Mortgage Advisors - First-time-buyer questions

EasyToAssemble01

I'm a first time buyer (looking for 1 bed house / flat) currently looking at independent mortgage advisors, to try and ensure I get the best deal. My main questions are:

• Have people typically found it has been worth using a mortgage advisor? Has it netted you a good mortgage deal, or at least one most ideal for your situation?
• How do you know you have found a good advisor? (after all: I'm relying on them to know things that I don't). There seems to be a number in my local area to choose from.
  
• How would I typically be charged for the services? A flat fee, or is it a percentage of the mortgage? Would I expect to pay any other charges at any point?

roosterpotatoes

If you are a first time buyer a mortgage broker is invaluable.  They will not only be able to answer any questions that you have but a good broker will also help guide you through the solicitor/conveyancing process too.  It is the knowledge that you do not have which makes a good broker worth their weight in gold in my opinion.

An all of market mortgage adviser will have access to many more lenders than just the high street and often there are intermediary only lenders that can have better rates than high street lender (Your loan to value (LTV) impacts the rates you will expect to receive).

A good start would be to ring around a few advisers and tell them what you want.  You need to have a good rapport as it is them that you will need to hold your hand if you feel under pressure.  Read reviews and ask friends and family for recommendations is always a good place to start. 

Some mortgage advisers can charge 1% of the purchase price of the property you are purchasing, some are free.  This isn't a question that can really be answered here because it depends on your circumstances and there are many variables ie. which area of the UK you are in and how much the house is worth. 

MovingForwards

In answer to your questions
* I used a broker due to my circumstances. Originally I popped into an adverse specialist local one who made me feel like I would never get my own home, couldn't understand why I had savings and didn't use it to clear my debt (obviously didn't understand it also acted as an emergency fund too), made me feel judged and generally made me feel like poo. 
Instead I found a broker on this forum, read their posts, liked how they replied to questions and put my own post up. They replied, gave me a glimmer of hope and from that day they were my broker. Every quarter I would update them until one day I had everything needed to be mortgage ready; would have been sooner but I quit a job, temped and was very picky about where I would work. 

* See above. 

* Most brokers charge a fixed fee, some are free as they just take the money paid by the lender. Some charge it on application (risky as you may not get an offer), some split charge eg part just for speaking, part on application (risky as you may not get an offer), some charge it on receipt of the mortgage offer (great for us, risk is on the broker of lots of work for no reward, hence making sure they place you with the lender where the application is likely to succeed; nothing is 100% guaranteed)
A valuation / survey fee is payable, this varies in price depending on the lender, how much the property is and what type of survey you have.
Depending on the lender and mortgage there may be a mortgage arrangement fee. Payable before completion, some allow it to be added into the mortgage; the latter is better just in case the application doesn't go through.
On top of that you've got your solicitor costs and disbursements. That varies between firms and is worth getting at least 3 quotes, always check they are on your lenders panel before having them do work. They work for you and your lender. Generally firms with 3 or more partners will be on a lot of lender panels. 
All solicitors work off the council of mortgage lenders handbook, it's a giant guide saying what each lenders requirements are for different things relating to the conveyancing side, otherside they would be back and forth every time they worked the file; some things still have to be checked though.

That's enough to keep you going over your first coffee of the day!

lonibra

1. Absolutely. A good MB is worth their weight in gold. 

2. It's hard to find one but once you do, it's easy to tell. The fee structure will be aligned with your outcomes (eg: charging on offer and not before that), they will answer the questions you have and (very important) give you realistic advice without judging. I found my MB on this forum (she gives superb support on this forum and does it without any judgement or sarcasm) after a frustrating few weeks with a "well known" local MB who was just racking up hard checks with no result. She was experienced and absolutely ace in what she did.

3. Lot of different fee structures - fee free, charging upfront, charging on application, charging on offer, charging on completion. My preference was charging on completion but that is very rare. My MB only charged a very reasonable fee when an offer was issued, that's it and I would recommend that as your and MB's interests are aligned.

EasyToAssemble01

MovingForwards said:

In answer to your questions
* I used a broker due to my circumstances. Originally I popped into an adverse specialist local one who made me feel like I would never get my own home, couldn't understand why I had savings and didn't use it to clear my debt (obviously didn't understand it also acted as an emergency fund too), made me feel judged and generally made me feel like poo. 
Instead I found a broker on this forum, read their posts, liked how they replied to questions and put my own post up. They replied, gave me a glimmer of hope and from that day they were my broker. Every quarter I would update them until one day I had everything needed to be mortgage ready; would have been sooner but I quit a job, temped and was very picky about where I would work. 

* See above. 

* Most brokers charge a fixed fee, some are free as they just take the money paid by the lender. Some charge it on application (risky as you may not get an offer), some split charge eg part just for speaking, part on application (risky as you may not get an offer), some charge it on receipt of the mortgage offer (great for us, risk is on the broker of lots of work for no reward, hence making sure they place you with the lender where the application is likely to succeed; nothing is 100% guaranteed)
A valuation / survey fee is payable, this varies in price depending on the lender, how much the property is and what type of survey you have.
Depending on the lender and mortgage there may be a mortgage arrangement fee. Payable before completion, some allow it to be added into the mortgage; the latter is better just in case the application doesn't go through.
On top of that you've got your solicitor costs and disbursements. That varies between firms and is worth getting at least 3 quotes, always check they are on your lenders panel before having them do work. They work for you and your lender. Generally firms with 3 or more partners will be on a lot of lender panels. 
All solicitors work off the council of mortgage lenders handbook, it's a giant guide saying what each lenders requirements are for different things relating to the conveyancing side, otherside they would be back and forth every time they worked the file; some things still have to be checked though.

That's enough to keep you going over your first coffee of the day!

Thanks for the detailed breakdown. I now feel a bit more clued up on what to ask, in terms of the fee structure. My current landlady actually recommended me a solicitor, so I think I have that part covered.

EasyToAssemble01

lonibra said:

1. Absolutely. A good MB is worth their weight in gold. 

2. It's hard to find one but once you do, it's easy to tell. The fee structure will be aligned with your outcomes (eg: charging on offer and not before that), they will answer the questions you have and (very important) give you realistic advice without judging. I found my MB on this forum (she gives superb support on this forum and does it without any judgement or sarcasm) after a frustrating few weeks with a "well known" local MB who was just racking up hard checks with no result. She was experienced and absolutely ace in what she did.

Thanks for the info. I didn't think of checking here for a Mortgage Broker. How did you suss out that MB was right for you?. Did they allow you a pre-consultation to work out whether they would be suitable?

MovingForwards

@EasyToAssemble01 it's fairly easy to spot the brokers as they have a disclaimer in their signatures and tend to use careful wording eg I don't know your full circumstances.

It's also quite easy to see how they interact with people when replying to posts, then it's a case of messaging them and seeing how things progress.

My broker was the same one2one as how he interacts on here, I completed a fact find so he had my full history and what I was looking for from a mortgage, I provided copies of my credit reports and gave him time to read them before we spoke. There was a few calls throughout the process, occasionally it's quicker to talk something through than send an email. He also knew working hours was awkward for me, but I could slip emails out pretty quick.

lonibra

EasyToAssemble01 said:

lonibra said:

1. Absolutely. A good MB is worth their weight in gold. 

2. It's hard to find one but once you do, it's easy to tell. The fee structure will be aligned with your outcomes (eg: charging on offer and not before that), they will answer the questions you have and (very important) give you realistic advice without judging. I found my MB on this forum (she gives superb support on this forum and does it without any judgement or sarcasm) after a frustrating few weeks with a "well known" local MB who was just racking up hard checks with no result. She was experienced and absolutely ace in what she did.

Thanks for the info. I didn't think of checking here for a Mortgage Broker. How did you suss out that MB was right for you?. Did they allow you a pre-consultation to work out whether they would be suitable?

For my situation I needed an MB who was experienced, knew their stuff, communicated well, understood the urgency of my case, didn't work just 9-5 Monday to Friday and only charged a reasonable fee after I got a result. Some of this you can gauge from their posts and how they interact with posters. The rest you get a sense of when you DM them. I contacted her out of hours, desperate for help. I had a decision in principle the next day and a full application in that evening.

I want to add here that my requirements were a bit complex and I already had a few pointless hard checks on file. If you are just a normal salaried employee looking to borrow a low multiple with a clean credit file, you could do without an MB or one of the free MBs. 

About the pre consultation, MBs do a lot of unpaid work and I think all MBs that I approached worked on pretty much a no obligation basis until the fee became due.

RachP87

Not to go against the grain here but I used a mortgage advisor as a FTB, however after 8 weeks I was no closer to getting the mortgage and they continued to request details I had already sent them on numerous occassions, so in the end I went direct and applied myself, got the mortgage agreed in just over a week. I didnt like not having the control of how quickly my responses are sent back if there are any queries, but going direct I knew when everything was being submitted.

I didn't go with an 'independent' MA though, I stupidly went with L&C as it is recommended on all the major money sites - not sure how, as I found them to be shocking myself, I even had the estate agents ring me to change my solicitors as the ones L&C recommended were so bad that further up the chain had refused to continue if I stayed with them!

I had a fairly easy application as no late payments, CCJs etc and was going for an 80% LTV mortgage with no furlough, so it wasn't really too much of an issue to go direct. But I know many people who used a MA and they got invaluable advice - I would go for a local MA if you can, one that isn't in a big corporation and going to be snowed under!

Athanasia

RachP87 said:

Not to go against the grain here but I used a mortgage advisor as a FTB, however after 8 weeks I was no closer to getting the mortgage and they continued to request details I had already sent them on numerous occassions, so in the end I went direct and applied myself, got the mortgage agreed in just over a week. I didnt like not having the control of how quickly my responses are sent back if there are any queries, but going direct I knew when everything was being submitted.

I didn't go with an 'independent' MA though, I stupidly went with L&C as it is recommended on all the major money sites - not sure how, as I found them to be shocking myself, I even had the estate agents ring me to change my solicitors as the ones L&C recommended were so bad that further up the chain had refused to continue if I stayed with them!

I had a fairly easy application as no late payments, CCJs etc and was going for an 80% LTV mortgage with no furlough, so it wasn't really too much of an issue to go direct. But I know many people who used a MA and they got invaluable advice - I would go for a local MA if you can, one that isn't in a big corporation and going to be snowed under!

I had the same experience as yourself with L&C, very rude, took forever to reply, and ended up giving me wrong information. I also tried Trussle and Mojo which were even worse, as they had no knowledge of the market (who accepts a borrowed deposit). I ended up applying directly, now still with underwriters, but if my application gets fully approved I am so writing to them to complain. Taking out a mortgage is a stressful process anyway, why make it worse by employing ignorant people who rush to give you inaccurate information?

mortgage_noob

RachP87 said:

Not to go against the grain here but I used a mortgage advisor as a FTB, however after 8 weeks I was no closer to getting the mortgage and they continued to request details I had already sent them on numerous occassions, so in the end I went direct and applied myself, got the mortgage agreed in just over a week. I didnt like not having the control of how quickly my responses are sent back if there are any queries, but going direct I knew when everything was being submitted.

I didn't go with an 'independent' MA though, I stupidly went with L&C as it is recommended on all the major money sites - not sure how, as I found them to be shocking myself, I even had the estate agents ring me to change my solicitors as the ones L&C recommended were so bad that further up the chain had refused to continue if I stayed with them!

I had a fairly easy application as no late payments, CCJs etc and was going for an 80% LTV mortgage with no furlough, so it wasn't really too much of an issue to go direct. But I know many people who used a MA and they got invaluable advice - I would go for a local MA if you can, one that isn't in a big corporation and going to be snowed under!

FTB also and felt the same, I gave up on 2 brokers;
 1 - repeatedly gave me incorrect info and it wasn't until I called the bank directly that I found out my DIP  done earlier this year was no longer valid.

2 -  wasn't as responsive said they'd submit a DIP ASAP  but I found 6 days later nothing had been done.  In the end I went direct and had a good chat with the Barclays mortgage advisor and had a DIP the next day (included a hard credit check) and application submitted the next. 

I also found that often the deals being offered didn't match with the mortgage best buy tool and I was having to do the research myself anyway.  I realised that I prefer to be in control and to know what had been submitted and when, to look over docs myself for errors etc.  I don't doubt the value of a good broker if they communicate properly and you're a bit less anxious than I am!

Also, I should add I only submitted my app this week so things may come back and bite me in the bum later and not a 100% straight forward case as partner is self employed.