Virgin Mortgage

whacks

Hi


My wife is purchasing a house and we had a DIP with Halifax through a broker. The Valuer has said it is not worth 135k and they believe it is worth 125k. The builder is not willing to drop the price.


My wife(I do too) really likes the house and area and wants to buy it still so our broker is asking virgin, we apparently passed the credit check for them so they have set the application going. I have 2 questions...


First what is Virgin money like, speed wise and when processing the application?


Secondly if the valuer comes back and says it is worth 125k do you think it likely this will encourage the builder to negotiate?


Thanks

amnblog

Why would you pay more than the place is worth?

whacks

Mainly because my wife likes the area and house. Besides isn't a house worth what someone is willing to pay? Also the valuation from Halifax may be to conservative, if the virgin valuation is different which would be correct?


I would like to pay 10k less obviously but they are not willing to budge on price as they have already sold one for 133k a year ago in the earlier phases. If the second valuation comes back at 125k then they may be more agreeable to a reduction in price.

kingstreet

Why is your wife purchasing it and not you, or jointly?

It'll take as long as it takes. Some lenders are quicker than others and no-one can say it will take more, less or 17.6 days to get a mortgage offer issued, regardless of how that meets your requirements, or the builder's.

If the second surveyor values it less, the builder will do exactly what it has already done, assume this surveyor is also an ar5e and expect you to have a third valuation done by a third surveyor, or a second surveyor if the first and second valuations were done by the same one, which I now see they weren't as one was Colleys and one wasn't?

whacks

Thanks, I guess if they don't value at 135k we will have to look elsewhere.


I am not on the mortgage as I am a student about to go into PGCE teacher training year so no income(that counts as income) that would help towards the mortgage and debts that would reduce affordability. Even though they will be cleared by April and I am getting 20k in tax free bursary on top of student loan we couldn't find anywhere willing to do it.

ACG

I have just sent my first case to virgin, it seems to be going quite smoothly.
They gave me some timescales of around15 days from application to offer but assuming the valuation comes back early next week then it will be closer to 10 working days.

Dave_Ham

In our experience, we have had far more issues with Virgin surveys (many done through Esurv) than we have Halifax


Virgin are quite quick at processing, although it always feels painful.


Estate Agents like them as they instruct valuations upfront and tie people in financially.


When you have already had one valuation, why did you not approach a lender who gives a free valuation?

bigsamih

I would agree with Dave Ham. It always 'feels' painful with them even if it is not. And I have encountered quote a few problems with them specifically on valuations. In contrast Colleys (Halifax) tend to be ok. But you might be surprised. Good luck.

kingstreet

Are there any cash incentives and is she using the HTB - Equity Loan scheme?

whacks

Yes it's help to buy equity loan and we have agreed to have stamp duty paid.

kingstreet

Halifax limits newbuild cash incentives to 1% on shared equity so the mortgage and incentives added together can't add up to more than 95% of the 80% share.

However, that shouldn't have had much of an impact on the valuation.

Take care as VM doesn't accept builder cash incentives so your stamp duty paid is now going to see the valuation reduced by that amount, leaving you needing the cash.