Why Use a Mortgage Broker?

Deciding to use a mortgage broker is an important step before buying a property. Getting a mortgage comes with a lot of expenses and you may find ways to reduce costs if you get in touch with a mortgage broker.

The housing market in the UK has its ups and downs but generally gets busier and bigger every year. Buyers rush to take advantage of various tax breaks and lenders have near-zero interest rates to work with. As a result, it becomes incredibly important to use a mortgage broker to help you in finding the best loans at the lowest interest rates.

Here are some ways how a mortgage broker can potentially add value to your home buying process.

Mortgage brokers are qualified to advise

Mortgage brokers have in-depth knowledge of the mortgage market and the real estate market as a whole. They are well aware of the latest trends, prices, fee structures, regulations in the domestic, as well as local markets in which they operate.

By utilising their expert knowledge, mortgage brokers will find a deal for you that matches your financial situation. They advise you in choosing from a range of lenders and subsequent products, rather than being limited to a small range of the products a single lender might offer.

They can potentially help you save a lot of money

A mortgage broker always looks for the best mortgage for your price in terms of

• interest rates
• lowest monthly payments
• and total cost.

Mortgage brokers look beyond the mortgage interest rates to take into account all the other fees that will apply. These include stamp duties, surveyor fees, and valuation fees, among others. They can help you understand, and plan for, the total amount you will need besides the downpayment for your mortgage. These fees can sometimes add up to thousands of pounds. Some mortgage brokers can even help you find deals on conveyancing, solicitors, and other services to lower your total costs.

While searching for a mortgage, you may come across offers that might be priced incredibly low. Brokers are well aware of such offers. They will tell you exactly why that offer is listed at that price and what you might actually end up paying. They can do this by carefully reviewing every fee and condition associated with that offer, summarising what the actual price is when compared to a mortgage that looks more expensive at first glance.

Sometimes you may need a drawdown facility or a portable mortgage. A mortgage broker will help you in finding a mortgage meeting these needs at a reasonable price.

They can sometimes not cost anything at all

Although, some mortgage brokers do charge fees. These can be fixed fees, hourly fees, or a combination of both. But since the mortgage market is very competitive these days, there are a lot of mortgage brokers that do not charge any fees from their clients.

This means that you can avail all the many benefits we have discussed above and not pay a single pound.

How do these brokers make money then?

Well, since they are in the business of connecting borrowers with lenders. When your mortgage application gets approved through a mortgage broker, they receive a commission from the lender.

Going with a no-fee broker sounds great from a cost perspective but that does not always make them a great option. This is because some brokers find it more attractive to work on an application if they are paid their fees upfront.

This can also help you because a commission-based transaction relies heavily on the sale price of the property. This leaves room for a possibility that a broker might be tempted to go for a higher sale price in order to raise the value of their commission.

Save yourself a load of time – and stress.

Going through tens of options to figure out the best interest rate, or fretting over the less-than-perfect credit score that might get in the way of you securing a decent mortgage option is only going to add to the stress. Let the professionals handle the responsibility of research so you can still make an informed decision, with less than half the toil.

The legwork involved in securing the loan can be arduous and difficult to navigate, especially for a first-timer. A mortgage broker is just the right party to call for aid. They will figure out the right mortgage option for you and help you fill out all the paperwork, chase after lenders and solicitors, and ensure that the deal goes smoothly the first time around.

Your mortgage can get processed much sooner

Most brokers have been in the business for years. If they operate in a specific location, their expertise is even more robust. Since they provide a lot of business to lots of lenders over the course of a year, they end up generating a degree of influence. If your mortgage application faces a delay at any stage, they will know exactly who to call at the lender’s office. Not only that but they will also have a very concrete idea about the nature of the delay and what can be done to fix it promptly.

Delays are sometimes a common occurrence in mortgage applications. Sometimes from your end in the form of collecting the required paperwork. But they can also be from the lender’s end. If you go through a mortgage broker, you will not need to worry about either of those delay types.

Specialist mortgage brokers can speed up the conveyancing

Because the mortgage market is quite mature, lots of brokers have chosen certain segments and clients as their speciality. You can find brokers that specialise in working with first-time buyers for example. These brokers understand how confusing buying a home for the first time can be. They have systems and procedures in place to make the process as easy as possible.

Some mortgage brokers specialise in second homes. They understand how conveyancing can take a lot longer if the property you are selling or the property you are buying is part of a chain. What this means is that the buyer of your property might be waiting to sell their previous house to fund their purchase of your house. And you might be waiting on them to raise the money for your purchase. The seller of the property you’re interested in buying might be waiting on you to fund their next purchase.

The longer this chain gets, the slower conveyancing can take. Specialist mortgage brokers know how to speed up this process by staying in touch with conveyancers, other solicitors involved in the chain and even other lenders.

To sum it up

Getting expert advice and guidance seldom results in undesirable outcomes. In the case of buying a property, mortgage brokers are a welcome sight. The process will become a lot simpler and easier to navigate and you can potentially save on a fair amount of money if you use a mortgage broker.