The New Build Waiting Period

Richardflair

Morning!

My wife and I have been accepted for our mortgage and concluded missives on our new build house ( :j ) . We were told by the mortgage advisor to not take out any more credit with concern for the mortgage application falling through in late-2017.

I don't know if this is a standard statement or has been said to us due to our financial situation. Everyone has their own set of circumstances after all but is it common advice?

How have others tackled the bed/sofa/dining table purchasing situation?

The 'no more credit' statement made me think about the larger items we'd need in our house. Many companies offer larger household items on interest-free credit. We are however, mindful of the no-credit advice from the mortgage advisor. I imagine not everyone has available funds when buying a house to also buy everything to go in the house straight away.

kingstreet

It's advice to all.

No new applications for credit, or anything which will require a hard credit search between application and completion.

SuboJvR

Lenders sometimes do another review of your credit situation prior to completion, hence there have been times where they have then taken back the offer because there has been a change in your circumstances. That is, the initial offer was assuming your credit commitments were x, and then on completion of the house, they are now x+ new sofa, dining table, etc.

My advice is to save as much money as you can now, and see how much you then have stockpiled come completion day. Once you have the keys, you can then order whatever you want however you like.

My plan personally for our flooring (so quite important!!! - one can live in a house without a dining table for a few weeks, but a floor to walk on is slightly more problematic) is to save as much as we can now and then use an existing credit card to purchase it once we have completed. If my maths are right (and I keep doing overtime!), we probably won't actually need the extra credit facility, especially once we have the deposit back on our rental property.

It's a bit of a faff, admittedly. But I don't want to do anything that may jeopardise what is arguably the most important purchase of our lifetime thus far :-)

SeagullFTB

I think it's pretty standard advice. You don't want to put your mortgage offer at risk, so don't apply for any credit until you have the keys.


Our new build should be ready in November, and like you, we don't (and won't) have enough money to buy everything upfront. But like SuboJvR, our property doesn't include flooring which is quite important. We plan to save between now and then to buy the flooring and a few other essential items. We'll probably get a bed and sofa on credit (0%) after we have the keys, but that's it. It might mean living without them for a while, but we can take our current mattress and sleep on the floor and borrow a couple of chairs from family. It's only a short term problem.


We reckon it'll take a year (at least) to buy all of the furniture we want, bit by bit, month by month.

SuboJvR

We are quite fortunate in that we have all the furniture we need, dating back from when we first started renting in unfurnished properties a few years ago.

But the flooring is keeping me up at night!! Ha, I'm sure it will all work out

bighitter4654

The advice not to take out further credit whilst waiting for completion is obviously very sensible, but what about opening bank accounts? Other than my main bank account with the Halifax, I have opened a TSB Classic Plus account (I declined the offer of an overdraft) and a Tesco Internet Saver account. I opened these purely for the benefits and as there is no credit involved I assumed (in fact it never even crossed my mind) that there wouldn't be a problem. We already have our offer and are waiting to exchange at the minute, so the mind is coming up with all kinds of possibilities. I posted this on a recent thread but didn't get much feedback unfortunately.

Richardflair

bighitter4654 - We were also told not to - where possible - change jobs, bank accounts and take out any extra credit as it might have an adverse effect on our credit rating. I think opening non-credit bank accounts won't have an adverse effect on your credit rating but I'm no expert.

Subo & Seagull - We don't get flooring with Taylor Wimpey so in the same boat as you! For the sofa and bed, I keep wondering how long it'll take for this to come. I've heard 6 weeks and I've heard 3 months for sofa's to be made/delivered. I'm just hoping we get it all in time for Christmas. Date of completion is mid-October right now.

bighitter4654

Yeah, just thought I was being savvy because of the attractive benefits. I haven't changed banks as such, just opened another couple of accounts. My salary etc is still paid into my main Halifax account so nothing has really changed there, apart from transferring a couple of DD's. Had no trouble whatsoever securing the mortgage so would be shocked if this caused a problem really

SuboJvR

bighitter4654 wrote: »

Yeah, just thought I was being savvy because of the attractive benefits. I haven't changed banks as such, just opened another couple of accounts. My salary etc is still paid into my main Halifax account so nothing has really changed there, apart from transferring a couple of DD's. Had no trouble whatsoever securing the mortgage so would be shocked if this caused a problem really

Think you should be alright if this is with existing banks.

I went into Nationwide recently, who I've long neglected. I needed to change my name, address and open a new savings account. I asked if it would've been easier if I just started again as a new customer? He said, well, this way you don't get credit checked again as you are an existing customer.:cool:

SuboJvR

richardflair wrote: »

bighitter4654 - We were also told not to - where possible - change jobs, bank accounts and take out any extra credit as it might have an adverse effect on our credit rating. I think opening non-credit bank accounts won't have an adverse effect on your credit rating but I'm no expert.

Subo & Seagull - We don't get flooring with Taylor Wimpey so in the same boat as you! For the sofa and bed, I keep wondering how long it'll take for this to come. I've heard 6 weeks and I've heard 3 months for sofa's to be made/delivered. I'm just hoping we get it all in time for Christmas. Date of completion is mid-October right now.

Taylor Wimpey here too!

Depending how much you've decided on so far for furniture, have you considered Ikea as a short term solution maybe for a bed? You can get that delivered pretty much same day depending on area. And if it's not the bed of your dreams that you want forever, it could then go into your second bedroom?

Just a thought

Richardflair

SuboJvR wrote: »

Taylor Wimpey here too!

Depending how much you've decided on so far for furniture, have you considered Ikea as a short term solution maybe for a bed? You can get that delivered pretty much same day depending on area. And if it's not the bed of your dreams that you want forever, it could then go into your second bedroom?

Just a thought

Oh really? Where have you bought for?

I can't believe I didn't think of this before... of course! Ikea would be perfect for a temporary first/long-term second bed.