My Mortgage Findings

whunt18885

So I have finally completed the sale of my 1st home - A newish ground floor flat. It was a reposession.

I have had to jump through my hoops and discovered alot during the process, I thought I would share my findings as they may of help for others.

I will state right from the get go however this is my first and only property purchase so it will always pay to get professional advice.

Anyway here are my top 10 notes:

1. Most reposessions (the ones I looked at anyway) have a timelimit to exchange in the contract usually 28 days so make sure you have your mortgage AIP and paperwork ready before putting in a offer, My solicitor said that mosts sellers of repo properties are unlikely to pull out after the 28 day limit if you can prove you are close to exchange.

2. Repo properties will quite often have laid empty for a while so its worth checking if the heating / water system has been drained down and if so bear in mind you may require a plumber to get it all working again expecially if its been cold as pipes could have frozen etc.

3. Many properties have pre-pay meters installed especially repo properties. Check the process of clearing these meters as my property took several letters and phone calls and an engineer visit to get it 'zero'd'

4. If you are on a tight timeframe its worth checking mortgage lenders who have a fast turn around time don't just focus on interest rates. I went with Leeds but had to switch to a new provider (loosing £200 application fee in the process) because they were taking over a week to process each piece of documentation I sent. In the end we went with TSB who had a 0.1% higher rate but got the who application done in 13 days !

5. Keep everything that gets sent to you and ask for email confirmation for everything that is agreed with lenders / solictitors etc. I had to prove I had sent payslips but thankfully I had email tracking confirmation from my lender which resolved the issue quickly.

6. Consider a broker when applying for a mortgage. You will pay a fee but brokers (mine anyway) is registered with FSA so he could verify my documents with a stamp before sending them. If you apply direct you may be delayed while the lenders get them verified first.

7. Check that you appointed mortgage lender contact or broker is not going on holiday. Mine decided to take a week off mid way through so I was delayed and only just hit my exchange deadline.

8. Get confirmation from your solicitor of ALL costs, Often they do not list search fee's and these get bolted on at the end. Ask for a complete price for everything (searches, bank transfer fee etc)

9. If you are buying a new build that is less than 10 years old it is under warranty so to speak from the NHBC, if its new you probably don't need anything more than the lenders valution but if unsure get a home buyers survey done as soon as possible.

10. Once your offer has been accepted ask the seller to take the for sale sign down / off the website etc or at the very least get them to add a public notice to the listing stating that the property is under offer. Anything to reduce the chances of getting gazumped.

11. Ignore what some EA say about extra insurance to cover losses if you pull out of a sale pre exchange. Its a con ! Up until the date of exchange you absolutely CAN pull out with no penalty. Obviously you will loose any costs you have already paid (searches etc).

12. CHASE ! CALL ! HOUND ! PHONE ! everyone who is involved to get things moving, Our EA was so rubbish that we had to phone up after sending emails otherwise they would just ignore them or 'lose track' etc. People will hate you for it but its your money and your house and its their job to get it sorted so give them grief until you have the keys.

13. CHANGE THE LOCKS. Don't listen to what EA say even if they say the locks have been changed just get it done. If you buy a identical lock (say another identical Yale lock) you can get away with just changing the barrel.

14. When visiting properties, if the utilities are still on then check all the taps work and you can get hot water etc. The last thing you want to do is have to buy a new boiler as soon as you move in.

That is basically it, It took me all in about 5 weeks from offer to getting the keys. Its major stress but stick to your guns and follow a common sense rational approach and things seem to fall into place.

One thing to note from personal experience - Several lenders (usually smaller lenders like LBS) seem to have several days processing delay from receiving your paperwork to actually looking at it.

whunt18885

AMMEND - top 14 notes

kingstreet

In my experience, the vendors of repossessed property want them completed as soon as possible. Twenty-eight days is the completion target, not the exchange target, although, as you say they will not often terminate a sale if a few days are added on to the timescale.

A twenty-eight day exchange is the target for newbuild.

Add number 15.

Keep identification and proof of your purchase on hand in case you get bailiffs looking for the former occupants. You may need to evidence you are not the droids they are looking for...

whunt18885

Yep good advice, I scanned /printed everything I had a copy of as well as electronic versions of the documentation.