First-Time Buyer Mortgage Advice
Getting started
If you’re buying your first property the process can be confusing and daunting even if your circumstances are straightforward, let alone if they aren't.
You are probably wondering exactly what a broker does, how much it would cost and why you would benefit from using one.
In short, we arrange the mortgage for you, considering not just value for money, but your eligibility for those products, your preferences and long-term intentions, and all from as many potential lenders as possible.
And at the same time making sure that; you understand the process, your risks are minimised, that your time is kept to a minimum and that costly mistakes are avoided.
We do charge a small advice fee for our service of £299 but only paid once a mortgage offer has been agreed in full, and not simply at application. But you shouldn’t underestimate the value of your own time and effort and how much of this can be involved in navigating the complex range of options yourself.
So try not to think of us as being someone to get you the best rate, but more like a consultant who is there to make sure the process is as fluid and painless as possible, and at the same time providing good value.
A quick guide to our service for first-time buyer mortgages
- Whole of market – We don’t work from a small panel of lenders, but most of the major banks and building societies in the UK from high street brands to small regional lenders.
- We can deal over the phone – We work with most customers over the phone and do work late evenings.
- Fully encrypted – You don’t need to post confidential documents but can if you prefer.
- Fully regulated – We are FCA regulated and covered by the financial services compensation scheme and financial ombudsman.
- No upfront fees – Our advice fee is £299 paid only when the loan is agreed in full.
- Single point of contact – No hold music, no call menu’s, no repeating your circumstances over and over to different people.
First-time buyers How we can help
- Get a quick and accurate assessment of how much you can borrow. Beware of overly simplistic online calculators and forums, it’s a diverse market and answers are not simple.
- Find out what rates will be suitable considering issues like credit scoring, eligibility issues such as complex incomes or unusual properties.
- We can get a decision in principle (or agreement in principle, AIP, DIP, proof of funds) arranged for you so you can evidence to estate agents that you should be able to arrange a loan.
- Understand how your transaction can be structured, such as where the deposit can come from, whether other parties can retain interest or ownership, the implications of applying jointly or solely and whether other tax and legal advice could be important.
- Guide you on other services and quotes you will need to get such as legal work, further valuations or surveys and when to engage these to avoid spending money unnecessarily.
- Help you understand whether certain properties are suitable for mortgages before proceeding to an offer.
Our process for first-time buyer mortgage advice
We will have an initial discussion and give you a better idea of maximum loan and potential rates after briefly going through your circumstances which usually takes around twenty minutes.
A short 2-page fact find form is completed by you and then we arrange a telephone call to discuss your options further, complete our “fact find” and finalise a proper recommendation.
We will send you a list of documents that would be needed for a full application, and we send you “illustrations” for the mortgages we recommend that detail all the costs and terms of the mortgage being applied for.
With your consent, we can then arrange a decision in principle for you. Once an offer has been agreed on a property, we will arrange the full application and process all the documentation which you can send to us over encrypted systems.
We have a final call to discuss the product, cover the next steps and a skype or similar call to identify you and cross-check the originals of documents like ID etc. We will help you decide when to proceed with legal work and whether to have a more thorough survey and when to engage this.
After this, we can then arrange the mortgage in full, and we will keep you informed of the process until the mortgage is offered and you move onto the legal work.