In my 15 years of working in financial services, I have noticed that certain kinds of people find it easy to get a mortgage.  Others find it extremely difficult.  There are some tips that I wished that I could tell all of my clients to make it easier.

Very often clients put the cart before the horse.  In other words, they start looking at houses and properties before they have any idea of whether a lender will touch them with a proverbial bargepole.  They put an offer in for the house and then, when it is accepted, they finally come to a bank or broker.  Then very often one of two things happens.

Either they find out that the lender is not ready to offer them the amount that they require.

Or they find out that the mortgage amount that they require is well outside of their budget.  So they expect to pay, for example, £1,000 per month and the mortgage will actually cost them, say, £1,500.

They start to get flustered, confused and a little bewildered.  However, now their heart is set on the property so they get desperate – they MUST have this house now.  So they go from broker to broker, lender to lender until someone guarantees the mortgage they want.  Usually this is at a cost they can't really afford.

I really feel sorry for them because I think that the worst possible situation is when a BUYER is DESPERATE. I put this in capitals because as a broker, I have to deal with many people in the cycle of buying a house – estate agents, vendor (the person selling), the vendor’s solicitor, the buyer’s solicitor, the bank or lender and even the property surveyor.

However, I strongly believe that the person that comes off worst in this situation is the desperate buyer.

I can tell you 2 reasons for this – first, EVERYONE in the cycle I just mentioned GETS PAID – except the desperate buyer.  So it’s in their interest that you buy, particularly when you’re desperate.

Secondly, if the house gets repossessed you can’t even blame the vendor, broker or bank if the BUYER is desperate.  This is because the desperate buyer throws caution to the wind and will sign anything just to get their home. 

Later, when the novelty has worn off, the blame is dished out but it’s far too late.  One of my friends would describe it as ‘medicine after death’.

The aim of my articles is to arm you (the buyer) with as much information to put you in the BEST POSSIBLE POSITION to buy the house of your dreams.

I have compiled tips that I would STRONGLY SUGGEST that no one buys their home, particularly their first home, without reading first.

They will provide you with the knowledge and information that you need to make your purchase.  I will offer you insider secrets from working in a brokerage and working in an estate agency.

If you stick with these tips, you will well prepared to find the home of your dreams at the price that you can afford.  You will not only be able to buy your home, you will be able to STAY IN your home (believe it or not, there is a HUGE difference between the two).

By the way, a desperate buyer only wants to buy the home and very often, gives no real thought to how they will stay there.  I would suggest that a good number of the repossessions that are occurring now were possibly bought by buyers that were desperate.

My next article will be on how to choose the right broker.