First time buyers - broker or no broker is the question

SummerRainDrop

What do you think about brokers and upfront fee vs paying the fee in the end? Pros? Cons?

Dave_Ham

Personally, I would pay for the right independent broker which is typically upfront...

SummerRainDrop

Morning all

I don't want to spam MSE with a different thread, so will ask here. Do we go to a broker/apply for a mortgage in principle prior to or after looking at properties?

We were thinking bout getting a general idea of how much we can borrow from online calculators, look at properties and if or when we decide to put an offer, go to a broker/lenders.
Is that ok? Or is it supposed to be the other way around?

Also, just read the other topic about 6 years of addresses that you need.
I came to the UK 7 years ago and my partner came to the UK 8 years ago.
My partner lived on uni campus in year 1 and has been renting afterwards, so 6 years of addresses where he was on the contract and has had bills on his name.
I lived on uni campus for year 1 and lived with my partner for year 2 and 3, but was not on contract for the property and had no bills on my name. So 4 years of being on a contract and having my name on bills.
Would that be a problem?

malcolmffc

AIPs aren't worth much but they are good for giving a seller confidence that your purchase is likely to go through when you make an offer.

Dave_Ham

Will not make a huge difference, so long as you have established credit lines (credit cards, utilities, sky/virgin)

Another good reason to see a broker and present them the full information.

Best practice is to achieve an Agreement In Principle first. I would additionally say seeing a broker makes sense firstly, in case you do not feel comfortable with them or do not want to use them after meeting them.

I say this because from the very second you put an offer in, the Estate Agents are likely to be all over you wanting AIP's and then valuation dates and proof of deposit and whatever else pops into their mind. It becomes a race for them and if you have not organised an Independent Mortgage Broker, this may not happen as quickly as they want and then subject to interest in the property it will be a horrible experience for you.

You can go as planned, just be prepared for the Estate Agent experience. Have a look through the House Buying and Selling sub forum and you will get a decent feel...

SummerRainDrop

Thank you for the responses! MSE and all the people here are great!

rickydark

Im a FTB, hoping to exchange contracts tomorrow!

I was against a mortgage broker initially, until the person Im purchasing with went in to have a chat. The mortgage we were offered saved around £117 a month, compared to the ones we were finding online from the same lender.

Also had our case pushed through in certain cases (as she claimed to know management), rather than being told im waiting in a queue.