We’ve spoken to Jess Hartley, Mortgage and Protection Adviser at The Cumberland, who has answered the difficult questions that many first-time buyers have, but might also apply to anyone looking to purchase a property…
“If you have your first appointment with a mortgage adviser, you're not committing to anything at that stage.
“When you put an offer in on a house in England (the rules in Scotland are slightly different) you still haven't committed to anything and you can still pull out – for example if you weren’t happy with the valuation results.
“Even when the valuation has come back fine, you’ve submitted the mortgage application, the mortgage has been offered and the offer is in place for six months – you can still pull out. Any fees paid at this point would be non-refundable, and anything paid to the solicitor as well. But you can still pull out – for example if the solicitor identified a problem with the paperwork, or you had a very last minute change of mind!
“Exchange of contracts is the point of no return – it means the mortgage is in place and ready to go. Once you've exchanged contracts in England, you’re fully committed to buying the property.”
“I would generally say it takes anywhere between 2-3 months to buy a house. That’s from the day you have your offer accepted, to the day you complete and get the keys to your new home. This timescale does vary though, and each chain and purchase is different.
“After you have an offer accepted, we aim to provide you a mortgage offer within 2-3 weeks. This gives us time to get your documents in, review them and then get your application checked by our underwriters and get a valuation done on the home you are buying too. Once the mortgage has been offered by us, its then over to your solicitor to do the legal work.
“The solicitor process can take 8-12 weeks, depending on how soon they can get their work completed, but your solicitor will keep you in the loop and give you an idea of timescales for your purchase. Every house purchase chain is different, so this could be longer or shorter depending on how other people in your chain are getting on.”
“I think a lot of first-time buyers find their appointments really helpful. Your mortgage adviser is there to keep you updated throughout the process and answer any questions you may have, big or small! Buying a new house can be a daunting and very overwhelming process, so having a mortgage adviser on hand to help simplify the process can be very useful
“We can make sure everything is done right, and even once you’ve got your mortgage offer, your mortgage adviser is still there to help you with anything you may need, and keep you in the loop.”
“When you are starting to think about buying your first home, I would recommend getting in touch with us and arranging an appointment before putting an offer in on any houses.
“In your first appointment with us, we take some details about your salary and any credit commitments you might have, and then we can tell you how much you could potentially borrow. It might be helpful to have your last 2 months payslips and last 2 months bank statements to hand for the call to give the adviser your details. This can then give you an idea of what houses are within your price range, and a lot of first-time buyers are pleasantly surprised by how much we can lend them.
“After this appointment, we could then issue you a ‘mortgage in principle’, which a lot of estate agents want to see before they’ll let you put an offer in on a property. Having that first appointment also gives you a point of contact for any queries that you may have before you put an offer in. There are no credit search or hard checks at this point, so getting an idea of how much you can borrow can be done at any time, even if you aren’t ready to buy in the near future and its no obligation too, so it is worth booking an appointment even if you’re just considering buying your first home. Once you’ve got your ‘mortgage in principle’ from us, you are ready to start viewing houses, which is the exciting part!”
Why ask these questions?
“This is an opportunity to gauge how much interest there has been in the property, and also for you to budget for any fees you may have to pay when considering the deposit you might wish to put down on the house. You could also ask about things that need replacing more regularly - windows, the boiler etc. so you’ll have an idea of what might need done if you were to buy the home.”
“First-time buyers are in a great position when making an offer on a house. This is because they don’t have a house they need to sell, so normally the sale can go through quicker than usual.
“It’s worth doing your research before putting an offer in and looking at how much similar houses have sold for near buy, so you have an idea of what you should be paying.
“When making an offer on a house, you contact the estate agent that is selling the property and tell them you’d like to make an offer. They’ll ask you how much you’d like to offer, and then they’ll go back to the person selling the house and offer them your price. They can either accept your offer or decline it, or they might give you a counter-offer (which means that they’ll suggest another price that would be acceptable to the seller).
"There is no limit to how many times you can offer, and sometimes it is worth offering lower first and then meeting somewhere in the middle. It really does depend on the property and how much you are willing to pay for it, but first-time buyers are normally in the best position to buy, and people selling their home know that a first-time buyer might speed up the sale, which can be in your favour when the seller considers your offer.”
“We’re looking to see your wages coming in, and then any bills being paid on time. Ideally, we don’t want to see any missed payments, or the account going into an unauthorised overdraft, and gambling should be kept to an absolute minimum. We really just want to make sure that you are managing your money well.”
“Sometimes it is hard to get excited for your new home, because it can feel like the sale might fall through at any time. The sale may fall through because the seller decides they no longer want to sell their house, or maybe the person that they are buying from has an issue and decides not to sell to them. These things sadly cannot be avoided and this is a risk for anyone buying a new home so it’s completely understandable that you might be worried about it. Your mortgage advisor is on hand if you are feeling anxious, so don’t hesitate to reach out to them.”
“Absolutely do. That’s what we’re here for and it probably won’t be the first time we’ve answered it. There is no such thing as a silly question when buying your first home, so don’t ever hesitate to ask your mortgage advisor anything that is on your mind.
“I always say to my customers, it doesn't matter if it's a tiny query, it's better to have peace of mind and to be sure when you are making such a big decision.”
Further information about the mortgages that we offer, including a handy calculator for working out future payments, can be found here.
Feel free to call into one of our local branches or call our customer service team on 01228 403141 for any general mortgage enquiries. For an appointment with a mortgage adviser, either in branch or over the phone, you can book an appointment here..