EA asking for proof of mortgage before taking my offer

Mozzanov

amcg100 wrote: »

I assume you know the address of the property? If so pop into the estate agent and tell them that you are going to write to the occupier of the property and tell them that their estate agents are insisting on you seeing their financial adviser ( so they can sell you a mortgage and insurance ) before they forward on a legitimate offer. Hopefully this will do the trick - if not do it. There are no regulatory bodies for estate agents but there are plenty for mortgage advisers - so you might like to advise them of this also - What estate agent was it ?

While there aren't regulatory bodies, there is The Property Ombudsman (check if the EA is member) and you can refer to Estate Agents Act 1979. Check the OFT website for more information. This information might be useful for pushing them into sending on the offer.

taxiphil

Sponge wrote: »

I appreciate an EA may want to know someone isn't going to waste their time, or the vendor's, but I can't help but regard this need for specifics and proof as just a sly way to get financial info on a buyer and use that info to force higher sale prices. I'd like to combat it.

The answer's simple - you're the buyer so you're the boss. They can't force anything. Tell them "this is how much I'm offering, take it or leave it". End of story. Remember that you're the one with all the power.

I've seen a lot of threads like this where prospective buyers seem fearful that EAs have a magical skill of sucking more money out of them. You just have to be firm, stand your ground - and never let them get you to admit that you "might" be able to afford "a little bit more" if the seller doesn't find your offer acceptable, otherwise you've blown it.

They won't get more out of you because they know your financial status (after all, you could be a multi-millionaire landlord!) - they'll only get more out of you if you let them.

moneyistooshorttomention

I rather think that estate agents are required to get proof that the would-be buyer has a suitable mortgage offer or has the cash to back up any claim they are making to be a "cash buyer" in order that the vendor knows there is proof that the viewer really DOES have the ability they say they do to buy their house.

There's apparently rather a lot of people saying they have got a mortgage fixed-up and the vendor accepts their offer on that basis - only to find subsequently that the buyer doesnt have a mortgage at all and will take some time to find one (thus imposing unnecessary delay on the vendor) or maybe even cant get a mortgage (thus meaning the vendor doesnt have the sale they thought they did after all and perhaps refused another offer that they would have taken on the place).

I would say the estate agent is just looking after the vendors' interests and so they should.

Sponge

The EA told us the vendor would accept an offer of £170k. They previously told us they had a buyer at £180k, but the chain fell apart when they lost their buyer. I think this was 4 or 5 months ago.

I suspect the vendor is holding out for a similar offer and my worry is they'll continue taking viewings and we'll get gazumped.

The EA has said they will probably take the house off the market and cancel/cease viewings after we've shown them our mortgage and can give them a date for a survey. This is something, but I still worry they'll spring something on us at a later date. But I guess that's a chance regardless and not unique to my situation.

I've only ever bought a house once and that was over 12 years ago as a FTB. This is proper stressful and I'm only 1 day in! :rotfl:

Thrugelmir

Sponge wrote: »

I have a mortgage agreed with my current lender and they have said they will telephone the EA and tell them so, but I don't know what they'll exactly say. My worry is they will tell the EA we have a mortgage agreed of up to £xxx,xxx therefore 'showing my hand' to the EA and them rejecting any lower offer.

This means nothing to the EA. As they don't know how much cash you have.

Too often people make offers. Then can't raise a mortgage (said myself as a seller).

EA wants to sell the house and earn commission. A couple of grand makes little difference to their commission at 2%.

moneyistooshorttomention

I understand its the norm to not take a house off the market at least until that proof of financial ability to proceed is produced AND the first evidence is there on the table that the viewer is indeed proceeding with the necessary work to buy the house (ie getting in a surveyor). You will be very lucky if they DO actually take it off the market (even after the surveyor has been in) in view of it being a low offer.

I certainly wouldnt agree to remove my house from the market until I had at least that financial proof and their surveyor had been not just booked in, but had actually been in doing that survey (as until then the buyer would have shown no financial commitment whatsoever).

Its not realistic to expect anything from a vendor until such time as they can see clearly that the offerer hasnt got a case of "Eyes bigger than their (financial) stomach".

lessonlearned

If you do not wish to engage with the EA's financial advisor then you do not have to. However, it is the EA's job to ensure that any offers received are from someone who is in a position to proceed and has sufficient funds to do so.

You do not need to disclose your financial details and run the risk of being forced to up your offer.

A letter from your solicitor confirming that you have funds in place to meet your offer should be acceptable. Your solicitor will need to see evidence of course but they do not have to disclose figures or show your bank statements or your AIP to the EA or Vendor.

Job done.

spacey2012

Write your offer and post it to the house, apologise for doing so but inform them their "agent" is refusing to forward offers to them unless the buyer takes financial products from the agent .
Explain this might be why they can not sell the house.
Ask them to consider your offer and contact your solicitor.
They could take the house off the agent for Non performance and deal directly solicitor to solicitor.

kingstreet

The agent is obliged under the EA Act to "qualify" all offers to ensure the purchaser has the ability to raise the funds to complete the transaction.

The Act is silent on how it should do this, but it would appear reasonable to request evidence of deposit and mortgage.

Frankly, having an AIP certificate for more than the mortgage amount needed does not mean you will pay more, just because you can.

The only answer to "can't you offer more?" isn't "no, we can't afford it." It's perfectly reasonable to tell the agent you are making your best final offer and their client should take it, or leave it.

Would anyone with a £200k borrowing power pay £200k for a £100k property? Not a chance. That's the logic being used.

ash28

Sponge wrote: »

The EA told us the vendor would accept an offer of £170k. They previously told us they had a buyer at £180k, but the chain fell apart when they lost their buyer. I think this was 4 or 5 months ago.

I suspect the vendor is holding out for a similar offer and my worry is they'll continue taking viewings and we'll get gazumped.

The EA has said they will probably take the house off the market and cancel/cease viewings after we've shown them our mortgage and can give them a date for a survey. This is something, but I still worry they'll spring something on us at a later date. But I guess that's a chance regardless and not unique to my situation.

I've only ever bought a house once and that was over 12 years ago as a FTB. This is proper stressful and I'm only 1 day in! :rotfl:

We sold in 2011 and told the EA at the outset that we would accept offers from proceedable buyers - sold their own property and had a mortgage in principle. And that once we had accepted an offer we would take the property off the market. No more viewers.

Which is exactly what happened - and it was the same thing with the house we bought, we didn't need a mortgage but had to tell them where the money was coming from to buy the house.

When we made the offer on our current house (160 miles away from previous) our vendor's EA rang our EA and confirmed that we had a proceedable buyer and that the house was under offer - then they rang the
vendor with the offer, he accepted and the house was taken off the market. We were in the office with them at the time.

I think the thing is for the EA the difference between an offer of £170k and £180k is small - we paid 1% commission, so in our case it would have been worth an extra £100 to the EA's office and obviously a lot less to the actual EA himself.

If your offer is accepted I would make it a condition of the offer that the house is taken off the market and that viewings cease and if the vendor says no then I would walk away - because it will be the vendor saying no not the EA.