One of the most common worries that people have when buying a property, is how long will it take for the mortgage to be approved? It doesn’t matter if you are a first-time buyer, second, third, fourth time buyer, or even a serial landlord. The fear that your mortgage might not be offered and complete on time is something felt by thousands every year. In this article we will explore a couple of the stages in the mortgage application to offer process that could cause delays and how long your mortgage could realistically take to go through.
How Quickly Can I Apply For My Mortgage?
That’s a simple yet also slightly complex question, as it depends entirely on a you and your mortgage advisor. You would usually start your mortgage journey by contacting a mortgage advisor and providing them with the necessary mortgage documents that they need to assess your affordability. They will then run a credit check for you to make sure that your credit score is high enough to get approved for a mortgage in the future.
Normally the first stage after you’ve spoken to your mortgage advisor and they have advised you of how much mortgage you might be eligible for is for you to put in an offer on a property. This is done by you, through the seller’s estate agent. The quicker you put in an offer, the quicker you can start applying for your mortgage (as long as the offer is accepted!).
What’s The Next Steps When My Offer Is Accepted?
If your offer is accepted, you need to let your advisor know immediately and they can get the wheels in motion with the application. Your advisor may have already helped you choose a mortgage product before your offer was accepted however it is not uncommon for your advisor to wait until after the offer is accepted to get a more accurate figure. As long as you and your advice have agreed on the amount of mortgage you want to borrow, the deposit you are putting down, the mortgage term, and the specific mortgage product, your advisor and their administrator can more or less submit your mortgage application straight away. As this is done electronically, a standard mortgage application can take around 30 minutes to submit but different lenders have different requirements so it could be longer or shorter.
Here is where making sure your documents and all of your information is correct really gives you an upper hand. As long as there are no discrepancies with any of the information you have provided in your mortgage meeting with your advisor, and all the documents you have provided them with are correct, your mortgage should be looked at and approved with relative ease.
How Long Can It Take To Get A Mortgage Approved?
A normal mortgage application can take between 2 and 3 weeks to go from initial application to offer, as long as there aren’t any major issues. Mortgages can sometimes be offered much quicker than that with some of Oportfolio’s recent applications being offered within 24 – 48 hours. This is primarily due to the impeccable detail we put into our applications and the quality of how the application is presented by our admin team. A mortgage application could be delayed if the lender has any queries about income, outgoings, address history, deposit source so make sure that you and your advisor are absolutely clear with all of your documents.
If a lender does come back with a query, make sure that you are available asap to provide any further information needed. The quicker you can resolve any issues, the quicker your application will go through. Delays caused by not providing the correct information or correct documents could cause your mortgage application to take months rather than weeks in some circumstances.
What Happens After My Application Has Been Approved?
The first step is for your application to be approved by an underwriter. As long as everything is in order and the underwriter is happy that all of your documents are correct, they will normally approve your mortgage subject to a satisfactory valuation. A property valuation is carried out by the lender’s trusted panel valuer and is done to make sure that the property is worth what you are buying it for, and to make sure that the lender won’t lose any money if they are forced to repossess and sell the property.
A valuation is usually instructed once the mortgage has been approved and depending on how busy the valuer is, it could be carried out within a few days. All in all, the valuation and the valuation assessment by the lender takes around a week. If there are any issues with the property when it has been valued, the valuer may reduce the value of the property. In this case, you and your advisor will need to re-calculate your loan and you will need to discuss purchasing the property at a lower value from the seller. Of course, this process will delay your mortgage but is often unavoidable if there are any major issues with the property.
If the valuation goes through ok, the valuer will let the lender know. The lender will check through the valuation report to make sure they are happy, and if they are they will issue the formal mortgage offer the same day.
Conclusion
This is how the mortgage application to offer process works in most cases. As long as there are no major issues with the application or the property valuation, your mortgage could be offered within a week or two. If there are any issues, the key is to make sure that you and your advisor are vigilant and ready to spring into action and provide the lender with whatever they need.
In another blog we will explore the process from mortgage offer to mortgage completion where you can actually move into the house!
If you or anyone you know is interested in purchasing a property or has any more questions about the mortgage application process, please feel free to give us a call today.
