Couple looking for first mortgage

System

cheers for the advice, we have a piece of paper from the tsb to say that they will give us the mortgage otherwise we wouldnt have made the offer on it. Do you think fixed rate or tracker rates and i know that no one is going to know what will happen but people on here have some experience of things which is what comes in handy

Thrugelmir

bwfcmadlad wrote: »

Do you think fixed rate or tracker rates and i know that no one is going to know what will happen but people on here have some experience of things which is what comes in handy

If interest rates were to rise very quickly and steeply by say 2% could you afford it ?

If you opt for a fixed rate mortgage a longer term would be more preferable, say 5 years.

Besides the initial rate of interest. Read the small print to see what rate or basis the interest will be charged after the initial term has expired. Also factor in the cost of product charges in comparing different products.

surreybased

Hi,

Also consider how you and your g/f are buying this property - do make sure that you both have an exit plan if needed. What happens if you need to sell the house - do you just split the equity or potentially the loss? Sadly they ae many threads on here where couples buy and then need to sell..best get it all sorted now.

herbiesjp

nancyo wrote: »

Make sure you have a mortgage in place before submitting any offers...just to make sure you will get one ok - My partner and I have NO DEBT and earn around £65k a year and were unable to get a mortgage for £120k, still very unsure why - we are in the process of going to another lender!

Unless it is a deposit issue, or a problem with credit files, you should not be having any problems with those figures.

Be careful going direct to lenders, as too many credit searches could be doing you more harm than good.

herbiesjp

bwfcmadlad wrote: »

ok developents that have happened,

been to see the tsb and been approved for a mortgage up to £138000. Been to see a house that we like and was quoted 139995 but offered £120000 and had it accepted. Its a new house so hopefully that makes things easier. Now comes the tricky part of deciding which mortgage to go with. We have a £25000 deposit and LLoyds TSB have given us rates of 4.6% for a tracker or 5.6 for a fixed 2 year mortgage. Will be checking other providers but just wondering if anyone had any experience in our position and advice?

Well you can definitely get better rates.

It will all come down to the valuation, and whether it values up to the lower accepted offer.

System

what advice can you guys give regarding solicitors fees. We are currently looking around for the best deal on this and thought someone will have good advice on this as well. You have all been great so far

System

anyone have any ideas? What kind of ball park figure should we be looking at for the solicitors work?

MexPirate

I am paying just over £800 total to my solicitor - £350+VAT for his bit, the rest for searches, registrations etc (this is buying only, no house to sell) - should definately be less than £1000 unless you are doing additional, optional searches etc.

We went for an HSBC 90% LTV mortgage - 3.69% above base on a tracker (better than the rate you have been offered with a much lower LTV), would also recommend checking out First Direct - know that they offer 85% LTV deals and get a lot of positive feedback on here. Worth noting that HSBC & First Direct are both offering £99 arrangement fee, my valuation was only £147 with a £30 transfer charge total bill is only £276! On the tracker there is absolutly no tie-in, early repayment charges and they allow any overpayments with no limits, really worked for me - they didn't have any fixed deals that appealed to me though as 2 year seemed pointless and they couldn't offer me a 5 year fix.

Just a note, you shouldn't have to pay Stamp Duty or stamp duty land tax due to being a FTB and the value of the house - the solicitor still needs to send off some forms, mine does not charge for this but many seem to charge as much as £80 extra, breakdown is below:

Legal Fees £350
VAT £61.25

Electronic Transfer £35.25 (inc vat)

Land Registry Fee £200
Land Reg Search Fee £4
Bankruptcy Search £4
Local Search £83
Drainage Search £52.17
Stamp Duty £0
SDLT Return £0

Total £789.67

Optional extras:
Chancel Check £17.63
Chancel Insurance approx £45 (recommended to skip the check and just insure - worth it imo as I know it is ex CoE land and within a local parish area)
Enviromental Search: £41.95