Anyone know mortgages?

[sumimasen]

The missus and me are gearing up to getting on the housing ladder (one way or another), but are finding that it is a complete jungle out there with it being nigh on impossible to finding what type of buying would suit us best:

- Conventional mortgage
- Help to buy
- Shared equity
- Shared ownership
- etc?

We live in east London, and are looking to buy somewhere around east London as well. Having looked around and plonked our details into basic mortgage calculators, it appears we are maximum allowed to borrow ~£280k, which unfortunately is borderline not enough down here. Is this just a guideline and you can actually qualify for more? I don't want to put myself in a black hole so not looking to going into crazy leverage.

(Worth mentioning that we don't exactly have an anormous deposit at hand, looking at around £20k, maybe £30k in a pinch.)

Therefore we started glancing at Shared ownership, but this only gets more complicated with all the various limitations. Apparently you have to earn less than £66k to get a 1- or 2 bedroom place, and when I then went on to look at a development they obviously had a minimum income required to qualify: £65.5k?!?! So you basically have to slot into that narrow £500 band to buy there? And if you earn £67k, is your only option 3-4 bedrooms? Those prices are astronomical!

I'm keen on getting a little bit more clued up about all this before I get credit-checked etc, should I go see a mortgage advisor or is it just a waste of time unless I'm ready to hunt for the specific mortgage?

I'm completely clueless about this, and don't even know at which end to start..

[Mr Speirs]

Use a mortgage advisor. Usually their fee comes from the Mortgage Co so no extra for rates and expertise that the Mortgage Advisor has.

Mine saved me a boat load of money in repayment interest as he managed to get me a rate 1% below any high street lender with my deposit (20%).

I would steer clear of any other 'scheme' to get on the housing market tbh.

Also your advisor should be able to show you a list of mortgage options that are available to you...make sure to look at the fee's not just the monthly cost. The fees can range vastly and pay the fees upfront rather than add it to the mortgage. My fees in total were £850 and I got £250 back upon completion. Take into account the application fee also.

Remember to budget for solicitors fees and stamp duty. I was a First time buyer and my conveyancing fees were £1200.

I would seriously recommend a mortgage advisor.

[sumimasen]

Great, thanks for the info!

I guess talking to a mortgage advisor is the way to go. Are all created equally? Is there any advantage in trying to find a local one, or it doesn't really matter?

[Mr Speirs]

A local one would be better I would say as it means you can drop in with documents without having to wait for post etc.

Do a wee search I'm sure you'll find one close to you and call up to see if you can pop in for a chat. Ask about their fees and make sure they will take their fee from the lender for a first time buyer.

[timwilky]

Make sure your mortgage adviser puts you with an good lender and not one that gives them the best deal. My son hit a nightmare when the mortgage lender withdrew the mortgage between exchanging contracts and completion.

The lender then claimed the reason was my son had failed to declare a middle name which when used failed a credit check. When we looked he had declared it on his initial application. The lender had checked in all forms of his name and there was no credit fail in any form. Simply, the lender had withdrawn the product and was seeking to retrospectively withdraw it from people they had made offers to. It cost him two months in penalties whilst he argued with his lender.

[Bibio]

just remember that interest rates are low at the moment but could go up to say 10%+ in the future.

[sumimasen]

Well, when my parents bought their house back in Sweden in the seventies, they were forecasted 16% interest rate.

I wonder how high the defaulting numbers would be in UK if interest rates hit 10%?

Will spend the weekend trying to hunt down a good advisor.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[timwilky]

I had a conventional repayment mortgage. I cannot recall the exact figures, but seem to remember within months of buying the house, the interest rate had gone up from about 12 to 15%. It hurt.

But I got used to my payments, so when the rates when down, I continued paying the historical high monthly payment and never reduced my standing order. As a result I paid the capital quicker, reducing the annual interest and cascading the reduction in my outstanding capital. I paid my mortgage 8 years early.


It is the nicest feeling in the world to make the phone call what is my redemption fee? and to walk into the building society and hand over the cash. My deeds now sit in the safe, no one can take the roof from over my head. So good luck, I hope you get a good deal, find the right house and enjoy your own little palace.

Originally Posted by Mr Speirs

Use a mortgage advisor. Usually their fee comes from the Mortgage Co so no extra for rates and expertise that the Mortgage Advisor has.

Mine saved me a boat load of money in repayment interest as he managed to get me a rate 1% below any high street lender with my deposit (20%).

I would steer clear of any other 'scheme' to get on the housing market tbh.

Also your advisor should be able to show you a list of mortgage options that are available to you...make sure to look at the fee's not just the monthly cost. The fees can range vastly and pay the fees upfront rather than add it to the mortgage. My fees in total were £850 and I got £250 back upon completion. Take into account the application fee also.

Remember to budget for solicitors fees and stamp duty. I was a First time buyer and my conveyancing fees were £1200.

I would seriously recommend a mortgage advisor.

This.
I used to sort my own deals but now use one at every time my current deal runs out, his rate isn't that much, he gets access to deals that aren't advertised by the lenders, he chases everything up, collates all the info needed etc, I hardly have to do anything.

I used mortgage advisor for getting a mortgage and then changing to another lender - can recommend one in Guildford area.