Mortgage Broker sought/recommended MEGATHREAD

[chem1st 10]

If you buy when interest rates are high, and interest rates fall, so does your mortgage servicing cost.

 

If you buy when they are low and they rise, so does your mortgage servicing cost.

 

Assuming you borrow responsibly in either case...

 

Do you want to be in a position where the costs are likely to fall, or rise?

[BigAl#13 10]

Simon - thanks for the link, I shall add them to the list.

 

Chemist - I appreciate the advice, and believe me I shall not be over stretching, I've got a ball park of what I am willing to pay out every month and done some rough calcs to work out what would happen should a interest rate rise come (which undoubtedly it will). So my partner and I have agreed to place a fixed amount in to an account which will bank us a not unsubstancial amount each month in excess to cover most events.

 

NewBiz - I assume by lenders you mean people like HSBC - If I am an account holder there, then there might be better deals avaliable to me than to a broker? If so, I am planning on also having the obligatory bank manager/advisor chat as well.

[NewBiz 10]

NewBiz - I assume by lenders you mean people like HSBC - If I am an account holder there, then there might be better deals avaliable to me than to a broker? If so, I am planning on also having the obligatory bank manager/advisor chat as well.

 

Yes lenders are banks and building societies. The fact you've got an account with HSBC might just make them more likely to lend to you, but I doubt very much that it would impact on the deal you'd get per se.

 

If you Google compare mortgages or similar search term, there are loads of sites where you can look at what's on offer. It's possible that not all of them are available through an advisor, because as I said the lender usually pays the advisor a fee, so if there is no advisor, the lender doesn't have a fee to pay, so can pass the saving onto the borrower. The majority of deals though are available through an advisor. The fees involved aren't normally very great, and for a FTB it is often well worth foregoing any additional saving, for the help and advice an advisor can give.

[Cyclone 10]

I found the mortgage advisor at a high street estate agent to be pretty useless to be honest. I used moneysupermarket and did my own research, went to the bank and spoke to them, and took out that mortgage.

[L00b 441]

I found the mortgage advisor at a high street estate agent to be pretty useless to be honest.

Wasn't W.H.Brown perchance, was it?

 

They lied to me, to get me into their office for a hard sale of mortgage products & advice (they had pretexted a solvency check, even after I had my bank fax them pre-approval for mortgage level, on letterhead, twice - they claimed never to have received the faxes, and not once did they conduct any solvency check until the hard sale began).

 

Needless to say, I told the mortgage advisor exactly what I thought of his company and their practices, and stormed off. Sent them a bill for wasting my time as well (at my full hourly rate) but couldn't be bothered chasing it through the small claims.

Edited July 20, 2012 by Jeffrey Shaw
'Masked' obscenity removed

[Cyclone 10]

No, blundells.

[Lemony 10]

Hi everyone!

 

Thanks so much for all your advice! In the end I went for a mortgage advisor (Paul, Optimum Solutions) and found a great deal. He charged a modest fee and this means Paul will advise on all future mortgages/remortgages at no further cost.

 

Also got a financial advisor, Raj @ Blue Wealth. So far happy but it's early days... will keep you all posted.

[Cyclone 10]

Did Paul find you something that you couldn't have found on moneysupermarket yourself?

[Lemony 10]

Yes... time!

 

Not trying to be flippant. This was my first response to your question. Also, I'm going to move house in a few months so Paul came up with a suggestion that I would never have thought of that works well for me and saves me money.

 

So probably also yes to finding something I couldn't have found myself.

 

That said, if you have lots of time in your hands you could find a good deal by yourself of course! But are you saving money if you're spending lots of hours doing this? It's better for me to use the time for work and family.

[Cyclone 10]

If it took a lot of time I'd agree.

 

It took me about 30 minutes to do some research on moneysupermarket, it took me just as long to speak to the MB at the estate agents, and as she couldn't include all the mortgages in the market, her best idea would have cost me significantly more than the one I'd already identified.

She also suggested that I was going to have trouble getting the one I'd found (I wanted to use business equity as a repayment vehicle for an interest only mortgage), HSBC didn't bat an eyelid though.

She tried her best to stop me even going to speak to them though, despite the fact that they were offering a deal better than anything she could find.

[Paul2412 10]

I have a mortgage on a place in the city centre with Santander that I am currently renting out short term (I'm currently in Australia).

 

Now I'm thinking that I'd quite like to stay here longer term, and would rather switch the mortgage I currently have to a buy to let mortgage.

 

My mortgage is fixed for 4 years (purchased October 2009). Some other information:

 

Purchase price: 123,500

Mortgage (2009): 105,000

Repayments: 583 PCM

Current rent received: 650 PCM

 

I used Danny_Boy who is registered on here before, but haven't been able to contact him in a while so if there is anyone else who would be interested in helping me I'd appreciate it.

[Eckolad 10]

Would you have any issues as you are currently residing (and i assume earning) in Australia?

 

As i am lucky to have never needed a mortgage i dont really know anything about them