Offer accepted, now problems!

Competsoph

Hi all,

I’m hoping you can help as I feel totally overwhelmed right now! After approximately 6 months of searching, I found a property that I liked, made an offer which has been accepted and then I did a little victory dance. It’s since then that the issues have started!

Some context: Property price 148500. Deposit 15000. FTB. Single purchaser. Mortgage promise gained from Halifax (expiration 08/06/2020). Stable job (NHS). 

Contacted the halifax today to be told, sorry we aren’t doing 90% LTV now so we can’t give you a mortgage. This leaves me in a tricky position. After reviewing the current market with my deposit, the best rates fixing for 2 years seems to be with HSBC. They advised me that the wait for telephone mortgage appointments is 2 weeks, meaning I will have to wait 2 weeks to even begin my application. Is this an issue? Can I go ahead with other things in the mean time, for example surveys etc?

My other option is to consider the use of a broker.  Now originally I never intended on getting a broker as I have excellent credit, never had a loan or debt and so didn’t think I would need one to help find me products. My only concern is the associated costs. The HSBC rate is pretty good and the monthly payments are acceptable. (I will always remortgage to ensure I’m getting the best deals when the time comes so I would be happy paying the current rate for the first two years of my purchase). As like the rest of us, I’m trying to keep costs down, more so as I will have to fully furnish with me currently private renting. 

I don’t know the best option or which direction I should take this. I would like to get the best deal but also want this to be as smooth sailing as possible. I would prefer to do the application myself so I am in control (slight control freak here) so that makes me uneasy when it comes to a broker). Are my hands tied until I have my mortgage application in place. I really just don’t know. 

I’m already worrying that this will all take too long and my seller will get unhappy. I’m unsure about the exact order I should be doing all this in. Please help!

Peony2016

We have a mortgage offer with HSBC at the moment, arranged through a broker. I can honestly say it’s been £199 well spent and has been so much quicker and straight forward than applying directly ourselves (no 2 hour mortgage appointments or long phone calls with HSBC needed).
We got the initial mortgage offer at the beginning of the year, but since then we have submitted 3 amendments (2 of them for a product rate change, the other for a property price/deposit amendment). All have been extremely quick. The price amendment form was submitted on the 29th May and the mortgage offer landed in my inbox first thing Monday morning (so only took a week). I think brokers have their own separate portal that they submit applications through so they don’t use the same process as direct customers. He has a direct contact at HSBC specifically for brokers, so any questions they had went directly to him. Unfortunately I can’t comment on how quickly HSBC are doing valuations at the moment.

We chose to wait until we knew we had a mortgage offer before paying out for a private survey because we were worried the property would be downvalued and we’d need to pull out, but if you’re willing to take the risk then there’s nothing stopping you instructing your own survey now if you want to.

You might want to get your solicitor lined up in advance, and check they’re on HSBC’s panel. You can ask them not to start any chargeable work until you have your mortgage offer (so you don’t start racking up legal fees before you have the security of an offer)

Competsoph

@Peony2016 thank you for your response, that actually fills me with confidence. Did you find your own broker? I’m assuming you dealt directly with them and not HSBC when doing the application? Do you not need the same discussion with the broker as you would with HSBC, time wise I mean? I just see the broker as an added person who, in my opinion isn’t really required? (That’s obviously my personal understanding, not meaning to be disrespectful or condescending). 

Im certainly not a risk taker and would prefer to have all of this sorted before I do anything further, for example, surveys etc. I’m just unsure if this can cause frustration or delay to the seller? 

Slithery

Competsoph said:

My other option is to consider the use of a broker.  Now originally I never intended on getting a broker as I have excellent credit, never had a loan or debt and so didn’t think I would need one to help find me products.

A broker is always a good idea, no matter your credit rating. They have access to products which aren't available by going direct so can save you a lot of money in the long run.

Peony2016

Competsoph said:

@Peony2016 thank you for your response, that actually fills me with confidence. Did you find your own broker? I’m assuming you dealt directly with them and not HSBC when doing the application? Do you not need the same discussion with the broker as you would with HSBC, time wise I mean? I just see the broker as an added person who, in my opinion isn’t really required? (That’s obviously my personal understanding, not meaning to be disrespectful or condescending). 

Im certainly not a risk taker and would prefer to have all of this sorted before I do anything further, for example, surveys etc. I’m just unsure if this can cause frustration or delay to the seller? 

Yes we found our own local broker through a google search and reading reviews. We dealt entirely with him and didn’t speak to HSBC at all. The conversation with the broker really didn’t take long, approximately 15 minutes, but I’d already sent him an email with almost all the details he needed anyway (like you, I wanted to be in control!). He honestly saved us so much time and hassle. HSBC had a question about my London weighting and excess fares payments on my payslips and our broker was able to explain to them straight away without having to wait for us to respond to him. Because he has dealt with this kind of situation before he was able to point them to the specific section of their lending criteria that applied to my payments. If we were applying directly without a broker I certainly wouldn’t have known how to answer their question and I think they probably wouldn’t have included those payments as part of my salary (therefore wouldn’t have given us the amount of money we needed for our purchase).

The seller should understand that it may take a while for you to get your mortgage offer, periods of waiting are to be expected along the process. As long as you instruct solicitors the agent can at least get the memorandum of sale issued and the seller’s solicitor can get the contract pack sent out to yours. You don’t have to tie yourself into legal fees at the moment. If the seller can see you’re being proactive I doubt they would have any cause for concern at this stage.

mattyprice4004

Echoing the above - brokers aren't just for poor credit, they're people who know the market inside out and are experts in the field. 
You don't just hire a plumber for unusual jobs, you hire them for the mundane stuff too - because they're good at it all. Same with brokers  

[Deleted User]

Im extremely financially astute. Ive bought and sold for 35 years. I know mortgages back to front and know exactly what Im talking about. 

Id ALWAYS use a broker - so so much easier 
They know the lenders, the products etc and key in your application much faster than a direct appointment and can get exclusive rates 

AdrianC

Competsoph said:

Mortgage promise gained from Halifax (expiration 08/06/2020).

When you say "mortgage promise", do you mean you've got an acceptance in principal?

That's a LONG way from any kind of "promise". It's simply "Well, we don't have any issue with lending that amount to you." No more than that. It takes no account of the actual property at all - and that's where the LtV comes in.

Contacted the halifax today to be told, sorry we aren’t doing 90% LTV now so we can’t give you a mortgage.

Well, hold on. They WILL... Just not for 90% of the value.

Competsoph

@AdrianC I had an AIP and a mortgage promise which apparently are different? I appreciate neither of these are binding, I wasn’t under the premise they were but didn’t expect a pandemic to come along and make them stop offering 90% LTVs 🤷🏽‍♀️

Thrugelmir

90% LTV mortgages will be in short supply as lenders will be erring on the side of caution until property prices "normalise".  

JIL

We used a broker, we had looked at certain mortgage products and I asked about a couple. He knew who to contact, questions that would be asked and other pitfalls. It was very much easier than going direct. 
Worth a try?