EA verifying funds?

squirrel99

Hello

I am looking to make an offer for a property that is marketed by Haart EA.

They told me that my offer can only be accepted subject to verification of funds which will be done by EA financial adviser. Apparently I will have to go to their office for this.

Is this a normal practice? I have my financial adviser who I trust and who provided me with AIP etc. As a contractor I am not keen seeing random financial advisers as not everyone understands contractor mortgages and I have had issues because of this before.

I told EA that I can provide AIP/bank statements but they said they don't accept this.

Comments very welcome

Linton

It is normal practice for residential property. The vendors wont want to accept an offer and stop marketting only to find out perhaps weeks later that you dont actually have the money. The financial advisor may ask whether they can help with the mortgage etc but a simple "No thanks" should suffice.

Surrey_EA

Seeing as it's Haart, it's not really to "verify your funds" it's to try and flog you a mortgage.

Comms69

"My solicitor can verify I have sufficient funding / agreements in place to proceed"

ACG

It is normal practice with some agents, but it should not be.
They do need to check you are good for the money, but confirmation from your advisor should be enough.

They are getting you in to sell to you.

You can make a complaint about them to trading standards, but very few people do for fear of missing out and once it has all completed they are no longer bothered.

eddddy

Maybe submit your offer in an email (so that there is an electronic paper trail), stating that the EA can contact your mortgage adviser for confirmation of affordability.

But sadly, the EA might push your offer "less hard" to the vendor than an offer from somebody else who is using the EA's in house mortgage adviser.


If you want to "play the game" a bit, you could say that you will meet with the EA's mortgage adviser if/when your offer has been accepted, to see if they can get you a better deal...

... and then change your mind about the meeting later.

dunroving

Comms69 wrote: »

"My solicitor can verify I have sufficient funding / agreements in place to proceed"

I'd say this, also. I recently had on offer accepted on a property that had 4 offers in 24 hours from going on the market. I can understand why the EA wants assurances (on behalf of the vendor), but if you can get a solicitor on board, and show THEM you have the money, I think that is preferable. Because EA's are not as tightly regulated, I am slightly more sceptical of the confidentiality with which your information is treated (which was not even mentioned - "Send me statements, screen shots, etc., showing me your financial details, even though you only met me yesterday")

Flip side is that I heard back from another estate agent I had just done a second viewing on. It already had one offer, that had not been accepted. The potential buyer, hearing there was a cash buyer (me) coming for a second viewing, upped their offer from £215k to £218k prior to my second viewing. I eventually decided it was not for me, and told the EA I'd not be putting in an offer, out of courtesy so the vendor knew where I stood.

Lo and behold, when the potential buyer heard this (not sure how), they started negotiating their offer back down to the first figure. Turns out they were unable to pay what they offered, but were disingenuously trying to "play the game". I know this because the EA contacted me on behalf of the vendor to ask if I would reconsider my position. People like that (the other potential buyer) really !!!! me off.

Marvel1

If they attempt to sell you their service, then firmly put them in their place that this is not what you was expecting!!