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 wish i'd known not have an interest only mortgage, and to make over payments.

I was early 20s, with a tiny monthly repayment. I could have owned that flat outright by now!

I wish I'd got a 0% credit card out and paid it all on time before trying to get a mortgage. I thought that the fact we had rented for 5 years, never had a late payment, never had car finance, loans or store cards would give us a good credit rating. Instead it was as if we didn't exist!

I wish I'd thought properly about how expensive it was and how tough it would be to get the deposit! And I wish I'd been reasonable enough to accept second hand furniture rather than buy everything I wanted on a credit card

Read everything thoroughly! Its easy to get caught up in the romance of buying a home, especially your first!

Knowing the difference between endowment and repayment was essential to our whole future and it worked in our experience

I wish I'd known that interest only wasn't the answer to our prayers and that remortgaging with Northern Bloody Rock was not a good idea 😩

That there are far more options than the "fixed rate, over 25 years" deal that my parents kept mentioning. Turns out things have changed in the mortgage world over the last 30+ years.
I was so glad I listened to and asked questions of my mortgage advisor. He was worth every penny

Interest rates. Why didn't they teach them in school?

learning more about interest rates

How effective overpaying is.

Dh took out a 15yr IO mortgage on his first flat with an endowment.

When we bought a house together we switched to overpayment but kept the endowment policy going. It meant we had a 60k pot when we cashed it in (15k more than the payments in) and enabled us to buy our forever home.

I wish we had realised that mortgage brokers talk a load of unmitigated bollocks at times. Ours failed to get the first two mortgage deals he applied for and we were charged fees (one we didn't qualify for and one that was unsuitable for the Help to Buy scheme, totally his mistake).

That having a shorter term wouldn't really put the cost per month up much!

I wish I had gone straight for a repayment mortgage

I wish I had known just how expensive it can be to replace things like boilers, radiators etc. A house needs its own credit card just to cover the unexpected.

Our first was an endowment mortgage that because it was based on lies, it put us back years. It would also have been better if we could have saved up a bigger deposit.

...that when you're making such a big financial commitment, it really is worth getting a full survey done, even though it's more expense and even if (in Scotland at least) the vendor has already had to produce a Home Buyers Report.

I wish I'd done it earlier , you soon learn to adapt your living costs and it all seems affordable.

I wish that I'd known that after a few years the mortgage would be easier to pay as my salary went up.

I just find it amazing that you can go through the whole British education system and learn nothing of mortgages etc. I found it all very overwhelming with rates, terms and the huge sums involved. If anything I wish that our education system prepared you for real life or made the information more accessible.

Realistically I wish I'd have known that most other people don't really have a clue either but everyone has an opinion. And that what's suits one lifestyle doesn't suit another.

I wish I'd considered a plan B if my husband chose to leave me. Which he has. As of last week. Suddenly a landlord seems like a better option...

Wish we had mortgage of a house while buying instead of a flat that we bought as it has high maintenance charges( we realise it now) The deposit was high plus the monthly amount debited is also quite high.Thinking of remortgaging at the moment.

wish I'd known once I took this new mortgage out my council tax was going to change by two bands! (because of a previous extension by previous owners).
Also wish I'd known the bank of England rate would have decreased again but its a guessing game.

wish i had saved for a bigger deposit

That interest rates would drop!

I wish I'd known interest rates would rocket to 10% within 2 months of buying my first home. Also wish I'd known about negative equity.