by admin | Aug 11, 2019 | Mortgage News
Family homes are great for families, but once children fly the nest, they can suddenly become a whole lot bigger than one or two people need, or want, on their own, and for all the happy memories they have helped to create, it’s often the right decision for people to move onwards and downwards, into a cosier home, which requires less cleaning and maintenance. Downsizing can seem like an intimidating task, especially if it’s been a while since you last moved, but there are many advantages to it, such as releasing equity in your current home, allowing you to move somewhere better suited to the final stages of the ageing process and, last but by no means least, allowing you to clear out your physical possessions at your own pace. If you’re one of the many people who are thinking about downsizing, here are some tips to get you started.
Persuade children/grandchildren/other people to clear out any remaining belongings
If you’ve been living in the same house for an extended period, while the young adults (or other people in your life) have been moving around, then your home may have become an unofficial storage unit. Start your downsizing journey by speaking tactfully to the relevant people and, where possible, encourage them to move their stuff from your home. If they’re really not in a position to take back their belongings and you still want to help them, then you may want to add helping them with a storage solution to your list of downsizing tasks.
Downsize your possessions working from the every day to the sentimental
There are varying approaches to downsizing and you might want (or need) to try out a few before you find the one which works for you. Two common approaches are to start by item and to start by area (or you could try starting with specific items in a specific area). Whatever approach you choose, you may find it easiest to start with items which are purely functional before working your way towards items to which you have a sentimental attachment. When you do come to sentimental items, remember that the extent to which you purge is entirely up to you, so if you have a genuine emotional attachment to something, then it’s perfectly reasonable to keep it, however, you might also want to consider the option of taking a picture of it and moving it on to a new home to make someone else happy.
Photograph your home (and garden) in “sale-worthy” condition
Whatever your future plans, it makes sense to achieve as a high a price as possible on your current property, even if you don’t need it now, it may be helpful for later in retirement or you could give it to someone else (or your favourite charity). A standard part of the sales process is to put your existing home into the best, possible condition, such as by undertaking any outstanding maintenance tasks (indoor and outdoors), refreshing the decoration and decluttering. This could be a great opportunity for you to photograph your home looking its absolute best and you could even get your photos bound into a photobook as a lovely souvenir of your family home. The photos you take are likely to be very different from sales photos, which are created to show off the house in a way which allows a potential buyer to visualise themselves living in it. These photos are a hugely important part of the sales process and if you choose to sell your home yourself, you may wish to organise a professional photographer to take them for you. That said, you may find that opting for a traditional estate agent offers a higher level of convenience and can be more economical than you might expect.
Your property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
by admin | Aug 2, 2019 | Mortgage News
If you are buying your first home or moving to a bigger one, then there’s a very good chance that you’re going to need a mortgage to help you to do so. The bad news is that being approved for a mortgage is very far from a formality. The good news is that it is possible, as evidenced by the many people who successfully do so each year. With that in mind, here are some tips on maximising your chances of mortgage approval.
Build a deposit
There are two good reasons why mortgage lenders prefer borrowers with larger deposits. The first reason is the straightforward fact that larger deposit lowers the lender’s exposure to fluctuations in the property market. In principle, the borrower is responsible for the mortgage, but, in practice, if the worst comes to the worst and the borrower goes bankrupt, it will be the lender who is left on the hook. The second reason is that the ability to raise a large deposit shows that the borrower can save (or has access to financial support from other sources).
Make sure your credit record looks as good as it possibly can
In addition to checking for any clear errors (and getting them corrected), see if you can go a step further (or several steps further) and actively improve it. Sometimes even simple changes can make a difference (possibly only a small difference, but every improvement is a gain). For example, if you’re not on the electoral roll, then get your name added (and if you are on, make sure you’re listed at the address you’ll be giving to your mortgage lender) and if possible, add a landline phone number. On a larger scale (and with potentially more impact), make the time to pay off any small-scale debts you are carrying, such as credit cards you hardly use, and then actually close them (rather than leaving them in limbo). In fact, if you still have any credit cards with zero balances, then ask yourself if you really have a compelling reason for keeping them open and if the honest answer is “no” then close them. If you need any more encouragement to take this step, then remember that every financial product you own is a potential point of compromise and so minimising the number of companies which have access to your financial details should also reduce the likelihood of you becoming a victim of fraud and/or identity theft.
NB: remember that the UK has three main credit-reporting services Experian, Equifax and CallCredit and you will need to check your record with each of them to get a full picture of how your financial history will look to a lender.
Keep your finances on a steady track
Remember that your credit record is only the first check a lender will make. If you pass this hurdle, they will want to take a more detailed look at your spending by means of your bank statements. With this in mind, you want your statements to give the impression of a person who lives their life in a way which is unlikely to give a potential lender a moment’s cause for concern. So, for example, unless you are really desperate to leave a job you hate, wait until your mortgage is 100% secured before doing so and if your plan is to start your own business, then hold off making any purchases which make this obvious to the lender. In other words, while you have to answer any questions truthfully, you only have to answer what they actually ask. Always remember, however, that the onus will be on you to keep up with your mortgage payments and that the consequence for not doing so can be losing your home, so resist any temptation to over-stretch yourself from the start.
Your property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
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by admin | Jul 19, 2019 | Mortgage News
In the UK, mortgages used to come in two main types, interest-only and repayment. Now, it is practically impossible to take out an interest-only mortgage on a residential property (although it is still entirely possible to take out an interest-only mortgage on an investment property), which does relieve residential buyers in the UK from one key decision, but does leave them with another, namely, which specific type of repayment mortgage is the right one for them.
Standard repayment mortgages versus offset mortgages
Offset mortgages have been available in the UK for several years now, but they are still very much the newcomers in the UK mortgage market and as such may benefit from a bit of explanation. The idea behind offset mortgages is that borrowers keep their cash savings with their mortgage lender, which then calculates the interest payable on the net amount (i.e. the outstanding balance on the mortgage itself minus the positive savings balance). Borrowers keep access to their savings and can use them any time they need to. In principle, this approach should provide a net gain as savers typically receive less interest income than borrowers pay in interest expense. Objectively speaking, however, in and of itself, the calculation may be less straightforward as different savings products pay different levels of interest income and different mortgage products charge different levels of interest (and the same mortgage product may charge different levels of interest to different borrowers). Having said that, it’s important to remember that tax is charged on interest income and hence forgoing it in exchange for reduce interest expense may generate meaningful savings, particularly for higher-rate tax payers.
Variable-rate mortgages versus fixed-rate mortgages
In and of themselves, variable-rate mortgages and fixed-rate mortgages probably need no further explanation, as the old saying goes, the clue is in the name. It can, however, be rather more complicated to decide which one is right for you. In theory, it might seem like a good idea to go for a variable-rate mortgage while interest rates are heading downwards, but fix when they look likely to head upwards again. That way, you benefit when interest rates go down, but limit your losses when they go up (again). In practice, however, there is a very real problem with this theory, which is that lenders are only too well aware of the fact that fixed-term mortgages shift the risk of interest-rate changes from the borrower to the lender and hence generally charge a premium to protect themselves from this risk. In addition to this, lenders will typically only grant fixed rates for a specific period of time, and the longer that period of time, the higher the “fixed-rate premium” will be as the lender is assuming a greater degree of risk. Once this initial period is over, you will either have to renegotiate another fixed-rate deal or move to a variable rate. In other words, fixed-rate mortgages can work out more expensive than their variable-rate counterparts, plus they can involve a bit more administration.
On the other hand, however, fixed-rate mortgages do give borrowers stability and the reassurance of knowing that their payments will be the same from one month to the next regardless of what happens with interest rates and for some people this stability may be worth the extra money. In particular, fixed-rate mortgages may be of benefit when interest rates are showing some level of volatility, perhaps going up or down a little each month, rather than either remaining constant or trending clearly in one direction or another. In this situation, knowing that you’re going to be making the exact same mortgage payment each month, at least for the length of the fixed-rate period, can make budgeting a whole lot easier.
Your property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
by admin | Jul 1, 2019 | Insurance News, Mortgage News
In the residential property market, the general idea is that you buy a home in which to live and that ultimately you will end up owning it completely, i.e. you will pay off your mortgage in full. Obviously, there is some nuance to this, for example, people may decide to sell their property during the term of the mortgage and they may or may not choose to move directly into another owner-occupied property, but that’s the basic idea. The bad news is that even if you do plan to stay in your property and pay off the mortgage in full, there’s no guarantee that you will be able to do so, the good news is that there are steps you can take to increase your chances of paying off a mortgage successfully.
Assume that the effective minimum term of a mortgage is five years
The length of a mortgage term depends on the agreement with the lender, but since houses tend to be big-ticket purchases, mortgage terms tend to be on the longer side (as in a couple of decades or more) to keep the repayments manageable. Borrowers can exit the mortgage any time they choose by paying back the amount owed – and possibly a penalty as well. Penalties have to be reasonable, but, in short, if the borrower exiting the mortgage early would cause reasonable damage to the lender (e.g. the lender gave them a special introductory deal), then a penalty may be applied as redress. In practical terms, the costs involved in moving home are so high that it generally takes about five years to recoup them, therefore it only makes sense to buy (and take out a mortgage), if you are totally confident that you can stay in the property for at least five years. Please note, that if your Plan B is to let out the property should you wish to leave it then you will need to swap your residential mortgage for a buy-to-let, which is a different mortgage application with different approval criteria and its own associated set of costs.
Flexibility is good so avoid over-stretching yourself
Resist the temptation to “get on the housing ladder” at any cost. If you cannot afford the sort of mortgage you will need to buy a suitable property, then accept the fact and carry on renting while you increase your savings and/or income. Remember that owning a home brings responsibility as well as freedom. If you’re fed up of the restrictions imposed by landlords, you may be tempted to focus on the fact that you’ll be able to do what you like with your own home. Once you actually own a home, however, you may quickly come to understand just why landlords place restrictions on what tenants can and cannot do with a property. You may also come to appreciate how convenient it was just to be able to call a lettings agent/landlord and have them deal with problems/repairs instead of having to sort it yourself (or make arrangements for someone else to sort it).
Learn to love insurance
When it comes to mortgages, for most people the most obvious forms of insurance to take out are life insurance, buildings insurance and home contents insurance. These may be very wise investments (although, as always, make sure you get the right cover for your needs), however, you may want to extend this to income-protection insurance and/or critical illness cover, if you are self-employed or payment-protection insurance if you are employed. For the sake of completeness, the infamous PPI scandal was related to the miss-selling of PPI, so basically it was a reflection on human behaviour rather than on the product itself, which can be a very useful purchase.
Your property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
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