FTB - is there anything else we can do?

lexilex

I posted this on the House Buying forum but I am hoping I might get more help on here...

I'll try not to make this too long-winded, but could really do with some advice.

Bit of background info. My OH and I are FTB. Completely, completely clueless with all things related to house buying My OH is in full time employment, all very straight forward. Me on the other hand, a little more complicated. I am self employed (relatively low earnings, have fit it around temp jobs in the past) and started a part-time, permanent role last month. Just to make the situation more difficult, I do actually have wage slips from this company for every month since July this year. However these are all based on the full-time temporary job I had with them.

In September we found a house we loved. Spoke to London and Country, explained our situation and was given a decision in principle.

Based on this, made a couple of offers, all rejected. House sold for not much more than our last offer (so the EA tells us) a week or so later.

In the meantime, spoke to a local broker with the hope of getting a decision in principle from him, in case we saw any other houses we liked. Only ever used L&C to get a rough idea of what we could afford. He struggled to find something for us but did say as soon as I get my first pay slip Santander should be an option for us. This will happen at the end of this month. Later found out L&C gave us an offer in principle on the basis that we would pay off some car finance that my OH has. This was never mentioned, and is not an option for us.

The house has gone back on the market, the EA has told us the vendor is a bit desperate now as they have had an offer accepted on another house. We was told basically any increase on our last offer, however small, would be accepted.

We've explained the situation to the EA who has passed this on to the vendor.

My question is, is there anything at all we can say or do other than wait to receive my first wage slip?

Sorry for the rather long post. I just want to check we're doing all we can. I would be gutted to miss out on this house (again!) and later found out we could have made a move sooner.

ACG

You can still make an application in the meantime and send everything over bar the payslip? It wont make much different but it might make you feel like your doing something.
I have never used Santander so i have no idea what their requirements are but there are some lenders who will just accept the contract as proof of employment.

lexilex

ACG wrote: »

You can still make an application in the meantime and send everything over bar the payslip? It wont make much different but it might make you feel like your doing something.
I have never used Santander so i have no idea what their requirements are but there are some lenders who will just accept the contract as proof of employment.

Thanks for your reply.

The broker we spoke to struggled to find anything suitable at all, and I think Santander was the only option they came up with. Halifax apparently only need a contract but we was told they wouldn't lend us enough.

I am finding the whole mortgage thing baffling already. We're hoping to speak to another broker as we wasn't keen on the last one, but we're struggling to find any locally.

Dave_Ham

I was just about to say you may need a more experienced broker, although this may not come fee free - as you do get what you pay for.

Typically, Halifax will not lend less than Santander although this is almost incidental.

Additionally, do not necessarily believe the information provided by the Estate Agents as there are all sorts of agendas you may not be aware of.

Do try and get a broker recommendation from friends/family.

All the best

lexilex

Dave_Ham wrote: »

I was just about to say you may need a more experienced broker, although this may not come fee free - as you do get what you pay for.

Typically, Halifax will not lend less than Santander although this is almost incidental.

Additionally, do not necessarily believe the information provided by the Estate Agents as there are all sorts of agendas you may not be aware of.

Do try and get a broker recommendation from friends/family.

All the best

Thank you for the advice. We definitely believe nothing the estate agent say, we've learned that very quickly.

We're really struggling to find a mortgage broker. We've been recommended a couple by friends but I am struggling to find any info about them online, in fact when I've searched for one of them I am told 'No longer registered as an Appointed Representative'.

amnblog

Good ones are rare.

Unfortunately, this forum is not about recommending them.

Dave_Ham

It is unfortunately the 64,000 dollar question. No-one on here can recommend and Google is not really your friend at this point, as many lead generators, rather than actual credible brokers.

I would give a few a call and be pretty frank with them, tell them your situation and ask if they are experienced enough to be able to get this done quickly. If they say yes, challenge them and ask if they are sure.

I never have an issue with someone calling in for an initial chat, which may or may not go anywhere but gives both sides confidence and transparent communications.

You may well need the broker of choice to manage the Estate Agent also, as they will be aware of your previous situation so do select wisely.

Best of luck

jackieblack

Have you tried approaching Santander/Halifax directly?
Sometimes it's better to speak to the organ grinder........

Dave_Ham

jackieblack wrote: »

Have you tried approaching Santander/Halifax directly?
Sometimes it's better to speak to the organ grinder........

If only...

Guess you must use internet banking..

lexilex

That's a very good point, and it is something I have thought about myself, it seemed common sense. However when I have tried Santander's affordability calculator they won't let us borrow anywhere near the amount they came up with when the broker tried.

I don't understand this mortgage thing at all!

jackieblack

Dave_Ham wrote: »

If only...

Guess you must use internet banking..

Just bad experiences with brokers