Agreement in principle - is it enough?

kingstreet

There's a DIP "pecking order" of value;-

L&C - affordability check only

Halifax - soft search, picks up only issues at current address in last three years

Others - full credit search and affordability assessment provided data at full app backs up DIP data, mortgage normally subject to valuation only.

An EA will typically want more than what L&C does. IMHO L&C does not get involved in the usual DIP as it doesn't want to undertake work which may be wasted if you go elsewhere when you find a property.

Mortgage_Mark_2

Yes and no - have L&C seen your credit report? It's hardly 'next to useless' if they've seen a recent credit report.

We never, ever suggest a full lender DIP without good reason (wanting to buy for Help to Buy, slightly adverse credit history etc) as we deal predominantly with contractors, and for 99% of contractors the credit profiling is the last thing that could be an issue, behind actually meeting lender criteria.

What we do always do though is to tell clients to give our contact details, along with our own AIP, to estate agents so that we can confirm verbally the work that we've done.

The fact is, even a lender DIP is next to useless anyway as it's in most cases just a credit score and there is no correlation between what you want and you actually meeting the lending profile of that bank. You could also go and get a £10k credit card the very next day which renders the whole thing useless.

There's a hangup in estate agency on DIP's from people who don't understand how pointless they are, and are just concerned with getting buyers to sit in front of their own brokers.

Senior_Paper_Monitor

I echo Mark's comments 110% - spot on.

Dave_Ham

Just to add into the mix, I cannot believe an Estate Agent selected you to call in advance of a property going on the market unless they think you are a bit green and likely to use their complete team (broker and solicitor)

Absolutely agree with above, without a credit file seen the AIP is absolutely worthless and no way your Estate Agent will accept this.

Typically the bigger they are, the worse their practices are

Best of luck, keep asking on here if you need an opinion as the ride will get rougher

amnblog

nick12 wrote: »

It's normal for EAs to ask for proof of deposit as a part of assessing your proceedability. I assume this is what they're asking (rather than expecting a mortgage to be in place).

On NO account ever show an Estate Agent, your bank statement, proof of deposit, or anything else.

Refer them to your broker and DO NOT USE theirs.

nick12

amnblog wrote: »

On NO account ever show an Estate Agent, your bank statement, proof of deposit, or anything else.

Refer them to your broker and DO NOT USE theirs.

I get that you don't want them to know your budget etc as it weakens your negotiating position but are there other reasons not to? If it's a seller's market (as it is in many parts of the country) surely you will just lose out to others who are willing to provide that info?

We just provided screenshots of our ISA balances to prove deposit. The total balance wasn't much more than the required depsoit anyway but if it had been we probably would have transferred some out to make us look less flush!

huntinghouses

So it seems the ea and the internal financial guy are not on the same page. The broker told me I needed an appointment with better than my current aip before I could view the property but I've just spoken to the ea who has said as far as he's concerned we are OK to view. Think I'm going to tell the in house broker to back off.
Thanks for a the comments they've been really useful