A mortgage broker descending some stairs

Mortgage Brokers – A luxury or a necessity?

People buy properties for all kinds of reasons. For many people reading this blog, that reason will be to have a house that you can call your own. You take pride in owning your own home, especially if you have worked hard to earn the kind of money that is going to allow you to put down those roots.

As pleasing as it can be to secure a home of your own, there’s no denying that buying a house is an expensive business. That means that if you are planning on trying to buy a home soon, you will want to get an idea of what kind of financial clout you need to have behind you.

Within this estimation process, any expenditure you feel you can avoid is going to be something to consider. And there’s a temptation to add the use of a mortgage broker to that list. 

It is certainly possible to secure a mortgage without using a broker. But is it the best move for you, particularly if you are a contractor or freelancer? In the latest Roots Mortgages blog, we try to answer this question.

The role of a mortgage broker

The first thing to clarify is what a mortgage broker actually does.

Put simply, a mortgage broker acts as a go-between for the mortgage applicant and the mortgage lender. The broker can take on the mantle of finding you the best mortgage deal for your personal circumstances. They use insight, connections and knowledge built up from a number of years that you are very unlikely to have yourself. 

Brokers also typically have access to a variety of lenders, meaning they can often have access to better mortgage rates. This can help save you a significant amount of money over the course of time.

Most people have the first thought of going to their bank, but banks have a very small selection of mortgages. This means you will miss out on better deals that are out there. Roots has access to more than 12,000 mortgages from over 90 lenders – imagine speaking to each of those yourself!

Bringing expertise to the table

The world of mortgages can be somewhat tricky to negotiate. One of the key reasons people use brokers is to have an expert in place that can tackle any issues that come up, offer guidance and advice, and use their connections to get the best deal for the applicant.

This expertise becomes all the more valuable if you face a specific barrier to securing your own home. Take contractors and freelancers as an example. Demonstrating affordability can be a challenge here, with some lenders not always comfortable offering mortgage deals to this type of applicant.

What a contractor mortgage broker or freelancer mortgage broker can do in this instance is ensure that the application covers everything it needs to cover from the perspective of the lender. Affordability can be made crystal clear in a way that lenders will be able to understand and act upon. And any additional pain points will have been faced 100 times over by brokers before, so they will understand the situation at hand and advise the applicant as to the best next steps. This in turn will increase the chances of a smooth application process and ultimately, successfully securing a mortgage deal.

If you were to face these challenges as an applicant directly, you may not have the experience or ability to navigate the various problems at hand. This can take up a lot of your time trying to sort, and still leave you in a position whereby you are not able to secure the mortgage deal you want.

Making life easier for lenders

One key benefit of using a broker is that it tends to speed up the ability for lenders to carry out their work around mortgage applications. 

A recent survey from IMLA found that around half of lenders felt that unnecessary delays were more easily avoided when brokers were used by applicants. 58% of the lenders surveyed believed applications submitted by brokers had a better chance of being successful. 

There has also been an increasing trend of lenders looking to strengthen their ties and relationships with brokers. This has come in the form of broker training, as well as growing investment in technology to support brokers and mortgage advisors.

The choice is yours

When applying to a lender for a mortgage, simplicity is something to keep front of mind. Lenders want to have information that is easy to understand, and can then be used to make an accurate decision on whether to proceed with or decline a mortgage application.

This means that if your personal circumstances are somewhat complex, such as being employed as a contractor or freelancer, then using a contractor mortgage broker or freelancer mortgage broker can help to simplify your application. 

The broker’s ability to access the best deals for you is also something to factor in. While you may feel confident in your ability to do your research and find deals you think are good for you, a broker will live and breathe this kind of thing. That experience and expertise on the broker’s part could be crucial to getting the deal you want.

Using a mortgage broker is an investment in itself. But it could be an investment that helps you not only get a mortgage deal, but get a mortgage deal that is better than you would be able to find off your own back.

A sold sign on a house

Looking to sell? March might serve you well

In a week that starts off with Valentine’s Day, it felt right to put a little rhyme in our blog title. Poetry and mortgages don’t tend to cross paths too often, so if you want to call us visionaries, we will allow it.

Layered within that beautiful rhyme is an important point for anybody looking to sell their home. This is that the most opportune month of the year to do so is on the horizon.

According to research from RightMove, March is the best month to sell your home judging by market statistics. 

Our latest blog takes a look into why this might be, and what this could mean for you.

Why is March the best time to sell a home?

RightMove has found a fairly consistent trend within the mortgage market for the month of March.

In the past five years, excluding 2020 when COVID-19 hit the UK in earnest, March has been the month in which the highest number of enquiries for property on sale have been recorded.

According to RightMove, March has also seen a consistent pattern of more new listings, increased buyer demand, and more home valuation requests in recent years.

Add to this the fact that the second-strongest month is April and third-strongest is May, and now is really the time to start looking to get your property onto the market if selling is what you wish to do.

Building on a strong start to 2022

As well as the consistently strong time of year being on the horizon, recent months have included many trends which are favourable to people who may be looking to sell a property.

There has already been a huge demand for mortgages in the early part of the year, while the possibility of home movers making a healthy profit in 2022 is something we have recently touched upon here at Roots Mortgages.

2021 also saw a significant uplift in the number of first time buyers, meaning demand for property from this type of buyer in 2022 could well be strong.

And there is also the recent mortgage rates rise to throw into the equation. Now, no home owner will be delighted about this trend, but the chances are that another rise will be in the offing in the near future. Getting a fixed mortgage rate deal on a new property and selling your old property sooner rather than later could prove advantageous in the long run.

Strike while the iron’s hot?

There is always plenty to consider when selling your home. But there are certainly a few interesting elements at play at the moment that make the upcoming couple of months an opportune period to get moving with any plans you may have.

Of course, having a place you wish to move to lined up is central to any home move. But if you have seen plenty of feasible options on the market, then selling up during the year’s mortgage purple patch could be a useful endeavour.

As always, we encourage you to seek the right support if you are looking to sell or buy a home, particularly if you are seeking a mortgage as a contractor or as a freelancer

But with the right approach and things falling your way, selling your home in the near future could be a smooth and rewarding process.

Bank Tube Station entrance portal

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