Buyer taking too long?

kdot1983

simon_or said:

Honestly, it's not that long at all! If you look at the mortgage forum threads for high-street banks you'll see that banks can currently be very slow with mortgage applications.

And as one myself, I know that self employed applicants have to go through a lot of extra scrutiny, often by inexperienced underwriters who ask for all sort of irrelevant stuff. I have an amazing broker so I've never failed to get a mortgage at the end but it can be a long and frustrating process.

If they have already committed money for searches then that's a positive sign as well.

I understand that but I think an explanation as to the current situation isn't unreasonable and if the broker isn't providing my EA this, then the buyer should be pressing his broker for one. With each passing day I have concerns whether there are issues around his affordability. 

Also I'm not sure if he has put down money for searches with his conveyancer, it's what he has told my EA. 

housebuyer143

kdot1983 said:

simon_or said:

Honestly, it's not that long at all! If you look at the mortgage forum threads for high-street banks you'll see that banks can currently be very slow with mortgage applications.

And as one myself, I know that self employed applicants have to go through a lot of extra scrutiny, often by inexperienced underwriters who ask for all sort of irrelevant stuff. I have an amazing broker so I've never failed to get a mortgage at the end but it can be a long and frustrating process.

If they have already committed money for searches then that's a positive sign as well.

I understand that but I think an explanation as to the current situation isn't unreasonable and if the broker isn't providing my EA this, then the buyer should be pressing his broker for one. With each passing day I have concerns whether there are issues around his affordability. 

Also I'm not sure if he has put down money for searches with his conveyancer, it's what he has told my EA. 

Can you ask your solicitor to ask theirs or get the EA to confirm if he's ordered the searches?

Tiglet2

kdot1983 said:

Hi all, 

On 16 May, I accepted an offer on my house. Although it wasn't the highest, the buyer seemed motivated and sincere and I accepted. As of yet, he hasn't had a mortgage offered yet and as far as me and my estate agent are aware, a survey hasn't been carried out. I believe he's going with TSB.

I've had an offer accepted on the house I'm buying, mortgage approved in just over a week and paid for and booked my own survey. I'm concerned about the pace at which things are moving at his end. 

My EA spoke to his broker last week who advised after the application had been submitted, the underwriters requested copies of his tax overviews (he's self employed). My EA gave a deadline of today for a substantive update and nothing was received.

I'm now concerned of his affordability and although it's not been long in the scheme of things I've asked my EA to give him until Monday COB and if a substantive update isn't received, to reopen the house to the other offerers. I messaged the buyer asking what is happening through the estate agent's portal and the EA has emailed too this evening, but not heard anything back. 

Feel quite stressed about the situation this evening and know I'll be thinking about it all weekend. Am I being too impatient? Are TSB notoriously slow? Should I be concerned about his affordability? I really don't want to miss out on the house I'm buying. The lack of information is really getting to me.

OP, read this current thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6265833/painfully-slow-mortgage-application-nationwide#latest

kdot1983

housebuyer143 said:

kdot1983 said:

simon_or said:

Honestly, it's not that long at all! If you look at the mortgage forum threads for high-street banks you'll see that banks can currently be very slow with mortgage applications.

And as one myself, I know that self employed applicants have to go through a lot of extra scrutiny, often by inexperienced underwriters who ask for all sort of irrelevant stuff. I have an amazing broker so I've never failed to get a mortgage at the end but it can be a long and frustrating process.

If they have already committed money for searches then that's a positive sign as well.

I understand that but I think an explanation as to the current situation isn't unreasonable and if the broker isn't providing my EA this, then the buyer should be pressing his broker for one. With each passing day I have concerns whether there are issues around his affordability. 

Also I'm not sure if he has put down money for searches with his conveyancer, it's what he has told my EA. 

Can you ask your solicitor to ask theirs or get the EA to confirm if he's ordered the searches?

I am waiting for my solicitor to confirm this, but they're not the most responsive. 

kdot1983 said:

Hi all, 

On 16 May, I accepted an offer on my house. Although it wasn't the highest, the buyer seemed motivated and sincere and I accepted. As of yet, he hasn't had a mortgage offered yet and as far as me and my estate agent are aware, a survey hasn't been carried out. I believe he's going with TSB.

I've had an offer accepted on the house I'm buying, mortgage approved in just over a week and paid for and booked my own survey. I'm concerned about the pace at which things are moving at his end. 

My EA spoke to his broker last week who advised after the application had been submitted, the underwriters requested copies of his tax overviews (he's self employed). My EA gave a deadline of today for a substantive update and nothing was received.

I'm now concerned of his affordability and although it's not been long in the scheme of things I've asked my EA to give him until Monday COB and if a substantive update isn't received, to reopen the house to the other offerers. I messaged the buyer asking what is happening through the estate agent's portal and the EA has emailed too this evening, but not heard anything back. 

Feel quite stressed about the situation this evening and know I'll be thinking about it all weekend. Am I being too impatient? Are TSB notoriously slow? Should I be concerned about his affordability? I really don't want to miss out on the house I'm buying. The lack of information is really getting to me.

OP, read this current thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6265833/painfully-slow-mortgage-application-nationwide#latest

I did see this, I am not self employed but Nationwide approved my mortgage within a week of application so I guess things are hit and miss right now. 

Giggidy

We had an offer accepted on the 25th May, and applied for a mortgage straightaway via a mortgage broker. We were asked to submit documents via a portal, which we sent same day on 30th May and frustratingly are still under review with the brokers. It didn't help that our case manager had a week off during the bank holiday weekend, and no-one took over the case and we were away as well, so we lost one week.

 I have been chasing almost daily, uploading updated documents again because they took so long to check it initially (latest payslips and bank statements that were valid at the time of upload) They ask for one document, and then few days later something else, and then again, when it could all have been requested in one go, and they won't send any of it off to the lender until the full check is completed. I am self employed as well, so this doesn't help.

So I understand from your buyers side he may be at the mercy of brokers like ours that work at a snail pace. I even contacted the lender to ask if we can send them the documents direct but they said we would have to do a whole new application, so we are stuck. I can't speak for your buyer being 100% committed to your sale, I just thought to give another perspective of why things may take longer, even though you were fortunate that yours went through so quick without a hitch (which seems to be a rarity based on posts on here). You may also go with another buyer that may find themselves in the same position as your current one. It's difficult to know what to do for the best but keep plugging away at getting updates from the buyer, the least they can do is keep communications flowing, if only for reassurance. Good luck

kdot1983

Giggidy said:

We had an offer accepted on the 25th May, and applied for a mortgage straightaway via a mortgage broker. We were asked to submit documents via a portal, which we sent same day on 30th May and frustratingly are still under review with the brokers. It didn't help that our case manager had a week off during the bank holiday weekend, and no-one took over the case and we were away as well, so we lost one week.

 I have been chasing almost daily, uploading updated documents again because they took so long to check it initially (latest payslips and bank statements that were valid at the time of upload) They ask for one document, and then few days later something else, and then again, when it could all have been requested in one go, and they won't send any of it off to the lender until the full check is completed. I am self employed as well, so this doesn't help.

So I understand from your buyers side he may be at the mercy of brokers like ours that work at a snail pace. I even contacted the lender to ask if we can send them the documents direct but they said we would have to do a whole new application, so we are stuck. I can't speak for your buyer being 100% committed to your sale, I just thought to give another perspective of why things may take longer, even though you were fortunate that yours went through so quick without a hitch (which seems to be a rarity based on posts on here). You may also go with another buyer that may find themselves in the same position as your current one. It's difficult to know what to do for the best but keep plugging away at getting updates from the buyer, the least they can do is keep communications flowing, if only for reassurance. Good luck

That's interesting thanks for that. These so called professional services make so much money from the property market, why can't they just do what they're being paid to do?

I will wait for a substantive update from the buyer, who emailed my EA to say he'll get one from his broker. I was concerned about the number of info requests from TSB but from reading these posts, it seems much greater scrutiny is applied to self employed applicants. 

kdot1983

Had a call from my EA who was informed by the broker that my buyer's application is being audited (happened shortly after mortgage was applied for). Buyer is open to applying to another lender, which indicates good will to me. It's a little frustrating as it feels that the broker could have become aware of this sooner had she been proactive with the application. She maintains she has no concerns about the buyer and his paperwork, which I'm hoping is the case... 

Spiderroo

I think a lot of processes for buying are slow right now, especially if you go with high street banks/want a survey. My partner deals with the paperwork side of things and he's on it but two months in we've got as far as mortgage approved and the house surveyed!

It took nearly a month to get our straight forward mortgage application (with a desktop valuation) approved by a high street bank. Then we waited another 3 weeks for the survey to inspect the property and we're still waiting to see the report. We can only have a RCIS survey because of the property age which costs £700+ so didn't want to book without an agreed mortgage! 

It is concerning you've not had much communication though, I'd definitely be chasing to understand why that is. 

dfwprincess

Another’s buyers perspective here, we put out offer in on 25th may, have applied for mortgages via broker for a TSB mortgage and instructed our solicitors and given them the £ to start the searches once we have mortgage offer. The estate agent has told us (&the seller) from the start it'll be 18 weeks give or take and we’re buying a empty property so no chain...

we had a mortgage valuation last Thursday via and we’re awaiting our mortgage offer (which we’ve been told can still take two weeks for a decision) and we want the offer in place before requesting a surgery as it’s £650 that if the house gets undervalued we don’t want to loose but that will add another 3-4 weeks on. 

We have replied to everything within the hour wether it’s for the estate agent/broker etc and we’re just in the limbo of waiting for everyone else and we’re trying not to get frustrated at how slow everything is going as we’re doing everything as quick as we can and are at the hands of everyone else doing their jobs quickly as such. But reading here shows it is just a slow process and not just in the situation.

So you’re buyer may be feeling just as frustrated as you are, hopefully to they reply to you soon they may have just missed it or it’s gone into junk. We’ve had a few go into junk but luckily I check it every so often.

kdot1983

dfwprincess said:

Another’s buyers perspective here, we put out offer in on 25th may, have applied for mortgages via broker for a TSB mortgage and instructed our solicitors and given them the £ to start the searches once we have mortgage offer. The estate agent has told us (&the seller) from the start it'll be 18 weeks give or take and we’re buying a empty property so no chain...

we had a mortgage valuation last Thursday via and we’re awaiting our mortgage offer (which we’ve been told can still take two weeks for a decision) and we want the offer in place before requesting a surgery as it’s £650 that if the house gets undervalued we don’t want to loose but that will add another 3-4 weeks on. 

We have replied to everything within the hour wether it’s for the estate agent/broker etc and we’re just in the limbo of waiting for everyone else and we’re trying not to get frustrated at how slow everything is going as we’re doing everything as quick as we can and are at the hands of everyone else doing their jobs quickly as such. But reading here shows it is just a slow process and not just in the situation.

So you’re buyer may be feeling just as frustrated as you are, hopefully to they reply to you soon they may have just missed it or it’s gone into junk. We’ve had a few go into junk but luckily I check it every so often.

That sounds very frustrating, I hope things get on track for you soon! 

The buyer sent me a message via the portal the other day stating that he had been providing everything requested of him and he felt the process was just slow and was hopeful things will be progress soon. 

I'm hoping he was just unlucky that his application has been selected for audit and it's not a case of anything of concern re his paperwork.