Survey & valuation done and satisfactory, how long until mortgage offer?

Jono987

Hi everyone, i understand this might be like asking how long is a piece of string, but i was wondering if anyone could share their real experiences with timeframe to receive an official mortgage offer after the lender has had the valuation back?

Ours came back on wednesday. So far we have instructed our solicitor but have not paid the initial search fees so as not to risk the initial monies.
I had hoped the mortgage offer would follow on a few days after the valuation but have read online of people waiting upwards of 3 weeks?
The only reason i ask is that, if it could potentially take weeks, i think i will go ahead and pay the solicitor his initial money. This way im obviously risking the initial fees but i am reducing the amount of time its going to take. If however it could come within a few more days i think i will wait?

Any help much appreciated, thanks all!

biowlman

I’m a first time buyer, but my solicitor advised that they wouldn’t start the searches until they had received the draft contract from the sellers solicitors. Are your solicitors in a position to start searches yet?

SuperHan

Our valuation was 16 May last year, got our formal offer on 4 June.  That was Natwest.

We paid for our searches on 17 May (once we had the valuation), then exchanged 5 July.

SameOldRoundabout

It really depends on the lender and any random checks that may go on internally. In our case all underwriting was done prior to valuation, so we had the offer text 1 minute after the one saying they’d received the valuation. Some lenders instruct valuation immediately and conduct underwriting after that. Some applications may be randomly picked for senior underwriting checks so take longer. Are you going direct or via a broker? If by broker they should be able to get an update. 

We paid for our searches once we were approved subject to valuation. It takes up to 4-6 weeks for search results to all come in so it does delay things not to, but equally unless you’re 100% sure you’ll get the mortgage it’s risking money too!

Falafels

My purchaser had a mortgage offer within a week of the valuation survey.

Windofchange

I instructed the solicitor prior to getting my mortgage approval through, but going through a broker who said no problems at all, and not stretching all the way to my affordability limit with an exemplary credit history, it wasn't much of a risk. We have sped through the process to the point where we are a couple of simple enquiries away from being ready to exchange contracts in six weeks from making the offer, but it's all going to be in vain as the rest of our chain is a fair way behind. Still, puts our minds at ease that at least any hold up isn't going to be down to us.