Mortgage deal ending

[denislawsbackheel]

Advice to take this if starting a new mortgage - look for five year deals?

I wouldn’t.
I ‘d take a 2 year deal in the current climate.

 

[somapop]

I'd posted in another thread about advice but some good responses here.

Spoke to my bank earlier in the year but wasn't in a position to look then (Nat West).

Worth looking a a mortgage advisor or just start looking at different mortgages via my bank and others?

I've put my rent on a rolling 3 month contract after a recent renewal so not tied down, but could do with moving pretty quickly.

Thanks!

 

[Mr Kobayashi]

I'd posted in another thread about advice but some good responses here.

Spoke to my bank earlier in the year but wasn't in a position to look then (Nat West).

Worth looking a a mortgage advisor or just start looking at different mortgages via my bank and others?

I've put my rent on a rolling 3 month contract after a recent renewal so not tied down, but could do with moving pretty quickly.

Thanks!

Do both and then pick the best deal that suits you.

Most Brokers will earn the money from commission paid by lenders so you wouldn't need to pay fees.

 

[SiMCFC]

I went for a 5 year deal in January, it suited me as it's affordable at 4.1%. A lot of people were saying oh but rates will be dropping at the end of 2023... Now 'experts' saying they will remain high for 2024, a lot of independent financial people think that is pie in the sky and will remain until 26/27 so it's just a minefield of information where everyone thinks they are right.

Just go with what you can afford, if rates drop to 3% and I have 3 years of my fix left, personally I won't be annoyed, I'd just not keep looking at the rates. However I'd be mightily upset if I had fixed for 2 years and come renewal they were stuck at 6% though.

Edit - I used an online broker who was recommended and he just took commission from the lender (strangely enough it was NatWest we went with) our affordability was a bit skewed as we had spent about 80k doing a loft conversion so I had to combine a bridging loan and mortgage into one and not many were willing, however broker assured us NatWest were ok with it and it all sailed through no problem to be fair to him.

 

[inbetween]

Theyve been unrealistically cheap for 15 years, the scary thing is kids with houses now think what theyve paid is the norm, and its not. Thats why the roads are filled with rented flash cars and everyones got tattoos and an Iphone filled with photos of all inclusive trips to Mexico and teeth from Turkey. They will be giving them all back soon.
Its a big wheel

Sorry to quote back an older post but I hear this argument a lot about rates of old however it just isn't relevant to the situation at the moment. Rates might of pushed 10,15,20% back in the day but growth and payrises were also pushing similar amounts. The consistent growth over the years is why many pensioners are now technically asset millionaires.

Rate rises are especially impactful when nowadays payrises and growth isn't even following inflation. I had a look and if we remortgaged today then our mortgage repayments would go from £820 to £1100, 33% more and that's having paid off 40% of our mortgage. Have we had a 33% payrise? Have we balls, my girlfriend was offered 2.5% this year! Luckily we're fixed in for another 2 years but some are not that lucky.

Families are lucky because they'll have two people working and paying but remember back in the day when the mother could stay at home to look after the kids? That's no longer a choice. Single people have no chance, absolutely no chance at all because they need to raise a deposit which on a completely average house will likely be £20k+. Many of them therefore have to rent and pay even more so they're stuffed and will never raise a deposit anyway.

There is no choice but to return to cheap rates otherwise it's inevitable that the economy will collapse and the housing market will go down with it. This is not the price of the iPhone generation or recent low rates, it's the price of decades worth of far too much growth in housing prices and also a reduction in supply vs population growth.

 

[DunfermlineBlue]

I fixed at 4.1% nearly a year ago most people said to fix for 2 years as rates would be back down by then, absolutely no chance of that happening now.

 

[SiMCFC]

Sorry to quote back an older post but I hear this argument a lot about rates of old however it just isn't relevant to the situation at the moment. Rates might of pushed 10,15,20% back in the day but growth and payrises were also pushing similar amounts. The consistent growth over the years is why many pensioners are now technically asset millionaires.

Rate rises are especially impactful when nowadays payrises and growth isn't even following inflation. I had a look and if we remortgaged today then our mortgage repayments would go from £820 to £1100, 33% more and that's having paid off 40% of our mortgage. Have we had a 33% payrise? Have we balls, my girlfriend was offered 2.5% this year! Luckily we're fixed in for another 2 years but some are not that lucky.

Families are lucky because they'll have two people working and paying but remember back in the day when the mother could stay at home to look after the kids? That's no longer a choice. Single people have no chance, absolutely no chance at all because they need to raise a deposit which on a completely average house will likely be £20k+. Many of them therefore have to rent and pay even more so they're stuffed and will never raise a deposit anyway.

There is no choice but to return to cheap rates otherwise it's inevitable that the economy will collapse and the housing market will go down with it. This is not the price of the iPhone generation or recent low rates, it's the price of decades worth of far too much growth in housing prices and also a reduction in supply vs population growth.

Unfortunately this isn't always the case either, we both Work but when you factor in childcare costs for 2 Children, my Wife actually works for free... fantastic that she goes out every Morning working for the NHS but financially she doesn't benefit from it, at least with the childcare funding that is coming in the future People with young kids, or are pregnant at the moment won't have to deal with this issue but it's been bloody hard for the last 4 years, we made the decision it was better for her mental health and for the kids to start bonding with other kids, getting back to work part time (28 hours a week), maybe in the future we will look back and regret it but I guess everyone's situations differ.

Fully agree with everything else though!

 

[somapop]

Thanks all.
What's your thoughts on buying a flat (that's the best I can hope for)?

I'm pretty savvy when it comes to refurbing - I did most of the work on the old family home (which the ex got, but the kids have a decent home so not all lost). Ended up doing a rewire and lighting design, pulled ceilings down, built new studs walls, carpentry, fix broken washing machines etc....

Not that I haven't enjoyed renting. I do have a lot more free time now so don't miss weekend gardening (got to the stage where I was testing the PH soil for planting). But aware I'm paying a lot for very little here....it's freezing in the winter, mould appears but it's in a nice area.

Also hoping this new career progression will keep heading in the right direction too.

 

[inbetween]

Unfortunately this isn't always the case either, we both Work but when you factor in childcare costs for 2 Children, my Wife actually works for free... fantastic that she goes out every Morning working for the NHS but financially she doesn't benefit from it, at least with the childcare funding that is coming in the future People with young kids, or are pregnant at the moment won't have to deal with this issue but it's been bloody hard for the last 4 years, we made the decision it was better for her mental health and for the kids to start bonding with other kids, getting back to work part time (28 hours a week), maybe in the future we will look back and regret it but I guess everyone's situations differ.

Fully agree with everything else though!

That actually makes sense and I never thought of childcare costs (no kids here just yet!).

A mate of mine at work did something similar and gave up working on Fridays because it was pointless. It was cheaper for him to work 4 days a week than it was to send the kids to nursery, Fridays are basically half days here anyway.

Obviously in any event you're never actually better off, you're just not worse off.

 

[Gareth Barry Conlon]

Thanks all.
What's your thoughts on buying a flat (that's the best I can hope for)?

I'm pretty savvy when it comes to refurbing - I did most of the work on the old family home (which the ex got, but the kids have a decent home so not all lost). Ended up doing a rewire and lighting design, pulled ceilings down, built new studs walls, carpentry, fix broken washing machines etc....

Not that I haven't enjoyed renting. I do have a lot more free time now so don't miss weekend gardening (got to the stage where I was testing the PH soil for planting). But aware I'm paying a lot for very little here....it's freezing in the winter, mould appears but it's in a nice area.

Also hoping this new career progression will keep heading in the right direction too.

I find the management fees on flats make them very poor value when you look at total cost.

Small cheap house in nice area is better bet. But that said a flat will always be cheapest.