Mortgage Dillema

firstTimeBuyer_2-2

Hi,

We are first time buyers and are looking to purchase a property valued at £80,000 with a view to taking on a 95% joint mortgage of £76,000.

We would like to keep our monthly payments below £500 (the lower the better) and the two mortgage products I have looked at and found myself are:
(these amounts maybe slightly out as they are from memory, but just to give you an idea)

The Post Office:
Loan Amount: £76,000
3 year fixed rate (5.48%)
Arrangement fee: £399
Other Costs: £195
No Higher Lending Charge
Monthly Payments: £471

Yorkshire Building Society
Loan Amount: £76,000 + £2100 (Arrangement & HLC added to loan) = £78100
3 Year fixed rate (5.19%)
Arrangement Fee: £900
Higher Lending Charge: £1200
Monthly Payments = £465

I would like to ask if anyone has any advice or opinion on these products or knows of any other good mortgage deals out there within our price range. Any advice or pointers in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

homer_j_3

It is very difficult to say without knowing your circumstances. Do you know that you qualify for the deals that you have mentioned?

Clearly you are new to this board and I welcome you here but without knowing anything about you, it is very difficult for anybody to say that there is better or worse.

Some peoples best deals may be 7-10%
Others may be as low as 4.99%

firstTimeBuyer_2-2

Sorry, you're right I am new to this forum.

Yes we do qualify for these deals and have spoken to the lenders, and they are happy loan us the amounts mentioned. I was just looking for a second opinion or any advice as I am new to mortgages as we are first time buyers.

We have a £4,000 deposit and the property is in the South West of Scotland, we do also want to keep the payments under £500 per month (the lower the better) as £500 per month is the max we can afford. and are looking for a 3 year fixed term mortgage (will consider 4 years). Hope this enough information to go on?

Many Thanks

homer_j_3

Ok -The rates do look pretty competitive and I will not be able to say if there are better out there still from the limited information that I have.

However, looking at the 2 - The Post Office one looks to win hands down based on the fact that its about £1500 less on set up costs and only £6 per month more expensive. £6 X 36 months makes it £220 more expensive from a monthly payment point of view but with the low set up costs, it still wins.

firstTimeBuyer_2-2

Thanks for that,

Another thing I seem to be unsure if is that the Post Office mortgage is over the phone using a building society called Bristol and West and I am unsure how reliable this service or the company would be, whereas the Yorkshire Building Society has branches we can visit which we feel more comfortable with and feel this would be a more reliable service.

Thanks again for your advice.

homer_j_3

Bristol & West are a massive company. Google them and Giraffe mortgages as I believe they are part of them too.

Comfort is a big thing but this is just inexperience talking to you here. Do you value your comfort at over £1000?

firstTimeBuyer_2-2

Thanks again for the advice. The only other thing I forgot to mention was that the Yorkshire Building Society Mortgage has the interest calculated daily whereas the Post Office one is calculated annually.

homer_j_3

You have stated that your budget at the moment £500 so it is unlikely that you will be overpaying in the first 12 months. Just remember if the interest is annual, any overpayments will not be taken into consideration until a certain date set by the company.

If you intend to overpay after 12 months then you need to come back on here and get some advice on how to best make that work for you

firstTimeBuyer_2-2

Thanks again homer_j,

My comment earlier about being unsure of dealing with a Mortgage lender with only a telephone service started with an Mortgage Broker I spoke to.

He said he could find me a mortgage within my budget and when I mentioned the Post Office product he said that it seemed okay but the company they are with (Bristol and West) "don't offer advice", I asked him what this meant and he said if you got into any problems with the mortgage they wouldn't offer any advice. this is what started me off on being unsure of dealings over the telephone.

I'm unsure if he was trying to put me off because he wanted to get me on an mortgage that he would make more money on.

sundaygirl_2

Hi I have been looking at an egg 3 year fixed deal at 5.39%. It's telephone only but seems a good deal. It's also £500 to set up. I am looking for a similar sized mortgage of 66000.

Also I saw a 5 year deal at Cumberland at 5.22% but it cost 800 to set up. Unsure which is better.

firstTimeBuyer_2-2

Hi,

I saw on the cumberland website that some of their products where subject to the area you live i.e. if you live in that area. It wasn't any good to me but it be for you. I think i'll have a look at the Egg deal that sounds pretty good.

Cheers