Decision in principle - send these to estate agent??

felinefancy

lonibra said:

OP - Personally, I don't like the Estate Agent knowing my max borrowing. I usually ask my MB to email the Estate Agent confirming that I can afford to make the offer and most are ok with that.

Some will still insist on seeing the AIP certificate in which case my MB gets one for the amount corresponding to the specific offer amount.

That's a good idea.  I am speaking with the Lender tomorrow and will suggest this if agent asks to see DiP.  I have no problem whatsoever in providing proof of funds - but I just don't want to be pushed into offering more because the agent/vendor thinks we've got extra funds when practically we haven't.

AdrianC

felinefancy said:

AdrianC said:

So long as you aren't lying and saying "We cannot afford more" (you clearly can), but are being honest and saying "This is the maximum we are willing to offer", then showing them the DiP makes zero difference.

Of course the EA have to satisfy themselves that you aren't time-wasters, and genuinely can afford to pay your offer. It's part of their job. That's why the other offer is falling through, and why you're getting this opportunity in the first place...

BUT... will you really walk away from this property for £2k?

On just one salary, we know what we can or can't afford and we cannot afford a mortgage bigger than 25k, despite what the lender's software says 'up to x amount'.  I've gone through their mortgage eligibility questions and the only financial commitments it asks you to provide is about credit cards, loans, pensions, child maintenance, or dependents etc.  it doesn't ask for details about utility bills, food, clothing, travel, car etc. so based on our own calculations of our monthly spend, we know that we can only pay a mortgage at the bottom end of the DIP.  Yes, we could afford more if it were over a longer term but we are looking to pay it off within 5 - 10 years.

That's all very lovely, but it's not the vendor's problem.
You CAN afford to pay more.
You have the cash, you have the borrowability.

But that's irrelevant, because you don't WANT to pay more, for the reasons you gave.

felinefancy said:

It's not a case of refusing to send the DIP, on the contrary, but I don't want them seeing the maximum we could borrow and telling vendor that she could push for more.  

Let them push. <shrug>
It's going to make no difference whatsoever to what you offer.

So are they going to walk away over £2k...?

£2k over 10 years is £17/month.
If your budget is THAT tight, you're in for a rude awakening when you find out how fast house ownership can munch through money...

LAD917

Part of the service mortgage brokers provide is to confirm proceedability with the EA on your behalf. I agree with others, don't reveal more than you need to. The mortgage broker speaking to the EA should be enough.  If not, I agree with the poster who said to provide a DIP equal to the amount you'd need to borrow.

fishfingerbutties

AdrianC is very correct here, I find it a nonsense about not showing EAs how much you could borrow. Just because you can, doesn't mean you have to. An agents job is to get the maximum for their client, the seller. But equally an agent just wants to get the house sold and not have it lingering around so they can get their commission. 

You don't have to up your offer if you don't want to... it's not that hard to grasp, unless I am missing something,

Irishpearce26

fishfingerbutties said:

AdrianC is very correct here, I find it a nonsense about not showing EAs how much you could borrow. Just because you can, doesn't mean you have to. An agents job is to get the maximum for their client, the seller. But equally an agent just wants to get the house sold and not have it lingering around so they can get their commission. 

You don't have to up your offer if you don't want to... it's not that hard to grasp, unless I am missing something,

Actually an EAs job is to sell the house not get you a high offer. An increase of £2-10K wont affect the amount of commission. I know of many EAs that will push for the vendor to accept the first offer as they want it pushed through asap. 

Honestly don't over think it otherwise someone else will snap up the house while you hesitate and if anything the vendor may think you are difficult to deal with. The EA I bought through was pretty clear that my DIP is held confidentially and wont be shared with the vendor.