Estate agent demands mortgage appointment with them before allowed viewings

teachfast

Put a note thru the vendor's door explaining the situation. I very much doubt they realise the EA is doing this. 

AlexMac

macman said:

As long as you go in fully aware that it's not a 'vetting' but a chance to do a sales pitch to you, what is the problem?

Agreed; play nice.  Round here, it's a sellers' market, with very little on the market, so currently, you have to toady to the gel-haired, liveried mini-driving, shiny suited gatekeepers (sorry, I meant those respected, helpful professionals) the EAs.

Then once your offer is accepted, choose your own lender

I had a similar demand from such an entitled one when last house-hunting; I went in to see their Mortgage Advisor, smiled sweetly, snowed 'em with spreadsheets then used the Nationwide as always intended.

Or you can throw your toys out and harrumph about the EA's obligation to forward all offers to their clients, Regulators' codes of conduct, etc... but life's too short!

Happy house-hunting

lovecake1

AlexMac said:

macman said:

As long as you go in fully aware that it's not a 'vetting' but a chance to do a sales pitch to you, what is the problem?

Agreed; play nice.  Round here, it's a sellers' market, with very little on the market, so currently, you have to toady to the gel-haired, liveried mini-driving, shiny suited gatekeepers (sorry, I meant those respected, helpful professionals) the EAs.

Then once your offer is accepted, choose your own lender

Thanks AlexMac, think I might have to go along with it with gritted teeth but a smile on my face. It is a seller's market here at the moment with back to back viewings. Crazy!

MaryNB

lovecake1 said:

hippocrates1 said:

They basically want to know how much you Cana Ford so they can max out your affordability and see how desperate you are to buy. Don’t put the ball in their court. Although I do see their reluctance to accept habito. Why can’t you get a DIP from a lender?

The MIP from Habito was to get an idea of what I can borrow. I have been looking at different price brackets with different size of deposit. Each time I check out available deals on moneysavingexpert I get different lenders, so not really sure who to go with for a DIP. I do get the feeling this might be the way forward though.

I wouldn't worry too much about them knowing about your finances. Just because you have it doesn't mean you are willing to spend it. Also you won't want to risk a downvalution by your lender if you offer too much. I was very firm with my offer. They knew I could go 10% higher based on my financial info but I wanted to keep that money to do some repair work and upgrades. I went a shade below asking and told them under no circumstances was I going above asking given the economic conditions at the time (this was last summer when there was a lot more uncertainty). While the seller will benefit from a higher offer, it won't make a massive different to the EA, they'd rather get the house off their books as get the money in than risk having to wait around for a higher offer. 

If you are unsure about the best lender for you go to a broker. I had a very straightforward case and went directly to my lender but still found it to be a bit of a minefield. When looking at lenders you need to check interest rates, fees, ERCs, overpayment allowance etc. If you have any defaults or other financial issues you should definitely consider going via a broker (one you've chosen, not necessarily the EAs). Some banks are more lenient than others. 

Getting an AIP directly from a lender generally doesn't result in a mark on your credit file. If a broker does one for you it often does. Avoid too many hard searches. On that note, if you haven't already done so make sure you check your credit file with all three agencies (Equifax - use clearscore, Experian - use MSE credit club, Transunion - use credit karma) to make sure there are no nasty surprises. 

AdrianC

teachfast said:

Put a note thru the vendor's door explaining the situation. I very much doubt they realise the EA is doing this. 

On the contrary - they may not only be aware, but be very glad that the EA is weeding out time-wasters who don't have their finances in place.

lovecake1

Getting an AIP directly from a lender generally doesn't result in a mark on your credit file. If a broker does one for you it often does. Avoid too many hard searches. On that note, if you haven't already done so make sure you check your credit file with all three agencies (Equifax - use clearscore, Experian - use MSE credit club, Transunion - use credit karma) to make sure there are no nasty surprises. 

Thanks MaryNB. I am in the MSE credit club but will also check the others.

princeofpounds

An EA has a duty to financially qualify any offers that are made to ensure the buyer has a good chance of being proceedable. Usually that isn't done before viewings, but the practice has become more common under Covid as people understandably don't want unserious viewers.

And yes, they do often use it as an opportunity for the sales pitch and, sometimes, for a peek into your affordability (although that's probably less important than people think). That can - normally - be avoided just by being firm around supplying an AIP, evidence of deposit and not much more.

The problem you have is that you don't have a 'real' AIP. Habito is not a lender and there is a big difference between someone saying 'I would like to lend money to this person' and 'I reckon I can find someone who would like to lend money to this person'. There is also slightly lower scrutiny of your records, with more reliance on self-reported data. It's not uncommon for an EA to reject broker-provided AIPs.

That's something that's pretty reasonable when you're talking about making an offer. It's less reasonable when it's about qualifying viewers, but that's a matter of opinion and an EA can choose to forgo a sale to hold that line if they want. 

You basically have four choices.

- Get an AIP from a lender independently and insist on using that.
- Go through the EA's process and get an AIP from that. Doesn't commit you to use them.
- Contact the vendor direct, explain the situation. Given the points made above, they may or may not side with you or the EA.
- Forget about the property

teachfast

AdrianC said:

teachfast said:

Put a note thru the vendor's door explaining the situation. I very much doubt they realise the EA is doing this. 

On the contrary - they may not only be aware, but be very glad that the EA is weeding out time-wasters who don't have their finances in place.

Or they might not. 

Hannimal

This is not unusual. Just play along, and if you end up buying through them then just get your mortgage through elsewhere.

AnotherJoe

hippocrates1 said:

They basically want to know how much you Cana Ford so they can max out your affordability and see how desperate you are to buy. Don’t put the ball in their court. Although I do see their reluctance to accept habito. Why can’t you get a DIP from a lender?

No its not. Its the commission they get for arranging a mortgage.

A few extra £k on the house sale wont make any appreciable difference to them.  Might be an extra £25 or similar.

The mortgage back hander commission might be 20x that.