Mortgage application before making offer

craggle

Im about to go for a second viewing of a house im likely to put an offer on. We have approval in principle from PTSB but were thinking of applying through AIB as better interest rate. Should we be applying for the mortgage before making an offer? Has anybody applied online or only through the branch? thanks

Oral Surgeon

craggle wrote: »

Im about to go for a second viewing of a house im likely to put an offer on. We have approval in principle from PTSB but were thinking of applying through AIB as better interest rate. Should we be applying for the mortgage before making an offer? Has anybody applied online or only through the branch? thanks

If you have gone through the full application process with ptsb you would know how long and frustrating it is... so I'm suspecting that you have one of the advertised "we'll give you approval in principal within 15minutes" jobs. These are not great as a full application can stick a spanner in the works... If this is what you have, then you really should get the full application for x amount of money sorted. You should be clear on the max amount the bank will lend and what % deposit they require. Then you can bid with confidence. Best to go to a few banks or a broker as t&c differ.

If you bid and go sale agreed, the estate agent with want a booking deposit and a letter from your bank to say that you are fully approved asap. Any delays and they could put it back on the market....

Shedzafew

The AIB process takes upto 3 weeks so if the vendors want a quick sale you may be out of luck. I would go through a broker to ensure you get the best mortgage to suit you. I would also have mortgage approval in place before I view houses as it could create a number of issues.

Bigcheeze

There's nothing stopping you making an offer. Different banks have different AIP processes. I know with AIB you have to provide a fair bit of information to get AIP so you can be reasonably confident if you have AIP and the information you provided was accurate. I read that PTSB is a bit different.
Also you don't want to go through the full aIB mortgage process without being sale agreed as they need solicitor, address and property price, which you want have at the offer stage.

If it was me and I was confident about mortgage approval I wouldn't let a house pass by because I was waiting for something formal.

Someday

@Oral Surgeon

How long did PTSB take to give you the full approval? When did you apply?

Thanks

Oral Surgeon

Someday wrote: »

@Oral Surgeon

How long did PTSB take to give you the full approval? When did you apply?

Thanks

I'm a little complicated as I had 2 negative equity properties already and am self employed....

Initial approval for one property took 4-6 weeks (around May). That property was taken off the market as the vendor decided not to sell anymore. 3 months went by and we had to refresh the application again, so another few weeks (around sept/oct....

Lots of jumping through hoops. I was told from the start that they would make it work for me but then this had to be explained to underwriters.... then an underwriter moved job and we had to go through the process again....

Frustrating but sorted now...

Someday

Thanks & good luck with it all.

"we had to refresh the application again"

What did you have to do, a full application again?
They told me the approval would last just 2 months!