Fecility J Lord needs to qualify me as a buyer?

okigen

Hello, I have two viewings with them this weekend and they have asked to arrange a 5 minute call to qualify me as a buyer before I am allowed to do the viewinh. I have never been asked to do this before. Does anyone know what that is about?

Thanks in advance!

LAD917

Pretty normal practice, in my experience?  The agent wants to understand if you're a serious buyer, can afford the property, etc.

During covid, some agents are doing additional screening to ensure you're proceedable - i.e., if you like the property, there is nothing stopping you from making a near-immediate offer.

eddddy

They may want to make sure that you're not a timewaster - maybe either a dreamer who isn't really in a position to buy the properties, or somebody who just likes to look at properties for fun, with no intention of buying.

• They'll probably ask you if you have a property to sell, and if so, what the status of the sale is..
• They'll ask if you need a mortgage, and if so, they'll probably ask if you have it arranged in principle.

They might also be using the call as an opportunity to try to start selling you mortgage services. 

okigen

LAD917 said:

Pretty normal practice, in my experience?  The agent wants to understand if you're a serious buyer, can afford the property, etc.

During covid, some agents are doing additional screening to ensure you're proceedable - i.e., if you like the property, there is nothing stopping you from making a near-immediate offer.

Ah, thank you. The agent who booked me in for that 5 min call (will be with one of their finance team) said that they will ask general questions about my situation and how much deposit I have.

How specific should I be especially with regards to deposit and my mortgage amount? Is there any question that should be off-limit? My main concern is more that the landlord will try to negotiate up the price if they know how much I can afford.

LAD917

okigen said:

How specific should I be especially with regards to deposit and my mortgage amount? Is there any question that should be off-limit? My main concern is more that the landlord will try to negotiate up the price if they know how much I can afford.

I don't reveal more information than I need to. 

Are you a first-time buyer?  If so, I'd say something like, I'm looking at properties in the range of X-Y. I have liquid deposit funds plus mortgage in principle through [bank/broker] to cover properties in that range. 

If you're not a first-time buyer, the agent will want to know the status of the property you're selling - is it listed, have you had offers, have you accepted an offer, etc.  In some cases, due to Covid restrictions, agents don't want to show properties to anyone whose property isn't at least listed and sometimes under offer.

Thrugelmir

okigen said:

LAD917 said:

Pretty normal practice, in my experience?  The agent wants to understand if you're a serious buyer, can afford the property, etc.

During covid, some agents are doing additional screening to ensure you're proceedable - i.e., if you like the property, there is nothing stopping you from making a near-immediate offer.

My main concern is more that the landlord will try to negotiate up the price if they know how much I can afford.

Only offer what you are prepared to pay. If you cannot agree with the vendor then there's no deal. 

eddddy

okigen said:

The agent who booked me in for that 5 min call (will be with one of their finance team) ...

As I say, I suspect the discussion will quickly move on to selling you their mortgage services, and last longer than 5 minutes...

okigen

Super, thanks everyone for the advice.

Wierdly I spoke with two people in my office who had just bought a house and none of them had to do this. I did 12 viewings so far and no agents ever asked for it either.

steampowered

These conversations have nothing to do with qualifying you as a buyer, and everything to do with the fact that the agent gets a referral fee (about £250 is the norm) for every customer they refer.

Justonemorecupoftea

I've not had a specific call, but definitely had to answer questions about my situation before booking a viewing. I'm wondering if they will tie this in with trying to sell a mortgage/financial advice package.

AnotherJoe

okigen said:

LAD917 said:

Pretty normal practice, in my experience?  The agent wants to understand if you're a serious buyer, can afford the property, etc.

During covid, some agents are doing additional screening to ensure you're proceedable - i.e., if you like the property, there is nothing stopping you from making a near-immediate offer.

Ah, thank you. The agent who booked me in for that 5 min call (will be with one of their finance team) said that they will ask general questions about my situation and how much deposit I have.

How specific should I be especially with regards to deposit and my mortgage amount? Is there any question that should be off-limit? My main concern is more that the landlord will try to negotiate up the price if they know how much I can afford.

Landlord ??? The EA of the place I was buying knew I could afford easily 20% more as I was looking at houses in that range but I'd have given him short shrift if he'd suggested I paid that much more!
Its worth what's it's worth not what you can afford. What it's worth is also determined by your lender if you have one. 

If I was selling I'd much rather have a buyer who could afford (say)10% more than they offered so there was a buffer in case of lender undervalue, than someone squeezed to their last penny who was likely to try and drop the price last minute. And the EA is far more concerned with getting a sale rather than an extra few quid because in terms of commission its peanuts. 

Don't undersell yourself because you might be shooting yourself in the foot if there's any contest. Make your final offer one you are happy with irrespective how much more you could pay. It's a very weak negotiation tactic to pretend that's the most you've got because where do you go if they say no?