Hi ladies!
We sold our house in October last year and as a family of 3 with a 4 year old, are currently living with my parents in our late 30's!
We all survived Christmas thank god but after pulling out of a 'not quite right purchase' last summer, and getting into 3 best and final offers in a rising sellers market, we are still no nearer finding a long term home!
Our DD is settled in reception in the school that was 2 mins from our old house ☹️ and is with her 'from babyhood' best friends who are the kids of my friends. I really don't want to move her as she's quite reserved and has a physical medical issue that means I want good friends around her to support her.
The school is in a student area with few family sized properties near by and it is a tad dodgy now in terms of looking like a dump due to HMO's and lack of funding over the last decade.
All there are are terraces with fly tipping everywhere, or new build housing but we like period style and want a medium to largeish garden, drive.
We have a mortgage advisor who has been mainly great (if not slightly sexist towards me), as a previous stay at home mum (now working the last year). He often joked about why I wanted to be on the mortgage so badly when my income doesn't count, as I am on a zero hours contact that needs 12 months pay slips to count! (In 3 weeks I will finally have these!)
The other thing is, he works above an estate agents and although with the independent mortgage advisor bureau, has struck me with this gut feeling that he might not fully have our best interests at heart.
I'm just quite cynical and he's very charming and friendly (alarm bells to me) and I often see him chatting to the estate agent owners when I drive by from school.
He always has the insider hand on sales that have always gone to best and final offers for us. He also charges £395 and makes commission from the mortgage company too that he recommends, which has always been Halifax. Last one we nearly bought stood him to get £550 in commission as well as his fee.
My friend's partners brother is an independent mortgage adviser but at the other end of the country. He just arranged my friend's mortgage renewal and they say we should defo use him as he's well schooled and a perfectionist and trustworthy.
I am finding it hard to phone him though as I'll never be able to get face to face advice and it's such a big thing! I also don't want to mess my friend's family around if we don't go with him.
I guess i want to know whether others have used mortgage advisors they've dealt with without meeting.
Should we be paying a fee as well as them getting commission?
Would you trust an advisor who is mates with the estate agent he works above and always wants to put the offer in for you?
I worry that we could have conflict of interests if he is also acting for other buyers, who may be after the same property that we are and that that is why we are always going to best and final? I'm also going paranoid - can you tell! Help!?
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16 replies
MilkyVampire · 14/01/2020 21:50
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