This article is based on some recent examples of what we have done beyond the normal helping people obtain a mortgage. I thought it would be useful to see what else forms part of our job as a lot of people think our job is to find them the cheapest deal (that is probably the quickest part of the job!). This I think shows why having someone experienced on your side can make all of the difference.
Research
I was researching a case for a customer. There was some adverse, which I keyed into the system we use to source mortgage products. I was looking for a particular lender as I thought they would be the cheapest but they did not appear at all.
These were the lenders whose products cropped up.
What I find interesting is that of this list, I know that one of the lenders would cap their maximum LTV at 70%. We had put that we were looking for 90% LTV. Their products should not be showing. Another lender credit scores and so realistically they would never accept the application anyway.
And then finally, there was at least one lender missing from the list that I knew of. Although by the time I had done my research, I had got that to 2 lenders.
I narrowed it down to 3 lenders and although the application has not yet gone in, of the 3 only 1 was showing up on our sourcing system. I think this is a good example of where experience comes in. Anyone can plug information in a system. Its knowing it does not look right that makes the difference.
Estate Agents and their games
Over the years, we have spoken to many different agents. In the main most are fine. Every now and again, we get some who are a bit ridiculous with their demands or are bordering on bullying.
Back in April we had an agent who sent the client an email saying “We have not heard anything in over a week (it had been a bank holiday), if we do not complete by the end of the week the vendor will be pulling out.”.
As a buyer, what do you do when you see that? Panic? Cry? Shout?
Thankfully our client forwarded it on to us and asked if we could help. I called the agent up and told them it wont be completing before the end of the week as its literally impossible…
The agent then asked when it would likely complete, I advised that we had been told everything was in and awaiting final checks by the solicitor. At best it would be the following week but could be the week after if any issues are raised.
The agent was fine with this.
In the space of an hour, we had gone from the vendor was pulling out to there being no issues. The vendor had not been consulted as it was all done on the phone in the space of 10 minutes! Estate agent and their games! They do things to get a reaction. The agent works for the vendor, if you want someone experienced and confident on your side, a broker can help you out.
Solicitors
This was an interesting one. Not one that we actually helped with but we could have done. A client was on a property with their brother. They wanted to get their name removed so they could buy a new home with their partner. The solicitors dealing with the transfer told the applicant that she would be liable for the higher rate of stamp duty as her name would not be removed from the land registry in time due to it taking around 12 months for the land registry to update their records.
They called us in a bit of a panic. If this were the case it would cost them around £15,000 in stamp duty. I went to speak to the people we use and they advised that that is the case, but there is a way around it. In the meantime the clients also spoke to a friend of theirs who was a solicitor and they advised the same.
Thankfully they had a friend who could help and decided to proceed with that solicitor, but again having someone experienced on your side means we have contacts we can call on and pick their brains to ensure everything goes as smoothly as possible.
Summary
I thought it was worth pointing out where like in many jobs, experience plays a part. Very few people need a broker to find the cheapest deal. If you use a broker its either because you want to hand the job off to someone else or you genuinely need one due to complexities in your circumstances.
But actually even in the most straight forward of scenarios a broker can actually add value. If our sourcing systems are not perfect (and we pay for them), it stands to reason that free services online are probably also not the most accurate.
In short:
Experience can make a massive difference and,
A broker is more than just a price comparison service.
If you fancy a chat, please do get in touch. There is no sales spiel, we will just have a chat, see if we get on and see if we can help. We can take it from there if you wish to proceed.