A question for the brokers...

Jolanta_Nowak

We're being told in the press that mortgage approvals are falling and lenders are tightening up on the lending criteria.

Has this been your personal experience of the way things have gone lately or is there an element of melodrama in the media coverage?

Charlton_King

Looks like either there are no brokers coming on here any more or they think your question is rhetorical!

MortgagesInc

Criteria has tightened, but more so in the Sub-Prime market. Lenders have cut back the loan-to-values that they will lend, and also tightened affordability calculations.

In the mainstream market, it is business as usual really. Mortgage Approvals have apparently fallen 21% year on year (December's figures), but I have to say we're busier than ever!!

Conrad

Criteria has tightened thus removing a good slice of funding from the property market. Confined to the sub prime market in the main.

Rates are priced for risk now whereas 8 months ago deals where cheaper.

Business is thinner on the ground, but not drastically so. Some brokers always claim to be busy but in the last recession it was very often those that went to the wall. The same was treu of EAs - one in particular used to claim he did deals down the pub and on the golf course - he was always booming. Sure enough he went bust. It does'nt pay to have undiluted (unrealistic) optimism.

MortgagesInc

You may also find Conrad that some people who claim to be busy actually are? Or can they not be because they don't follow your all-knowing business model?

TheMortgageBroker

We're being told in the press that mortgage approvals are falling and lenders are tightening up on the lending criteria.

Has this been your personal experience of the way things have gone lately or is there an element of melodrama in the media coverage?

From my perspective the figures we have for the market as a whole show that mortgage approvals fell in the last few months. Without doubt, lenders in the subprime market have tightened their criteria and many products that were previously offered have been withdrawn.

I hope the following will not infringe any rules of the forum as I am not intending any kind of self promotion here just trying to answer the questions asked...:o

As far as being busy or not will depend on the business model of the broker in question. We are an online mortgage broker specialising in niche mortgage areas one of which is subprime mortgages. We are busier today than we have ever been whereas traditional mortgage brokers who market themselves via other media or who almost soley rely on their existing customer base for buisness may well be feeling the pinch.

Dan_Collins_2

OK lets be honest, people are unsure, risky lending is harder to place but lenders or most are looking for business. We are much slower than this time last year, I had my best year last year, mainly the first six months.

We have had two or three brokers come see us, asking how biz is etc etc, they tellus they are booming and then we find out its the otherway! I would say geography may help, I have two estate agents that are slow.

I would say most brokers are slower, out network league tables say the same thing! The credit crunch is here but not as bad as media show it!

NeilQuinn

I'm busy but it's mainly with existing customers who are switching their deals because their fixed rates are ending. Mostly smallish mortgages with lots of equity so they're easy to place.

Having problems with a couple though because surveyors are knocking 5-10% off the valuations of the properties. Some lenders have started offering their best deals to people borrowing less than 80%.

mortgagemark_2

Hi everyone, first post for me on this forum.

We certainly had a quiet December but January has been a very busy month for us so looking forward to a good 2008. ! I feel 2008 will be the year of the remortgage as oppossed to purchase but the marjority of our business is repeat business anyway so this will help us.

On mainstream deals we are seeing tracker rates being increased by lenders on a daily basis as they reduce the discounts being offerred and a reduction in some fixed rates at present. As an example when I did my own remortgage in August 2007 i had a tracker at Bank of England minus 0.31% - now the best trackers from the High Street on a comparable with all the freebies and a reasonable product fee are Base PLUS 0.23% with Abbey. An increase of 0.54% !!

Media certainly does not help especially when most of the presenters don't even own their own houses and are renting !!

Anyway, back to work - hope this adds to the discussion.

mortgagemark_2

Sorry everyone - forgot to save the signature to my post.

Hope it works this time.

mortgage_broker_advisor

I am ticking over nicely, my mate works in an estate agents they are very quite. I think the remortgage market should hold up for another year, but estate agent brokers who only deal with purchase work may find business a little slow.