# Mortgage's, where to start for a first timer.



## Trig (Jun 9, 2008)

The missis and I are starting to think about taking the plunge and buying, now, Im under the impression that you have to have a mortgage in place before you start thrashing out details with sellers, but where do you really start?

Do we need to see a mortgage advisor or is it something that a few hours researching can guide you in the right direction? Ive glanced at the mortgage info on moneysupermarket and see what I consider to be reasonable rates, could a broker really do better? and if so, would it be better to pay the advisor their rate and take what they find?

It seems as though it would be quite easy to lose alot of money making silly wrong decisions, which I would rather not do.

Any help from you guys would be really appreciated


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## PDK (Apr 14, 2008)

2009/2010 will see the lowest base rate ever in the history of the UK.

With that in mind I would be looking for a low rate fixed for 5 years, with a low or zero product fee.

As the rates have came down, those (me included) have benefited from tracker products, I think we could see the base rate hit 0.5% - which is great for those on such trackers.

But the base rate wont stay at that for long, its only a short term measure to boost the economy, meaning that if you do take a tracker, be prepared for it to rise in the coming years, and don’t and I'll stress this again, don’t go for a tracker/var rate which you can afford now, what if the rate goes back up to 4/5% again, will you be able to afford it?

I would and I am looking for a 5 year fixed deal at the lowest rate possible, to keep payments low.

Banks are under an increasing amount of pressure to lower mortgage rates, and I'm in favour of that, but what everyone needs to bear in mind is this:

Banks borrow at libor, say for example you have a bank which has borrowed £50m paying a rate interest of 4%, do you really think they will lend this at a loss? Of course they won’t.

Your best bet will be an independent broker, which has access to the whole of market - remember, 99% of the time brokers will have access to the same rates as a high street bank, a high street bank can not search the market, they can advise in which of their current offerings are best for you.

Hope this helps.


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## WHIZZER (Oct 25, 2005)

Pm David g he is a FA


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## snapsnap (Jul 18, 2008)

I have had good service from these guys in the past..http://www.lcplc.co.uk they were even honest enough to say one time - "just stay with your lender, its pretty much the best deal out there!"

Although the base rate is low, in my experience this is not translating into a 'good' morgage deal - the deal i had 3 years ago is better than the 'deal' I can get now, which is rather ironic to say the least!!


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## richjohnhughes (Sep 24, 2007)

snapsnap said:


> I have had good service from these guys in the past..http://www.lcplc.co.uk they were even honest enough to say one time - "just stay with your lender, its pretty much the best deal out there!"
> 
> Although the base rate is low, in my experience this is not translating into a 'good' morgage deal - the deal i had 3 years ago is better than the 'deal' I can get now, which is rather ironic to say the least!!


this company used to be one of my clients - they are ok, little bit of a factory, if you know what i mean.

the market is great for you at the minute mate - its a buyers market and even better that you are a first time buyer with no chain.

i wouldnt try to arrange the mortgage yourself - talk to a IFA or a mortgage broker. there is so many things to consider and the information you see on the internet might be a little misleading.

YOU DONT PAY FOR MORTGAGE ADVICE !!!!

you really need to talk to someone before you start looking to confirm how much you can borrow. different lenders will give different amounts.

two things to take into - amount of deposit you have and your credit history. these two things will have a big impact on the amount of borrowing and the rate you will pay.

something else to remember - a whole of market ifa /broker is NOT whole of market! (strange)

your bank will offer you deals direct to you that a broker wont be able to offer. its worth talking to them.

good luck.


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## PDK (Apr 14, 2008)

richjohnhughes said:


> something else to remember - a whole of market ifa /broker is NOT whole of market! (strange)
> 
> your bank will offer you deals direct to you that a broker wont be able to offer. its worth talking to them.
> 
> good luck.


Don't think this is true; brokers who advertise they are whole of the market (available market) if they were not the FSA would have a field day.

Granted there may be some product available which may not be through the broker network, these will most likely be linked to a current acc.


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## richjohnhughes (Sep 24, 2007)

trust me , its true !! 

lenders will offer special rates to existing customers which are not avalible anywhere else. 

also, there will be special rates listed for certain networks only - if a broker isnt a member, they cant have the rate. 

The name "whole of market" relates only to what lenders a broker can use - NOT what products. 

my mortgage is with HSBC (my bank) it was the best deal for me at the time and the only way to get it was directly with HSBC - a whole of market broker couldnt have got me that deal.


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## .Martin (May 2, 2007)

Jesus all this mortgage malarky is confusing!









I aint looking forward to it when my time comes (hopefully within the next year)


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## Deanoecosse (Mar 15, 2007)

If your a first time buyer, I hope you've got a decent deposit saved up. When I was renewing my deal last month, the consultant was saying that they now wont lend any higher than 80% of LTV, and a number of other lenders LTV% is even lower. So for someone trying to get on the property ladder and buying say a £100k flat, thats a £20grand deposit you'll need in your pocket, plus fees, furniture costs etc!


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## dominic84 (Jan 27, 2007)

> If your a first time buyer, I hope you've got a decent deposit saved up. When I was renewing my deal last month, the consultant was saying that they now wont lend any higher than 80% of LTV, and a number of other lenders LTV% is even lower. So for someone trying to get on the property ladder and buying say a £100k flat, thats a £20grand deposit you'll need in your pocket, plus fees, furniture costs etc!


Good points, and to the OP maybe you should hold off for another year as house prices are predicted to fall between 10-15% this year so you could see up to £15 000 wiped off the value of a £100 000 property by the end of the year.


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## Trig (Jun 9, 2008)

Thanks for the guidance guys.

Ive seen all the gloom mongers going on about how values will drop up to 15% further, but lets face it, chances are they wont. People wont sell for less than they paid, and given how often people move and what the prices have been like for the past 5 years or so, people wont sell unless they really have to because they are going to lose alot of money, it wont be long before there are a great deal more buyers out there than people willing to take a loss on what they paid, so prices will rise pretty sharply once we hit that point.

And given the sort of properties we are looking at, people are marketing them at what they have paid plus fee's, so the prices wont come down any further. I have had a quick lok round and used the various mortgage calculators, we could be loaned anything between 200 and 300k given our circumstances and deposit and there seems to be more and more deals coming around every week, I know the mortgage market is in a massively different state now to what it was even a month ago.


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## APK (Oct 6, 2008)

As a broker myself, I thought I could clarify a few points here, "whole of market" according to FSA rules means able to offer deals representative of the whole market, which in the current climate could be from 6 lenders, as very few have competitive deals at the moment (myself I can use 80-90 lenders, which I feel is genuinely whole of market) 

A few lenders do occasionally offer direct deals, just as they will also offer exclusive deals through certain groups of brokers.

Fees are a contentious subject, some charge, some don't, try to find someone who does not.

The benefit of going through a broker is that they will do the legwork for you and find you the best deal, also if you need to change lender the broker has all of your info, and so you will not need to spend another 2 hours with another lennder.

As a first time buyer, I would recommend you speak to a broker, to establish what you could borrow given your income/budget/credit history and deposit (you will need at least 10%) then get them to get you an agreement in principle from a lender (any lender) once you have this the agents will take you seriously, and accept your offer, once your offer is accepted, then go back and look at the deals again, as they are changing constantly.

With regards to falling values, are you buying a home or an investment? if a home, now is a good time to buy as you can bargain hard, if an investment, who knows?


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## Trig (Jun 9, 2008)

Thanks.

Would I be safe enough going to see the mortgage specialist in an estate agents? One of the properties I have spotted, the agent has a morgage broker service, so to speak to them, would it be a conflict of interest or would they be more inclined to find us a good deal because they could get a sale out of it?


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