circumstances. They are simply out to make money, regardless. I found them to be unhelpful, unsympathetic, cold, calculating and generally not interested in assisting the home buyer. Other areas of the country may be different – I dealt with Bovis in Cringleford, Norwich and also the area office for the South East. The sales woman called Lorraine ****** was particularly hard to deal with and my mortgage advisor nicknamed her “Unfriendly Lorraine”
A sad thing about “Cash Buyers” is that they are most likely to be investors who will rent out their house purchases to students or nurses and deprive someone of owning their own home.
To summarise, I think this is a poor show for Bovis. If they had some integrity they would assist buyers and work with them to secure a loan and be mindful and appreciate that buyers are having a difficult time in these market conditions.
Mortgage companies are expecting people to jump through so many hoops nowadays that it takes time to fulfill all their criteria and Bovis should understand this.
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Comments
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I have had no prior dealings with Bovis but regardless of vendor you really shouldn't be putting offers in on properties without finance in place.0
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The property was not expected to be completed until August, so there was plenty of time to get finance in place had Bovis allowed an extra week0
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Why should they reserve a property for any longer without knowing if that person has the means to pay for it, think about it....0
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I can't believe they're simply out to make money. What's the business world coming to?0
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Why should they reserve a property for any longer without knowing if that person has the means to pay for it, think about it....
Yes and why should the OP as the purchaser whish to pay £25k more than the valuation.
They have done him a favour stopping him overpaying for the property.0 -
The second mortgage lender had agreed to lend the money subject to survey and Bovis knew about this, but would not allow any extra time.
Had the first survey been satisfactory, there wouldn't have been any issues, but it was valued at £25,000 below the agreed sale price.0 -
Apparently, Nationwide value new properties as second hand properties and always undervalue them - don't ask me why.Yes and why should the OP as the purchaser whish to pay £25k more than the valuation.0 -
Nothing wrong with making money as long as it is done in an ethical wayI can't believe they're simply out to make money. What's the business world coming to?0 -
Apparently, Nationwide value new properties as second hand properties and always undervalue them - don't ask me why.
Because if you try to sell in a year or two's time then it will be a "second hand" property and the next purchaser won't be prepared to pay the 25,000 premium that you would be paying for everything to be brand new. So Nationwide are taking a sensible business risk on the matter.Every generation blames the one before...
Mike + The Mechanics - The Living Years0 -
Very rarely do business and ethics mix well. However, I don't see how they've acted unethically in this case. They infact gave you an extra 2 weeks which they didn't have to do.0
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