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Property/DIY

Deciding on a mortgage broker and forever home

16 replies

MilkyVampire · 14/01/2020 21:50

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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JoJoSM2 · 14/01/2020 22:03

He probably needs to friendly with he estate agents to keep his business going. However, after the stupid comments, I would get a different advisor.

You don’t need to ever see your mortgage advisor either. They can talk to you over the phone or email things for you to see and think about.

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Mintchocchipicecream · 14/01/2020 22:14

I use a phone mortgage broker. No issues! I’m also looking to buy in an area with nothing available!

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Absa · 14/01/2020 22:21

We've recently used a mortgage broker as needed 3 mortgages sorted at once and thought it would be easier. Big mistake! Caused far more hassle than when we've done it on our own.
But if you do need to use one, those fees seem very high - more than double what we paid.
I would use the friend of a friend - you honestly don't need face to face and can send everything you need to them.

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scaryteacher · 15/01/2020 00:52

L&C are great - I sorted our mortgage by phone and online, and we weren't even in the UK at the time.

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MilkyVampire · 15/01/2020 11:19

Thanks for your input ladies! I'll try and strike the courage to call the friend of friend today. Had a major argument last night with OH over my lack of action so need to do something. Feel like we'll never find a house I will feel is a home! I'll try and update if I do!

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Aknifewith16blades · 15/01/2020 15:20

OP, might be worth putting letters through the doors of houses that you'd like to buy, see if anyone is up for selling.

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Outnumbered99 · 15/01/2020 18:44

There is absolutely no need to pay a fee to get a good mortgage broker. Full disclosure I work for a company that don't charge fees (just get paid from the lender) but I could name four or five other companies just in my local area that also don't charge fees too.

WRT the house, we got our forever home from a leaflet drop to the entire street- worth a try.

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MilkyVampire · 18/01/2020 22:33

Thanks. I called the brother of my friend but he would charge £495 + commission for his mortgage advisor services and also recommended Halifax as did the other broker who's charging £395 + commission.
I said I'd think about it and today he's come back and said if I'm taking out our insurance too, for life, income and critical then he could maybe do a better deal. My friend's partner has obviously called his bro!
I just want to get a mortgage in principle sorted so we can leap and nab the house we want when the opportunity arises!
I have heard of a few friends who have leafleted with success. I'm a bit worried I guess that if we did get a 'bite', that we wouldn't like the house once viewed and would feel like we had to buy it.

I've seen a couple of houses i like but they've both been auction ones and we are definitely not up for that! Been to an auction house before to watch a sale and my gran's house was sold by auction and it's just too risky for us.

So we'll see!

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flirtygirl · 19/01/2020 13:54

Google London and country op, as you do not need to pay to see good mortgage broker.

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flirtygirl · 19/01/2020 13:56

A comparison site for insurance will show you the best deals on life insurance.

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enjoyingscience · 19/01/2020 13:59

I’ve never used a broker - are you sure you need one at all? Seems like he’s getting money for nothing. Have you tried going to see Halifax yourself?

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Absa · 20/01/2020 22:31

@OP if you are just doh g a straight forward purchase you can easily get a mortgage without using a broker - save your money, use a comparison site and then call the bank mortgage department directly / or just apply online

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zsazsajuju · 20/01/2020 23:04

I’ve never paid a broker. There are loads who work for just the commission. You’re paying them twice

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MaJoady · 20/01/2020 23:49

I think you're making this harder than it needs to be. Get your AIP from anyone. You don't need to use the same broker for the mortgage.

Halifax are probably being recommended repeatedly as they have a very good rate for deposits of under 20% atm. Most brokers all look at the same stuff anyway, particularly if yours is a straight forward purchase.

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missnevermind · 20/01/2020 23:57

We needed a broker for our last mortgage. We didn't pay any fees upfront and when it was all sorted we had the choice of adding them to the mortgage.
Everything was dealt with over the phone and was quite strait forward in the end.

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MyNameIsMrsGrumpy · 21/01/2020 20:40

I never met our broker, all done via email and telephone, and scanning documents overs 🤷‍♀️

He was reasonable charged £195 then I assume the rest of his % comes from the mortgage product.

He did manage to get us a better rate and more money than when we applied on our own.

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