Blog

Multi-Generation Mortgages

If you’re struggling to afford a home on your own, you’re not alone. Many families in the UK are feeling the squeeze of high property prices and stagnant wages, making it difficult to get a foot on the property ladder. But what if there was a way to share the...
Read More

AirBnB Mortgages: What’s the deal?

Over the past few years, the number of queries we’ve received from investors looking to use the AirBnB platform – instead of the typical 6-month Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) agreement – has increased dramatically. A year ago, the short answer to this question a year ago would have been: No....
Read More

A Fresh Approach to HMOs

When you think about houses of multiple occupation (or HMOs) you might think about student digs, something from the ‘Young Ones’ perhaps, where squalor is right of passage. It’s to be expected that almost everyone has a story about the shocking state of their student housing back in the day. In...
Read More

Helping you Beat the 6-Month Rule

Before the 6-month rule, when the property market was booming in the 90s and early 2000s, there was a trend for investors of buy-to-lets to use day one remortgages – essentially taking out a new mortgage the day they got the keys for the property – as a way of...
Read More

De-mystifying Loan To Value

LTV is one of those acronyms that is thrown about so frequently by mortgage brokers that it can be very hard to remember that not everyone knows what it means. It is probably the most important factor in mortgage lending, so I wanted to explore what LTV means and why...
Read More

A Day in the Life of a Mortgage Broker

Before the credit crunch, there was a relatively even split between the numbers of customers that sourced a mortgage via a broker and those that went directly to a bank. Now I think that a majority would consult with a broker first, certainly when buying a new home or where...
Read More

Mortgage Down Valuations

A mortgage down valuation can be a frustrating element of any mortgage purchase or remortgage. Ultimately, the value of a property is the amount someone is prepared to pay for it. However, lenders need to set their own independent value on an asset they plan to lend against and, even...
Read More

Santander’s Buy To Let Mortgage Thresholds

Recently, I submitted a case for a client who had a few existing Buy To Let mortgages in the background. Without going into too much detail on the criteria, Santander was judged as the best lender for this particular job. Whilst Santander have had a cautious entry to the BTL...
Read More

Moving Bank Accounts?

If you are moving bank accounts to another provider, print off all of your statements as far back as you can go, or if possible, save them to your computer. Once you close the old account you will no longer have access to them. If you apply for a mortgage and statements are requested, acquiring them from the old bank could be expensive and slow, and could hold up your mortgage application.

Find Property Floor Area

Check the EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) if you want to find property floor area.

An EPC must be provided by law, and made available on request by an agent. In the title area, the surveyor will have recorded the total floor area of the property. Useful to check its not too small if it a studio, and to judge overall value.

Find Property Floor Area

Packager Firms: What Are They Good For?

If you recall the next line of the famous Edwin Starr song, so often added to any Vietnam War soundtrack, you might think: Absolutely nothin’! I’ve recently noticed a resurgence of packagers in the BTL mortgage market and this is exactly what I thought. However, it is interesting to consider...
Read More

Tools of the Trade

Buying property for investment has a very steep learning curve. Everyone knows the trick is to buy low, sell high and make a good month to month return in the interim. The reality is far more complex. There are many factors which will affect a property’s current and potential value,...
Read More

Scaremongering in the News

There has been plenty of scaremongering in the news over the past few weeks regarding the new changes to mortgage assessment. As a nation that values home ownership immensely these doom and gloom headlines naturally cause people to worry about the future. I have had plenty of calls regarding these...
Read More

Blog posts are accurate at time of posting, but information may change in time. Please contact us for clarification if you have any questions about the information we post.