Mortgage broker - ask me anything

buyahome

Hi Haras, I am looking to buy a house in North London with 20% deposit, is it enough in today's market? I hear we need very high depopsit because house price in London is going down? House price is 720 and our total salary income is 168 before tax. I sent an enquiry to LandC but they do not reply yet. We have offer accepted so need to start mortgage process soon. Thanks.

K_S

@buyahome 20% deposit (so 80% LTV mortgage) is a good place to be in today's market with plenty of products potentially available.

Based on the limited information in your post, it appears you are looking to borrow less than 3.5x your income (is there any variable component to it?) so you should have mainstream options, barring any nasties in the background. Unless the property is empty and you get a good conveyancer, it's unlikely you will complete before the stamp duty deadline on 31 March.

I would recommend getting in touch with a broker quick, the Estate Agent isn't going to hang around for very long if you can't convince them that your finances are in order to proceed with the purchase.

Good luck!

buyahome

Thanks K-S. I hope it is ok if I send you a message.

K_S

@buyahome I've responded to your PM.

chatlow

Hi there and HNY - my partner and I have are currently looking at the market for our first house in Wales. This is all very new to us and when comparing some deals we found TSB had the best offering through L&C (25 years, fixed rate, repayment). So would the next step be to get an MIP from L&C and go from there? 

Just to give some extra info. Household income is 75k. Looking to stay within 250k budget. Okay with 10% deposit, maybe 15% if closer to 200k. Would love to get this all in place before the land duty increase, but not a massive priority.

Any advice for us would be massively appreciated

Thanks

K_S

@chatlow Assuming the L&C broker has gone through your requirements, circumstances, confirmed that you can afford (with a 75k income, 225k borrowing should be doable) a 250k property and recommended a specific TSB product, the next step would be to start viewing and offer on a property within that budget. Once an offer is accepted and you give the go ahead, the broker will put in a mortgage application on your behalf. 

Estate Agents might ask for an AIP (to prove that you can borrow what you need), your broker can get you one if needed or in most cases (at least in my experience) EAs are happy with an email from the broker confirming that the buyer's finances are in order to borrow what's needed.

Just be aware that at 90% LTV (10% deposit), the number of products available in the market are very few and relatively expensive (compared to the same time last year). With the current economic uncertainity and new lockdown, etc, there's no guarantee that these products will not be pulled/tweaked in the coming weeks. So I would strongly recommend working with a 15% deposit to significantly widen your chances in case there is a tightening in lending, criteria, etc.

Good luck!

Peppermint90

Hi all,
How long does it take to receive mortgage offer through post? 
I was informed of my offer a week ago...but still havn't received it through post....should i chase it up with Halifax? 

K_S

Peppermint90 said:

Hi all,
How long does it take to receive mortgage offer through post? 
I was informed of my offer a week ago...but still havn't received it through post....should i chase it up with Halifax? 

@peppermint90 I'd give it a few more days because of the holidays, etc. I don't know how it is direct but if you're using a broker they should have sent you their copy over email? Everything in it will be exactly the same as what you receive in the post.

yousnorkmaiden

If during application you state you intend to clear any credit balances before completion, but when the mortage offer is received there is no mention of this in special conditions, are you still expected to clear the balances? 

Definite

Hi
QQ please. We have a mortgage offer in place and are moving towards completion in the next month or two. My solicitor is satisfied with our evidence of deposit and the mortgage offer does not mention evidencing our deposit. However, our liaison person with the MA keeps requesting evidence of our deposit and rejecting what I send because a portion of it is a USD share statement (significantly more value than is needed) and the other is a Paragon Bank Notice Account. She wants the share statement in GBP and three months statements from the bank account that I transferred money to Paragon from (in September). Before I spend ages trying to work out how my US Share trading company can give me a GBP statement and digging out old statements, I thought I should check if I need to provide this evidence to the Broker? I am happy to comply in any way necessary, but would prefer to avoid lots of effort if it is not needed.