Share the things you wish you’d known before getting a mortgage with Habito - £300 voucher to be won! NOW CLOSED

[JustineBMumsnet]

Whether you’re buying for the first time, moving house or remortgaging, getting or changing a mortgage can be a daunting, time-consuming and confusing experience. Online mortgage broker Habito would like you to share the things that – with hindsight – you wish you’d known before getting a mortgage.

Here’s what Habito have to say: “Habito is the world’s first digital mortgage broker. It searches the entire market and enables you to apply online for a mortgage or remortgage quickly all online without any cost”

So, if there’s anything you wish that you’d known before you decided to take the plunge and get a mortgage, share this below.

Also, if you’re considering getting a mortgage or remortgaging, feel free to head over to Habito and see if they could help.

All those who post a comment on this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher for a store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks, and good luck!

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

I would have built up a better credit rating in my early days of work. It's fine now but I never thought of it until I had my first mortgage and my rate was higher as a result; I could have saved myself money by being more careful.

Make sure you consider the future when taking out a mortgage -- where do you see yourself financially over the next 10-15 years? Make sure the you will be able
To keep up with the payments if they go up!

I wish I'd known that Endowment mortgages were a total lie. They never got near paying off the capital and as for an additional lump sum; haha.

I wish I'd known to take out a bigger life insurance policy then we really needed when we got our first mortgage, and still had our health. We're trying to move house now and can't get a new insurance policy so are restricted to the amount we covered with the old policy because we're not willing to be uninsured.

I wish I had of realised that buying a house is a big commitment and not as easy as just buying a new car and so as a result saved for longer and bought nearer to my family instead of being desperate to move out and assume I'd be able to sell it five years in...
(For context bought in 2007 and price I paid still hasn't recovered )

Also realising the difference even a tiny bit if overpayments make.

I wish I'd known... the end will eventually be in sight. Even when older colleagues go on about their mortgage repayments of £1.57p each month when you are burning the candle at both ends just to make ends meet with tiny children and no sleep and repayments over £1.5k. You WILL get there in the end and you will not regret buying your home.

I wish I'd known not to look at the first few mortgage statements! Its really disturbing to see how much you've paid over the first few years and how little the outstanding balance changes!
I also wish I'd gone to a different mortgage broker-just blindly went with who the solicitor recommended but they weren't very good and didn't really get us the best mortgage for our circumstances.

Wish I'd saved a bigger deposit and accessed a better rate.
Luckily were in a position to overpay now.

I got my mortgage in 2006 when you didn't even need any deposit (remember Northern Rock giving out 110% LTV mortgages with a 'use the extra to kit your house out' slant - and I knew quite a few who did )

Wish I'd known the difference over payments make. Can't afford to do it now but when we could I wish we had paid more off before selling our previous place

I wish I had understood endowment mortgages better too. Luckily we moved after about 5 years and switched to a repayment. I also wish someone had shown us how making small overpayments can drastically reduce the term of your loan.

Not sure if all mortgage providers are the same but I wish I'd known that the only 'outgoings' ours was going to be interested in was child care costs!?!

I wish we'd used a mortgage broker as our circumstances were a bit unusual when we first applied so it would have been useful to get an overview of the whole market.

• Always use an independent mortgage broker/adviser to gain access to the best available rates
• Never get an interest only/endowment mortgage
• Make overpayments where possible
• Take out a good life insurance (aswell as building & contents insurance)
• Try to avoid taking a mortgage repayment holiday
• Be wise about who you are taking a mortgage with if going joint - a joint mortgage is harder to get out of than a marriage especially if there is negative equity (bitter experience - finally able to be free of house and exh 5 yrs after separating!)
• If possible try to ensure you have enough savings to cover 3 months mortgage repayments incase of illness/redundnacy. Though there is also insurance to cover these
• I love being a home owner rather than a renter so a mortgage is totally worth it for me. Love being able to decorate the house how I want etc and creating a home for me, DP and our new baby DD

We are first time buyers in our late 30s and 2 children. I have found it all so stressful & daunting. House hunting is nor as glamorous as it seems. I would have researched more using forums for personal situation as examples of what can go wrong during the process. Don't feel pressured into any stage no matter what the estate agent says. Take your time. Be wary of open days they suit the seller not you. Go back and revisit before any final decisions and understand that until you exchange absolutely nothing is legally binding.

I wish I knew that an endowment mortgage was a bad idea when I first took out a mortgage at a young age. I wish I'd kept my repayments the same when the mortgage rate when down as I'm sure that I would be closer to finishing now. I wish that lower rate mortgages didn't have high arrangement fees, it just feels like a con. How does it take any more effort to arrange that type of mortgage than an ordinary variable rate one? Above all I wish it was straight forward for my twenty something DC to begin to own their own homes, but I can't see it happening any time soon, linked to that I wish buy to let mortgages were much harder to get so that at least my DC had a chance of a small starter home.

I wish we'd saved up harder for a bigger deposit, I didn't realise what a big difference the LTV (Loan to value) could make to the repayments.

Also wish I'd done some research myself and looked at best rates online rather than going with a mortgage adviser who I trusted to get us the best deal.

Make sure you've considered your position financially further on down the line e.g in the event of relationship breakdowns, redundancy, children coming along e.t.c.

I wish I'd known how much difference early overpayments make, we overpaid when we could in the early days, but could have saved years and thousands by overpaying more at the start.
We now have an overpayment reserve that would cover 18 months of mortgage payments, which really takes the pressure off DH as the main earner, and we're due to pay it off just in time for DS to go to University (when we could do with that money to help him out!)

The value of overpayments and also being more aware of the "lock ins" and what you pay if you (eg) change your mortgage. That said, i feel we made the best decisions based on our circumstances at the time

I wish if have known that it isn't that scary and daunting. I was put off for a long time because I just didn't know the lingo.

Now I know that it's just lingo and can all be demystified with a great broker.

I wish I'd realised how different the process of buying a house to finding one to rent is. It's a much more long winded, stressful process and no one moves very fast. I wish I'd understood that it's not about how much deposit you have (although the more the better of course) but what you are able to borrow is based on income. Sounds silly but this shocked me, as a FTB I just thought you saved a % of the price for a deposit and the bank would just lend. .... We were very dissapointed at first appointment with broker!

Finally, a decent broker is worth their weight in gold for a FTB.

Always take independent advice from a professional ie not your parents or the adviser in the bank.

How much is interest and how much is capital and how the capital reduces drastically if you overpay the mortgage.

I honestly didn't realise how much I could save on interest if I overpaid until I discovered an early repayment calculator. This has saved me £££'s in interest and I repaid my mortgage early.

How owning your home means you have to pay to fix all the problems, and there always are some!

Also if the freeholder levies service charges based on planned repairs, find out in advance if any are scheduled. We nearly had to pay an extra £10k when the council (freeholder) needed to do up our estate - our solicitor argued our case as we were selling and escaped most of it.

The only thing I wish is that I had got on the property ladder sooner, as (with hindsight) it would have been of great benefit to us - however I had not met my partner until I was in early 30s.