Monday, 23 December 2013

Should You Hire a Mortgage Broker?

Financial prudence is a great but rare quality. To those who’re not well versed with such aspects, it makes sense to hire a professional, especially when buying a house. Mortgage brokers are specialists who can help you find the right mortgage loan. But their services don’t come cheap, forcing people to ponder hard about the benefits of engaging a mortgage broker. Here are a few points to help you decide when a broker might be worth hiring.

Your credit ratings are less than stellar:

With the current turn of events, it is next to impossible for average English family to maintain an outstanding credit rating. Mortgage industries are increasingly becoming tight-fisted when it comes to lending to such borrowers. But brokers can help such buyers find lenders. They can also help you qualify for home loans. The process of loan approval can sometimes be complicated. Information has to be presented in a certain way and sometimes unknown to them borrowers may qualify for a loan. Brokers can help them with repackaging their information. But they can only help you to a certain extent; chances for a loan are slim if your financial reputation is tarnished beyond reasonable repair, irrespective of the help offered by the broker.

Self Employed:

It is difficult for the self-employed to find good mortgage deals.  Brokers can assist these buyers as well thanks to their huge repertoire of home loan offerings. As earlier said, they can also help you qualify for these loans. There’s a certain way information has to be presented; brokers know how to do this.

First time buyers:

It is a known fact that banks take first time buyers for a ride because of their lack of knowledge about the market. Mortgage advisors can help buyers choose deals that work best for them because of their huge portfolio. In fact, brokers offer a wide variety of products including variable or fixed interest loans, single home or cooperative apartment loans, etc. The terms of repayment for each of these can be different; only a broker can help to understand these differences.

New buyers are often subject to various charges including appraisal fees, origination fees, etc. Brokers can influence lenders to discharge some of these fees, which can save you hundreds of pounds.

But...

Buyers wrongly assume that they do not have to do anything because the borrower will do everything for them. But not every broker’s interest is aligned with your interest. Some may team up with the lender and misguide the borrower forcing him to pay more or accept for unfavourable terms.

As a borrower, it is your duty to understand the market and know about the prevalent interest rates. This can be done by searching for information on the internet or on the local newspapers. For more details click here