Mortgage brokers and advice

Hutch100uk

Thank you for all the replies. I guess I was just trying to understand what additional benefits warrant the fee, as opposed to the free broker.
For example, they always say they are 'whole of market' so does the fee charging broker have access to more? Or do they become more beneficial in special circumstances e.g. bad credit or new build etc?
I know people have to make a living and I'm certainly not saying their fee is unreasonable but, as a single person I have a small budget so if I'm paying for something I could get for free, I would want to know why.

Verix

There isn't normally a clear cut difference between fee and non-fee charging brokers. I charge a fee because, when I didn't charge one there was pressure to do a lot of business. I ended up working stupid hours, every weekend, most evenings, running myself ragged, just to make a decent living.

I think that pressure to do more means that when you're not charging you don't get to take as much time over each case and you tend to prioritise the easier or more lucrative cases. That said i know some great advisers that don't charge a penny that i have recommended to my friends and know fee charging advisers I wouldn't trust to correctly handle the simplest case.

It's boring advice but I would say try and get a recommendation from someone you know. Failing that sit down with a few local advisers and see who you get the best feel from. You need to be able to trust whoever does this for you, whether you are paying for their service or not.

kingstreet

Sometimes we charge a fee, £250.

Sometimes we don't.

If we earned 'thousands a case' in proc fees we wouldn't have to charge on any case.

Crumble2018

haras_nosirrah wrote: »

Referrals to friends and family a positive review on their website and a bottle of something is always welcome

We intend to take something nice in for him and his team! He's literally helped to change our life!:beer:

amnblog

Cash is nice

ACG

Hutch100uk wrote: »

Thank you for all the replies. I guess I was just trying to understand what additional benefits warrant the fee, as opposed to the free broker.
For example, they always say they are 'whole of market' so does the fee charging broker have access to more? Or do they become more beneficial in special circumstances e.g. bad credit or new build etc?
I know people have to make a living and I'm certainly not saying their fee is unreasonable but, as a single person I have a small budget so if I'm paying for something I could get for free, I would want to know why.

Brokers if whole of market will typically have access to the same lenders and products. There are some exceptions, we do a lot of adverse so we have products with lenders other non adverse brokers can not access. Kingstreet does a lot of new builds and I imagine he has access to new build/HTB products I can not access, but the vast majority of deals available we will both have access to.

The biggest difference and even then it is not a guarantee will be experience and time available to dedicate to you and your case will likely (not definitely) be more with a fee charging broker.

I have tried to sit on the fence with this and my original reply. I am not suggesting you should or should not pay a fee, that is for you to decide as it is your money you are spending.

kingstreet

ACG wrote: »

Kingstreet does a lot of new builds and I imagine he has access to new build/HTB products I can not access

Yeah, upto 95% on newbuild houses and flats with Halifax is very useful.

Mortgage_Adviser

haras_nosirrah wrote: »

Ironically the shared ownership one I lost to the free broker. Broker just called me as she doesn't know how to do them and wants help from me (I am a shared ownership specialist)

So she has nicked your business but also was cheeky enough to call you and ask you for your advice?

Hope you told her to go where the sun doesnt shine.

kingstreet

People have asked us to handle their HTB paperwork "because our broker isn't registered with HTB and doesn't know how to do it."

Er... no.

haras_nosirrah

Mortgage_Adviser wrote: »

So she has nicked your business but also was cheeky enough to call you and ask you for your advice?

Hope you told her to go where the sun doesnt shine.

It was very very bizarre

she said - so the share is that the mortgage amount and then the deposit is on top so he can buy a higher share?

Err - mortgages don't work like that?

I am starting to see why she doesn't charge but to do a mortgage for £150 gross proc fee on something more complicated than normal that you don't understand? Well he doesn't want to pay a modest fee for someone who is a shared ownership specialist so good luck to him. He is going to need it