Offer Accepted - now terrified - reassurance needed.

Sootster2021

Hello everyone !!

AHH - can't believe I'm typing this.  We are first time buyers and we had an offer accepted on a house yesterday.  We are so happy!! 

Trying not to get too excited as I know so much can still go wrong... but there is no chain so we are hoping to get everything done asap. Unfortunately, I am neither patient nor calm as a general rule and so my anxiety levels are through the roof.  As FTBs we have no idea what we are doing and I just hope you can give me some reassurance / honesty please..

- The estate agent said he would send us an email with what he needs next from us.  We haven't recieved this yet (I appreciate it's only been 16 hours ish and I may be being very unreasonable)... but I scared they have changed their minds.  When can I expect to hear from the estate agent? When should we chase?

- Secondly and connected to the above, we have a mortgage advisor ready to submit our application and we have two solicitor quotes to choose from.  I am keen to get things moving but feel we should wait until we have something formal from the estate agent.  Do you agree or do you think they are expecting us to already be progressing?  I don't want to chase and annoy anyone as it's only been 1 day! But I also don't want to risk being accused of holding things up or for the sellers to think we aren't keen. 

- I'm terrified that our mortgage is going to get refused.  We are 80.64% LTV, no debt, no loans, no negative credit history, minimal monthly commited outgoings (£9 mobile, £50 into a Stocks & Shares ISA) and stable jobs.  We have enjoyed ourselves for the last few months (went away, we've eaten out a few times a month etc) and I'm terrified that we will be rejected based on this.  Am I being realistic or just worrying for nothing?  Obviously now we will tighten the purse strings but will they see us as a risk for enjoying ourselves while we had no commitments?

Basically just happy for any wisdom as I have none and this whole process is SCARY!!

Thank you  

DE_612183

EAs will be dealing with loads of stuff - they will probably do it at the end of the day - or the temp will pick it up tomorrow morning.

If you have had an offer accepted - I see no reason not to contact the solicitors - just bear in mind that now you will start incurring costs, so if the seller changes their mind you might be out of pocket.

Do you know what the upward chain is like - this could be your biggest worry.

If you have a AIP then it should be good - the outgoings you've stated should not impact your mortgage application, although at 80.64% - what mortgage did you go for 90% 95% ?

Lastly, just chill  end look forward to enjoying your new home.

maurice28

Congratulations! It's all very exciting but, as you're already finding out, pretty stressful as well!

It's been 12 years since I last bought a house so a lot of my knowledge on processes etc has faded from memory/are probably out of date. What I will say is, in so many areas of life now things take longer than they used to pre-pandemic. So as hard as it is, and as much as it will add to anxiety levels, you might have to adjust to longer waiting times for applications and process and things. 

Sorry if that sounds obvious, but hoping it will help with the stress levels!

jaelato1

Sootster2021 said:

Hello everyone !!

AHH - can't believe I'm typing this.  We are first time buyers and we had an offer accepted on a house yesterday.  We are so happy!! 

Trying not to get too excited as I know so much can still go wrong... but there is no chain so we are hoping to get everything done asap. Unfortunately, I am neither patient nor calm as a general rule and so my anxiety levels are through the roof.  As FTBs we have no idea what we are doing and I just hope you can give me some reassurance / honesty please..

- The estate agent said he would send us an email with what he needs next from us.  We haven't recieved this yet (I appreciate it's only been 16 hours ish and I may be being very unreasonable)... but I scared they have changed their minds.  When can I expect to hear from the estate agent? When should we chase? 

That's understandable but i would chase after 48hours if no email received 

- Secondly and connected to the above, we have a mortgage advisor ready to submit our application and we have two solicitor quotes to choose from.  I am keen to get things moving but feel we should wait until we have something formal from the estate agent.  Do you agree or do you think they are expecting us to already be progressing?  I don't want to chase and annoy anyone as it's only been 1 day! But I also don't want to risk being accused of holding things up or for the sellers to think we aren't keen. 

I would get solicitor because the EA will also need to send you and your solicitor a memorandum of sale. You can choose not to pay them anything until your mortgage is approved (if do this - it might delay your completion seeing as you want to get it over with ASAP) or once the mortgage application submitted.

- I'm terrified that our mortgage is going to get refused.  We are 80.64% LTV, no debt, no loans, no negative credit history, minimal monthly commited outgoings (£9 mobile, £50 into a Stocks & Shares ISA) and stable jobs.  We have enjoyed ourselves for the last few months (went away, we've eaten out a few times a month etc) and I'm terrified that we will be rejected based on this.  Am I being realistic or just worrying for nothing?  Obviously now we will tighten the purse strings but will they see us as a risk for enjoying ourselves while we had no commitments?

Based on this, you shouldn't have any problem with getting a mortgage approved

Basically just happy for any wisdom as I have none and this whole process is SCARY!!

Thank you  

 Congratulations.....exciting time!

UnderOffer

You say no chain, do you know the circumstances of the sellers? Is it an empty spare home? ex rental, or perhaps going through probate? 

hannahcolobus

I really wouldn’t worry about your outgoings, as long as it’s within your means? If anything- an underwriter is likely to see that you have ability to cut back on stuff should you need to. I’d imagine they possibly might have more concern over an applicant who has no disposable income, so it sounds like you should be fine? 

Congratulations!  

boxer234

Congratulations.   I’m buying my second home but my first on my own and I’ve been a nervous Nelly the whole time. Due to complete tomorrow. 

 It took my estate agent a few days to get the email out.  Definitely find a solicitor and have them ready.  

The month before I applied for a mortgage my dog had to go to the vet for one of everything.  The underwriters did query the expenditure but it was fine.  

 

Try not to get to stressed to early on it’s a long journey.  I had my mum keeping me on the straight and narrow so I didn’t spiral ! 

Sootster2021

Thank you everyone for your brilliant advice - we have contacted the EA today and everything is moving.  Instructed a solicitor & our broker is applying for the mortgage today... keep your fingers crossed for us! and best of luck to anyone else going through this x

Zerforax

Sootster2021 said:

Thank you everyone for your brilliant advice - we have contacted the EA today and everything is moving.  Instructed a solicitor & our broker is applying for the mortgage today... keep your fingers crossed for us! and best of luck to anyone else going through this x

Your solicitors will hopefully send you a "guide to buying and selling" which will set out the milestones and what you/your solicitors/mortgage provider needs to do. Just try and keep on top of this and tick off items as they are done. You will see certain items have a lead time (e.g. mortgage offer being provided / searches by solicitors / enquiries being sent and answered by the solicitors with sellers input).

trakky14

As part of the mortgage application the bank will want to go and do a valuation (there is often a fee for this) hopefully the house will be valued what you are offering (sometimes that's not the case in this market, we had one last year which was overvalued and the bank wouldn't lend that amount so we had ro make up the shortfall). Are you getting a survey? It's a good idea to get one of those (different to the valuation) the survey will go into much more detail, often valuations are just a drive buy!) There are 3 levels of survey depending on what you want and the type of house...there is lots of information online. 

Searches can take weeks...your solicitor can advise how long. There is a long road ahead of you (we are expecting 3 months minimum but could be longer) we tried to move last year but after 6 months the chain collapsed (it was a saga!!)...a year later we are trying again! Good luck to you, fingers crossed 🤞