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Original poster

House offer accepted on 2 conditions - What to do?

34 replies

united4ever · 30/05/2014 22:39

I agreed a sale on my flat a few weeks ago and have been looking hard for somewhere but to no avail. This week Bridgfords EA told me the sale had fallen through on a house that I was interested in before and would like to buy.

I have made an offer straight away and Bridgfords have responded saying that the vendor will accept the offer on 2 conditions:

1, completion in 6 weeks. This seems feasible for my sale but what if the sale of my place takes 7 weeks or 8 weeks? would they then put it back on the market and start the process from the beginning with starting the process with a new buyer?

2, They want me to use Countrywide mortgages. Now, the reason they give is that they could do the application much quicker than if I went away and did it myself and this is the only way that I could keep to this 6 week deadline. I very much doubt the mortgage will be as competitive as one I could find with an independent broker and I have doubts if they will be able to get me the size of mortgage I require.

There are 5 people in the chain above this house ready to exchange hence the need for a quick exchange. What are your thoughts on this response from the EA/vendor.

I would normally be reluctant to deal in this way but if they can get me the mortgage at a just reasonable rate (probably go for a short term fixed one enabling me to change to another mortagage in the next two years) then I may be able to get this house which I consider to be just what I am after. Offered on a couple of similar houses in the last few weeks but the offers were rejected and ended up going for more than this comparable house.

I have a meeting with their mortgage advisor tomorrow. What do you think of this? what should I be wary of?

OP posts:
BrandyAlexander · 30/05/2014 22:44

I would agree to the first condition. No way I would agree to the second if the mortgage wasn't competitive.

HeartShapeStone · 30/05/2014 22:49

No, no, no to the second condition. Unless there is something wrong with your credit rating there is no reason you can't get a mortgage in 6 weeks.

First condition sounds a bit hard to hold you to, if you're 2 weeks away from completion on your sale in 6 weeks time, realistically they're not going to find another buyer to complete in 2 weeks.

The whole thing sounds a little bit mad TBH, unless the house is really worth it, it's the kind of situation best walked away from. I think they're unlikely to find a buyer to meet their conditions and they're under pressure so they might come back to you with a more reasonable offer.

AstonishingMouse · 30/05/2014 22:55

I have heard of problems with Countrywide, there have been threads on money saving expert about them I think. 6 weeks should be ok for a straightforward mortgage I would think. It's usually the estate agent rather than the vendor who try and tie buyers to a particular mortgage company - do you think the agent are being straight with you?

Completion in 6 weeks - you can aim for this but who knows if it will happen if it's a long chain!

janey1234 · 30/05/2014 22:55

The #2 condition sounds very like something the estate agents made up just to get some commission on the mortgage... No way would I agree to that...

RCheshire · 30/05/2014 22:58

The second condition should be illegal but sadly isn't.

However you could check if the estate agent is a member of the Property Ombudsman in which case they are required to follow the code of practice www.tpos.co.uk/code_of_practice_sales.htm.

See the final bullet on point 7c which should prevent this condition.

MostWicked · 30/05/2014 23:01

Agree to #1. If it takes longer, it takes longer. It's not all down to you.

#2 tell them to poke it.
Sounds like they are after commission

Original poster
united4ever · 30/05/2014 23:10

no doubt commission is their driving force. I will attend the meeting. I have a good idea of what interest rate I could get elsewhere so will see what they come up with and then either tell them no to the second condition or if it's close enough to what I can get elsewhere I may take it.

The area I am looking in is really seeing these houses sell quick though, last weekend the one I offered on (similar location, price and style to this one) sold in 2 days for above asking price, same thing happened the weekend before so I am keen to get the sale agreed and no more viewings in case I lose out on it.

OP posts:
PricillaQueenOfTheDessert · 30/05/2014 23:12

Some Estate Agents do ask you to do your mortgage through their broker as they say they have more control, which is actually true but I think it is also illegal. They are unlikely to put it back on the market after 6 weeks as you are "6 weeks down the line" and they would have to go back to square one if they put it back on the market. They're trying to put pressure on you to commit probably because they want the commission but it could also be that their vendor is threatening to take the property away from them. I worked in estate agency for many years and although a lot of them do deserve their reputation, there are some good ones out there too. Selling houses can bring out the worst in people, it's such a stressful time, and often the estate agent is just the messenger for a pushy vendor. But not always. I guess it is up to how much you want the property as to whether you agree or not. Having bought a house last year I would have had the estate agent's babies if he'd asked me to... Good luck.

ThePerfectNegroni · 30/05/2014 23:30

Bridgfords are awful. They refused to allow us to do a second viewing on a property until we had sat down with their mortgage brokers.

PigletJohn · 31/05/2014 00:51

you might consider asking the vendor (who is the person selling the house) if s/he cares which mortgage company you use

(s/he won't)

TheUnemployableLeech · 31/05/2014 08:16

I would never agree to them choosing where I can get a mortgage from! Speak to your bank/mortgage provider - ours was willing to give us a bridging mortgage so long as we could provide a signature of the buyer of our property stating when it would be bought. (We didn't need it in the end because the firm we are buying from agreed we could move in before the "sale" goes through so that we can sell and buy on the same date and not need a bridging loan.)

Our financing was organised in a week, I went in on Monday (with all papers, bank statements, draft contract, signed statement from our buyer confirming they would buy, tax return) and had the confirmation on Thursday. So I can't believe it wouldn't be possible to sort in 6weeks especially if what you effectively need to do is transfer a mortgage from one property to another, rather than be a new client.

OwlCapone · 31/05/2014 08:21

you might consider asking the vendor (who is the person selling the house) if s/he cares which mortgage company you use

(s/he won't)

This. I can imagine the completion time frame being the vendors request but I bet they don't give a stuff about the mortgage beyond the fact that y can get one in time. There is a chance that the agent has spun them a line about this being the only way you will complete in time.

Bragadocia · 31/05/2014 08:30

The vendors almost certainly won't have stipulated this at all.

We got this kind of thing in December when we were buying. The EA said, "the vendor would prefer you to use Countrywide for conveyancing; he is too, and it will speed the process". We asked the vendor whether he'd requested that, and he told us he hadn't. So, we went back to the EA and asked why they had misled us. They wouldn't admit they'd been trying it on for commission (or as I call it, lying), but mumbled something about how they'd been under the impression that's what he wanted.

Hold your ground. Don't be pushed into it. There's no reason why you can't get your own mortgage agreed in the timeframe.

Whyjustwhyagain · 31/05/2014 08:35

It may not be illegal, but it certainly sounds unprofessional.
How you choose to finance the purchase is your business only.

It would be like tesco saying you can only buy groceries if you use their credit card to pay for them!

Personally, I would agree verbally, then go ahead and make my own arrangements anyway. Once you have the property, then consider reporting the estate agents.

BiscuitCrumb · 31/05/2014 08:38

No! The vendor cannot dictate the mortgage adviser or provider. Absurd. Tell them no.

eurochick · 31/05/2014 08:39

I wouldn't agree to either of those, however much I liked the house. Time to completion is only partly in your hands bit depends on many factors outside your control. And no no no to them stipulating a broker to guide you through one of the biggest financial decisions you can make.

BiscuitCrumb · 31/05/2014 08:39

And even if it's not the vendor and is in fact the estate agent then I suggest you report them to the relevant ombudsman.

Bowlersarm · 31/05/2014 08:46

  1. I would say I am very happy to aim for completion within 6 weeks.

  2. I am happy to have a meeting with your mortgage adviser but if they can't match the deal I've found elsewhere then I won't be using them for my mortgage.

rhubarbcrumbleplease · 31/05/2014 08:59

Please don't use Countrywide. Our bank wanted us to use them last year, we had to pay a premium not to. The bank still used them for their side and they were an utter disaster. We nearly lost the sale & it was only through threats that we'd contact the Law Society that we completed.

zipzap · 31/05/2014 09:05

Hit moneysavingexpert and the mortgage websites now, ring up the best ones and ask them how long they usually take to offer a mortgage and what's the longest they take to offer a mortgage.

You should know enough in an hour to say you've got these quotes for price and times, you're happy to get a quote from countrywide but that you have heard of lots of people having problems with them so they would have to offer you a bloody good deal in order to make you use them.

I'd also ask them that given you have heard of so many problems about countrywide, hypothetically what would happen if you did use countrywide and they had a problem meeting the timescale needed by the vendor...

Petrasmumma · 31/05/2014 16:52

Countrywide are awful and have already been the subject of investigation.
They will say anything to get you to hand over private financial details to them and once you do, you put yourself in a weak position. Lots of people have been burned this way, they have v bad rep it seems. It was our solicitor that advised us against them.
They have no more power to complete the mortgage in 6 weeks than you do, furthermore they are not, according to NAEA (National Assoc Est Agents) permitted to handle your offer differently because you have refused to use their mortgage people. If you want the property, contact the owner directly because you will not be able to trust a thing that comes out of their mouths once you refuse to be bullied.

We did. The owner had no idea that the EA were putting off buyers in this way and promptly dumped them.

InsertUsernameHere · 31/05/2014 17:39

In addition to the above my only thought is - is there anything about the property that would make it difficult to mortgage (and therefore re-mortgage later). Does the EA think countrywide would mortgage the property when others would not? If this is the case be very cautious.

lightningstrikes · 01/06/2014 21:24

We got our last house purchase through in 5 weeks from offer, we also had a deadline from the vendors. We used London & Country Mortgages to broker the mortgage - got an approval within days - and Moving Ahead solicitors for the conveyancing. They were both awesome, particularly Moving Ahead who I've used twice now and wouldn't use anyone else.

Pipbin · 01/06/2014 22:23

I swapped at the beginning of our last move away from Countrywide conveyancing and over to a local firm that we had use before.

As for the mortgage thing. No way. Tell them to get to fuck with that. I'm assuming you have an agreement in principal now anyway so I can't see why is matters.
The estate agent we sold through (although we then moved to someone else) made me see their mortgage broker even though I already had one in place with an IFA who I trust. Their guy was a smug young chap in a bad suit. I didn't trust him with my finances.

ThePerfectNegroni · 02/06/2014 05:41

I do think that some estate agents are just one up from smarmy car salesmen that call you "darling". It's a shame as they give the good ones a bad rep.