Structural survey on house

thebourke

I went sale agreed on a house last friday....i applied for my mortgage ...the bank manager said i should know in the next 2 weeks if i am successful...
when do people normally get the structural survey done on the house?

jpd85

Congrats on going sale agreed! Solicitor advised us to wait until he got contracts as engineer would need site map to verify boundaries etc

thebourke

do you get the contracts after you get written loan offer approval from the bank ?

splashthecash

thebourke wrote: »

I went sale agreed on a house last friday....i applied for my mortgage ...the bank manager said i should know in the next 2 weeks if i am successful...
when do people normally get the structural survey done on the house?

I'm looking at places at the moment and every time I lodge an offer, the estate agent is asking for confirmation from my mortgage broker that I have approval for that amount - does the owner of the house know that you don't have mortgage approval yet?

mickdw

I don't understand this idea of them looking for confirmation of approval. Are there really that many people making offers that they cannot honour that it had come to this. What if you are buying with half cash or all cash. Do they want to see your bank account?
I would make an offer and let them treat it as a serious offer or else forget about it. It's not exactly a sellers market.

xper

splashthecash wrote: »

... does the owner of the house know that you don't have mortgage approval yet?

The OP doesn't say whether or not they have approval in principle which is all you can have at the offer stage and if the offer has been accepted, it doesn't matter. The bank need to assess the mortgage application against this particular property at the agreed price anyway.

mickdw wrote: »

I don't understand this idea of them looking for confirmation of approval. Are there really that many people making offers that they cannot honour that it had come to this. What if you are buying with half cash or all cash. Do they want to see your bank account?
I would make an offer and let them treat it as a serious offer or else forget about it. It's not exactly a sellers market.

Yes, it has come to this. Through 2011 and early 2012, in particular, sellers's asking prices were lagging behind the falling market and, simultaneously, the banks were seriously tightening up their lending criteria and making very conservative valuations that anticipated further market drops. As a result, many agreed sales were falling through due to rejected mortgage applications. There was a very noticeable pattern of properties appearing multiple times on daft/myhome several weeks or months apart, with the asking price dropping all the while. One property I was following went sale agreed four times, only completing on the last occasion and at about 60% of the original asking 18 months before.

Consequently, some EAs are looking for some evidence that you have done your homework and are not going to be wasting everyone's time with an over-optimistic view of what you think you'll be allowed borrow based on long gone criteria. This is especially true in certain areas like SCD where it definitely is something of a seller's market this summer with multiple bidders on many houses. You don't show them anything detailed, just get a plausible third party, be it your broker or a lender who's given you approval in principle, to state that you have adequate financing for the amount you are offering. Even the fact that you have engaged a broker would be enough for most EAs, I would imagine. You don't need to go into detail about that financing although if you have a high percentage of cash, you should probably make a point of that as it makes your offer a just that little bit more attractive in some cases.

If you are making a 100% cash offer, its an entirely different matter. They should just take your word as you'll be found out pretty quickly if you are messing around and why would you do that anyway.

StillWaters

If you are making a 100% cash offer, its an entirely different matter. They should just take your word as you'll be found out pretty quickly if you are messing around and why would you do that anyway.[/quote]

EAs also looking for proof of funds for 100% cash purchasers.

TheDriver

also depends on where in the country you are, Where I am I wouldn't show an EA the change in my pocket...........