Mortage Advice

[Kieran76]

Been a busy few days for me as I have been up and down the motorway applying for and in one case accepting a job back home in Sheffield. Now the fun really starts as we need to buy somewhere to live.
Getting loads of advice from people, most of whom I do not really trust. My main concern is the mortgage itself, I know having a look around is the general wisdom, but is there really that much of difference?
We have enough saved for a 25% deposit, we are first time buyers and want to move quickly. From what I can see what you gain from one mortgage deal you get bitten somewhere else along the line.

Has anyone else recently bought a house and could they offer me some sensible advice/stories of how it went.

Already seen a house we are keen on and have a second viewing booked for Saturday.

[dvdx2]

25% is a great deposit. We went with the coventry and got a fixed 2 year of 3.55%

(That was with 15% deposit). Went as smooth as butter, but make sure you have lots of evidence; payslips/savings etc at the ready

Remember stamp duty (i think the halifax are paying this with one of their mortgages)

Book an app with a financial advisor and they will take you through all the best mortgage deals

[Brad]

I investigated a fair bit in March and ended up going with Santander. I did have 40% deposit though but unfortunately I can't remember if that had any bearing on things, I also can't remember what rate I got but basically it was the best and was fixed for 5 years. ?1000 fee but still ended up cheapest over 5 years. I also switched to their 1-2-3 current account ( a condition of the mortgage ) which has a ton of benefits and also their credit card. I now buy everything on credit card and pay the whole lot back each month and get 1% of the amount spent back into my account. I really could only find one other deal that came close and that was first direct but they are almost impossible to work with as they have no high street branch so require insane amounts of proof of ID (things that you will almost certainly not have and will have the ask the tax office for) and also want a ?2000 fee.

TL;DR go and see Santander.

EDIT: Santander will give you 2.5% fixed for 2 years (?1k booking fee). Looks like prices have gone up as a I'm pretty sure I got that for 5 years. Looks like they're scared of the long fixed terms now.

[charlesr]

I'm with Santander too.

My advice:

1) You are buying a home, not a house. It's not an investment. It's a giant money pit. In accounting terms it's a "liability". It's only an asset if it's a second house that you rent out to generate income.

2) Currently, mortgage rates are at an all time low. They can only go UP. Do not get fooled into thinking that these rates will stay this low forever and then losing your home when they rise and you drop off the end of the fixed rate.

3) Once you have considered taking into account point (1) to perhaps reduce the monthly amount you might spend, think about reducing it a little more. Then religiously overpay every single month so that the monthly amount reduces each month leaving you with even more to overpay, accelerating the overall term. Then be mortgage free far more quickly than you could have imagined otherwise, allowing you to buy somewhere bigger or more sensibly, reinvest.

I wish someone had told me this years ago. Short term sacrifice for long term awesomeness.

[Brad]

Good advice from the big man. I see Santander offer a 10 year fixed term now.

[fuse]

I wouldn't recommend going straight to a bank, but rather seeing an independent mortgage broker. The independent bit being highly important too; one of the estate agents I was viewing properties with were very keen to get me in to see their preferred financial advisor, who no doubt knew his stuff but was obviously going to be in a position to then tell the agents how much I could actually afford above prices I was putting in as an offer.

Many banks will offer additional perks if you're a long-term customer of theirs, but a good broker will take these details fully into account throughout the process too. I went to London & Country as a broker in the end, who I was v happy with. In the interests of transparency, my sister didn't like the chap she spoke to there recently, so, swings & roundabouts

[Kieran76]

Cheers for the advice people. My brother works in probate so a large part of his work is selling houses, so I am taking a fair bit of advice from him.

[Adrock]

I've moved twice in the last five years and I think fuse has it right for the actual mortgage. Go and see someone about the mortgage, they will have access to the entire market and tell you the best deals out there. Do try and get someone who is a personal recommendation though and truly independent from who you're dealing with. I have a feeling rules have changed now and they may charge whereas in the past they used to claim a fee from the company you took the mortgage out with.

Rates can vary wildly between banks so its definitely worth checking the entire market. My position is a lot worse than most of you guys, 10% equity in the property and no prospect of overpaying or anything like that. Ah well, lets just hope the rates dont skyrocket in the next few years or I could be homeless!

[QualityChimp]

We've just remortgaged and we consulted a mortgage specialist who was very good, so add another vote for that suggestion.

[Brad]

But YOU have access to the entire market too. Advisors are just getting paid to do something you could do yourself.

[QualityChimp]

Sorry, I should've mentioned we did a lot of looking ourselves too. When it's as important as your mortgage, you'd be daft not to!

He had access to more offers than we did, though, and got a deal better than anything we were able to find.

[Brad]

Orly? I didn't realise there were mortgages that are only available by going through a broker.
Some estate agent had their pleb looking for me but she couldn't beat the deal I found myself (presumably she had a restricted set to look at).

[fuse]

Brokers take their fees from the lenders, you don't pay them anything. You give your details to them once and then they can compare dozens of mortgage products quickly and objectively for you. I did all of this over the phone, and whilst I could certainly have gone to each of the different banks myself, I'd probably have needed to book a fortnight off work to do it, and then another week to sit perfectly still with my phone off to bring my blood pressure back down afterwards.

[Brad]

True, but the ones who don't charge you a fee don't check all the available deals so you have to look yourself too if you want to make sure you don't miss a better deal that they don't cover. If you want one who will look at every available deal then you'll have to pay them. It's only a couple of hundred quid or so usually but doing it yourself really isn't that difficult and you can use the money you save to buy half an xbone :-)

[Kieran76]

Just put in an offer. Hopefully they will accept. It is 5k under asking price. Dining room has a perfect alcove for a cab.