Services
first time buyer
A key step in buying your first home is securing a mortgage, and there are many reasons for selecting the most suitable one. While the myriad of financing options available to first-time homebuyers can seem daunting, it can save you a considerable amount of time and money to take the time to research the fundamentals of property financing.
home mover
When moving home you may be a seasoned pro when it comes to finance and mortgages and know exactly what you want. This is great but if you don’t here’s a few hints and tips when calculating costs.
- Look at how much the estate agent will charge you for selling your property. Please note; estate agents fees might be negotiable so haggle.
- Don’t forget the solicitors will charge you for the conveyancing work to sell as well as buy so it may be a good idea to get quotes from a couple of solicitors to find the right price or if you are happy we can recommend one as well. (ACT mortgages do not provide legal services – This service is offered by referral to a third party)
- Stamp Duty – work out how much your stamp duty will cost .
- Moving costs. Well these can vary due to size of property and what sort of service you want.
- Mortgage fees – there might be numerous mortgage fees and your mortgage adviser or lender should advise you of what these are and provide you with a full mortgage illustration before you proceed with a mortgage.
re-mortgage
In a nutshell, all you are doing with this is changing from one lender to another to get a better rate or cheaper deal. The two do not necessarily go hand in hand. Let me explain. If you have a small mortgage, you will probably find it is not worthwhile paying an arrangement fee to the lender to go on a low rate. You may find it cheaper by going on a slightly higher rate and paying no arrangement fee. Always best to speak with someone before deciding on which deal to go for as you don’t want to be caught out by getting a more expensive deal overall even though the rate is much lower.
buy to let
Buy-to-let mortgages are a type of mortgage for people who have the specific intention of renting a property out. These can include both experienced landlords with numerous properties, to first-time landlords looking to enter the market.
With that in mind, if you intend to rent out a property, you cannot use a traditional residential mortgage to fund the purchase. Hence, a buy-to-let is the preferred option for lenders and landlords alike.
family protection
Most families would have to reduce their living costs in order to survive financially if the main breadwinner was to fall ill or pass away prematurely. Family protection can be set up to pay a lump sum or a regular income on death or diagnosis of an illness of a family member.
To ensure your family and loved ones are fully covered against the financial impact of death, critical or serious illness or loss of income due to sickness or an accident we can look at Life insurance, critical and/or serious illness cover and income protection.
Many people set this up to run alongside a mortgage or loan. However, you can even set up a life cover policy if you do not have a mortgage because the money is paid to the surviving spouse or the estate and the money does not go direct to a mortgage lender.
home insurance
To make sure that your home is fully protected we can suggest combined policy option. Buildings and Contents insurance.
As the name suggests, it combines the two main elements of property cover – contents and buildings – that can also be arranged and sold separately if so desired.
If you need both elements, such a combined policy can have significant advantages over arranging individual elements of cover.
Price is often the major factor – if you need both types of insurance then a joint policy is likely to be the most cost-effective option.
It’s also likely to be more convenient to arrange everything in one go, and there’ll probably be less paperwork to take care of.
In certain circumstances lender will require a building cover for the mortgaged property.
F.A.Q.
Here to help
Mortgages Q&As
Using a mortgage broker might be beneficial because they will find the most suitable rate in the marketplace for you and they might also have access to exclusive mortgage deals which you cannot get direct. They will advise and process your application from start to finish. If you have any questions along the way then they will answer them for you and if there are any problems during the process they can advise you on what to do next.
Your level of borrowing will be determined by several factors, which will include your level of household income, your financial commitments such as personal loans, credit cards, car finance etc , how long you wish to borrow for and how much deposit for purchase or equity for remortgage you have at your disposal.
No credit checks are carried out at the initial enquiry and will only be done when you provide your permission to do so.
The vast majority of lenders do prefere to see that you have paid all your financial commitments however there are a number of lenders that will consider clients with bad credit. Your specialist advisor will look at these providers if your situation requires.
Some lenders are a little faster than others, depending on their service level agreements. It is not too unusual to obtain a mortgage offer within 2-3 weeks period however more typical waiting times would 4-6 weeks. You will need to take into consideration how much time would it take to complete legal process.