First Time Home Mortgage – What You Should Know
Locating and then getting just the right mortgage for your first home purchase is not so straightforward in these trying times. So here I have some tips for you to help you on your way:
- You should have a talk with your current bank or your building society before you make any moves. Since you already own an account there, you're not beginning any new relationship. Check them out and see what they can offer you. This can be your benchmark.
- It's always a good thing to have a wide variety of advice and plenty of quotes. The thing to watch out for here,is not having very many credit searches. If you incur one or maybe two, then that's not bad. Over two within a short span of time may have a negative impact your score.
- Study hard and assess carefully exactly what you can afford in a comfortable manner. You need to thoroughly weigh your monthly expenses against your monthly income to establish what the truth is, and what is the actual figure you have as disposable monthly income. You should never have a new mortgage that over-stretches or over-extends you. Affordability should be your key focus point.
- After you've been to the bank, get some advice from all kinds of advisors dealing in independent mortgages. They should be well able to do some research of the whole market and then give you good advice and recommendations. You can then use this to establish if you would be better off proceeding with the bank, or by going with one of their recommended mortgage deals.
- You will have to make a decision about taking either a fixed or a variable rate mortgage. Ask yourself if the interest rates are headed up or going down. Also ask yourself if you prefer having stable monthly payments that come with fixed rates, or if you would prefer to take the risk of having the variable rate mortgage. Would you be able to afford the mortgage should those interest rates rise, and you're holding a variable rate mortgage?
I hope this little mini-guide will help you find the proper range of mortgages for your needs. Always try to make decisions that come from a position of being well informed, and stay focused on the 'affordability' factor. The last thing anybody needs is to wind up having their property repossessed.