I have done a few posts on why to use a mortgage broker. Last month however I did a lot of things you probably would not expect us to do. This post is to let you know about those things you may not even think about.
Pre- Application
Obviously we do all of the normal things such as researching applications, criteria, rates, fees etc. But we are also on the look out for the client to protect them from common mistakes and mix ups.
An estate agent recommended a solicitor to a client, they were quoted £2,500. They were about to go ahead with them until we quoted the firm we use at, £1,400. We do not push our solicitors. But when the client was going through funds they would need available and they mentioned £2,500 for solicitors! We jumped on that one to save them a grand!
Post application
After the application went in on a case the sellers decided to spring it on us that they were buying a new build and completion would be 6 months off! The estate agent had been pushing our clients to exchange contracts ASAP despite this.
Now in fairness, our clients solicitors (who we instructed) were all over this when it hit them. But before that, the clients felt a little pressured to do what they were being told. They were led to believe that it was normal. And were expected to exchange ASAP despite there being no confirmed completion date.
I advised the clients that the solicitors will need to put a “long stop date” on the contract if they do exchange. This gives them a cut off point that if they do not complete before the mortgage offer expires our clients are not contractulally obliged to complete. This is done as there is no guarantee we can get the mortgage extended or another valuation would be ok.
Post offer
A client is purchasing a property, after the offer was issued our client asked us how we go about increasing the purchase price by £2,500.
We asked why. It turns out the seller had increased the price. There was no explanation for this. Knowing we are in a market where house prices are most definitely not going up, I told the client to go back to the solicitors and tell them that agreed price was x and that they will not be paying the extra £2,500. The client was unaware that was an option. He would have accepted theincreased price had he not had someone on his side. We saved the client £2,500.
One of our long standing customers is purchasing a new home and selling theirs. A problem arose on the property they are selling. The buyer has asked for a £5,000 reduction due to the costs of sorting out some legal work.
Their broker advised they had checked with every other lender and nobody would lend on this property without this legal work being carried out. I am always dubious when someone says they have checked with every lender! We have access to over 80 lenders! Thats a lot of companies to check with and all to say no.
Our client asked if I could just make some quick calls to find out if it were the case. Within 4 hours I had 2 lenders, within 2 days I had 4! Thats not something we get paid for. But its something we can do to try and help the transaction.
Summary
Many people think our job is to just find the best rate, it is very far from the case. I say this a lot, but anyone can find the cheapest rate. You do not need a broker for that.
Our job is to find you the best deal for you. That might be the lowest rate but it might be the cheapest deal overall (taking into account fees). It might be a case of dropping down the list of lenders to the second or third choice in order to go with a lender who will not take 4 weeks to look at your application. Would you rather pay an extra £5 a month to get a mortgage offer in 2 weeks or save the couple of pounds but take a month or 2? There is no right or wrong answer btw. It goes back to what is best for you.
But just as important, we are around to help you throughout the process. That means you can pick up the phone, drop us an email or send us a whatsapp if you have a question or even a little wobble and get worried. Believe it or not, a large part of our job is to just offer reassurance.