Is it a good time to take out a 5 year mortgage?

[bilblio]

I'm currently with Halifax for our mortgage, it's due to go up and as we're no longer tied in I'm looking to get a good fixed rate deal.
The mortgage is only £50,000 and we've around 50% equity in the house.

As the rates seem low I've been looking at 5 year deals, I' not planning any life changing events so this seems sensible, but is it in the current climate?

The mortgage my advisor has found is at 3.89% which seems fantastic, my current mortgage is 4.5% and due to go up to 4.99% I thought longer term mortgages had higher interest rates generally? I've seen some online for even lower though.

Also should I go with the deal the advisor has found or some of the cheaper deals online?

That sounds high to me - the list of best buys in the Sunday Times range from about 2.5 to 3.6%.
Fees vary so you'd need to factor those in.
I have always arranged the mortgage myself - we initially saw a financial advisor, but found a better deal (with a high street bank) ourselves.
How tight are your finances? If you could afford a rate-rise if it happened, then might be worth going for a cheaper variable rate as you would be paying less until any rate rise occured.

I think 3.89% sounds very good.

We've been looking into this ourselves. London and Country are recommended by MoneySavingExpert as a top mortgage and insurance adviser and we have used them in the past.

Here are their "best buys" list, I have filtered it so that the max LTV rate is up to 60%. here

Sadly you can only use one filter at a time, so you can't put up to 60% and 5 yr fixed. But it will give you an idea, the 3.89% is the one I can see for 5 yr fixed.

Having read around and quizzed the mortgage advisor I'm going to go with the 5 year one at 3.89% There are deals that look cheaper on a shorter term, but actually they aren't. By the time you factor in the arrangement fees, and allow for the fact we'd have to pay another arrangement fee in 2 years if we want to move mortgages again they're actually more expensive. Plus this mortgage are happy to take us on when I'm on maternity leave. DH is a SAHD so we struggle to get a mortgage anyway.

Finances are tight. I wanted to stay on a variable rate while the interest rates are low, with the aim of paying off extra when I go back to work, but now they're rising, and only likely to continue going up I need to get it fixed. The new mortgage allows me to overpay by 5% per year. If I can do that then I'll pay it off in 14 year before DD is due to start uni. It's probably a pipe dream, but it's something to aim for. :)

I think that's a pretty good plan, largely because it's the same one I've got i.e. mortgage paid off by the time DS is 15 or 16 :) Only difference is that I fixed in 2008 at 6% and have been paying of 10% of the balance each year without penalty ever since.