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.
