First time buyer after some confidence!

Creditcardkid

Hello, I was after a second opinion from some people who know so any opinions and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

I am looking to buy my first place which is (hopefully) going to cost me £205,000. I have £65,000 as a deposit so need to find £140,000. I have no debts and earn between £34500 and £37500 each year.

The best mortgage I can find is 3.99% fixed for two years with an arrangement fee of £799. I have spoken to one whole of market broker who kept steering me towards a tracker mortgage for five years. The fact the estate agent was very keen for me to go to them makes me doubt their independance somewhat.

All this is very new to me and as I am trying to do it on my own I am worried I am missing something so any suggestions are very helpful.

Many thanks for any help.

Steve

Peelerfart

Do you feel confident in researching this yourself,with the ADVICE from this board ?

BenL

Have you run some mortgage quotes through moneysupermarket and the like to see if there are any deals the broker has not mentioned.

I have never been keen on the brokerrecommended by EA's. The EA works for the seller so now probably knows exactly how much you can afford and if their client can try to push you up on price.

There was a news story months ago about some deals not being available to brokers anymore. Something about lack of trust in them as they hadn't been checking incomes and wage slips properly and putting deals through they shouldn't.

Cannon_Fodder

Two years could be just the wrong amount of time, when rates have gone back up, post-election.

If the tracker can be exited from for no fee, maybe not a bad idea...but keep your eyes on the BoE.

If there are hefty early repayment charges for the first couple of years, that could make you feel tied in just when you need to switch to a fix.

Any 5-yr fixed deals suggested?

herbiesjp

EA advisers tend to have a panel of lenders and are tied to one company for protection needs (not all, but most)

I would ask them why they are steering you towards a 5 year tracker?

Is that what you want?

YOu should be telling the adviser what YOU want - i.e safety of a fixed rate, overpayments allowed etc.

If two years are what you are looking for, then there are some lower deals out there

theoretica

Some other things to think about are how secure your income is, how much it is likely to have risen in two/five years, and what is the maximum rate you could afford - if for instance you get a two year fix, but then interest rates have risen.

jhe

abbey were offering 2 year tracker mortgage max ltv 75%. arrangement fee of £495. 2.95% rate. think it has to be applied for directly to abbey if its still available.

Treadmill

First Direct have a 4.34 2 year fix with only a £99 booking fee for 75% LTV, only a couple of quid more a month initially but you'll pay less over the period of the fix if you include fees, In my humble opinion in todays market its best to keep fees down as they eat into your LTV.

ultramagnetic_commuter

BenL wrote: »

There was a news story months ago about some deals not being available to brokers anymore. Something about lack of trust in them as they hadn't been checking incomes and wage slips properly and putting deals through they shouldn't.

In my recent experience, the broker couldn't touch any of the competitive deals so I had to go direct. My circumstances are very 'normal' so maybe it's just those with more complex situations who would benefit from a broker.