FTB - Choosing mortgage broker and Solicitor

waseem432000

Hi everyone,

I am a FTB, had offer accepted for a flat yesterday and started looking for mortgage brokers and solicitors since.

I think I have a fairly straightforward mortgage case with full time job, borrowing close to 3 times of my annual base income and no adverse credit history or missed payments.

The selling agent introduced me to their in-house mortgage broker who looked at my affordability and offered me rates but they also charge close to £800 as their fees. I spent a bit of time around talking with mortgage brokers today and one broker from moneybox also offered the same rate without any fees. The selling agent’s broker said they could lower their fees a little bit but said it would be easy for everyone involved in the sale if things were “kept in-house” as that flat has a 80 years lease which will be extended on the completion to 170 years by seller and they have relationship with lenders which will make mortgage process smooth.

I have read enough advice on this forum to not even consider the solicitor recommended by seller and instead choose my own but I am not sure on mortgage brokers. I would like to avoid paying hundreds of pounds if I can but at the same time, I don’t want the process to get struck at this early stage of the process.

Also, wondering when is the best time to get the survey done in the whole process? The mortgage broker suggested to wait for the lender’s valuation to ensure they haven’t undervalued the property before hiring someone to do the survey.

ACG

£800 is a bit much as you say. We are not the cheapest and charge £500, so I am obviously not against fee charging brokers but putting the fee to one side.

• They will reduce the fee as soon as you question - so why charge that much in the first place.
• They are lying about things being easier in house, it might save them a phone call and instead they can ask across the room, but you paying £800 to make THEIR life easier seems wrong and it wont in reality make any difference.
• If course they have good relationships with lenders, we all do. It is literally our job.

They sound like a scummy firm that will charge whatever they can get away with rather than what they think is a fair price for their service.

I am not massively in favour of fee free brokers as I believe the service they offer is pile them high, sell it cheap. But some firms can make it work (I never could). However in this case, I think I would be more inclined to go with the fee free broker.

Congrats on the offer being accepted.

FlorayG

Can you get a recommendation from a friend for a good mortgage broker? Mine is excellent and I never hesitate to recommend him ( although you probably are better to get a local one who you can deal with face to face)

Myci85

The fee they're quoting is more like what you'd expect to pay if you were going with adverse credit specialist brokers or something. We paid I think about £600 broker fee, but that was to a highly recommended broker due to us having circumstances that made us difficult to place with a lender.

In case you're not aware, if you're a straight forward case, you don't even have to go through a broker. You can do some mortgage calculators online with any lenders you're considering, and if you're happy with the rates offered, you can apply directly. I've never done that myself, but others may be able to advise on the pros/cons of that approach.

waseem432000

Thanks everyone. I have spoken to the seller mortgage broker again and they have offered to waive off all of their fees minus £99 for “administration charges” so decided to go ahead with them as I have done a bit of shopping around and everyone offers similar kind of rates. I also tried a few mortgage calculators and broker’s rates are a little bit better than the ones offered online directly.