Recommendations for Mortages/ Mortages Advisors in Co. Antrim

kgrant

Hi.

I am currently looking into buying a house over the next few months with my partner. We are just starting out and I was wondering if anyone knew of any good mortages out there for first time buyers in Northern Ireland?

Also, has anyone any reccomendations on contacts for independant mortage advisors within the Carrickfergus & Co. Antrim area that we could get in touch with?

Cheers.

kgrant

:T

Thank you everyone for the mortage advice. We both have decided to make an appointment with the Mortage Shop and get some advice from them. We both wish to get an insight into how many charges, fees and possible 100% mortages are on offer to us.



We also are considering the 'co-ownership' route....anyone got any pros/cons on that scheme.

Thanks.

championmongo1

If you need a little extra help getting onto the property ladder co-ownership is worthwhile but if you can afford not to you would be better off. This is because they buy a percentage of the house & if house prices continue to rise so will how much you will have to pay to buy this percentage off them. i.e. if you go 50-50 on a £200,000 house and the house doubles in value to £400,000, you will have to pay them £200,000 for their 50% share thus costing you an extra £100,000!!!

kgrant

Thanks for your reply.

We do understand a little more on the co-ownership route through some research we have carried out but to be honest I think that we could only get a £150,000 - £175,000 mortage and co-ownership would be preferable as its better than renting on a long-term basis = 50% of somehting is better than 100% of nothing!

Though any other views on c-ownership/current housing market in Northern Ireland/market forecast for next two years would be welcome.

kgrant

Thanks for your reply.


We do understand a little more on the co-ownership route through some research we have carried out but to be honest I think that we could only get a £150,000 - £175,000 mortage and co-ownership would be preferable as its better than renting on a long-term basis = 50% of somehting is better than 100% of nothing!


Though any other views on c-ownership/current housing market in Northern Ireland/market forecast for next two years would be welcome.

championmongo1

The first thing to do then is find out the co-ownership ceiling in the area you wish to buy-this varies greatly from area to area. They will only lend up to a certain house price thus your £175,000 potential mortgage may be similar to what co-ownership will lend you. I have a friend whose buying a house in Carrick at the mo. & she was surprised how little extra co-ownwership would lend her over taking out a standard mortgage. On the other hand-it worked very well for my niece whose maximum mortgage budget was £130k yet co-ownership helped her buy a £155k house a few months back. But an independant mortgage specialist will take you through your best options including co-onwership-just keep a look out for the 'hidden' fees in the small print. As for the future market-no-one really knows yet but the market has cooled & I'm selling up & getting out while the going's good!

weebro

I agree with championmongo1, especially that mortage shop will give you costs for different options and then you can decide

kgrant

*UPDATE*

Hey everyone, just giving an update on the mortage advice we received last week. We went to the Mortage Shop and got some decent advice from an advisor. He basically went through the co-ownership scheme mainly (showed us the figure for taking a full mortage without deposit & he basically said-we could NEVER afford it), told us what lender and lender rate that we could currently get on the market (through co-ownership) and approx. what payments that we would be making using the co-ownership scheme to buy a property and he worked out our approx total outgoings Vs our joint incomes (scary thing to do-try it).

Following the initial meeting with the advisor last week, my partners relative recommended that we see another advisor he used to buy his property last year. We felt the Mortage Shop were a little pushy and just wanted us to feel like we 'probably' have to take their home/life insurance rates offered etc. or we would have to pay the £300 fee for using them (look at the small print). The advisor did seem a little clueless on some of my questions and even though they are all 'trained', himself and the other advisors in the office never knew a thing on whether student loans are taken into consideration for a mortage?! Need I say more!

Also seems they already get comission from lenders before you ever sign up as well as extra money if they can get you to sign up to their insurance and property valuation schemes ('knowledgable' friend informed me).

Well, the way the housng market is currently in Co Antrim it is way over-priced and £200k> propertys are not worth the money in the long run (i.e. 25 year mortage for £170000 appartment/house in HE estates/middle of nowhere etc. = a joke) and as there is only over-budget propertys we are interested in, we are going to organise and plan our financial portfolios and make sure that everything is more managable when we come to hopefully buy christmas time 2007/early 2008.

Cheers.

Buick_Lewish

Hi Kgrant,

Not sure about the 300 opt-out fee. I think it might be different for each mortgage as I didnt pay it. But yes, there is alot of money to be earned so they might be pushy. But prepare yourself and you get a better deal.

My experiences with Co-Ownership are ok. It takes longer than they say even though I pushed them a bit. They are friendly people but dont know everything. But combine their knowledge with the estate agent & mortgage advisor and you come a long way.

Keep in mind that you dont have to pay all stamp duty at the same time if you buy through co-ownership so dont let the fees put you off.

Good luck!

Buick_Lewish

A little update.

My mortgage advisor quoted me life insurance & critical for 44,- a month with L&G.

Cavendish Online will do it for 26.18 a month for EXACTLY the same policy/term/conditions etc...:dance: