Broker worth the cost for age 55+ ?

zebra_2

Last time I bought a home using a mortgage was 1999, and brokers weren't typically used then.

I'll be age 57 soon, will have maybe £230k equity, looking for 15 year loan but unlikely to fix for more than 2 years, and expecting no one would lend me more than £80k (salary is £42k & I have dependents).  Don't want to retire until age 75 at least (or never).  Would a broker (fees maybe £300 at best, easily could cost much more?) definitely save me money or is it more cost effective to find my own 2 year fixed rate mortgage offer ?

If you have an opinion on my best options, I will appreciate explanation(s).  Thanks!

dunstonh

Last time I bought a home using a mortgage was 1999, and brokers weren't typically used then.

You may have used one not but brokers were commonplace in 1999. 

Would a broker (fees maybe £300 at best, easily could cost much more?) 

Could easily cost less.

definitely save me money or is it more cost effective to find my own 2 year fixed rate mortgage offer ?

It depends on you, your quality of research and if you are pushing limits or not.     The closer you are to limits, the more likely a broker would be advantageous because they will know what lenders are best for you.  Rather then you go to lenders directly and get your borrowing limit reduced or refused and having to try another one all over again.

ACG

If you are straight forward, a broker might be able to find you a cheaper deal than you find but realistically probably not enough to cover their fees, the high street is much of a muchness and there are only slight variations in the rates. 

We may be able to save you money in other places (solicitors for example), but I suppose even that is not a given to still put you in profit so to speak. 

But a broker is not a price comparison service. I deal with the estate agents for my clients, that means they are not getting grief from agents, calls are not going unanswered whilst in work as I am dealing with it. If there is a problem, we tend to find it upfront or if not we have the battle with the underwriters on your behalf. If you have questions on the process, timeframes or just have a little woblle about it being a bit scary, you have someone on hand. 

Whether you want, need or value that is a different matter. 

I say it a lot on here, nobody needa broker to find the cheapest rate - you can do that with the internet or at least get very close to the cheapest. Its all the other things where a broker earns their money. 

A couple of examples recently:
1) A young couple buying a house. Agent was applying pressure for them to instruct the searches on day 1. 9 days alter the valuation came back and down valued the property due to an issue. I told the cilents (and the agent) that we would be holding off until the valuation was back, he would have gone along with it as they lead him to believe that was normal. That saved him £350 (our fee was £500), so my for doing everything for them was closer to £150. 


2) Another couple were about to apply for a mortgage but another customer of ours talked them into speaking to me first. They knew there was a problem with their application, but they did the right thing and checked it upfront and got the green light. But there was another issue they missed, that would have resulted in the application being decliend outright. It just happened to be they had picked 1 of 2 high street lenders who had an problem with that particular thing. We saved them about a week because we knew what we were doing. 

I dont come on here to bang the broker drum, this site was useful to me when I was learning the role - I used to research peoples situations as the exams make everyone seem simple. It is nice to give back. But those are 2 examples in the last month where we have saved money, time, headaches, stress etc.