Haart, EA: You must go through our mortgage advisor prior to viewing

htcclub

Rather strange call with EA recently, when trying to book a viewing on a deeply discounted property with lots of interest.

Said that the only way to be able to view this house was to first go through their mortgage broker to assess proceedability.
EA claimed that proof of deposit or DiP confirmation would not suffice.

Opinions please? (Seems like a conflict of interest to force people towards a mortgage broker, guessing they gain a referral fee, when the primary responsibility (?) should be fiduciary responsibility towards the seller)

K_S

@htcclub Unfortunately, I see a lot of this with my clients. Some of these EAs will be ok with an email from me confirming that the client's finances are in order (leaving it unsaid that they can waste their time but my client won't be using their broker) to make a proceedable offer.

Some will still make the client go through the charade of an appointment with a broker they will never use!

If this is one of the their east London/Essex-borders branches, they are the kind that like to play hardball.

tacpot12

I would suggest that you play along with the EA. Say that you are happy to have the appointment, and jump through any other hoops they want, but sort out your own mortgage.

I doubt the vendor knows that the EA is doing this, but the vendor will understand the logic that the EA is doing this to check that you can get a mortgage. No doubt the EA will spin them some line about problems in the past even when people had a DiP.  

htcclub

Right thanks,

Main issue is the estimate for a 1 hour call, barely have 5 mins to spare at the minute!
I also find it highly offensive to be asked to essentially work for 1 hour to make the EA some extra money in referral fees. 

Yes I fully expect the EA has 'informed' the vendor that getting buyers precleared with their financial advisor is in the best interest of the vendor (ha)

TDPIX

htcclub said:

Right thanks,

Main issue is the estimate for a 1 hour call, barely have 5 mins to spare at the minute!
I also find it highly offensive to be asked to essentially work for 1 hour to make the EA some extra money in referral fees. 

Yes I fully expect the EA has 'informed' the vendor that getting buyers precleared with their financial advisor is in the best interest of the vendor (ha)

We have recently been 'validated' by Barratts and two other estate agents' brokers, and all 3 times was just a 5 minute call. Checking salary of each of us, job roles and that's about it.

If they're saying it'll take an hour, that's very concerning - it sounds like they'd be running through mostly everything for a full mortgage application?

I'd make clear that you'll do the appointment but not allow any sort of AIP or other applications to take place, so you can't imagine the appointment taking longer than 5-10 mins.

Drawingaline

When we had to remarket after losing the first buyer because they couldn't get a mortgage at a decent rate (well known landlords whose broker dropped a huge clanger) our EA asked if we wanted any offers to be checked out by their broker. I said I didn't mind, but would see what came in and that I might look more favourably on them if so.

As it was we had one offer, FTB with a dip, but she chose to go through the EA broker and it went very smoothly. I am unsure what we would have done if we had two offers on the table, but we may have picked someone using their broker after the awful previous experience. 

We ourselves had no pressure, we used a broker well known in our area so the EA just nodded and said nothing about meeting with theirs.

pinkshoes

Just tell them you already have a mortgage, but if you still need them to speak to their mortgage advisor then your rate is £20 an hour.

its not just commission. It tells the EA what your budget is so they can make you pay more!!

ukri

There isn’t much to gain by throwing a strop, just play the game.

If you already have an adviser, ask them to drop an email to the agent. Once they get the signal that you won’t use them, they usually lose interest.

Adsta

Depends how much you like the house you want to view if you deem it worth your time.

I did this check with the EA broker before seeing because I really liked the place. When the broker called me I simply told him that I have a mortgage broker already and are pretty set but happy to go through affordability checks. He said that was fine and did some basic questions then he let the EA know all was good. Took 5-10mins max. 

Linton

As others have said play the game.  My experience was that the meeting was very quick.  When the option of using the EAs broker came up, I just said "no" and the meeting moved on to other matters.  The EA wants to know on behalf of their customer that you aren't a time waster unlikely to have the means to actually buy the property.

If you were selling would you take seriously an offer from someone who refused to disclose whether they could afford your house when there were other offers available?

Gavin83

I also agree that you should play the game. While EAs are obliged to put your offer forward they can certainly influence the vendor. As someone who was a salesman a while ago I can attest to how easy it is to influence people.

EA says to the vendor “You have two offers, same price. One offer is really good, we’ve confirmed they can afford it and they’re keen to get moving ASAP. Second offer has refused to prove they have the affordability and they’re generally really obstructive and I’ve no confidence they won’t mess you around during the process.” Who do you think the vendor will pick?