First Time Buyer Needing Advice!!!

goneshopping

I'm a FTB looking to purchase a house I have seen.

I will be purchasing on my own so am looking for a fixed mortgage ideally for 5 years.

I am looking to borrow £80 - 85k on a property worth £125K

I'm very confused on whether to try and attempt to source a mortgage myself, use a broker go to my bank????

I have a solicitor already in place so don't need to worry about that but that's about it!!

Any advice anyone can give would be greatly received.

Thanks

Dave_Ham

Its entirely personal choice.

Last place you want to go is the Estate Agents mind you..

Please ask any more specific questions and good luck...

goneshopping

Hi Dave, What additional information would you need to give me more advice?

I'm more than happy to look at any medium to obtain my mortgage but am obviously looking for the best deal around . . . . as i'm sure everyone is!!

It's about 30/35 years since my parents took out their mortgage so their knowledge is way out of date!!!

Dave_Ham

I suppose the key is; will someone experienced find you a better product than you will find yourself on the open market.. More importantly including any fees, will you still be better off.

You can categorise into a few segments:

Your bank - typically people feel safer although remember they can offer 1 set of products, 1 set of criteria and sometimes it is a non advised service.

Estate Agent Broker - Steer clear in my opinion, usually higher costs, less experienced and share information with Estate Agents when they should not..

Whole of market broker - Usually you can get one fee free (MSE advocates many of these) these can be fee free although can select from specific lenders who would pay a commission to the broker.

Independent advice - you pay an upfront fee, although get advice across the entire marketplace to ensure the most suitable deal is sourced.

Quite often it is personal choice, although it is important to try and get the best advice available...

Lokolo

I used a broker (whole of market) and couldn't be happier. There were cheaper deals available (Post Office who I heard are terrible and Birmingham Midshires who I didn't mind but meh).

The advisor gave me a number of deals which I go to choose from, unfortuantely for her the best one for me paid her the least amount of money. I then got an AIP from the provider and just put in an offer.

I got the advisor through work but I suspect if it wasn't like this I would have gone for an Independant fee based advisor.

ACG

As Dave says its entirely down to yourself.
If you go direct, there are some good deals out there (although they seem to be stricter on criteria for some of them).

A broker will do most of the work for you, they may or may not charge a fee depending on the type of broker and their fee structure. They will find you a good deal, it might not be the best but it certainly wont be a bad deal. They basically take away any stresses that may arise and can help with any questions concerns etc.

Nobody can tell you what you should do, its a personal preference for each person.
Personally, i would avoid the bank - if i were going to a bank i may aswell just find a non fee charging advisor - atleast then you have the option of a lot of different lenders rather than just the 1.

Yorkie1

As a FTB who didn't know much about mortgages, I was happy to use a broker to advise me and assist with the application.

Next time round, I'll feel far more confident in sourcing mortgage products myself.

As others have said, what suits one person might be different for another.

LLouiseR

I bought my first house last year and found the mortgage deal myself - no broker.
I used the governments moneyadviceservice website and you can compare mortgage products on there.
I'm fairly lucky that I can understand most of the jargon and am happy with the mortgage I have. But I'll happily admit I don't completely understand an 'off-set' mortgage and how it would work for me - so I avoided them. If you go to a broker they may be able to explain the different product types better.

jone5y

I am currently buying my second home and for both I tried a broker - on both occasions I was told unequivocally that I wouldn't be able to get a mortgage but I have on both occasions, moral of my story if at first you dont succeed definitely don't give up!

Oh and yes I took great delight in telling both brokers that I'd done it on my own (especially as one was really rude when he initial looked at my case; as if I was wasting his time because he couldn't get a commission)...