The Return of the First Time Buyer

Posted on July 13, 2013 by Mark Dyason

This week the Council of Mortgage Lender’s latest data has confirmed what we have been seeing first hand, namely that this year the first time buyer has returned.

The mix of stable house prices, pent up demand and lenders launching innovative, low rate products has attracted the first time buyer back.

This is great for the whole market as every next time buyer needs a first time buyer to set the chain off.

On top of this Government schemes (with varying success) have also supported house sales and the Funding for Lending Scheme supports the banks. It is difficult to what else the Government could do, lending money to the lenders and to the buyers; really short of wholesale purchase of property this is really flat out hard work to support from HMG.

Here is an article about the numbers published in the Mail with comments from us.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2362031/First-time-buyers-surge-highest-level-financial-crash-securing-loans-worth-3-4billion-May.html

Posted in Edinburgh Mortgage Advice, First Time Buyers, House Prices, Housing Market, Lenders, Press Comment | 1 Comment

Top 5 reasons to choose a 5 year Fixed Rate mortgage

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Mark Dyason

Are you wondering whether to go for a 2, 3, 4 or 5 year fixed rate mortgage?  Over the past few months there have been some great headline rates on offer for short term deals – but are they really all they are cracked up to be?

Large Rate Sign

If you are thinking of re-mortgaging because you are moving or you are on a standard rate mortgage and not sure whether to go for a fixed rate or stay where you are, here are 5 great reasons to look at a 5 year fixed rate mortgage …

#1 – Lending is not going to get any cheaper

Base Rate graph

How long can the base rate stay this low?

Lending is currently heavily subsidised due to the recession and slow economic recovery, so it’s difficult to see how mortgage rates are going to be any cheaper, ie lower than they are at the moment.  Securing a 5 or 10 year fixed rate mortgage now means you will get one of the best deals likely to be available for a very long time.

#2 – Mark Carney – will he won’t he?

Mark Carney will take over as the governor of The Bank of England later this year, and no-one can foretell what impact this will have on mortgage interest rates. If you don’t want to worry about what impact this will have on your monthly repayments, now is a good time to ‘fix’ for as long as possible.

#3 – Fixing your repayments means you can budget better

Interest Rates

Talk to a broker to get the right rate

If you are planning to stay put for 5 years or more, why not know what your monthly mortgage repayment is going to be so that you can budget accordingly.

#4 – Arrangement fees

Every time you re-mortgage you pay another arrangement fee.  This is great news for me because this is how I (a mortgage advisor) get paid.  It’s not so great for you – because you have to keep shelling out fees every couple of years.  So why not fix for 5 years and pay far fewer arrangement fees?  Oh and remember to refer all your friends and family to me so that I stay in business!!

#5 – Stress, stress and more stress

Despite being lovely people and our best efforts to make this process as easy as possible, getting a mortgage is stressful.   So why put yourself through this time and time again – especially if you only have 5 years left to go until you retire?  Ask you mortgage broker to find you the best long term mortgage deals available  and put the whole goddam process to the back of your mind for as long as possible!

Why not give us a call on 0131 339 2281 or drop an email to enquiry@edinburghmortgageadvice.co.uk,  or click on the live chat in the right hand corner if you would like us to advise you on your options.

Posted in Base Rate, Edinburgh Mortgage Advice, Fixed Rates, Housing Market, Interest Rates, Mortgage Know How, Standard Variable Rates | Tagged | 2 Comments

Press Coverage for Edinburgh Mortgage

Posted on June 2, 2013 by Mark Dyason

Wow we have been busy recently, here are a couple of links for articles that Mark contributed to over the last few weeks and been featured in national press.

In the Express and Mail about how mortgage debt is less of a worry to people

http://www.express.co.uk/news/property/399425/Mortgage-debt-worries-ease

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-2323786/Official-data-shows-paying-mortgage-burden.html

In the Scotsman about overpaying your mortgage, especially for Interest Only prisoners

http://www.scotsman.com/business/personal-finance/mortgages-now-s-the-time-to-overpay-1-2951844

An article in the independent about the low rates in the market right now

http://www.independent.co.uk/money/mortgages/mortgage-wars-bring-bonanza-of-low-rates-for-homebuyers-8640584.html

In the Scotsman talking about how buy to let has moved on recently

http://www.scotsman.com/scotland-on-sunday/money/buy-to-let-mortgages-up-as-property-attractive-again-1-2944745

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House Prices are moving again

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Mark Dyason

We are seeing a real move in house prices this spring, higher in London, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

House Prices expected to rise

The Express picked up on this and people’s expectation that they will rise further and here we are quoted on the front page.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/property/394866/House-prices-to-rise-10-000-Biggest-increase-for-3-years

Here is the article: Almost three-quarters of homeowners expect values in their area to increase by an average of 4.5 per cent, according to a survey.

That would put an extra £10,152 on the average home worth £225,601, property experts say.

The good news comes as official figures showed higher than expected growth in the economy for the first three months of the year.

Mark Dyason, director at mortgage broker Edinburgh Mortgage Advice, said: “The results of this survey are yet more proof of the deep-seated appeal of bricks and mortar. There’s no doubt the property market is coming back to life. There’s a lot more confidence and urgency and news that the economy actually grew in the first three months of the year will put a further spring in people’s step.

“Instrumental to the recovery of the property market is the first-time buyer who has been buoyed by very competitive rates at ever higher loan-to-values.

“Properties that might have languished on the market for months and months last year are now being fought over.”

Both the numbers of people forecasting a house price increase by the end of the summer and the size of the anticipated rise are the highest since a quarterly survey of 4,000 owners began in 2009.

Lawrence Hall, of property search website Zoopla.co.uk which commissioned the research, said: “The housing market has seen a number of positive events in recent weeks including the Budget and growing confidence from homeowners is a significant step towards a recovery.

“With first-time buyer lending gradually increasing and mortgages becoming more readily available, there is real belief that the property market is starting to turn a corner and finally drag itself out of the hole since the financial crisis.” He said measures such as the Government’s £80billion Funding for Lending Scheme has helped fuel a surge in price.”

 

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Mortgage rates reach record low

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Mark Dyason

In recent months, some of the best mortgage rates I’ve ever seen have come onto the market.

There’s no doubt that the Funding for Lending Scheme, the joint initiative of the Government and Bank of England to get lenders lending again, is working.

Mortgage rates have come down quite dramatically in the second half of the year.

And while transaction levels are still low in historical terms, new data released today by the Council of Mortgage Lenders showed that the number of mortgages issued rose again in November.

I don’t want to tempt fate but we’re definitely starting to see some momentum in the mortgage market.

Lowest mortgage rates

Admittedly, it’s the people with the biggest deposits and a decent chunk of equity who get the lowest mortgage rates, but even at higher loan-to-values, prices are getting more competitive.

The key issue now, which I mentioned in the Guardian today, is one of volume.

For the property market to fully recover, we need to see more loans for people with smaller deposits. The only way this will happen is if lenders become more flexible with their criteria.

That’s not to say that we want a return to the reckless days leading up to the 2007 crash, but we do need lenders to become less black and white.

The fact of the matter is that many perfectly viable borrowers are getting rejected when they should be waved through.

Economic performance key

Looking forward into 2013, I expect mortgage volumes overall to continue to grow although the extent of this growth will depend on how both the UK economy, and of course Europe’s, perform.

People need to feel confident before they commit to buying property or moving home, and even though we’re technically out of recession, many households remain nervous.

What’s not in doubt is that if you are looking to purchase or remortgage at present, you could be in luck. I’ve been a broker for many years and am currently able to recommend some of the lowest mortgage rates I’ve seen.

Get in touch today to see what rates you could enjoy.

Posted in Edinburgh Mortgage Advice, Housing Market, Interest Rates, Lenders, Mortgage Industry, Mortgage Know How, Press Comment | Leave a comment

What mortgages are available? A few pointers

Posted on November 19, 2012 by Mark Dyason

OK so you have decided to move/buy/remortgage, but like most people starting out don’t know if there are any lenders in the market able/willing to help and the scare stories in the press make it look like there is no-one getting anything.
Well, the first rule is always get a personalised illustration, but here (on today’s criteria) is an overview of what is out in the market for a number of areas.

First Time Buyers.

1. Loan to value (LTV)

  • 95% LTV if you have a parent that is willing to act as a guarantor (In England there are lenders that will look at 100% LTV)
  • 90% LTV if you are doing on it on your own, but rates get better at 85%

2. If I earn X can I borrow Y?

The old days of getting 4 or even 5 times your income as a ready reckoner are gone, however the better your credit record and the less outstanding debt at the start of your mortgage the more a lender is likely to look at lending you.

Lenders use formulas to say that after bills & debt payments then you can afford to spend an amount of the remaining income on your mortgage.
This is then used to work out if, over your requested term, it equates to your requested loan amount.

To give an idea I have frequently had clients like that borrowing between 4 & 5 times their joint incomes, with higher earners perhaps able to stretch beyond that (do you really want to pay back that much? – you need to know that; and what if rates go up?)

On this you really do need to get your own quotes.

Buy to Let

  • Loan to value is available to 80%, although 75% often offers far better rates
  • Some lenders have minimum incomes, though 1 large does not
  • Experienced landlords get credit for their experience when being underwritten
  • Holiday Lets are available
  • If you let out room by room then you need a certain type of Buy to Let (called HMO)
  • As a ready-reckoner the rent needs to be more than 1/200th of the loan size (this varies from lender to lender – but not hugely)

Poor Credit History 

Lending does exist and is available up to 85% (but not in all areas – major cities ok, rural not so easy) and at lower loan to value there is more choice.

Defaults, CCJs, arrears can all be done depending on size, when it happened and overall credit score.

Live Trust Deeds & IVAs currently I could not find a lender to take these cases. If they are historic then give us a call and chat over what you need.

 

Posted in Buy to Let, Edinburgh Mortgage Advice, First Time Buyers, Mortgage Know How, Poor Credit | 2 Comments

Buy to Let with CCJ or Defaults – Good news

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Mark Dyason

Good news for Landlords under the cosh.

Precise mortgages have revamped their Buy to Let (BtL) range with a couple of exciting changes.

On prime loans the loan to value is now up to 80% and that makes the number of lenders looking at this level up to 5 at most times which is 4 more than 2 years ago! So here is a brave prediction, within 6 months  a major lender will launch Buy to Let at 85% (a niche lender already has 85% available). Rates reflect the risk, however are competitive with other lenders in this space.

Interestingly the 2 new lenders making most headlines and waves since the crunch, namely Aldermore and Precise are both in this space, profitable perhaps? Roll on 85%.

The other change is to make Buy to Let available to Landlords with minor credit issues over the last couple of years. This is perhaps a bigger change because they are pushing the change here. Most other lenders are looking for the Buy to Let borrowers to almost OCD about their credit files, now we have a lender that recognises bumps in the road. Great news for landlords who have overcome redundancy, rental arrears, business turndown or any number of common other problems over that last few years.

There are 3 near prime ranges depending on the size of default or CCJ with cut offs at £750/£1500/£2500 and the last 2 allowing 1 months mortgage arrears if more than 1 year ago and rates reflect the borrowers circumstances, however do start as low as 5.44% with fixed rather than percentage arrangement fees. This can be really important especially the further over £100k the loan gets.

So a good range with new products for new borrowers, if you want more information please get in touch on 0131 339 2281

Posted in Buy to Let, Lenders, Mortgage Industry, Mortgage Know How | 5 Comments

Edinburgh Mortgage in the Press

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Mark Dyason

Here is the latest press for Edinburgh Mortgage.

Friday 27th April. A blog from Telegraph head of finance Ian Cowie, quotes us about the issues facing customer with homes but unable to move their mortgage.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/ianmcowie/100016722/homebuyers-become-prisoners-in-their-own-property/

On Sunday 23th April, here are our comments as part of an article on problems for people stuck with Interest Only loans.

http://www.scotsman.com/scotland-on-sunday/business/mortgage-hostages-risk-as-interest-only-loans-pulled-1-2248621

On Monday 24th, the CML announced its latest lending figures (for March 2012). A whole range of comments from us, with the Mail picking up most. Below is our full comments we submitted.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17811411

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-2133849/CML-Mortgage-lending-jumps-end-stamp-duty-holiday–loans-fall-banks-tough.html

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-2133849/CML-Mortgage-lending-jumps-end-stamp-duty-holiday–loans-fall-banks-tough.html

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/business/business-news/borrowing-surge-linked-to-stamp-duty-7670168.html

http://www.myfinances.co.uk/mortgages/2012/04/23/stamp-duty-deadline-boosts-march-mortgage-lending-says-cml

http://www.myintroducer.com/view.asp?ID=9782

http://www.mortgagesolutions.co.uk/mortgage-solutions/news/2169516/march-gross-mortgage-lending-estimated-gbp134bn-cml

Our comments in full and the link to the CML release (http://www.cml.org.uk/cml/media/press/3199)

  1. Hi, if you’re covering the CML mortgage data (March) just out, the following comments from Mark Dyason, director of independent mortgage broker, Edinburgh Mortgage Advice, may be of use:
  2. “The March spike reflects the flurry of activity generated by the stamp duty holiday. Nothing more, nothing less.
  3. “Expect the April data to show a big drop-off in activity levels, as the mortgage market falls back to earth with a bump.
  4. “Stamp duty holidays aside, it’s not looking great for the mortgage market moving forward.
  5. “Over the past couple of months, lenders have significantly tightened their scorecards. A credit score that would have secured a loan six months ago now has every chance of being rejected.
  6. “Lenders are being squeezed hard by increased capital requirements, higher funding costs on the wholesale markets due to the eurozone crisis and previous bad lending.
  7. “Even if they did want to lend, many of the banks wouldn’t be able to anyway. Many of the big lenders are in an almost impossible position and borrowers are feeling it.
  8. “With SVRs and offer rates going up across the board, we are seeing an increase in people looking to remortgage onto longer term fixed rate products.”
  9. “If you have a good chunk of equity or a big enough deposit, you can get five year fixed rates as low as 3.89%, which is quite something. If you have a very small deposit, if your could be double that.”
  10. “It may seem an extreme measure but for the mortgage market to return to normal the Government could do worse than sell the likes of RBS and Lloyds, which will remain zombies until they are given renewed life through a massive capital injection.”
Posted in Interest Only, Interest Rates, Mortgage Industry | Leave a comment

What have the romans,sorry, tweets ever done for us brokers?

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Mark Dyason

What have the romans tweets ever done for us brokers?

I am a huge fan of twitter, its snippet banter, up to the second news. It gives an overall breadth and depth that I would have never imagined possible in 140 characters.

So today it was announced that 66% of Broker tweeps get no business through twitter. Which got me thinking………

This of course means that 1 in 3 have done, so a third have managed to monetise twitter, something that Twitter has failed to do well so for itself. Brokers eh, always ahead of the curve! Kudos to my online broker-brethren, but what has twitter ever done for me?

Well a quick admission, I have had 2 pieces of business this way or put another way a deal for every 600 tweets written and god knows how many read. Which as an hourly rate is rubbish, but hang on I also……

  • Well I have a new website because of @cssgareth who I would never have met but trust with my businesses web presence, that gets me new enquiries pretty much everyday.
  • I have appeared on the BBC website, several national newpapers because I followed @dom_justintime.
  • I keep up to date with the latest news and rate releases (yay!) and last minute withdrawals (yes looking at you Accord & Skipton) through the Mortgage News pushers @myintroducer, @mortgagesols (& many others)
  • I banter with network colleagues up and down the land, sometimes we even chat about mortgages.
  • Watch, comment and chat with the more recognisable names in Mortgages
  • Oh and because I am not a mortgage automaton I have connected with people who share my hobbies, decent wine (I am still waiting for @Timatkin & @robertjoseph to agree on something) and Leeds United (I don’t retweet most of these ‘cos of the language, but I feel far closer to Elland Road every Sat that I don’t go – which is far too many)

So as someone with only 250 or so followers and spending a few choice minutes here and there I get great value out of twitter and consider it electronic networking without the over earnest ‘get something out’ that dominate some of the networking meetings I have been to. And to the 66% still waiting, it’ll come and from somewhere you dont expect, but if you only follow brokers and mortgage types then it will be much more difficult like in all lead generating you need to meet new people and that is very easy with twitter.

Posted in Mortgage Industry, Press Comment | 1 Comment

Mortgage Know How Part 1 – Mortgage Over-payment

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Mark Dyason

This is the first in a set of posts to highlight mortgage features that you could make use of:-

Overpayments drive down the total amount and term you pay

1. Over-payments – most mortgage providers will allow you to overpay either monthly or by lump sum into your loan with no penalty, even if you are currently within your tie in period.

The limit for these is usually either 10% of the outstanding loan per year or a set amount per month e.g. Nationwide allow £500 per month, Halifax 10% of the balance per year. Check with your lender about their limit.

Some of the uses of overpaying can be to increase your equity following a downturn in value, repay fees added at the start or shorten the overall term of the loan. All 3 of these leave you in a stronger position when you next need to do something with your loan.

For people on Interest Only this can be a useful tool to start to pay down the mortgage especially if you do not/cannot make the commitment to full repayment at this point. Don’t let the problem build, my advice would be a full review, however consider overpayments as a way to tackle it at a rate you can afford via over-payments.

And remember that most lenders LOVE the fact they are getting their money back, however be aware that if it turns out you need the money back at some point then you will have to go through the further advance process, or book some ‘holiday’ months from your mortgage, if you lender offers this. Mortgage Over-payment is great, but don’t over-stretch yourself.

Work out what it could save you

We have just added a Mortgage over-payment calculator to the site meaning you can now see what effect a small monthly addition to your mortgage can make.

Before clicking the link I want you to imagine how much extra you would need to pay monthly to clear your mortgage 3 years early.

Now go find out, it might be less than you think and remember if this is still not clear, why not give us a call on 0131 339 2281 and chat for free to a mortgage advisor.

Posted in Interest Only, Lenders, Mortgage Industry, Mortgage Know How | Leave a comment