How to keep great mortgage if gap between buying and selling?

malcolmcoles

I'm on the Nationwide's BMR (so 2% over base rate). And I'm also now self employed, which I wasn't when I got the mortgage.

If I sell our current house without having found a new one (we're moving to a new part of the country), is there any way to hang on to the mortgage in the interim? EG my parents' house is mortgage free - could I pay off all but £5k of the mortgage and secure that amount against their home (with their consent!)? Then when I find a new house, I could increase the mortgage back up to its original value (it allows overpayments and then withdrawals of the overpayments) and switch it to the new property.

Is this feasible?

If I have to take out a new mortgage then (a) I might not get one as big and (b) it would be a worse deal...

Thrugelmir

malcolmcoles wrote: »

Is this feasible?

Simply put. No.

Make the most of the current rate to boost your savings or pay down your existing mortgage.

As you'll be lucky to get 2% above base again as a mortgage rate.

ab7167

Nationwide allow you a 6 month gap between selling and buying, I ported my BMR mortgage with a 4 month gap. But you do need to pass the credit checks again....

kingstreet

... and you'll need to satisfy lending criteria and that might be difficult if you're newly self-employed!

malcolmcoles

ab7167: Thanks, I just rang them and the 6 months thing applies. Hooray! Thanks.

maryhillgirl

Is it likely that ALL lenders allow a small gap between selling and purchase? Eldest son is in the process of moving - the sale of his house in Yorkshire is 2 weeks ahead of his purchase in Lancashire His buyer needs completion by last week in August (to rent out to students) His mortgage is a great deal with Britannia which he's desperate not to lose and he's worried that he'll lose it if the purchase of his new house remains 2 weeks behind the sale of his old one...

kriss_boy

Im a similar position.

We were overpaying our 0.5% above the BoE tracker until it dawned on me this could transpire to be one of the cheapest mortgages we may ever have.

Am I correct in thinking that we may as well put the money in savings accounts, rather than overpaying our very cheap mortgage?

Should we perhaps overpay it by a nominal fee so that on paper it shows us in a good light?

kingstreet

All lenders vary in their approach to portability. Ring each one for specific information.

kriss_boy - pay your contractual minimum payment only and put the capital somewhere you can get a rate higher than the mortgage. Keep under review in case the rate difference disappears/reverses.

Thrugelmir

kriss_boy wrote: »

Am I correct in thinking that we may as well put the money in savings accounts, rather than overpaying our very cheap mortgage?

Yes, providing you don't succumb to temptation and spend/waste the accumulated savings on something else.