Broker won't get back to us - can we go it alone??

birmanza

We contacted a broker before Christmas as we were getting ready to buy a house but we wanted to wait until our current mortgage's fixed rate ran out (now!!)
Then a few weeks ago our previous Broker contacted us to tell us our mortgage was due to expire and I contacted him and explained we wanted to change our current mortgage to a buy to let and buy another house, after a week he sent the best 25 deals for both mortgages and I contacted him immediately to tell him we wanted to proceed straight away. He said he would phone the following day to arrange an appointment to come and sort it all out. He didnt. Basically I have phoned every day for a week and left messages and had other people tell me he will phone back etc but he never has. After 10 days, (on Monday) my husband phoned the broker we spoke to before christmas and told him we wanted to proceed immediately he said he would phone Wednesday, he didnt. My husband left a message and has also phoned today but he has not returned our calls... I am completely exasperated! We need to move now as our present mortgage has expired and will jump up to 7.25% Is this normal behaviour from brokers, I dont remember any trouble last time. Can we go it alone and contact Northern Rock directly ( they seemed to have the best offer for the purchase..) and West Brom for the buy to let or do we really need a broker to sort it out for us, we are Self Cert, owe 74,000 on our present house which we wish to change to buy to let but at 85,000 ( house is worth 140,000) and we need a self cert purchase mortgage for 140,000 for the house we are buying for 165,000....
Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
Angela

LisaT186

Oh dear, sounds like you have not had a good experience of brokers! Please don't take it as representative of the industry.

You could go it alone, but I would say in your situation a broker would be best. With Self-cert and Buy to let involved there can be other deals that are only available through them. Plus putting the two deals together could be quite time consuming!

Do you have any friends that could perhaps make a recommendation to another broker?

birmanza

The thing is do we approach yet another broker, explain it all again and waste more time, we need to move fast now! How long would it take with L&C does anyone know??

PBA

You may as well just go straight to the lender. They may even be able to do better deals if you deal with them direct as they don't have to pay the broker's commission. If you already know which deals you want there's no need to get another broker.

toonfish

PBA wrote:

You may as well just go straight to the lender. They may even be able to do better deals if you deal with them direct as they don't have to pay the broker's commission. If you already know which deals you want there's no need to get another broker.

what if they don't meet the lender's criteria?

There are a few lenders that only deal direct eg ING and EGG but it's unlikely you will get a better deal going direct with other lenders, the opposite is often the case. They don't need to pay broker commission, but have to pay their own staff and cover the liability for the advice.

You need to find a more reliable broker though

herbiesjp

Hi Angela

Just curious - why do you need to go self cert? Are you 100% sure that is the only option available to you?

birmanza

Yes, I believe we must self cert as my husband is self employed. My husband text the broker this morning asking him to phone us today and was he experiencing any problems, that we needed to move quickly. He text back saying he was waiting for some more information and would phone us at lunchtime and that he thought he would have an offer we would be pleased with. I got all excited thinking he was actually going to phone... He didn't!!!
Dont know what to do, it's now a month since we tried to start proceedings to get 2 mortgages and we have nothing to show for it!! Change brokers again? Anyone know of any fast working reliable one in the greater Manchester area??

herbiesjp

HI Angela

This does sound strange - obviously your broker does not rely on repeat business from his clients otherwise he would be sorting this out for you like a flash (unless he has made promises he cannot deliver, a bit unfair of me to make this assumption, but I don't understand why he can't get back in contact with you)

Just because your husband is self employed does not necessarily mean you have to go for a self cert mortgage.

What are the figures you are looking at:
Purchase price?
Deposit available?
Mortgage amount needed?
Your income?
Your husbands Net profit for the last 3 years? (do you have accounts or self assessment forms?

Uncle_Fester_2

Google 'Moneyquest' end of Story

birmanza

Hi thanks for your reply.
purchase price 165000
deposit 25000
mortgage needed 140000
joint income 45000

buy to let house (present house)
value 140000
mortgage owed 74000

have heard from second broker after much harassment today he suggests best loan is 5.19% buy to let house and 6% for new house, bit disappointed really, he says he is waiting for more quotes and may find better deal. Think at this point we will go elsewhere, 6% seems a bit steep to me!! anyone dealt with birmingham midshires ???

birmanza

Moneyquest is not whole of market and seems to be if you want to borrow more than 150000 - so not applicable to us - just!!