First time buyer mortgage advice

Transatlantic

I'm trying to buy my first house and as many others am finding the whole thing to be utterly confusing. The first thing I did was ring up a bank to see just how much I could borrow for my mortgage, and in response got a mortgage in principle. With that, I then went looking for houses I could afford based on that MIP and my deposit.

Having found somewhere that I really like and know I can afford, I have put my offer in and am waiting on a response. It was at this point the estate agent asked how I was going about setting up my mortgage and offered their in house broker.

Having done some research online it appears that this route is worth looking into as they might be able to provide me a better deal than I could get by directly going to the bank. As well as advising on protection plans.

So would I be correct in thinking that I should go online and gather a list of the best rates I can find for the mortgage I want, and take these to the meeting (which I need to check is free) with the broker, and see if they can indeed offer me anything better. At which point I can decide which route to take? Or is there more to it?

amnblog

This won't make things clearer, but experienced people on here will tell you to avoid the broker at the estate agent. They get bad press because so many are badly trained and badly resourced and as a result provide a poor service.

Ask friends or family for a recommendation to a good independent mortgage broker.

Also, no need to do your own research. That is the brokers job. What is important is not the products available, but the products available to you.