First Time Buyers

The first step is establishing how much you can potentially borrow. This would be calculated by considering whether you're employed or self-employed and any additional income from bonuses, commissions, or government benefits that may be used to calculate your affordability assessment. Your current financial commitments, such as loans, finance, credit cards, or dependents, are also considered, as these can affect the amount you're eligible to borrow. Once we have a clear picture of your borrowing capacity, we’ll research lenders for the best rates. After identifying suitable options, we conduct individual affordability assessments with each lender to ensure they can provide the required funds at the most competitive rate. Once a lender has been selected, we will submit a decision in principle. This is a soft footprint and serves two purposes: the first is to see if the amount required can be borrowed as a soft footprint on a client's credit file, which would also indicate if there was a potential problem with the client's credit history. The second purpose is to provide a DIP or AIP Certificate, usually valid for 90 days. It can be used to support an offer on a property, or clients can give me contact details to support that says the client can potentially borrow that sum of money that is usually used when dealing with estate agents. Once a client has accepted an offer, the research process is revisited to ensure that the original advice is still the best. If it's not the lender, the rate is run, and a mortgage application would be submitted to this lender. At this stage, the client would need to have a solicitor appointed for the conveyancing and possibly pay a valuation fee. The lender may have requirements to support the mortgage application. These are usually payslips x3, self-employed tax calculations, and tax overviews for the last two years or an accountant certificate. ID and address verification and possibly bank statements are needed. The lender will then instruct a valuation that can be done by visiting the property or doing a desktop valuation. Once both of the above are completed, and the lender is satisfied, they will issue a Mortgage Offer, valid for six months from the issue. At this stage, the process is very much in the hands of the client's solicitors and the vendor's solicitors to complete all of the legal processes. As the Mortgage Broker, I continue to monitor the process and be able to reduce the mortgage rate if the lender reduces the rate up to the point of Exchange of contracts. Exchange of Contracts: This is the point at which all the legal parts are completed, and a date for completion has been agreed. This generally is a week or so after an exchange of contracts. After this, the clients are legally bound and should put building insurance and life cover in place to support the mortgage. At this stage, the vendor (seller), solicitors and purchaser would decide on a date for completion; this is usually one to two weeks after the exchange, but in some cases, exchange and completion can be on the same day.

Broker Decision in principle Affordability Deposit Loan to value Equity Base rate Fixed-rate Arrangement fee Capital Early repayment charge Credit history Freehold / Leasehold Exchange of contracts Completion Conveyancer/ Solicitors Higher lending charge Cashback Interest Only