Buying my first home....advice!!!!

evening_all

Hi,
me and my partner think were ready to buy our first home. We have a 10% deposit, we have budgeted, we know what we can afford, even down to what we will have left at the end of every month, we have viewed our property twice. Once on our own, 2nd time with parents. And we feel we are in a good position, we are first time buyers, no chain etc.
The house is up for £105,950, we can really only go to £100k, however the lower the better. What do you think we should be offering? Doing the research that we have some say we should offer around £10k below then others say dont go too low as you want to be taken seriously. Im secretly hoping we might get a cheeky low bid of £95-96k in, but then we dont know whether thats just taking the mick out of the seller?!

Also.....we seen the house through Bridgefords and when we rang up to enquire they told us we would need to sit down with one of their financial advisors, which we did (we were sceptical about this, thinking they would try flog us all sorts) but surprisingly we have been very impressed, they keep in touch with us, we have met with him 3 times, the last being today. We took our parents and made our mortgage in principle there and then, however were still unsure. Where does this guy make his money? (He works for Country Wide) we asked him do we pay for this service and he said no, he makes his money at the end from when we take out our mortgage the mortgage lender pays them a sum, so in effect is costs us nothing?! This sounds far too good to be true, we have had a lot of help of them, lots of advice and phonecalls, and something is not ringing true with us!

Is this the norm? Is there anything we need to be aware of before putting in an offer, if we do it through him...it just seems a lot of help that we arent paying for.

He has already said we dont have to take up his suggestions on solicitors if we can find cheapers ones ourselves....however he did mention about getting some "protection" in place for when we get the ball rolling....this to me sounds like he is going to try flog us some insurance at some point....

Can anyone advise on this?

Thanks!!!!!

secla

he`s a mortgage broker to she gets commision for "selling" a mortgage

which means he isnt neccesarily getting the best deal available for you.

evening_all

Thanks for the reply. Our mortgage broker is a whole market broker and searches across the whole board. He's actually found us a great one with Nat West, a lot better than anyone we've found during our research.

Do mortgage brokers like the one I've described make the money at the end of the deal by making commission off the lenders for securing a mortgage? Bear in mind this is a free service he is offering to us.

secla

if he`s not charging you then yes, he will be getting a commision for arranging the mortgage for you

evening_all

Thanks again, does anyone know if as he's offering this free service that he will be trying to sell us things further down the line? As we've no experience with dealing with brokers, especially free ones what to expect when it comes to the nitty gritty.

Mankysteve

Well you can expect him to find you the mortgage he/she thinks he/she can get you to sign for but makes him the most commission.

evening_all

What do people think about making an offer on the house at say £97,500 for a £105.950 house? Think we're gonna submit out first offer at some point this afternoon.

Cheers everyone so far for your help.

LittleMissKitty

I don't think that's too low at all for a first offer. Just bear in mind 99per cent of first offers are rejected, maybe try £96500 as a start? Gives you more flexibility with negotiating later on.

Kitty x

evening_all

LittleMissKitty wrote: »

I don't think that's too low at all for a first offer. Just bear in mind 99per cent of first offers are rejected, maybe try £96500 as a start? Gives you more flexibility with negotiating later on.

Kitty x

Excellent, thanks for that. Was thinking the same to be honest. Just waiting on a few questions to be answered from the Vendor we forgot to ask when we visited then after speaking with my partner, who is at work I think I'll give the mortgage advisor a call and get the offer in.

Thanks again everyone.

Fire_Fox

I would go in £95K, £97.5K is way too close you your maximum of £100K - that is a maximum not where you want to go to! Make sure you state your strong position clearly, FTBs in a proceedable position. Have you instructed a solicitor? You should have his name and address ready.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1907059

bryanb

Bear in mind that the lender's surveyor will probably value it less than you've offered.