Exchanged without offer, wait or apply now?

richy4

I recently exchanged contracts, without a mortgage offer as it's a new build. Exchange was back in February and estimated completion is October 2017, however obviously expected to potentially be delayed...

I've got a broker who's recommended Virgin Money as a good lender who can provide a mortgage offer valid for 6 months and then can be 'renewed' for a further 6 months, subject to another credit check.

However, I'd like to go for Nationwide. I'm a current account holder there and they have a better rate and also feature the VERY attractive £500 cashback on completion. But their offers are only valid for 6 months, so I'd have to re-apply if I did not complete. Would it be such a bad idea to apply to Nationwide for example in May, and then get an offer valid for 180 days taking me to October and then whatever happens nearer the time I just deal with then?

Has anyone had any experience of this situation? I'd like to have an offer any time now just for my own peace of mind, but at the same time, there's no point applying for either lender until at least July to ensure the offer is valid for a decent period before and after estimated completion.

In the meantime, I'm carefully cleaning up my bank statements and paying off an outstanding credit card bill and also building a higher deposit to give a lower loan amount.

Any ideas/tips would be useful. Thanks in advance!

Lokolo

If estimated completion is October why not wait until July/August to apply for the mortgage?

More reason to do that given you are saving each month to pay off CC and have the possibility of a lower LTV.

Peace of mind is already out the window if you've exchanged.

jessnat995

WOW, my solicitor wont even do anything without an address never mind exchange contracts, Sounds like you got yourself a good solicitor,

richy4

Only real reason I'd go for it now is I've had a lot of overtime recently so my payslips look nice and high.

But if the offer expires and I have to reapply, I'm back to square one so doesn't matter really!

I think I'll wait for July/August as gives me some breathing space to tidy up all my accounts and prepare to go in for the kill.

Haha yes, I'm surprised they allowed me to exchange without offer too! But they were chasing the exchange has to be within 28 days, so I couldn't achieve an offer in that timescale at the time....

movingagain

I'm due to get my new build in 7 weeks and just applied for my AIP today. We exchanged contracts last july and i was the same i did not know when to apply. Doing the full app on saturday!

richy4

Were you slightly anxious about the length of time you've had before applying for the mortgage?

I'm mostly worried about losing the opportunity to present some hefty recent payslips thanks to some overtime, which isn't available any more. However I guess I can get the LTV down a bit anyway instead.