Buyers Guide: Mortgages

Did you know that today 42% of first time buyers now rely on parental help to get on the property ladder? I did, although I could afford the monthly payments for the mortgage it was impossible to raise the deposit needed in such a short space of time that existed from when I found my first house. The property market for some is becoming increasingly difficult to get onto and I find that even though it was just a year ago when I purchased my first home that now we are own our first property things can only ever get easier. There is so much information out there that its hard to take in especially if you have no idea what you are getting into ...  Read the complete review

Choosing a mortgage has been a nightmare and I don’t mind admitting it to you. I have spoke to so many people and have found faults with all of them but now after over a month of hunting for a mortgage I have finally found somebody to sort it out for me and I am confident he has got me the best rates for mine and my partners situation. It is a pain though and hopefully during this review I will let you in with a few things to look out for as you would not believe some of the tricks that some people try out on you. ----- Mortgage? Well I suppose first we should ascertain a little bit about mortgages. A mortgage is what you take out on ...  Read the complete review

I read recently that 25% of all new mortgages are interest-only. I think most people hear the word ‘mortgage’ and assume that somehow, someway, so long as they are paying this ‘mortgage’ at the end of 25 years they will own a house. A more accurate description would be a ‘buy-to-rent loan’. A bank would never lend money on an interest-only basis for a car or any other depreciating asset so why are they falling over themselves to offer these kinds of loans to buy a house? The simple answer is they get considerably more interest this way and can take possession of the house, which is normally an appreciating asset in the long term, if the borrower cannot come ...  Read the complete review

I'm a first time buyer and have just arranged my first mortgage. So I'm no expert. But if you're in the same position, I can provide a few tips that might at least get you started. As opposed to sitting at home tearing your hair out and convincing yourself that rent isn't really money down the drain, which was my preferred option until quite recently. THE BASICS Mortgages are just a (big!) loan. They're different from a personal loan because they're secured on a property. This means that if you don't pay the bank (or building society, but I'll keep using bank because its shorter) back, they can sell the property and ...  Read the complete review

There are 2 main types of flexible mortgages, the ones that lump all your money together and effectively give you an obscruely large overdraft, or the striaght flexible mortgage. Both types allow overpayments and most charge interest daily. The first type effectively give you an overdraft over 25/30 years for the amount of your mortagage and then you pay in you salary and pay your bills out of this same account. The advantage is when your salary goes in you automatically pay interest on the mortgage amount less your salary. Of course the disadvantage is (especially if you are like me) that you keep 'forgetting' that you shouldn't take out all your ...  Read the complete review