It's Free to Speak to an Advisor, 7 days, 8am - 10pm
It's Free to Speak to an Advisor, 7 days, 8am - 10pm
We firmly believe that there are many positives to taking on the services of an expert mortgage broker in Leeds, more than there would be to going direct. That’s just our opinion though, of course we’d say that!
In reality, there are positives to going elsewhere, so it definitely is worth exploring your mortgage options. Thankfully for us, the majority of people will opt to speak with a mortgage broker in Leeds. That being said, we will take a look at the pros and cons of both routes.
The first tick in the column of Team Mortgage Broker is that whilst most high street banks can be approached directly, not all mortgage lenders can be.
This means that to get the best deal across all lenders, you’ll benefit from speaking with a mortgage broker in Leeds, though a mortgage lender may still have some deals you cannot get going to a mortgage broker.
An experienced mortgage broker in Leeds will typically require a fee, whereas this likely won’t be the case when going direct. That being said, we can help to recommend other services that you’ll need for much cheaper than they might be with a lender.
Previous arguments could be made saying that “the bank manager knows my finances inside out,” but this was a nullified argument once credit scoring was introduced.
If you know what you are doing and what you are looking for, going direct can be a quick and easy process. On the other hand, if you do not know what you are doing, you could harm your chances of ever obtaining a mortgage, as you won’t match all lenders criteria.
A trusted mortgage broker in Leeds will be able to review the different lenders mortgage criteria and will be able to match you up with the most suitable mortgage deal. We always aim to get this recommendation right first time, which more often than not, we do.
In days gone by, mortgage advisors from high street banks would approve you for a mortgage, whether they were adequately qualified or not. You would not benefit from correct mortgage advice or consumer protection.
As 2014 arrived, this type of practice was banned by the government. Only experienced mortgage advisors could go about providing mortgage advice to customers, making recommendations for products.
The downside to having to now having to only speak with specific individuals at a bank, meant you could be waiting months, just to speak with someone. That’s not good if you’re keen to get it done quickly!
Because of this, usage of a mortgage broker in Leeds rose, becoming a much more popular option. As a company ourselves, we offer various time slots throughout the week, allowing you to pick a time that is convenient to you, and not months in advance!
Quite often, if you’re lucky when booking your free initial mortgage appointment, you’ll be able to speak with someone the same day.
Nowadays, the hardest part of the mortgage process is matching up against the right mortgage lenders criteria. It’s also important to remember that deals with the lowest rates often have higher arrangement fees.
At the end of the day, a deal may be really good, but you’ll need to pass affordability checks and be eligible for that deal in the first place. With the help of a mortgage broker in Leeds, you’ll be able to find deals that are suitable for you.
Thanks in part to the regulations that followed after the credit crunch back in 2008, mortgage applications perhaps are not as straightforward as they used to be.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however, as it makes for fairer lending and less chance of anyone falling into arrears, which both customers and mortgage lenders alike would much rather do without.
That being said, there are still a handful of situations that could cause some issues for applicants, of which a mortgage broker in Leeds may be able to help with.
Over our time as an expert mortgage broker in Leeds, we have seen mortgage lenders demonstrating their competitive prowess, trying to offer better interest rates than their fellow mortgage lenders.
Once again because of the changes to regulations, the other difference between these lenders, is their mortgage lending criteria and whether or not the customer can match up with it.
Examples of how these may differ, is that some mortgage lenders may have more products for self employed applicants than others, whereas others may not but will be more lenient to something like bad credit mortgages.
Whatever your situation may be, it is unique to you. When you get in touch with a mortgage broker in Leeds and discuss your case, we may have encountered something similar before and will use that knowledge to help.
As a part of our service, we aim to go above and beyond for every customer who gets in touch with us. Customers rely on our help, so even if it seems relatively straightforward as far as cases go, we will still give it our absolute all.
During your process, one of our mortgage advisors in Leeds will be able to discuss what your budget is for making an offer on a property and recommend additional services such as trusted solicitors and the right property survey to undertake.
They can also run through any potential insurance options with you, helping prepare you and your family for the future, in the event of anything unfortunate occuring that could hinder your families financial state.
A further aspect of our service that is worth shouting about as a mortgage broker in Leeds, is how responsive we are to our customers. Oftentimes going direct can leave you unsure of what is going on and not always being able to make contact.
Our trusted mortgage advisors in Leeds will always keep you in the loop, with availability from early until late, every day of the week, responding as soon as they possibly can, no matter what you need them for.
Additionally, an overlooked factor as to why people may prefer the services of a mortgage broker in Leeds, is that nowadays people just seem to be so busy. It’s often easier to use a professional service, to take the stress off your shoulders.
This is especially beneficial for professional applicants who are dealing with customers of their own, perhaps not having the time to run through their process themselves.
If you would like to go direct, that is great! Generally though, whether a customer is a first time buyer in Leeds, self employed in Leeds, or looking to remortgage in Leeds, they prefer to enlist the services of an expert mortgage broker in Leeds.
Book your free mortgage appointment today with a fast & friendly mortgage broker in Leeds and we will see how we can help you along your mortgage journey.
The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate some types of buy to let or commercial mortgages.
Depending on the situation that you are in and the mortgage lender you have a mortgage with, yes, you can convert your existing mortgage into a buy to let.
After being a homeowner for a while, you may want to switch things up. Perhaps you will be living with a friend or partner, who owns a home? Perhaps you want to live somewhere new? Occasionally, homeowners may wish to go back to renting.
In either of these circumstances, you may wish to hold onto your current home, turning it from a residential property, into a buy to let property, going from just a homeowner, to a landlord as well.
This is something that can be quite beneficial for many, as it will supplement your income over time.
If you wish to make a change to your mortgage and make it a buy to let in Leeds, the first thing you will need to do is speak to your mortgage lender to make sure this is something you can do. If they confirm you can, you’ll need to get in touch with a mortgage broker in Leeds.
The reason is because in order to switch, you will need to remortgage onto a new type of mortgage. Whether you stick with the same mortgage lender or find a new one, one of our expert mortgage advisors in Leeds will help find the best deal for you.
It will be a remortgage, because you are modifying the terms of your deal. You signed up to a residential, not a buy to let, so this will be updated. It isn’t as straightforward as asking the lender to switch, as you need to pass their mortgage criteria for a buy to let in Leeds.
First and foremost, before anything else you’ll typically need to have remained within your property as a homeowner for at least six months. Once you’re past the six month point, there are all kinds of factors that a mortgage lender will consider.
Your affordability is something that entirely depends on the rental potential of the home you’re converting. Most lenders will want to stress-test your property to make sure that you are able to cover at least 125% of what you’ll be paying per month.
Whilst technically you won’t need a deposit to take out this new mortgage, you will need to have a sufficient amount of equity sitting within your property in order to be able to remortgage it onto a buy to let in Leeds.
Lenders will want to see that you have at least 20-25% equity in your property, though this can be more with poor credit history. Chances are you’ll need even more than this, in order to also cover the deposit for a new home to live in.
If your credit history is pretty poor, your chances of obtaining a mortgage will be slimmer. That being said, it’s not always impossible for you to do so!
There are plenty of mortgage choices out there for bad credit mortgages, which extends to people wanting to do a buy to let in Leeds. If any new credit problems have cropped up since your initial mortgage, obtaining a buy to let mortgage may be more challenging.
The important things to remember are building up your credit score again and the amount of time that has passed since the initial issues cropped up. To give an example, the more time that has passed since being given a CCJ, the better chance you’ll have of getting a mortgage.
The type of property you are letting out can have an impact on your mortgage process. You’ll find it more limited if you are looking to take out a mortgage on a HMO or Holiday Let, as they are specialist areas that require the assistance of a mortgage broker in Leeds.
Some landlords won’t offer mortgage products to first time landlords. If you have been a landlord in the past, you will have access to a wider variety of mortgage deals with more mortgage lenders.
On the other hand, there are multiple mortgage lenders that we have on panel, with some of these offering products to first time buy to let landlords. To learn more, speak with a mortgage advisor in Leeds.
No, you are not allowed to live in a property that you have a buy to let mortgage on. This would is a breach of your mortgage agreement and will very likely have a large negative effect you and your home.
Alternatively to a buy to let in Leeds, you could let out your existing home as a way to buy a new property to live in. This process is called let to buy. It is popular amongst homeowners who wish to supplement their income and also live somewhere else.
This works the same as a typical buy to let, though you’ll be applying for two mortgages this time (one to convert your property into a buy to let and one to buy a new home. As such, your lender will need to confirm you can afford both of these.
Whether you’re a new landlord planning ahead or an existing landlord ready to expand upon your property portfolio, you may be wondering how many times you can have a buy to let in Leeds.
Whilst there isn’t necessarily a strict limit on how many buy to let mortgages you can have, it will depend on the risk to the lender as to whether or not you’ll be able to take out further buy to let mortgages. Speak to a qualified buy to let mortgage advisor in Leeds to learn more.
Some homeowners may have the option of accessing something that is called a consent to let. This is typically something used more in the short term, with your home only being a temporary buy to let.
Depending on lender, you will usually have a limit that is between 30-90 days per calendar year. You need to check with your lender beforehand, to make sure you are able to do this.
To gain a further understanding of the options available for making your home a buy to let in Leeds, book your free mortgage appointment and speak to a mortgage advisor in Leeds.
A dedicated member of our team here at Leedsmoneyman will be able to review your circumstances and inform you of the deals you may be able to access, as well as helping with any additional buy to let mortgage advice in Leeds you require.
Over the years as a Mortgage Broker in Leeds, we have found an increase in people paying a lot more attention to their credit rating. As a result of this, we have found that many people who get in touch with our team have already researched online to find a copy of their credit report.
There are many different credit reference agencies to choose from, but the two most popular companies you may know are Experian and Equifax.
Our team highly recommend that new customers who contact us look to use Check My File. By doing this, you’ll find a report that offers customers a collation of information from various sources (the aforementioned two included) in an easy understandable colour-coded report.
You sign up for a 30-day free trial with Check My File and after the 30 days, you will be charged £14.99 a month. This can be cancelled at any time before the end of those 30 days.
Try it FREE for 30 days, then £14.99 a month – cancel online anytime.
When dealing with customers, our Mortgage Advisors in Leeds are often asked if they will be doing a credit search on them. This is usually a customer who knows that too many searches can negatively impact their credit score.
Our mortgage advisors will always get permission for the customer to run a credit check, whereas the lender will run their own checks. There are two types of credit searches, one is hard searches and the other is soft searches. Below we will explain the difference between the two as well as how they can help.
A hard credit search is a type of credit check that provides an in-depth look at your credit report. All financial institutions that carry out one of these will need to seek your permission before undertaking this check.
One of the benefits of a ‘hard’ search would be how detailed it goes. Having this carried out and passing it can increase the chance of you being successful with a mortgage, however, this is not always guaranteed).
After passing this, the only thing that could go wrong with your mortgage process is if you cannot provide the required documentation to back up the information that you have presented to the lender, or it turns out you have provided incorrect information altogether.
Another advantage to having a hard credit search carried out will leave a ‘footprint’ on your credit file meaning that anyone looking at your report can see that this search has already been done on your file.
Having this mark on your file is not a bad thing at all, however, if your credit file shows that there have been multiple searches carried out in a short period of time. By having these displayed, it could give the impression to the mortgage lender that you are applying for lots of credit at the same time which wouldn’t work in your favour.
An important point you need to know about the ‘footprint’ is that it will not leave a note to confirm whether or not your application was successful. Therefore, having several searches highlighted on your report can result in the lenders’ systems assuming wrongly that you are being declined regularly. Think about it; why would you apply for credit with a second lender, unless you’d been declined by the first?
If you have the occasional hard footprint on your record it’s not going to be a massive issue which is why you don’t need to worry about it too much. It’s best to be careful not to have too many of these taken out.
The other type is a soft credit search. Opposite to a hard credit search, this would be a more straightforward approach by looking at your financial situation. These are normally done through price comparison websites, so you can find out what options may be on offer for you.
Another way it can be used is to verify your identity. Some mortgage lenders will carry out soft searches of their own. It can be common to find these days that even more lenders are changing to this type of credit search.
Even though the one drawback of a soft search is that you will get less information out of it in comparison to a hard search, if you managed to obtain an Agreement in Principle from a lender, this still can be a positive indicator that your application will be accepted.
The one factor that makes soft searches appealing to customers is that you are able to see soft searches that others have carried out on you (many are often surprised by how many have been carried out on them), but these searches will not be visible to other financial institutions like a bank or lender.
Because of this, you will be able to apply for an Agreement in Principle ahead of a mortgage in Leeds, without causing any damage to your credit score, whether you are successful or not.
In the case where you are a First Time Buyer in Leeds looking at making any offers on a property, our expert Mortgage Advisors in Leeds would highly recommend you get a mortgage Agreement in Principle before getting in touch with an estate agent.
It can be ideal to give yourself the best possible chance of securing your dream property at the lowest possible price. Therefore if you present yourselves as having your finances organised, it’s likely you will give yourself the upper hand in your mortgage situation.
Having an Agreement in Principle to hand can also help stop an estate agent from trying to cross-sell any of their own mortgage products to you.
Property chains can be a common hurdle for homebuyers going through the process. The moving home journey can be interrupted if you are in a property chain as some factors can stall the process.
Having said that, you may encounter a range of problems and hurdles when obtaining a mortgage. It could be that your application is stuck in the pipeline or there might be an issue with your offer not being accepted, it’s possible that you can encounter issues when going through the journey of moving home in Leeds.
A property chain involves a group of sellers that are connected so will be relying on each other for each purchase to go through. In the case where you are a first time buyer in Leeds, you will always be at the beginning of the chain, unlike a seller who would be placed at the end.
For example, a person is ready to move into a property they’re buying. From this, the buyer needs to wait for the seller to move out first. Then if that seller is in the same situation, they will also be waiting for them to move out to move in.
This all comes down to the seller’s situation which you will be unaware of.
Sometimes, you may not even know that you are in a property chain, and the full process could run smoothly. This is the ideal situation for everyone because it makes the moving home process go smoothly and straightforward.
On the flip side, if things don’t run as well, this can involve waiting. This is why our team recommend you start your process with at least six months of preparation. Within this time, you can look for that perfect home and provide some time if you get stuck in a property chain.
The full chain could suffer if you are linked with a property chain and one purchase does not go through. Therefore, if this chain breaks, you will either have to wait or look for another property.
In the case where the property chain breaks at your purchase, there can be a way to stop it from damaging the overall chain if you act fast.
An option for sellers could be to contact the people planning to buy your property by speaking to your estate agent. By doing this, you can inform them of the situation sooner rather than later.
It’s best to prepare for a break in the property chain regardless if you are on a seller’s level or your level.
You could buy a property that isn’t in a chain or a small chain, sell your property, rent temporarily, buy a new-build property etc.
There could be a number of reasons why a property chain can break. This could happen at your’s, your seller’s or even your buyer’s level:
Above is just a small number of examples, there are many more reasons. As mentioned, the length of the property chain you are in will depend on how these situations impact your ability to move home.
Avoiding a property chain can be difficult, especially if you are buying at a busy time of year or when the market is hot.
Furthermore, you could research and speak to your estate agent to get an idea of your position in the midst of the application stage. It is best that you organise your finances as early in the process as possible. Being prepared for things that could go wrong, the better.
In the case where you avoid a property chain (also known as ‘chain-free), the moving process will more likely be straightforward. This is obviously factoring in that you provide evidence that you can afford a mortgage and deposit the property.
Our moving home Mortgage Advisors in Leeds can help you through the process if you are looking to buy and sell your property.
If you are looking for help with the moving home process, book yourself in for a free mortgage appointment.
Your mortgage journey can be a fruitful one for many. If you are able to proceed, though there may be ups and downs, you will inevitably always end up with one of a few potential outcomes.
Those outcomes are either a home for you to settle down in, a starter property to later push you up the property ladder or an investment property with a view to provide you with an additional income.
Regardless of the route of which you took, you will eventually find yourself at a point where you need to consider what to do next. A selection of homeowners will sell their home to upsize or downsize into a new home.
Other property owners may instead sell their portfolio to either a tenant or another property buyer. The most common occurrence we see, however, is people looking to remortgage their home or property.
The first step here is to review what a remortgage actually is. In the simplest way to describe it, a remortgage is the process of replacing your current mortgage with a new mortgage, for a desired purpose. These range from smaller options to larger ones.
By using over two decades of mortgage industry knowledge from the “Moneyman” himself, Malcolm Davidson (host of our YouTube channel MoneymanTV), we put together a useful Remortgage guide for those looking at what they can do next, when their term nears its end.
When you start your mortgage deal, you’ll more than likely choose to run for 2-5 years, with low fixed rates and the rates potentially discounted. From time to time though, you could find yourself on a tracker mortgage, with interest following the Bank of England base rate.
Once your deal has ended, it is very likely you will find yourself on the mortgage lenders Standard Variable Rate (SVR). An SVR is a type of mortgage that has an interest rate set by the mortgage lender. This can fluctuate at any time, depending on what they want to charge for it.
Because an SVR will not be following the BoE base rate and are set at mortgage lender discretion, they tend to be much more expensive and can lead to many customers remortgaging to find a better rate of interest. Hopefully, this will save you money down the line.
Once you have gotten to the point of being around 2-5 years into your home owning journey, you may feel like you want a change. Perhaps you need more space, an extra bedroom, a kitchen refurbishment, a room or loft conversion.
Rather than finding a much bigger home to move into, many homeowners will look instead at releasing some of their equity that is in their home, through a remortgage, as a means to cover the costs of the home improvements they intend to make.
Obtaining planning permission and both funding and managing your own project can sometimes be a little stressful, though some would debate that it’s less stressful than selling a home, buying a new one and moving everything you own.
In the long run, you may be able to reap even more benefits, as opening up lots of space within the property and having a top level of craftsmanship will very likely increase the value of the property, which is useful if you ever decide you want to sell your property or let it out instead.
Sometimes you’ll find that people are looking to remortgage in Leeds as a means of gaining access to a better mortgage term, whether they want to reduce the length of the term they have or perhaps switch onto one that is more flexible.
By reducing the length of your term, you won’t be paying back your mortgage for as long, though it will more than likely mean that your monthly mortgage repayments will go up. The longer your term, the lower your mortgage payments will be.
A lot of homeowners choose to take out a more flexible mortgage term when they look to remortgage. They may do this due to the amount of benefits that are present for these types of mortgages and their holders.
In having this mortgage, you may be able to overpay, meaning you could pay your mortgage off much quicker, as well as being able to take the same mortgage and rates with you across to another property, if moving ever becomes something you’d like to achieve.
Though flexible mortgages seem perfect to some, they also tend to be tracker mortgages, which as we said before will follow the Bank of England base rate. This means your payments could differ depending on interest, which can be a little unreliable for some people.
Every homeowner has some level of equity existing within their property. The amount can be worked out by looking at the difference between what is left on the mortgage and how much the property is currently valued at.
As we have said, the equity can be used for home improvements, though you can use it for more than that too. Some use their equity to cover long-term care costs, to boost their income, to go on holiday, to pay off an interest-only mortgage or to just give them some spare money to spend.
From time to time we even see buy to let landlords using a remortgage to release equity as a way to cover their deposit for buying any future property portfolio additions they wish to own.
If you are aged 55+ and own a home that is valued at a minimum of £70,000, it may be worth your time looking at your options for equity release in Leeds. Book online and speak with a qualified later life mortgage advisor to learn more about later life mortgages.
On the topic of releasing equity, we also find that there are a lot of people who will pay off any unsecured debts that you may have gathered against your name over time.
Though it can seem initially like a really simple process, debt consolidation will not only factor how much you owe, but the value of your property and also your credit rating. This means that you might not be able to borrow as much as you would like.
Additionally, in order to pay off your previous mortgage and your debts, you need to borrow a much higher amount than your mortgage, making your monthly repayments incredibly high. Though it isn’t the best of options, at least you know there is something you could do, should these problems arise.
If you have a damaged credit rating, there are still a selection of options out there for you, though these aren’t easy and more often than not, require very specialist remortgage advice in Leeds before you proceed. Even with those options, nobody is guaranteed to successfully obtain a mortgage.
You should think carefully before securing other debts against your home. By adding your unsecured debts to your mortgage, which is secured on your home, you are potentially putting your home at risk if you cannot make the required repayments.
Although the total monthly cost of servicing your debt may have reduced, the total cost of repayment may still have risen as the term of your mortgage is longer than it may have taken to repay the debts originally.
If your mortgage deal is reaching its conclusion and you would like to understand your options more in-depth regarding a remortgage in Leeds, book your free mortgage appointment and speak with an expert mortgage broker in Leeds today.
A trusted and experienced mortgage advisor in Leeds will review your situation and what else you would like to achieve in the future, as a means of determining the next step of your home owning journey. This time around, we aim to make your process go quicker and smoother than the first time.
Porting a mortgage takes place when you are looking to move home at the time of your fixed-rate deal. It’s actually possible as a homeowner to transfer your mortgage product and you will potentially have the option to port your mortgage if necessary.
Instead of paying the early repayment charge (ERC), the lender might give you the option to pick up the remaining amount on your current mortgage and move into the property. This option is not available to all applicants moving home as it depends on where you’re looking to move and if the lender will let you proceed with porting the mortgage.
Taking out a Second Charge mortgage can be an option if the property is valued more than what you will be paying back. If you are wanting more information about this, check out our MoneymanTV YouTube channel with our video: What is a Second Charge Mortgage?
You may find that not all mortgages are portable, especially if you are with a specialist lender as the option to port may not available to you. To find out if you can port your mortgage or not, contact your lender who can confirm this for you.
Despite porting be an option for some customers, many decide not to. The reason for this might be that your lender will not lend you extra money so you can move. If you are provided with additional funds, this will be at a separate rate from the one on your current deal. You might turn down the new deal you have been offered and decide to take the early repayment charge and go to a different lender.
When you port your mortgage, a sub-account on your mortgage is created. The additional funds will go onto a different deal to the one you have on your current mortgage. Regardless of you having one mortgage and one direct debit, two different rates of interest will apply to each.
The annoyance that can come with having sub-accounts is that down the line you may the different products will overlap. Aligning the accounts could mean that one of the sub-accounts will have to go onto the lenders’ standard variable rate for a certain period of time.
Here at Leedsmoneyman, we can offer mortgage advice when it comes to porting mortgages. Therefore, if you are moving house in Leeds and dealing with a buy to let mortgage or you are in need of support with a self employed mortgage, booking a free appointment with one of our dedicated mortgage advisors can help explore your options.
University: a place to enjoy freedom, independence and time away from the parents! However, as you know, university life comes with costs and lots of different fees. With constant bills, it can sometimes be hard to see what you’re actually paying for, particularly with student accommodation.
When it comes to student accommodation, you may feel like you’re getting your money’s worth yet sometimes you may feel the complete opposite. You’re in luck if you manage to get a landlord that looks after you and your property and takes care of damages and repairs quickly. On the contrary, you could get a landlord that isn’t responsive at all and leaves you with broken appliances for weeks on end.
Unfortunately, more often than not, students will end up getting a landlord that doesn’t give much back to them and treats them poorly. In this situation, it can make you question, is it really worth spending all of this money to get nothing back? If you’re asking yourself this question, why not consider becoming your own landlord?
When you are your own landlord, you’ll avoid all the hassle and be able to sort things out yourself. You can become your own landlord by taking out a student mortgage. Although it can be expensive in the short term, it can save you money as soon as you get the keys and start living in the property!
A student mortgage will not only allow you to save money on your accommodation but will also give you an early chance to get yourself onto the property ladder. Usually, these mortgages are more popular amongst students who are planning to carry on their education to a masters/PhD level.
Even if living within the property is temporary, you can always sell it in the future and make money back on it. Alternatively, you could turn it into a buy to let in Leeds to rent out to other students.
When your university journey comes to an end, you will have built up a large amount of equity within the property. This equity, when released, can be turned into a lump sum of cash. You can use this cash on whatever you want, whether it’s for another deposit, a wedding, a car, etc. Since it’s your money and your equity, you can spend it how you want.
There are many different things that you could do with your property in the future!
Sometimes, it can be hard to obtain a student mortgage because you’ll need funds in place to afford one, and for a student, this can be difficult.
As a mortgage broker in Leeds, when a student enquires about a mortgage, we have to ask them some questions to learn about their financial situation and see whether they’ll be able to qualify for one or not. Firstly, we will need to find out whether you have a deposit at the ready. Your deposit can be a gifted deposit, from a Lifetime ISA or even as simple as funds from a savings account.
Secondly, we need to make sure that you can actually afford a mortgage. One of our mortgage advisors in Leeds will measure this by working out your mortgage affordability. You will certainly need a form of income to get a mortgage as a student. Depending on your lender, you may be able to get a mortgage with a part-time job, however, most lenders will only accept a full-time job.
Showing reliability is key. You need to show the lender that you’re a reliable applicant that will be able to afford a mortgage. Here are a few examples of how you can increase your reliability:
Increasing initial deposit – By putting down a higher deposit, the overall amount that you’d need to borrow for a mortgage would decrease. This would also mean that your mortgage payments would decrease.
Utilising government schemes – Government-led schemes are a great way to increase your reliability for a mortgage. The schemes are under a program called “Own Your Home”, they were introduced to help first time buyers get onto the property ladder.
Through these schemes, you may be able to access a larger deposit. Some of the schemes include the Help to Buy Equity Loan, Lifetime ISA and Shared Ownership. There are many more if you visit https://www.ownyourhome.gov.uk/all-schemes/.
Have an AIP ready – A mortgage agreement in principle (AIP) can benefit your student mortgage application. An AIP proves that a lender is willing to lend to you based on you providing evidential documents to support your income, mortgage affordability, etc.
This is just a few examples, there are more ways to show your reliability as a student. Get in touch with our mortgage advisors in Leeds today to find out even more ways to improve your reliability.
Likewise to other mortgage options, you will have to meet certain requirements before securing your student mortgage:
With these points in mind, we suggest that you have a think about what you are going to do with the extra rooms. It makes sense to rent them out to help support your mortgage payments each month.
Lenders won’t take any risks when it comes to offering a mortgage student. They will take careful precautions with all student applicants.
When signing off the papers for your mortgage, you’ll be asked to give a name for a guarantor. This is someone who will cover your payments if you cannot meet them at any time. There are some limitations to who your guarantor can and can’t be:
You’ll find that every lender will always have some sort of backup.
For expert help with achieving your mortgage dreams as a student and first time buyer mortgage advice in Leeds, contact our brilliant team today. We will help you see whether you qualify for a student mortgage and perform a free affordability check on you and your file.
There are many reasons why existing homeowners will want to look into taking out a second or even a third mortgage. Some examples of these include using an additional mortgage to expand your property portfolio or to help one of your family members get onto the property ladder themselves.
There may be more difficult to obtain a second mortgage, compared to when you took out your first one because you will now have two lots of mortgage payments to factor in. If you cannot afford the costs of both, you will likely not be accepted for a second mortgage.
As a Mortgage Broker in Leeds, we’ve seen people apply for a second mortgage for lots of reasons:
If you are several years into your mortgage term, chances are you have built up a substantial portion of equity within your property. Instead of remortgaging, some may look to release some of that equity for a smaller mortgage.
This type of mortgage process is known as a further advance. A further advance gives a homeowner the option to borrow more from their current mortgage lender, as a means of funding potential home improvements or the deposit for another property purchase.
A remortgage to release equity will allow you to switch to a better product with a new mortgage lender, releasing a portion of your equity.
A further advance is remortgaging with the same mortgage lender, who will have their own interest rates that will stand separately from your current mortgage balance. Whilst it means you will be paying two mortgage balances to the same mortgage lender, it can often be cheaper than the fees involved in a remortgage.
To get a further advance, you’ll need to pass the affordability check by your mortgage lender, to make sure that you can take out this additional mortgage. The maximum amount you can borrow will depend on the equity in your property, though you likely won’t be taking it all out.
Our Mortgage Advisors in Leeds will take a look at your case and help you to decide whether a remortgage to release equity or a further advance is a more suitable mortgage option for you.
Whether you are new to the industry or an experienced landlord with several buy to let properties to your name, you’re going to need more than just one mortgage.
Buy to let landlords that have an extensive property portfolio will be used in the process of getting more than one mortgage. Whereas if you are just starting, you will benefit from speaking with a mortgage expert.
The process of having multiple mortgages on buy to let properties are similar to any other mortgage route. You will still need to meet the criteria for the mortgage, put down a substantial deposit (typically at least 25% of the purchase price), and show that you can afford the monthly payments, even if you have no tenants living on the property.
For expert mortgage advice in Leeds, if you are looking for a Buy to Let Mortgage in Leeds, feel free to book yourself in for a free mortgage appointment today and we will see how we can help obtain a second mortgage.
Otherwise known as a let to buy mortgage, a variation of buy to let, this is an option that can allow homeowners to get a second mortgage on a newly purchased home, whilst renting out their current property, becoming landlords in the process.
With this type of process, you are planning on finding a tenant to move into your current property, so that you can move out. This is often a popular choice for landlords who would like to move into a bigger home, but keep a property in their portfolio.
You may be familiar with the term “accidental landlords”, people who perhaps never initially planned to become a landlord, with that plan changing as time has gone on.
Our expert Buy to Let Mortgage Advisors in Leeds also specialise in helping customers with let to buy mortgages, so book online today and we will see how we can help with your let to buy process.
If you know someone who is struggling to get on the property ladder, you may be able to take out a second mortgage in your name, allowing them to get their footing on the property ladder.
Another popular choice for some that don’t require a second mortgage is to gift a deposit. A gifted deposit can help you to get your family or friend onto the property ladder. Feel free to check out our helpful mortgage guides for more details.
In some circumstances, whilst you may have intended to take out a second mortgage, you may also find that you are listed on two mortgages.
As an open & honest Mortgage Broker in Leeds, the most common reason we see for people being listed on two mortgages is that they have become divorced or separated.
Unfortunately, it can be quite difficult to remove either your own or your ex-partner’s name from a mortgage, as not only do you both have to mutually agree on who gets removed, but you also have to prove the remaining party can afford to keep up payments by themselves.
If you happen to still be listed on a mortgage with an ex-partner, it is important to try and get your name removed as quick as you can. This ensures you are less likely to be affected by the financial links to your ex, as if they miss any payments, it could bring your credit score down.
Whilst this is the recommended route, if for some reason you are unable to get your name removed from a mortgage, there may still be mortgage options available to you. Some mortgage lenders will take your personal circumstances into account.
A 95% mortgage is when you borrow against 95% of a property’s price, covering the remaining 5% with your deposit. For example, if you looked at buying a property worth £150,000 with a 95% mortgage, you would put down £7,500 as your deposit and borrow the remaining £142,500.
With the March 2021 Budget, Boris Johnson declared a Mortgage Guarantee Scheme for Lenders, making 95% mortgages more promptly available from banks.
This is excellent news for both first-time buyers and home movers, as this will run until December 2022. Specific terms and conditions will apply. Your Mortgage Advisor in Leeds will be able to see if you qualify.
All our customers receive a free, no-obligation mortgage consultation from recommending the best mortgage deal tailored to your circumstances.
95% mortgages are generally available to both First-Time Buyers in Leeds & people looking at Moving Home in Leeds. Whilst the idea of saving for a 5% deposit sounds easy enough, you’ll still need to have a good credit score and prove that you can afford your monthly mortgage repayments to be granted a 95% mortgage.
A good credit score is a key to obtaining any mortgage, especially a 95% mortgage. Things like paying any existing credit commitments on time, ensuring your addresses are up-to-date and that you’re on the voters’ roll can all help build this up. For a more in-depth look at what you can do and why, please see our How to Improve Your Credit Score article.
Affordability is another key one. By providing details of your income and monthly outgoings (things like your bank statements will be necessary for this) and any pre-existing credit commitments, your lender will get a good idea of whether or not you can afford this type of mortgage.
These days, it’s trendy for family members to help each other get onto the property ladder, especially parents looking to further their children. This can be achieved by gifting the person looking to find their home and the property’s deposit. Known by some as the “Bank of Mum & Dad, Gifted Deposits work purely as a gift and not as a loan. The lender will need proof that this is the case before it can be used towards your mortgage.
When looking for a 95% mortgage, you want to make sure you’re on the right one. Each different mortgage type works in its own unique way, allowing you to find one that is best suited for your personal and financial situation.
You could find that you prefer Fixed Rate or Tracker Mortgages, where you either keep interest rates at a set amount for the term or have your interest rates follow the Bank of England base rates.
Alternatively, you might find that you’re better suited for an Interest-Only or a Repayment Mortgage. The former allows cheaper payments until you need to pay a lump sum at the end (more suitable for Buy-to-Lets), and the latter means you’ll be paying interest and capital combined per month.
As with anything involving such a significant financial outgoing, you need to be prepared and need to be wary. Things that might crop up include higher interest rates, remortgaging difficulties due to less equity, and negative equity.
The good news here is that all these can be avoided if you’re savvy enough with your initial process. The more deposit you put down, the less risk you are to the lender.
A larger deposit, of say 10-15%, would not only lower your interest rate significantly but would also put more equity in the property and reduce the risk of negative equity as you would be borrowing less against the property in question.
So, whilst the risks seem daunting at first, planning ahead and saving for a bigger deposit to access something like a 90% or even an 85% mortgage will be a definite lifeline and something you’ll be able to reap the rewards from.
A Mortgage Agreement in Principle is essentially a document to prove you have a mortgage in place. It is something we obtain for all our clients, and almost all lenders offer them. It demonstrates that you are creditworthy because of the Agreement certificate to be issued, you must pass the Lender’s credit score.
A Mortgage Agreement in Principle is not a guarantee that you will definitely get a mortgage as your full application will require further background checks (such as evidence and income) and a satisfactory valuation of the property itself. However, we think it’s a good idea to get one done at the earliest opportunity for the following reasons:
1. Negotiating Power
2. Avoid Disappointment
3. Knowing your Limits
When you are ready to offer a new home, most Estate Agents will undertake due diligence and ask you to produce evidence that you have funds available to complete the purchase. This will take the form of bank statements and an Agreement in Principle certificate that we can provide for you.
Once you have provided them with enough documentation the Estate Agent will naturally stop marketing the property and put a “Sold” or “Sale Agreed” boar outside the property to let other people know it’s off the market.
Suppose you already have a mortgage agreed upon before you make an offer. In that case, you are making yourself appear as an attractive proposition as this proves you are not making an offer on a “whim”, you’ve thought about how you’re going to fund the purchase and have done something about it. This might persuade a seller to accept an offer you put forward on their property underneath the asking price.
When it comes to buying a house some clients have always “put the cart before the horse” to say they go full steam ahead and make an offer on a property without first checking that they are actually in a secure financial position to proceed. This can lead to terrible disappointment if the mortgage application fails because, by that time, they have got their heart set on their new family home.
Furthermore, your mortgage getting refused isn’t always down to the offer you put in. It can sometimes be something else. For example, there may be a niggling issue on your credit report, perhaps a disputed mobile phone bill that can easily get rectified. Maybe you thought you were on the voter’s roll and you’re not – once again that can be sorted out given a few weeks.
Maybe you can’t get a mortgage at all, and if that’s the case, it’s better that you know now rather than mess people about, though we may be able to help if you contact us and we’ll be able to tell you what you need to do to improve your credit-worthiness for the future.
By now you know you’ve got a good credit rating because you’ve never got turned down for credit, you’ve registered on the voter’s roll and you’ve always made your credit card payments on time.
You could approach ten different Lenders these days and get ten different maximum mortgage amounts; they all calculate affordability in their own unique ways. If you’re self employed in Leeds: some Lender can take your net profit, others your salary and dividends. Some use your latest year, others an average over three years.
Knowing your borrowing limits is essential as then you know for sure what your price range is.
Our team of specialist mortgage advisors in Leeds may be able to advise you of the maximum mortgage available to you. Even more importantly together, we’ll work out how much you can afford to pay back each month.
Read our 230 Reviews
Leedsmoneyman.com & Leedsmoneyman are trading styles of UK Moneyman Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
UK Moneyman Limited is Registered in England, No. 6789312 | Registered Address: 10 Consort Court, Hull, HU9 1PU.
Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
We are entered on the Financial Services Register No. 627742 at www.register.fca.org.uk
Contact
Follow Us
Leedsmoneyman.com & Leedsmoneyman are trading styles of UK Moneyman Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
UK Moneyman Limited is Registered in England, No. 6789312 | Registered Address: 10 Consort Court, Hull, HU9 1PU.
Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
We are entered on the Financial Services Register No. 627742 at www.register.fca.org.uk
Speak to an Advisor – It’s Free!
7 Days a Week, 8am – 10pm