Jamescsti

Just wanting some advice from people who have bought house's flat's etc,
I went to an estate agent the other day to get some property details and arrange a couple of viewing's, no problems with that,

However the estate agent said if and when we make an offer, we have to show them 2 wage slips, and a passport as proof of i.d. this seems strange to me as we have a mortgage promise with a high street bank, with the documentation to show the estate agent, I can understand they want some proof of i.d, but why do they need my wage slips? There's nothing dodgy about them or anything I just don't see my wage slips are the agent's business that's all?

Is this the normal proccedure?

Any advice appreciated

Oh forgot to meention me and the mrs are both first time buyers

what would scooby do

They will be tied in with an IFA etc and want to sell you a mortgage - that's all..

MikeCardiff

iTrader: (2)

Tell them to P off - they should take your word for it that you have a mortgage offer in place already, if they dont then you can show them the letter with the offer from the bank.

As the other poster says, they just want your details so they can try and sell you their own mortgage, which probably wont be as good a deal as you already have.

If they persist in asking, tell them to get stuffed and dont view any of their properties.

While agents get paid by the seller of the house, that money comes from you as a buyer, and they dont get a penny if the house doesnt sell, so dont take any BS from them.

davegtt

Its because many people put offers in on a house which then gets taken off the market, strung along for a month and then realise they cant afford it wasting the sellers time.

Alot of Estate Agents have a IFA upstairs who they will be quite pushy to try and get you to see and get the mortgage through them, stick to your guns, be adament you know what youre doing and it'll be fine In the current market estate agents should be doing everything possible to sell someones house as its very stagnent and if the house doesnt get sold they dont get paid.

Good luck

Jamescsti

Thanks for all the advice, makes sense now, I went to a second agent's (Halifax) and they wanted me to see an advisor, I said no.
Cheers for that, i'll bear it in mind

_Meridian_

iTrader: (1)

For a while now most estate agents are more keen to sell you a mortgage than a house.


M

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Find out who the seller is, or at least if they are still living at the address of the house you went to view. Try to be a little discreet about this.

Then, make your offer direct to the seller. As a courtesy, you may choose to copy the agent in. There are agents out there that will not pass your offer on to the seller. They do this because someone has passed them a brown paper envelope.

The market where I live is allegedly stiched up. (I have to say allegedly). Basically if a house is worth 100k, the developer bungs the agent 5k, and the mysteriously all offers are lost. Well, apart from the ones made by the developer for 90k. In reality their game plans are cleverer than this. But both the agent and developer make lots of extra cash at the expense of the seller.

The above is of course very illegal, and I have no evidence that such a practice exists. However, allegedly, its is a very common practice that allegedly even well known estate agents occasionally use where they feel they can get away with it.

Jimpreza

That's probably what happened to my mates dad. He viewed a house and the vendor worked away and wasn't coming back into the country. The house was up for £350k. He offered £340K which the estate agent said was refused. He thought nothing of it until 6 months later when he looked on rightmove and realised that it had actually been sold at £295K

Steve_PPP

iTrader: (3)

i bought my first house a couple of years ago and certainly never had any request to see pay slips from estate agents - tell them to stick it. Sort your finances out with your mortgage broker/lender and their letter to say you have a 'mortgage in principle' should be good enough

MattN

Last place we looked at we made an offer and the agent wouldn't pass the offer on until we had spoken to THEIR IFA! I was not happy, turned out all the IFA asked was how big was the deposit.

I'm sure by law whilst the property is being marketed they have to pass on all offers to the vendor. In reality I suspect some offers are passed on more quickly than others.

The agent does not need to see any wage details and should pass on any offers regardless.

FriarTook

Tell them to discuss the matter with your solictor.

They MUST put all offers to the vendor.

Estate Agents are stuck firmly up their rear ends in most cases!

MattN

In another instance.

Person A put in an offer. The seller accepted and took the property off the market.

Person B walking past a few weeks later knocked on the door and made a higher offer. Seller accepted. Person A offered the higher amount but was declined. Person A and Estate Agent very annoyed.

The sller then see's a nice house and puts in an offer. Estate agent (same as above!) advises the vendor of the offer but also they are not to be trusted due to the above. Offer is then rejected unless the original seller sells to person A as first agreed.

So turns out not all agents are bad, in this case they were annoyed they didn't get thier fee so made the process difficult for the offender!

Odds on

There's nothing alleged about it. An undercover reported worked for Foxton's in London and caught them doing it!

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

You dad could report them for that. If it really happened, the agent can be successfully sued for the difference in value. I am sure the vendor would be most appreciative of the information you dad may have. In fact, the level of appreciation may stem to more than a few £££.

I know if I had been shafted like that I would sue the estate agent and give a nice reward for the evidence to do so.

SideShowBob

I would advise not to buy at the moment, over the next 18 months prices look to be dropping at least 7% in most areas, and they certainly wont be going up any time soon, best bet is to wait till the end of this year as there will be even more desperate sellers and you can hopefully knock a big lump off the price.

Have a look at a few of the well respected internet publications like money week or the financial times, things do not look good for the housing market over the next 18 months, dont buy now and then watch what you've bought lose money, buy when it gets really tight for home owners and the market hits its lowest and then at least you wont pay as much, plus less agentsdfees, stamp duty etc, be patient.

davegtt

I dont think any SN member is in any position to tell him not to buy after the 100's of threads predicting what youve just said over the last 5 years

Jimpreza

It was a mates dad lumo. He's proper dodgy himself, I think he was more wound up that there was a scam he wasn't involved in.

SideShowBob

Okay, I wont use such bold statements, instead I advise you to do your own research, and can recommend using well respected publications who use qualified financial analysts to do so.

All of the most prominent ones show that the next 18 months to two years will not be good for the housing market, and if you are patient you could save yourself a nice sum of money.

Do some research on the facts and figures, the indicators are there, and in the meantime take the next 18 months/2 years to get rid of any credit cards or loans you may have.
This will put you into the minority who dont have loans and credit, nor a massive mortgage that they got when banks and building societies were falling over themselves to lend people money at 6 times their salaries (just try get a mortgage for 6 times your salary now).

The Bank of England will continue to cut interest rates to try to keep houses affordable, but the offset is inflation will sky rocket, meaning cost of living will become unaffordable, and consequently the mortgage becomes unaffordable.

At some stage all this borrowing will catch up with people, debt advise requirements went up 20% last year, the cracks are showing, and the millions that have over borrowed will really feel the crunch as cost of living rises.

I really advise you not to buy now, regardless of whether house prices drop lots or barely at all, it really isnt a good time to be in debt, just wait and see how the market pans out.

davegtt

lol alot of qualified financial analysts have got it wrong too over the last few years

Not convinced BoE will continue (apart from the last change when was the last time they did anyway) to cut interest rates?

I know what youre saying but overall, some people buy a house to live in it not to worry about its immediate value.

chris singleton

If you put an offer in they should check your i.d. for money laundering regulations. You should have to produce passports and a current demand showing your address i.e. bank statement, council tax demand, etc.

You don't have to show them your wage slip.

SideShowBob

True, but if you could buy that same house (or similar) in 18 months time for £10000 less, it's got to be worth waiting for.

davegtt

But who guarentees its going to be £10k less in 18 months. I'll dare bet in certain places in the country in 18 months time someones house may well have even slightly increased or at least not changed in value what so ever. I notice you live in Kent SSB, alot of places further north are still creeping up

al4x1

depends if in that time he's spent 10K on rent payments rather than 10K on a mortage and paid a small amount off it. Its a gamble to take but in most areas prices only show signs of stagnating rather than dropping especially at the lower end of the market where everything looks like they will still go up allbeit slower

MikeCardiff

iTrader: (2)

I would agree that it isnt worth worrying about price drops - I cant see a huge crash coming, but a 10% drop is quite possible over the next 12 months if the market continues to stagnate and banks toughen up their lending criteria.

But - as pointed out, if you are going to spend nearly as much in rent, then buy now as it wont cost you any more. As long as you make sure you can comfortably afford the repayments ( i.e. dont borrow more than 3 to 3.5x times your income as a maximum ) then any drops in value arent going to make any difference, unless you are just hoping to make a quick buck and sell the house in a couple of years time, in which case you may well lose money.

If you get a 100% mortgage and prices drop, then you could end up with negative equity, but as long as you make the mortgage payments each month your lender wont care.

noobyscooby

It's called Compliance under the money laundering regulations set up by the government.

All estate agents have to ask for proof of identity BY LAW and they have to keep records so these details get copied!

So it is usually either passport or driving licence plus any two out of bank statements, payslips, utility bills [BT landline OK but not mobiles though].

Your solicitor will require the same.

You building society too.

You won't beat the system - your business is not worth it to the agent.