Reply to: Shop for mortgage deals?

[LondonManc]

But then you live in that back end of no where where houses are a couple of thousand quid. If you actually lived where you were born you wouldn't say that tulip.

If I lived where I was born, I'd own a hospital....

Anyhow, tracker for the next three years is the more sensible option. As others have said, rates will climb slowly otherwise you'd cause a complete housing crash as anyone getting on the ladder after 2008 would be thrown off it.

[Dark Black]

Just an update, we decided to remortage with a provider offering a 1.69% Tracker (1.19+base), no fees at all plus £500 cash back on completion. It's portable for when we move and can overpay/repay as much as we want fee free.

Saving money and also guarding against any issues of being stuck on a high rate if I don't get a renewal in Feb.



Top marks to Super Contractors for sorting that out.

[MortgageTips]

Will your current mortgage lender allow you to "port" your mortgage - transfer it to the new home?
You may have the option to take their best deal now, take the mortgage with you & add additional lending as and when required.

[WTFH]

It is? For desirable properties with tight criteria I would have thought it's never a buyers market. Maybe for your average 2-3 bed semi if you don't really care where you live but looking at both yours and DB's criteria I thought your market would completely different?

I've a couple of friends who are retired estate agents and they tell me that, it also rings true for people who want to see the property in daylight, they are more likely to do so in the spring & summer.

[northernladuk]

From now until Easter it's a buyers market - not much new stuff will appear and anything that is on the market should be open to negotiation.

It is? For desirable properties with tight criteria I would have thought it's never a buyers market. Maybe for your average 2-3 bed semi if you don't really care where you live but looking at both yours and DB's criteria I thought your market would completely different?

[Dark Black]

From now until Easter it's a buyers market - not much new stuff will appear and anything that is on the market should be open to negotiation.

One of my issues as The Wife (tm) is searching for properties is being able to search based on our requirements. E.g. "south facing rear garden", ">1 acre of land", "within 15 minutes walk off road to local pub serving real ale", "nowhere near a school"

That's not far off what we're looking for - add usable large outbuilding(s) / double garage + quiet lane to the mix and that's pretty close.

The search filters on the likes of Prime Location and RightMove leave a lot to be desired so we end up wading though lots of dross rather than risk missing something that may have got missed by the filter. OnTheMarket seems a bit better but still not flexible enough and seems to have less agents listing on it.

At least Prime Location allows for unsuitable houses to be hidden.

[WTFH]

We've done the whole list thing and agree that location is everything.. although for us (given our hobbies) location and space is everything. Seen plenty of nice houses but most just don't have the space. Widened our search area too - I suspect we'll find something in the new year assuming that the market doesn't shutdown due to the current economic climate (and assuming our buyers hang on that long too of course).

From now until Easter it's a buyers market - not much new stuff will appear and anything that is on the market should be open to negotiation.

One of my issues as The Wife (tm) is searching for properties is being able to search based on our requirements. E.g. "south facing rear garden", ">1 acre of land", "within 15 minutes walk off road to local pub serving real ale", "nowhere near a school"

[northernladuk]

Offset tracker isn't a bad idea if you have spare savings kicking about. RBS used to have one but it was 4% so need a good chunk of savings to beat a fixed rate. Don't quote me but I don't remember it having a lock in period. Could be a good option if flexibility is key.

[Dark Black]

Stick with the mortgage you are on until you get the new place, I don't think you'd save much by getting a new one and then paying exit fees in 6 months time.
I'd normally say get an offset tracker as I think they are the best, but maybe having a fixed rate discount for a while would be a good option for your next place, depending on how much you plan to spend on it.

TBH that is my thinking really - I paid 20k off the current mortgage immediately we left the fixed rate and it is going to cost me about £110 pcm extra on the SVR - so as long as we move within say 6 months it unlikely to make much difference taking the various fees into account.

As for being picky about your next house, my advice would be to draw up two lists (yours and your partner's). Draw them up separately and have 4 columns: Required, Desired, Nice to have, Not required.

Once you have the two lists, then sit down and compare them, put them into one list. (I've just opened up our spreadsheet for our current home) We had 10 required, 6 desired, 4 nice to have and one not required.
When we bought the house it had 9/10 required, 3/6 Desired, 2/4 Nice to have and 1/1 Not required.
Within 5 years of moving in we were at 10/10 required, 5/6 desired, 3/4 nice to have and 1/1 not required. The one missing desired isn't relevant any more, and the one missing nice to have will never happen here, but will be in the desired column the next time.

Finding the perfect house in the perfect location is unlikely. It's about finding the house in the right location, where you can work on the house to make it close to perfect.

We've done the whole list thing and agree that location is everything.. although for us (given our hobbies) location and space is everything. Seen plenty of nice houses but most just don't have the space. Widened our search area too - I suspect we'll find something in the new year assuming that the market doesn't shutdown due to the current economic climate (and assuming our buyers hang on that long too of course).

[WTFH]

This will be question for my advisor anyway, but we've just finished our fixed rate and dropped onto the provider's SVR (4.7 ouch) - trouble is we're trying to move house (have buyer) but struggling to find the right house for us (very picky).

I don't think we'll find anything till the Spring now so wondering about the feasibility over remortgaging the current place onto a discount tracker with no lock-in period in the meantime.

Depends how long it takes us to find somewhere I suppose as to whether it's financially worth the hassle.

Stick with the mortgage you are on until you get the new place, I don't think you'd save much by getting a new one and then paying exit fees in 6 months time.
I'd normally say get an offset tracker as I think they are the best, but maybe having a fixed rate discount for a while would be a good option for your next place, depending on how much you plan to spend on it.

As for being picky about your next house, my advice would be to draw up two lists (yours and your partner's). Draw them up separately and have 4 columns: Required, Desired, Nice to have, Not required.

Once you have the two lists, then sit down and compare them, put them into one list. (I've just opened up our spreadsheet for our current home) We had 10 required, 6 desired, 4 nice to have and one not required.
When we bought the house it had 9/10 required, 3/6 Desired, 2/4 Nice to have and 1/1 Not required.
Within 5 years of moving in we were at 10/10 required, 5/6 desired, 3/4 nice to have and 1/1 not required. The one missing desired isn't relevant any more, and the one missing nice to have will never happen here, but will be in the desired column the next time.

Finding the perfect house in the perfect location is unlikely. It's about finding the house in the right location, where you can work on the house to make it close to perfect.

[northernladuk]

This will be question for my advisor anyway, but we've just finished our fixed rate and dropped onto the provider's SVR (4.7 ouch) - trouble is we're trying to move house (have buyer) but struggling to find the right house for us (very picky).

I don't think we'll find anything till the Spring now so wondering about the feasibility over remortgaging the current place onto a discount tracker with no lock-in period in the meantime.

Depends how long it takes us to find somewhere I suppose as to whether it's financially worth the hassle.

I think in your situation it's down to the pounds and pennies. 4.7 is a terrible rate but I think you'll probably have to run some illustrations to find out if it's worth swapping and paying any arrangement fees and exit fees. A good broker should do this for you for nothing. As to the timings, I guess that's up to you.

[Dark Black]

This will be question for my advisor anyway, but we've just finished our fixed rate and dropped onto the provider's SVR (4.7 ouch) - trouble is we're trying to move house (have buyer) but struggling to find the right house for us (very picky).

I don't think we'll find anything till the Spring now so wondering about the feasibility over remortgaging the current place onto a discount tracker with no lock-in period in the meantime.

Depends how long it takes us to find somewhere I suppose as to whether it's financially worth the hassle.

[WTFH]

But then you live in that back end of no where where houses are a couple of thousand quid. If you actually lived where you were born you wouldn't say that tulip.

If I lived where I was born, I'd have a mansion with a couple of hectares of land. Actually, let's face it, if I lived almost anywhere apart from leafy Surrey, I could afford more house and more land.
(I only know this because while we love where we are, my wife has started to look at houses in Devon & Dorset. Initially it was as a holiday home, but she now appears to be thinking bigger)

[SueEllen]

I will just pay the mortgage off. Problem solved.

But then you live in that back end of no where where houses are a couple of thousand quid. If you actually lived where you were born you wouldn't say that tulip.

[Wilmslow]

I will just pay the mortgage off. Problem solved.