Buying a house

[tim123]

we went to see a house at the weekend and have put an offer in today.
The estate agent have said they can't pass the offer on to the buyers until we come in and sign a money laundering form and show them a form of id.
However, they also want to know the size of the deposit and the mortgage we are going to take out.
I spoke to the agent who are selling our house and they have said they should only be doing this once the offer has been accepted.
they want us to see the agencies financial advisor. However, if I tell him our financial situation they could then go back to the agent and tell him we can afford more.
Sounds a bit suspect to me.
The agency is a very well known and one of the largest in the UK.
I really am not happy about showing id, signing documents and speaking to an agency financial advisor without an offer being accepted.
What do you guys think?

They are just looking to sell you a mortgage.

Some agents are rumoured not to pass on offers from buyers who aren't 'buying' their mortgage from them.

I would humour them and when you have had you offer accepted (or not) tell them that you are getting a mortgage elsewhere.

tim

[threaded]

I remember a mini-demonstration outside one estate agents on a Saturday morning in the 90s, similar sort of scam. The protesters had placards and a loud hailor. Most amusing.

As if a silly little demo would stop some of the property scams that went off in Doncaster...

[TheRightStuff]

They are just looking to sell you a mortgage.

Some agents are rumoured not to pass on offers from buyers who aren't 'buying' their mortgage from them.

I would humour them and when you have had you offer accepted (or not) tell them that you are getting a mortgage elsewhere.

tim

good advice. I'll do that.

[Sysman]

good advice. I'll do that.

That's the way I got a house in the end. A bit later my sister was buying and found it impossible to get anything other than an endowment mortgage.

The answer to that one was to accept it, make the first payment, then request a swap to a normal repayment mortgage.

[tim123]

I'd be asking them what the minimum deposit is that will be required and politely informing them that how you will be funding the rest of the purchase is none of their business. There have been cases where the financial services arms of Estate Agents pass on what you can actually afford to enable the Agent to bump up the offer so they make more money.

It might not be any of their business, but it's certainly that of the Buyer's.

You don't have to be in the house selling game for long to find out that the major reason your sale falls through is because your prospective buyers can't actually afford it.

I personally would never accept an offer from a buyer unless I knew exactly what their mortgage status was.

tim

[lexington_spurs]

[QUOTE=TheRightStuff]

"Sounds a bit suspect to me."

From my recent experience certain estate agents appear to prioritise potential buyers in this order:

- someone who might sell their own property through the same agent or a mate of his and who is going to go with their recommended surveyor, solicitor, mortgage deal, insurances
- someone who is going to go with their recommended surveyor, solicitor, mortgage deal
- anyone else

"The agency is a very well known and one of the largest in the UK."

Other ways of saying this would be "most aggressive/ruthless". BBC did an undercover at <insert name of red-coated verminous mammal>tons in the last year and they would be instructed to lie, cheat, misrepresent, whatever necessary to get the best commission and hit targets. That also included telling certain vendors to accept lower offers if it meant the sale went through in a particular period of theirs.

I got an independent mortgage broker to get me a standard A&L mortgage. The broker gets to speak to the underwriters and hence put in a good word for you and you get the mortgage based on contract rate etc rather than salary. But the b.llocks doesn't stop there - A&L wanted us to use surveyors who quoted £1200 and £950 for the full survey .. I got a guy to come in from Winchester to NE London and he charged £600. Now A&L want to add £25 to the mortgage because I don't want to use their quotes for insurances! They're going to be told that's not on.

Good luck, just assume you are being lied to at all times and act accordingly and you should be ok.

[Epiphone]

It's also ilegal for the EA not to pass an offer on.

[BlasterBates]

There are two separate issues. They need a signature and id before passing on the offer, that sounds pretty professional to me.

Now with the mortgage they haven´t said they wouldn´t pass the offer on. Of course they´ll pass it on, they´ve no motivation for refusing to pass offers on and delay selling the house which costs them money.

The reason they´re asking you this is to find out how reliable you are, i.e. will your mortgage application fall through.

Houses aren´t sold to how much you can afford they´re simply sold to the highest bidder. You don´t have to raise your bid if you don´t want to.

My advice, just let then know if it confirms your status as a reliable buyer.

and remember its you who decides who much you want to pay. Just stick to your bid.