Best Mortgage Deal ?

[Fjorko]

Anyone care to give me some info on where the best Mortgage Deal can be found at the moment, or tips on securing a better deal than what banks usually offer you ?

We have in the past just accepted what we got offered, but I'm sure if we do our homework this time around, we may get a better deal than our last property - hence why I'm just asking anyone for info I may not know about.

We are not first time buyers, and like i said, we had a property - sold it, and we're now renting. We saw a house during the week that we like, and are now looking into putting an offer in for it.

Your input is much appreciated.

Thanks !

[DR]

Go via a IFA (If you can find a good one) they do all the hunting and will find you the best deal

[b0redom]

^ -- What he said - make sure that they are properly independent - ie not part of a building society/bank/estate agent.

You should get a stonking good deal as you're effectively first time buyers!

An IFA will not charge you for advice, and may not charge any fees even if you take out the mortgage through them (as they get a kickback off the banks) so nothing ventured......

[Fjorko]

Thanks so far. Just Googling some IFA's - most of them seems to charge for their services, now I don't mind paying someone, but as one of them state on their website : a 1% fee may be chargeable on the loan amount, so in my case that would amount to almost £3000 , OUCH !!!

That's a bit steep me thinks ! In that case I'd rather just take what the bank offers me.

[Elmo]

aye, our IFA came up with a few places, the first place knocked us back, but the place we went with was northern rock as they were 2nd best and offered us more than the price of the house.

Gotta say, an IFA is the best way to do it.

oh aye, we also got stung by the solicitor fees, £700! ooft! there goes 1/3 of our refurbishment cash! but thankfully our IFA is a family friend so he did it as a favour.

[Zak33]

Well, an IFA is one way to go. But you can find it all out yourself if you use your head, a calculator and the internet

You won't want a tie in, because no one ever stays in their first house for as long as the tie in. So it doesn't matter how good the "cash back" is, or how low the interest is in the first 2 years.....they get you back by not letting you get out, or over pay for a long long time.

My advice is as follows:

Understand how the interest is charged, and make sure you can work it out yourself.

Make sure you are deadly deadly honest with yourself on how long you'll live there.

Make sure you CAN get out if you fall upon hard times (ie don't borrow 100%)

Realise that sometimes, setting up a bank account with another bank, and even paying a yearly charge for a special kind of bank account CAN be worth while if you take full advantage of the benefits and don't fall into any traps.

Make sure you can over pay, because you MAY want to, and not being allowed to overpay is a sure fire way for the lender to make the profit from you.

If you're god with money, get a mortgage with an offset facility, so your bank and savings accounts are offset against the money owed on your mortgage. That way, while you're not earning interest in savings account (which you'd pay tax on) you ARE SAVING interest on your mortgage (which will be a higher rate than the savings were anyway) and not paying tax...AND you can still get your money back out.

Always remember, ALL the money you own, everywhere, should be in the mortgage and the offset accounts, with the exception of stocks/shares/investments that are historically making more than the interest you're paying on the mortgage.

[Rave]

MSE have a great page here.

Housepriececrash have plenty of reasons why you should carry on renting here (forums here).

[bigblue]

Dunno if it's different up here in Scottyland but there's no fee for a financial advisor. They're paid commission by the broker you choose (who no doubt add the FA commission onto your bill )

Anyway, regardless, it's well worth seeing someone. We got a 2 year deal when we bought this house and it's just expired. Changed to a different bank, now saving £50-ish a month over old deal and it's also on much better terms.

Financial Advisors FTW

[teachmech]

The fool website always has lots of advice on all things finical

http://www.fool.co.uk/


But I pay an IFA a yearly fee to sort out all my policies and mortgage advice. Find someone you trust and stick with them. I've been dealing with the same person since 1992.

[Nick]

MSE have a great page here.

Housepriececrash have plenty of reasons why you should carry on renting here (forums here).

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[frazered]

use the governments FSA tables to filter and compare all the products on the market

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/tables/

then find an IFA and test if they come up with the deals you like and if they are trying to steer you to something that might not be right for you!

I have used MoneyQuest the last remortgages and they seem pretty good - no fees as well as some solicitors costs paid

http://www.moneyquest.co.uk/

[Fjorko]

Anyone here use Scottish Widows as their lender ?

We found them to have one of the best Professional Morgage deals so far.

[b0redom]

Recommending individual lenders is not usually a good idea. Terms + Conditions and best rates etc vary daily. It also depends on the type of mortgage you're after - ie interest only, capital repayment etc. etc.