In need of advice please

webdigga

Hi,

I should start by saying I have never bought a house before and apart from reading the MSE mortgage guide, I am pretty much clueless.

I have been saving for many many years and finally decided to buy a flat with shared ownership.

So far I have seen the flat I want, declared my interest, had my financial assessment and everything has gone ok. I have just finished sending off proof of address/ID etc and I am awaiting the housing association to come back to me to give me the go ahead. From there I will need to put down a £500 reservation fee.

The housing association have put me in touch with a company called Metro Finance who have so far sent me 2 quotes.

My total property price is £310,000 and I will be buying the 48% share from the current owner (£148,800)
I have £40,000 saved up, so my mortgage will be for £108,800. My Salary is approx £36,000.

I have 2 mortgage quotes:-

Mortgage lender Nationwide - 25 years
- Mortgage product 108670 2.29% 5 Year Fixed less than 75% (First Time Buyer).
- Interest rate type and interest A fixed rate of 2.29% for 5 Years.
- Nationwide's Standard Mortgage Rate, a variable rate, currently 3.74% thereafter

Mortgage lender Nationwide - 19 years
- Mortgage product 109128 2.49% 5 Year Fixed less than 75% (First Time Buyer)
- Interest rate type and interest A fixed rate of 2.49% for 5 Years
- Nationwide's Standard Mortgage Rate, a variable rate, currently 3.74% thereafter

I think I have an enormous amount of questions but I will just ask the ones that are concerning me the most here so this post doesn't get confusing.


1. Should I trust Metro finance have gone out and got me the best deal, or should I be looking to find a mortgage deal myself? Will this complicate things?

2. I asked and was told the price of the property was non-negotiable, should I trust that the valuation is correct?

3. If this were you with approximately my financial situation, would you be looking to my more of the share of the property, or less?

Any help with these questions would be much appreciated!
David

Elfbert

1. If you want to engage your own whole of market broker you're welcome to. But perhaps first just check Metro Finance out - are they a whole of market broker? Do they have good/bad reviews online? Are you happy with their service so far? I very much doubt there's anything tying you to them.

2. That's quite normal on SO. Is it a resale? The valuations are supposed to be carried out by an independent RICS surveyor. But if you're concerned, look up past sales in the area on similar property and work out if the price they've put on it seems fair.

3. We really don't know your financial situation! Would you like to own 100% of the property in the end? Or is it a stepping-stone, and you'll move on? Whereabouts in the country is it? Do prices in the area stay steady, rise or fall, generally....(this is no indication of what could happen in the future, obviously, but it'll give you an idea).

Personally, I'm just selling my SO 1 bed property. I never wanted to own more than the 40% I did own, because it would have put the share out of reach of buyers like me. I didn't want to own 100% of it, because I knew I would be moving on.

webdigga

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

1. I can't really find any proper reviews. A document I found about Metro Finance states:-

'Metro Finance Brokers Ltd considers a very large proportion of the first charge mortgage market, enough to be representative of the whole market. That does not mean that Metro Finance Brokers Ltd considers every first charge mortgage on the market. For example we do not consider mortgages from Nat West.'

2. It is a resale yes

3. I see it as a stepping stone, perhaps I will live there for 5 years or so. It is in Kingston in South West London.


Really appreciate the response. There is so much to think about!