Estate agents brokers, purchasing new home

[Poppie2023]

Hi Mumsnetters,

What are your thoughts on brokers please?
Have you used them when purchasing your home? or
Do you prefer to go directly to a bank?
Would you/have you used the agents brokers.

I've heard of online ones such as L&C.

Please share your experiences and recommendations if any. Do they make the process more at ease?

It all depends on your situation. We have a mortgage part that is 1.5% we were very keen on keeping so went direct and are porting it for our current purchase.

If you have no mortgage or want an entirely new one speak to a whole of market broker for the best deal but make sure they are fee free and get their commission from the mortgage company and not from you. Some brokers will only deal with certain banks and others will charge for their services.

Thank you very much for your advise. Very much appreciated.

We used a broker when we bought our first property as we were young and inexperienced. Since then we have just gone direct to the bank / building society. The last time, I had a 20 minute call with the bank and it was all arranged.

Go have a look at Martin Lewis MSE. You are unlikely to get a good deal off the Estate Agent zbrojers (they want you to go that route for the commission/finders fee) and also won’t get the best rate through a high st bank

London & Country are good and free. Used them with four mortgages now.

Would never use an estate agent broker.

Find a recommended local broker and get their recommendations, then also look round for yourself. It depends how comfortable you are with these things as well. Make sure your broker looks at the whole market.

We wanted to borrow a lot and the broker knew which lenders were likely to lend us a higher income multiplier. They dealt with all the paperwork for us so it was vey easy, and when we needed to ask for an extension to the offer the broker liaised for us.

Agree with @LittleBearPad that L&C are pretty good if your situation is straightforward & they are free to use as the Lender pays their commission. Equally, you could research mortgages yourself but if you’re a first time buyer, L&C could be useful to explain a range of options for you.

Also look around yourself there are some mortgages that are not available through broker had one like this with NatWest and one with Coop/Britsnnia.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

@FFSNorman Thank you, yes this particular agent seems only interested if you go through their broker.

I'd never use an estate agent's broker. I have mostly dealt directly with the bank but when our situation was complicated by mat leave and an impending job change we used an independent broker.

@LittleBearPad Much appreciated. I've been looking into them.

@TheOneWithUnagi thank you, this advise is really helpful.

Thank you @Twiglets1 for your helpful advise. 🙂

I used to work for an estate agent, never use their broker. They're normally awful and will charge you (especially if they're part of the Connells group!). You don't have to pay for a broker they all get practically the same lenders in their system!

I highly recommend the mortgage bureau, used them on my last purchase, all done on the phone and via email so no need to go in to a branch.

I wouldn't recommend going direct to one bank, you have eliminated most of the market of lenders to use and putting yourself out to getting a good deal.

Thanks @eurochick for your helpful advise.

L&C’s after sales care is terrible. Once your application is in, you are passed on to someone who never replies.

Then last year they actually hit ‘send’ on a application without asking my OH and suddenly 1k disappeared from our account.

Then the advisor ghosted him.

And we had a mortgage application on our credit record when I was not ready to commit to this house.

4 days later and a supervisor contacted us, cancelled it, got money back.

There are many small brokers out there more worthy of the commission.

If you use the internet browser duck duck go instead of google and put in ‘free mortgage advisor’, you may actually find one! Look at google reviews and Trustpilot.

I have to say L&C get the best rates. But I stopped wanting to earn them commission.

I would always use a broker as they have access to the whole of the market, some lenders will only go through a broker