First time byer being messed around?

HelenRachel

Thanks for your advice ACG I'm feeling a bit better about this situation now. We have been put under an immense amount of pressure to go and see their in house mortgage adviser! I have so far resisted, mainly because we've already committed and are very happy and confident with the one that we have already gone with.

leccyblue

Might be an obvious thing to say, but make sure whatever comes from your mortgage broker (be it a DIP or just an e-mail confirmation) doesn't mention anything to do with your maximum borrowing potential. If a figure is quoted, make sure it is only what you would be borrowing to purchase at the agreed offer price (i.e. your offer minus your deposit).

Otherwise they could use this to see how much headroom you have in terms of a higher offer. If they receive the same information from the other interested party, then they have a means by which to play you both.

I'm sure they are just doing this to ensure that you are in a position to proceed (which is good practice) but always be wary!

PerpetualStudent

My partner and I were flat-hunting in London autumn last year and all EA seemed to want proof of funds/mortgage before taking offers seriously - met several people who had taken to carrying a letter to this effect to every viewing they went to. It does seem odd, because as people here have pointed out, though it might give the vendor some reassurance, it doesn't really prove anything.
I also worried, as mentioned above, that is was a sneaky way to find out what your maximum budget was and use that to push up your offer... (though in the end we bought via a V. nice local EA with none of those tricks)

If you like the house and know you're not going to be nudged into paying more, I'd say just jump through the hoops - goodness knows you'll need enough practice of that in property buying :P