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

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I'd echo the overpayments, when we came to move and so remortgage it made a big difference, saved us thousands for the price of a couple of take aways a month.

I wish I hadn't wasted 3 years with an Endowment mortgage - the interest saved by getting a Repayment mortgage and overpaying when I could was a much better 'investment'

You can also be too risk averse. We brought a house we could afford the mortgage on easily on one salary (whilst we had two good salaries), house prices have risen, but we can't really afford much of a jump up as house price rises are so high. We should have stretched ourselves more and forward planned to our family house, not just our first time buyer house.

I wish I had known that the 10% capital we were putting in when we were first time buyers had to be handed over on the day we exchanged contracts - I hadn't clocked that before and it was a stressful day as the money was in a "notice" account and I had given notice to withdraw the day before the target completion date.

I wish I had known sooner how easy and sensible it is to arrange to have the monthly payment be slightly higher than the official repayment rate so that I know we will still be OK if interest rates have risen by the time our fixed rate runs out.

If you want to own your home, get on the property ladder as soon as you can. The longer you wait the harder it will be and you will waste money on renting!

I wish I had thought about the future more and taken a mortgage where you could take payment breaks. I have had 3 maternity leaves which have been a financial struggle and if I could have taken a payment holiday this would have made a massive difference.

Always buy a freehold property, if possible!
We bought the ground floor of a house conversion, with the freehold being owned by the owner of the upstairs flat.
We have had nothing but problems - mainly due to him being an unreasonable person in general, however we are at his mercy when it comes to the conditions of the lease. We have discovered that leaseholders have very few rights; he is able to carry out unnecessary works to the property and then bill us for half, which he regularly does. We have no say in the matter whatsoever.

You don't necessarily 'make money' on property. Bought first house in 2005, during house price boom, sold in 2013 after the house price crash, for just £5k more, roughly what we had invested into the property during that time

I wish I'd realised how long 5 years are when your fixed in a high interest mortgage and I wish we had started repaying extra sooner

Yes to being too risk averse!
Dh and I would be so much better off today had we borrowed what we could and not taken out high interest fixed rate mortgages!
We intend to re mortgage next year poss to a tracker and then overpay.

Oh gawd I'll be here all day.... So fucking shite. Just take as few risks as possible. Be comfortable with the risk. Speak Up. Be v v careful about fixed rates.

I wish I'd known that my husband would have a horrible accident and be permanently disabled after the first year, we might have chosen somewhere with less stairs! (Stairlifts are insanely slow and awkward on narrow staircases)

I wish we'd consulted a professional first as we were totally clueless. I wish there was a simple guide to all the terms, consequences, ways things can change, what you are and are not able to do. This time around we are going to do this, being older and wiser I think it's the only sensible option unless you really know what you're doing.

That surveys, even the full structural ones, are really highlevel and won't uncover the majority of issues, and that there is little comeback despite their ridiculous cost

I wish I'd known how to look critically at a property. My first house, the survey was fine, but when I knew better, the signs were all there that there was a huge amount of bodged diy

I was fairly soon in the fortunate position where i could make overpayments. Unfortunately, my mortgage deal had very tight restrictions and penalties on overpayments which made it more attractive to hold-back with those until the fixed rate period had expired.

Get good credit ratings ie. credit cards are always paid off. Even though it is hard work and boring do your research there are even books available and it is worth reading a lot of material and writing notes. I wish I'd saved more of a deposit. I have always overpaid to make sure we are not just paying off the interest!

I wished I had taken independent advice rather thn advice from my parents as they didn't know all of the small details!

Always look around for the best deal.

I wish I'd saved more money! I wish I'd bought years ago!

I wish I had saved a bigger deposit so I could have had a smaller mortgage

I wish I'd realised that I could over pay from the very start. Well, as soon as we could afford to over pay.

It was hard enough making the decision on which mortgage to choose, which provider and other considerations. There were so many differences that I felt quite bamboozled by it all.

I wouldn't get a morgage in the current Brexit situation for all the rice in China!

going from council house to mortgage has been a massive step, whereby we could just call the council to repair things, we now have to fork out thousands for boiler repairs roof issues etc. it is the biggest negative side of owning your own house.

I wish I'd known that endowment policies were a terrible rip off