so do you get a mortgage approved before you find the house or what? <clueless>

[TinyDiamond]

is it possible to apply for a mortgage if you haven't found the house yet and had an offer accepted? if so when applying for mortgage how do you know exactly how much money to ask to borrow?

can somebody please spell out the idiots guide for me? many, many thanks

Yes, we were approved in principal up to X amount... we offered Y (less) and our position (no chain, plus approved in principal) meant they were happy to accept our offer over another couple who offered the same.

Then the mortgage application went ahead proper and as imdreaming mentions, the mortgage company were only happy to lend Y if the property was indeed worth Y.

I suppose plenty of people wait until they find somewhere before starting the process at all, but from my experience, being agreed in principal may just put you in a stronger bargaining position.

Good luck!

We seen a mortgage advisor to give us a ball park, then got a mortgage in principle then found house and did all the paperwork and got mortgage agreed. We bought a new house and used their lawyers tough so wasn't a massive drama.

thanks all. We have been told by an advisor and all the calculators online say that we can borrow up to 160k. but we'd only want to borrow 80k, this is supposing family are able to lend us the deposit between them of course. find out new year. exciting