Saving/Applying for a mortgage 2015/16/17/18/19

deisedude

Meeting with the builders next week to go through the electrical layout. Having reviewed the plans we are fairly happy with whats there. Is there anything I should look out for / specific questions I should be asking?

lmarieloos

DelBoy Trotter wrote: »

The 2.5% fixed rate isn't available to FTBs who are looking at a 88-90% LTV so that's no good for us.

BOI have only recently introduced a 'Green Mortgage' where if the property you are buying is A energy rated you get an additional 0.2% discount on fixed rates, we went with BOI and we are getting the cashback plus 5 year fixed for 2.8%

purpleisafruit

deisedude wrote: »

Meeting with the builders next week to go through the electrical layout. Having reviewed the plans we are fairly happy with whats there. Is there anything I should look out for / specific questions I should be asking?

Have you got your kitchen layout sorted? Consider where furniture is going to be and if you're mounting TVs on the wall, better to hide the sockets behind them etc. If the option is available have some outdoor sockets installed, useful for power washers/vacuums etc.
It's better to have 2 many sockets than not enough in my opinion.

awec

deisedude wrote: »

Meeting with the builders next week to go through the electrical layout. Having reviewed the plans we are fairly happy with whats there. Is there anything I should look out for / specific questions I should be asking?

If you want electricity to the garden for a shed or whatever now is the time to ask for that.

Phileas Frog

deisedude wrote: »

Meeting with the builders next week to go through the electrical layout. Having reviewed the plans we are fairly happy with whats there. Is there anything I should look out for / specific questions I should be asking?

Also consider ducting and cabling to your front door area for electric car charging.

TheShow

purpleisafruit wrote: »

Have you got your kitchen layout sorted? Consider where furniture is going to be and if you're mounting TVs on the wall, better to hide the sockets behind them etc. If the option is available have some outdoor sockets installed, useful for power washers/vacuums etc.
It's better to have 2 many sockets than not enough in my opinion.

do you have a shed or are you planning on a shed? you will need electricity in there. also outdoor sockets and security lights also.

charlietheminxx

Does anyone know how long a solicitor can hold mortgage drawdown funds for? We are running into issues at the final hurdle, the developer doesn't think we will be in a position to close until 2 weeks after our extended mortgage offer runs out. My stress levels are through the roof.

MacDanger

Hi

We're going to apply for a mortgage shortly and I'm just wondering if people think it's worth going with a broker (we have other business with her so she's waiving her standard fee but will get paid a commission on the mortgage if we draw it down) or just do it ourselves?

Thanks

Prospector1989

MacDanger wrote: »

Hi

We're going to apply for a mortgage shortly and I'm just wondering if people think it's worth going with a broker (we have other business with her so she's waiving her standard fee but will get paid a commission on the mortgage if we draw it down) or just do it ourselves?

Thanks

We went broker.

Ours wasn't a straightforward application, we needed an exemption plus we were organising a wedding so it felt like a no-brainer for us.

Would 100% make the same choice again.

He talked to 3 different banks and applied to 2 in the end. We only had to submit any paperwork to him.

It suited us perfectly although I know some would prefer to deal directly with the banks.

Not sure if it's true that some banks won't deal with brokers?

TheShow

charlietheminxx wrote: »

Does anyone know how long a solicitor can hold mortgage drawdown funds for? We are running into issues at the final hurdle, the developer doesn't think we will be in a position to close until 2 weeks after our extended mortgage offer runs out. My stress levels are through the roof.

I don't think there is a restriction but the solicitor may not want to hold funds for extended period.

Also, you will be paying interest from when the funds are paid to your solicitor so if it takes a while you could be making mortgage payments on the property and you haven't even got the keys....

Talk to the bank and let them know whats happening, given that its so close to closing, they may accommodate. hopefully the issue isn't significant.

TheShow

MacDanger wrote: »

Hi

We're going to apply for a mortgage shortly and I'm just wondering if people think it's worth going with a broker (we have other business with her so she's waiving her standard fee but will get paid a commission on the mortgage if we draw it down) or just do it ourselves?

Thanks

A broker will go to all the banks and is supposed to get you the best deal available, however in reality they go to the bank that pays the best commission.

The benefit is you only have to supply one set of supporting documents.

If you go to multiple banks yourself you will need multiple copies.

If you have a broker that you use regularly for your business, then it makes sense to use them again as they should be very familiar with your circumstances, which should in theory make the process easier.

deisedude

purpleisafruit wrote: »

Have you got your kitchen layout sorted? Consider where furniture is going to be and if you're mounting TVs on the wall, better to hide the sockets behind them etc. If the option is available have some outdoor sockets installed, useful for power washers/vacuums etc.
It's better to have 2 many sockets than not enough in my opinion.

Not yet sorted with the kitchen. Meeting with the Kitchen supplier on Saturday to get that sorted but may not be done before we meet the builder.

Outdoor socket, great idea. Would have forget that

TheShow wrote: »

do you have a shed or are you planning on a shed? you will need electricity in there. also outdoor sockets and security lights also.

Will be getting a small wooden shed in time but not right now unless finances permit otherwise! Thanks for heads up

charlietheminxx

TheShow wrote: »

I don't think there is a restriction but the solicitor may not want to hold funds for extended period.

Also, you will be paying interest from when the funds are paid to your solicitor so if it takes a while you could be making mortgage payments on the property and you haven't even got the keys....

Talk to the bank and let them know whats happening, given that its so close to closing, they may accommodate. hopefully the issue isn't significant.

Thanks so much for the advice. Unfortunately the bank have been explicit that if we don't draw down within our extension period, we have to re-do our whole application. We got an exception on the LTI rules and they also advised that we might not get that on a new application. It's not a fun situation to be in!

I'm hoping our solicitor can draw down before the deadline and just hold the money for a couple of weeks to get the sale over the line. I don't mind paying the interest, just don't want to lose the house when we are weeks away from moving in.

Prospector1989

charlietheminxx wrote: »

Does anyone know how long a solicitor can hold mortgage drawdown funds for? We are running into issues at the final hurdle, the developer doesn't think we will be in a position to close until 2 weeks after our extended mortgage offer runs out. My stress levels are through the roof.

Our solicitor had our funds for over a month before the purchase was finalised.
The bank were happy to release the funds as we were already in the house but I'm not sure if that would matter to the bank.

awec

Will the bank sign off on the valuation before the house is complete? Are you happy to draw down funds before you snag anything?

TheShow

awec wrote: »

Will the bank sign off on the valuation before the house is complete? Are you happy to draw down funds before you snag anything?

This is true, the property must be fully complete before the bank will allow drawdown. they will need final valuation or engineers cert to confirm same.

charlietheminxx

Thanks guys. The house is pretty much ready to move into physically, all connected up etc. - valuation report is done and we have snagged. There were a few minor cosmetic issues on the snag which are being sorted now, and we are to re-snag next week. Apparently the hold up is with the BCAR and Homebond certs, they are submitting them in blocks and the next block won't be sent off until late next week. It takes 3 weeks for the certs to be approved, which will take us about 10 days past our extended mortgage date.

TheShow

charlietheminxx wrote: »

Thanks guys. The house is pretty much ready to move into physically, all connected up etc. - valuation report is done and we have snagged. There were a few minor cosmetic issues on the snag which are being sorted now, and we are to re-snag next week. Apparently the hold up is with the BCAR and Homebond certs, they are submitting them in blocks and the next block won't be sent off until late next week. It takes 3 weeks for the certs to be approved, which will take us about 10 days past our extended mortgage date.

Bank will definitely not payout without homebond cert, sorry, not looking good.
Is there no way the builder can get this fast tracked? its their issue to be fair.

charlietheminxx

TheShow wrote: »

Bank will definitely not payout without homebond cert, sorry, not looking good.
Is there no way the builder can get this fast tracked? its their issue to be fair.

The builder knows the predicament we are in and had previously told us if we got the valuation done, we should be ok to draw down even if we haven't closed, it was only today they told us that this was "unlikely". I don't know what to do at this point. We've ordered our floors, we've ordered furniture and have a heap of stuff sitting in a storage unit waiting to move in. I never thought we could end up stuck like this.

Phileas Frog

You can't close without drawing down your mortgage, it's impossible. The funds have to be in the vendor's solicitor's account before you close. Ergo, you have to draw down before closing.

charlietheminxx

Phileas Frog wrote: »

You can't close without drawing down your mortgage, it's impossible. The funds have to be in the vendor's solicitor's account before you close. Ergo, you have to draw down before closing.

Yes I know, I’m just upset and wording things badly. I meant if we weren’t ready to close in terms of all the paperwork being in order.

Phileas Frog

In my case, the draw down request has been sent to the bank and I've yet to send off the snag list to the developer. I'd say you're fine.

awec

Phileas Frog wrote: »

In my case, the draw down request has been sent to the bank and I've yet to send off the snag list to the developer. I'd say you're fine.

Bank doesn't care about your snag list.

The point about paying before snagging is that builders are always quicker to fix things when they're waiting on their money.

Phileas Frog

awec wrote: »

Bank doesn't care about your snag list.

The point about paying before snagging is that builders are always quicker to fix things when they're waiting on their money.

I know that, while I may have drawn down, I won't be closing (or paying) until the snag list is complete

TheShow

Its not a snag thats the issue though. Its the homebond cert & the BER cert.
Whatever about BER cert, funds wont be released by the bank until they are in receipt of Homebond cert.

This is an awful predicament to be fair.

charlietheminxx

TheShow wrote: »

Its not a snag thats the issue though. Its the homebond cert & the BER cert.
Whatever about BER cert, funds wont be released by the bank until they are in receipt of Homebond cert.

This is an awful predicament to be fair.

Honestly I've felt sick with stress for the last couple of days. It's the BCAR certs which take 21 days to be approved, so I'm hoping that the Homebond cert will be quicker. I've spoken to the solicitor and the bank and the general advice we've been given is to hold steady for the moment and make sure we have everything on our side ready to draw down.

TheShow

charlietheminxx wrote: »

Honestly I've felt sick with stress for the last couple of days. It's the BCAR certs which take 21 days to be approved, so I'm hoping that the Homebond cert will be quicker. I've spoken to the solicitor and the bank and the general advice we've been given is to hold steady for the moment and make sure we have everything on our side ready to draw down.

Fingers, toes and everything else crossed for you, hope it works out....

charlietheminxx

TheShow wrote: »

Fingers, toes and everything else crossed for you, hope it works out....

Thanks so much, I really appreciate that. I'll update when the time comes, might be useful if anyone else finds themselves in a similar position.

Musefan

Sale Agreed at 11 am yesterday.

Formal loan application submitted by mortgage advisor to underwriting, sales advice notice issued by estate agent and contracts were requested by our solicitor by 1pm yesterday. Bank valuation will be next week & surveyor is on standby once we get maps of the site.

Mortgage protection is lined up (we scoped our available products) and I’ve some home insurance quotes ready to go.

It’s all moving very quickly. I am concerned that we won’t get full loan approval (changing jobs- but within the same field/same role) but it might be more my own worries, as the mortgage advisor has advised us to crack on. I know they’re just salespeople but hopefully it’s an indication that the bank is willing to lend! We are borrowing 2.5x our income with a repayment capacity of about 1000 per month more than the mortgage payment at the min so hopefully that looks good in the banks eyes.

whatever76

Musefan wrote: »

Sale Agreed at 11 am yesterday.

Formal loan application submitted by mortgage advisor to underwriting, sales advice notice issued by estate agent and contracts were requested by our solicitor by 1pm yesterday. Bank valuation will be next week & surveyor is on standby once we get maps of the site.

Mortgage protection is lined up (we scoped our available products) and I’ve some home insurance quotes ready to go.

It’s all moving very quickly. I am concerned that we won’t get full loan approval (changing jobs- but within the same field/same role) but it might be more my own worries, as the mortgage advisor has advised us to crack on. I know they’re just salespeople but hopefully it’s an indication that the bank is willing to lend! We are borrowing 2.5x our income with a repayment capacity of about 1000 per month more than the mortgage payment at the min so hopefully that looks good in the banks eyes.

I am more or less at the same stage as you now - race you

Best of luck !!!