Good mortgage for us?

newhome4us

Hi!
Hope to get some advice on good mortgage deals that are currently available. Have done a lot of research already and made lots of phone calls, but still feel a bit lost

Basically it seems that whenever we find a deal that sound ok-ish and we then dig little bit deeper to find out more, somehow we fail to fulfill all their criteria, or vice versa they fail to fulfill ours!!

So here it goes - this is us!
First time buyers, 15% deposit, need to borrow around 3.75 times our combined income

This is what we need!
Mortgage for flat (maisonette) in ex-council brick building (now leasehold with lease in excess of 110 years)
Building is 6 floors overall - flat is on floors 4 and 5
We're looking for either 3-5 years fixed deal with a good interest rate, or even better a capped tracker also for 3-5 years
Preferably a lender that has a more "relaxed approach" to retirement age, so that we could borrow over longer term, but this is not necessary

All suggestions welcome

Thanks

dimbo61

Have you tried the Yorkshire Building Society

newhome4us

dimbo61 wrote: »

Have you tried the Yorkshire Building Society

Yeah, they seem to be ok for most criteria but not on affordability, bit short from the amount we'd need
Do you have any experience with them - how strict are lenders with that?

beecher2

I'd go to a mortgage adviser and get them to advise you on what the best options would be.

newhome4us

beecher2 wrote: »

I'd go to a mortgage adviser and get them to advise you on what the best options would be.

That was the first thing we did - unfortunately it seems that most mortgage advisors these days have their own agenda much more firmly in mind than that one of their customers
For what is worth they did advise on couple of lenders they could get us mortgage with, but interest rate is very high... it seems most good mortgage deals these days come only from lender directly.... which makes sense if you think about it, no commission to pay to mortgage advisor means the benefit is passed on to the customer. Still it makes looking for it a rather big undertaking!

xcapade

newhome4us wrote: »

That was the first thing we did - unfortunately it seems that most mortgage advisors these days have their own agenda much more firmly in mind than that one of their customers
For what is worth they did advise on couple of lenders they could get us mortgage with, but interest rate is very high... it seems most good mortgage deals these days come only from lender directly.... which makes sense if you think about it, no commission to pay to mortgage advisor means the benefit is passed on to the customer. Still it makes looking for it a rather big undertaking!

Hi, I can not entirely agree with you on three points you mention:

1) "Mortgage Advisors have their own agenda", reason I disagree is because the FSA will look at the "Reasons why letter" and all research carried out to understand why the mortgage advisor has suggested you go with a higher rate lender in comparison to a lower rate lender if there was one available. As I understand you are a First Time Buyer, you may not understand the final process in which a mortgage application is completed (please excuse my assumption if I am incorrect here). In the "Reasons why letter" the mortgage advisor is required to give a comparison of all, if not the first maybe 30 rates that were available to you and your financial circumstance from the "whole of the market" (based on you approaching a whole of the market broker). They must follow the TCF (Treating Customers Fairly) principles two of which state:

Outcome 2: Products and services marketed and sold in the retail market are designed to meet the needs of identified consumer groups and are targeted accordingly.

and

Outcome 4: Where consumers receive advice, the advice is suitable and takes account of their circumstances.

The mortgage broker will need to justify why he/she suggested you go with one lender in comparison to another.

2)"it seems most good mortgage deals these days come only from lender directly", reason I disagree here is most mortgage lenders recognise potential clients will visit a broker and thus give mortgage brokers "Exclusive rates". These rates are not available to the high street and to mortgage brokers that are part of different networks. The common reason I have found clients visiting me is due to high street lender declining the client a mortgage. Also there are lenders that do not exist on the high street for example Platform, Coventry, etc to mention a few who have very competitive rates and sometimes on top of the mortgage sourcing screen.

Finally

3)"no commission to pay to mortgage advisor means the benefit is passed on to the customer" , The mortgage broker under FSA regulation must allow you to choose if you are happy to pay a commission amount to the broker. In section 4 of the Initial Disclosure Document (IDD) broker must give you 3 options and you simply tick the one you are happy with:
option 1) No fee, will be paid by commission from lender
option 2) A fee of X% of the amount borrowed and we will refund any commission.
option 3) A fee of X% of the amount borrowed and we will be paid commission from the lender

The broker is required to explain all broker costs to you from the moment you meet. The charges they have commonly are for administration of your mortgage as it will require a member of staff to input data and source you the best deal based on your circumstance. A mortgage application can take upto 8weeks in some cases where documents are being sent back and forth and endless emails along with phone calls. This occurs when the lender requires more information about the client, such as : where the deposit has come from.

To answer your question, the deciding factor for you to use a broker is based on how exclusive the rate he/she is providing you. Do not forget you can get KFI`s from mortgage brokers and information regarding lenders and then go direct to the lenders that are accessible to you, if you wish as it is entirely your choice.

You could approach other brokers, establish what sector of the market they deal with i.e. whole or a panel of lenders and compare costs.

(Please note any information in this post is not directed as advice of any sort)

newhome4us

xcapade wrote: »

Hi, I can not entirely agree with you on three points you mention:

1) "Mortgage Advisors have their own agenda", reason I disagree is because the FSA will look at the "Reasons why letter" and all research carried out to understand why the mortgage advisor has suggested you go with a higher rate lender in comparison to a lower rate lender if there was one available. As I understand you are a First Time Buyer, you may not understand the final process in which a mortgage application is completed (please excuse my assumption if I am incorrect here). In the "Reasons why letter" the mortgage advisor is required to give a comparison of all, if not the first maybe 30 rates that were available to you and your financial circumstance from the "whole of the market" (based on you approaching a whole of the market broker). They must follow the TCF (Treating Customers Fairly) principles two of which state:

Outcome 2: Products and services marketed and sold in the retail market are designed to meet the needs of identified consumer groups and are targeted accordingly.

and

Outcome 4: Where consumers receive advice, the advice is suitable and takes account of their circumstances.

The mortgage broker will need to justify why he/she suggested you go with one lender in comparison to another.

No offense but as you are obviously mortgage advisor yourself I understand you'd disagree on those points
In ideal world I'm sure all mortgage advisors would be great, in real world unfortunately that's not the case As for FSA's guidelines, those are only as good as they are enforceable - in other words if we were to take it to FSA to complain then I'm sure that would be the case, but as I have no time or inclination to do that I can base my opinion on my experience, after all that is what we all do. Not all mortgage brokers will be the same, but ours didn't seem to care much about getting us the best deal... I am sorry if that makes my remarks offensive to all other good honest brokers out there! Maybe you care to give me better advice than what we were given?:)

2)"it seems most good mortgage deals these days come only from lender directly", reason I disagree here is most mortgage lenders recognise potential clients will visit a broker and thus give mortgage brokers "Exclusive rates". These rates are not available to the high street and to mortgage brokers that are part of different networks. The common reason I have found clients visiting me is due to high street lender declining the client a mortgage. Also there are lenders that do not exist on the high street for example Platform, Coventry, etc to mention a few who have very competitive rates and sometimes on top of the mortgage sourcing screen.

This might well be the case, but these "exclusive rates" were not offered to us... and as a matter of fact our broker simply couldn't match any of the best deals out there, i.e. post office, norwich and peterborough, yorkshire building society... all available only directly from lender?

Finally

3)"no commission to pay to mortgage advisor means the benefit is passed on to the customer" , The mortgage broker under FSA regulation must allow you to choose if you are happy to pay a commission amount to the broker. In section 4 of the Initial Disclosure Document (IDD) broker must give you 3 options and you simply tick the one you are happy with:
option 1) No fee, will be paid by commission from lender
option 2) A fee of X% of the amount borrowed and we will refund any commission.
option 3) A fee of X% of the amount borrowed and we will be paid commission from the lender

The broker is required to explain all broker costs to you from the moment you meet. The charges they have commonly are for administration of your mortgage as it will require a member of staff to input data and source you the best deal based on your circumstance. A mortgage application can take upto 8weeks in some cases where documents are being sent back and forth and endless emails along with phone calls. This occurs when the lender requires more information about the client, such as : where the deposit has come from.

What I meant by "no commission to pay to mortgage advisor means the benefit is passed on to the customer" is the benefit in sense of more favourable interest rate. It seems that more and more lenders are choosing to offer their deals only directly and those seam to be the best rates... I am not talking about difficult mortgages, but more straight forward cases, where customer is looking for a good deal rather then a wizard broker who'd be able to get mortgage where mortgage is not obtainable? Hope that makes sense.

23rdspiral

xcapade wrote: »

The common reason I have found clients visiting me is due to high street lender declining the client a mortgage....
...(Please note any information in this post is not directed as advice of any sort)

hello xcapade, it sounds like you are in the business, like quite a few others giving advice here, in which case i believe MSE would like you to state this clearly in your signature.