Mortgage & Financial Advice Needed.

Before buying wait a few months, very soon sellers will have to pay about £1000 to put together a "sellers pack" which will detail all work carried out weather DIY or prof. Will ask brother in law for more info & post it up.

[timwilky]

Numbers.

Perhaps I am in a fortunate position as I paid my mortgage off last year and therefore cannot properly comment on modern money lending techniques.


At the time I took out my repayment mortgage I put down a 15% deposit on the house and took a mortgage of twice my salary. Freinds said I was daft going with a traditional mortgage as an endowment would pay it off and leave me with a good few grand in the back pocket. I could not understand how an endowment policy could be a secure financial instrument and stayed well clear. Isn't hindsight a great teacher.

Going through the 80s, 90s recessions with redundancy every other week I always regretted not having a policy that would cover me should the worst happen. These policies never existed when I took out my mortgage but as redundancy never happened it was money saved.

When the interest rates went through the roof in the 80s I was fortunate enough that by then my salary had increased by 50% on what it was at the mortgage inception, so was able to bear the brunt and increase my payments, which I never reduced. Hence I was able to pay the damm thing off 7 years early.

To my simple mind I find modern practices suspicious in that. The building societies are falling all over themselves to lend money to to good risk applicants. Therefore why should you pay anyone huge sums simply to make the applications on your behalf. Shop around. Whilst rates are fairly low look at fixed rate stuff. At least you can then work out your budgets knowing your commitments for the next few years etc.

However. Please don't bite off more than you can chew. Remember you have to live, cars/bikes etc need replacing, kids want want want. I have seen a number of people overcommit and come croppers.

Good look with your purchase plans and I look forward to the house warming

Originally Posted by kwak zzr

a financial advisor is a good option if you hav'nt a clue what your doing, i used one on my first property purchace but after i found out how much profit they make off you i didnt do it on my second! your solicitor will take care of all the searches ect and your lender will take care of the property survey after all they are paying for the property. all you need to do is find the mortgage for you and that is quite simple really. low first time buyer %, fixed for a term your happy with,over how many years your happy with( the more years the less monthly ££)
a financial advisor is just another bill.

You went to the wrong company lol

I didn't may my FA anything at all. In fact, she was superb and i'd recommend her to anyone down south....

She came over to my house, whenever i wanted, and done an initial meeting with my other half and I. What WE want, what she advises etc.

2 weeks later, she comes back over with about 5 different options and lenders and plans. We decide which one we want, she goes off and arranged. She even advised us a solicitor which we took.

Theres NO charge, no commision or anything. Her company gets the money from the lenders so theres no charges at all to us.

Anyone want more info, PM me..

Originally Posted by Cronos

Case in point. The sale of insurance schemes directly benefit the independent advisors and I very much doubt these were compulsory for the mortgage you wanted.

oh buggar dont tell me that

they usually make commission from the insurance companies, are you paying a lot of money for insurances?

[Red ones]

You can usually find an advisor who gets their commission from the lender. Basically they work like insurance brokers - they buy the mortgages in bulk, therefore get a better deal (after all they are also acting as a filter for the lender, weeding out the stupid applications) - don't go to one who charges you.

They also have access to a much larger database of lenders than you can find on the web, therefore even if they did charge you say £200, they can recoup that for you on your repayments. Remember my earlier post? I had shopped around and found an OK deal according to my searches, then my IFA found a better one - even he charged £250 for his advise (which he didn't) I would still be £7,250 better off after 5 years! (That's almost a brand new 'Busa!!!!)

Again I repeat the reference to Motley Fool for material about insurances - sometimes it pays to self insure!

Yeah, the lenders tried to give me a silly insurance quote, but we searched and found our own for nearly half the costs.

There was a £25 release fee, but this is from the lenders, not the FA.

She was superb, as I say, i'd recommend her to anyone. No charge, and she comes to see you when you want, where you want.

what sort of mortgage deal did you get? they must make money somewhere

Originally Posted by Gnan

they usually make commission from the insurance companies, are you paying a lot of money for insurances?

i dont think im paying much as its only £22 a month and that is life cover, critical illness and unemployment cover.

Originally Posted by shop_addict

Richie

Give these guys a ring -

http://www.lcplc.co.uk/

They're an independent broker and they don't charge you a fee. They get money from the lender if you take a mortgage out via them - although they made it clear to me that I was completely within my rights to take their advice, then go direct to the lender for the same deal.

They'll go through the whole business of suitable types of mortgage, repayment term, and cost per month. Then they find you they best deal currently on the market.

HTH
Jo

Seconded. They're the folks I'm using. Professional, truly independant and free (for you at least). What more do you want?