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

To do your research and understand the difference between products. What are the hidden costs? Longevity of products and will they reflect your life in 5 years, let alone 5+. That brokers do not have access to all the products on the market, but they have their place. The more money you have to invest in the property, the better, so put everything you have upfront and worry about the new kitchen later!

I wish I had known that interest rates would stay so low for so long, and that re-mortgaging when we moved home would mean we could not access the same low low rate we were on. We had a fixed deal that ended on 0.5% above Bank of England rates, but then we moved home and never really made the most of that rate. Wish we had shopped around more at the time as well, and used a specialist mortgage broker as the one we used was more interested in selling us insurance policies instead of mortgages and I don't think we got the best deal, but with all the house move stuff to sort I just signed up, and now we are in a 5 year fix and not even able to overpay. Am worried what rates will be in 5 years time and how affordable our mortgage will be then...

I definitely wish I hadn't taken an endowment mortgage, if I hadn't id be mortgage free by now. over paying is great but you need to be sure your particular mortgage doesn't charge you for doing so as some do.

I wish I'd not taken an endowment mortgage. Mine would not have covered the mortgage had I not sold the house.

That it is best to shop around and compare different deals and rates.

Having a broker is priceless. Even if you think you've found a good deal on a price comparison website, dealing directly with some of the companies yourself is a headache.

Yes to overpay wherever you can and take out the best life/ mortgage insurance you can while young and fit.

Find out if there are any clauses that means a lender won't lend on that particular property before you pay any non-refundable fees or get the valuation done. Our first flat was a new conversion of an old building. Our first choice lender treated this as a new build and wouldn't lend without an NHBC certificate, which it didn't have.

Flexible features are very useful to have. We were able to take a mortgage holiday without penalties when I was made redundant.

If you go for a long fix, find out exactly what that means if you have to move in the period. Life, and unexpected babies, happen!

I wish we'd overpaid more to begin with.

I wish I'd been more savvy about overpayments, especially in the years before we had huge childcare bills...

I wish I had got a fixed rate. I got a tracker mortgage just before the rate rises and my mortgage went up significantly in a few months to more than I could comfortably afford. You know where you are with a fixed rate mortgage.

Wish we had got a bigger mortgage on a bigger house as we gave now after 2 years outgrown our house and with a £20,000 cost to move seems like a waste of money

To shop around for interest prices. We were a bit naive and went with the first mortgage we were offered.

I wish I'd quit smoking sooner so our life insurance would be that much cheaper.

I was fairly happy with my understandings of mortgages (I worked for a bank in my younger years and used to sell Mortgages so felt I had a good grasp of it all.), what I wasn't prepared for was under trained staff, people that didn't seem to know what they were talking about and conflicting information!

Just be sensible about how much to borrow. Research your other potential outgoings and budget.

Yes to issues about endowment policies and 'interest only' mortgages. Fortunately we are now back on track with a repayment one.

Just how long 25 years actually is for repaying a mortgage (and the huge amount of borrowing interest paid). It seems as if I've been a home-owner forever but still got ten years to pay off.

To do lots of research. Remember to properly budget for mortgage repayments, utilities, council tax, food, cars and phones. Factor all of it in before buying.

Bear in mind there is a maximum value to your home, a threshold for your location. Be aware of over spending on doing it up, you may not recoup it all when you come to sell.

Pay it off ASAP!

I wish I'd thought more about the implications of taking an interest only mortgage and I wish I'd overpayed early on. I just thought cheap mortgage-sign me up!

I wish I'd thought about it all when I was much younger and not when I already had children. I thought things would just work themselves out but I could've planned and made more sensible financial choices and been in a better position now.

We were so young and naive. When the financial adviser tried to spend every spare penny of disposible income we had on other financial insurances and products we nearly went along with it.

The best advice was from my old boss who said you only need life / ci insurance to pay off the mortgage should the worst happen and house insurance. That was really good advice.

We also initially went with one with early payment penalties which was daft as before we had kids we had lots of spare income that would have gone a long way to paying off the mortgage but we couldn't because off paying loads of fines if we did.

Now we have offset which suits us and we try to put a bit into a savings account that is offset so if we don't use it it helps the mortgage but is there if we need it for a rainy day.

last bit of crucial advice - shop around! Last time rates were awful on our existing lender (around 5-6% at the time) and by switching we got about 2% i think and it was offset and suited us better.

Wish I'd shopped around more and not stayed with my bank. Looking back I was not financially savvy at all with not much idea of what I was getting myself into. I was so naive and should have sought the advice of a good independent broker.

Didn't think about the long-term implications either and whether I'd need to move house or not.

I wish I'd never even made an appointment with the salesman who took an in-depth 30 second tour of my finances before recommending a pension mortgage

Luckily despite being naive I did have the nous to get out of there sharpish.

I wish I'd checked my credit report before applying for my first mortgage. I'm not absolutely certain but I believe I was turned down due to having a similar name as a relative with poor credit at the same address.

Don't go to the mortgage broker through the estate agent - if you use one ask around for recommendations.

My second mortgage I did all the research and application myself online, so much easier and didn't have to discuss my entire life with a random stranger.

How little the mortgage amount owed goes down every month to start with! Can be sooo disheartening when you see the first annual statement & you owe nearly as much as at the start! Wish I;d been prepared for that!

I wish I'd known about early redemption fees.

I wish I understood all the added costs- interests etc. I still don't understand!