FTB - direct or through a broker?

Dave_Ham

Cor blimey - confused..

Sounds like a day in my office....

I think it is almost accepted by most folks on here; if you know what you are doing, have a straightforward case (in the lenders eyes and not the clients) then going directly is almost certainly going to save you money...

If you are all of the above and a first time buyer, sometimes you could do with a broker to do the hand holding, late night panic calls, support when the Estate Agents push their luck and help communicating what Solicitors are trying to say and want..

If you have a non straightforward case, this is where us brokers can usually save money and ensure a less stressful process.

Unless of course you call up MSN and ask for some fella called Kings....

WileyE

In my experience (as a recent FTB), going with a broker IS less stressful although in hindsight, there's very little to get stressed about. There are some great tools online (Mortage Workout, Defaqto's Mortgage finder etc) which search the whole of the market and allow you to find the best deals quickly.

Remember - if you do use a broker, try to find a independent who is whole of market.

[Deleted User]

WileyE wrote: »

Remember - if you do use a broker, try to find a independent who is whole of market.

But you still need to remember that 'whole of market' doesn't actually mean 'any possible lender'. There are mainstream lenders who do not go via brokers (i.e. they don't give the kickbacks that keep brokers employed)

You know that free broker? You know that £1000 mortgage administration fee? Where do you think some of that administration fee is going....

Personally, i'm quite capable of talking to a mortgage company, solicitor and estate agent directly. I don't need someone to do it for me. Frankly, getting our First Direct mortgage was a breeze compared to the time I had to resend our mortgage details 4 times by fax after the one sent by the broker got 'lost in the mail' (the was with the Portman, who was in the process of being bought at the time)

kingstreet

ringo_24601 wrote: »

But you still need to remember that 'whole of market' doesn't actually mean 'any possible lender'. There are mainstream lenders who do not go via brokers (i.e. they don't give the kickbacks that keep brokers employed)

You know that free broker? You know that £1000 mortgage administration fee? Where do you think some of that administration fee is going....

True. Some lenders don't accept business from, nor pay commission to intermediaries.

However, in many cases they still charge arrangement fees because they still have a branch network and HO infrastructure to finance.

A few years ago, a C&G manager told me they reckoned on a marketing spend of £4,000 to get each new borrower through the door. A broker will find business for them, enter it onto the lender's system for them and obtain all the necessary documentation for the princely sum of around 0.35% of the value of the mortgage.

As a distribution channel we are cheap and efficient. It is only the present market circumstances, where lenders have fixed costs to pay, which makes getting direct business more of an imperative for them, especially as they will also get the "second spend" of associated protection products.