Mortgage Broker Leeds

Meet your Mortgage Broker in Leeds

Steven Hargreaves introduces the mortgage broker leeds.

What is the role of a Mortgage Broker?

You can arrange a mortgage yourself by walking into the local bank or building society, but you also have Mortgage Brokers that can help. The idea of a Mortgage Broker is to prevent you having to visit all of the different lenders to see where you can find the most suitable deal. Their job is to arrange a mortgage and I tend to go a little bit further, as I see it as getting that buyer from the start of their journey to when they’ve just picked the keys up.

When I meet with clients, right from the outset we’ll talk about the different lenders, different surveys and different mortgages available. Once we’ve got a Decision in Principle and a mortgage has been arranged, then my job is to keep my clients informed of exactly what’s happening by liaising with the solicitor, estate agent, lender and surveyor. We would do a Zoom or a Teams meeting and share that information with the client.

We also go through details, such as the surveys with First Time Buyers, as they haven’t been through the journey before. Ultimately as well as the mortgage, I would also arrange the protection in a lot of cases, which many brokers deem to be the most important thing. This means that if anything happens, whether that’s a slate blown off the roof or losing a job, they are protected, and we arrange all the provisions for that from start to finish.

What’s the difference between going to a Mortgage Broker like the Mortgage Co versus your local high street bank?

We’ve got hundreds of lenders we can look at, and thousands of deals. If you’re going to one lender, you’re assuming that lender is going to give you the most suitable deal, which in most cases, they’re not, there will almost always be a cheaper lender. The job of a Mortgage Broker is to find the cheapest deal and get the most suitable mortgage for the client.

What services does a Mortgage Broker offer?

As well as mortgage and protection advice, I contact clients on a regular basis to see if there is anything I can do to help them. For example, if they were on a five year fixed-rate, I would ensure that everything is still fit for purpose and value for money, and then certainly four to five months before their deal is up, I would contact them to avoid them going on the Standard Variable Rate (SVR). The SVR is ordinarily the highest rate that a lender offers.

If a client is thinking of moving, I’ll look at putting provisions in place for a Decision in Principle for an onward purchase, whether they’re looking for something larger, or smaller.

When should I see a Mortgage Broker?

Some clients see other lenders and brokers first, which allows them to compare the services that I offer. Equally, you really want to be doing it as early as you possibly can, because then you can prepare everything.

If someone is a First Time Buyer with a very thin credit file, and you’re not looking to buy for the next four to six months, you can work on that credit file before you’ve actually found a property.

I’d encourage people to take a number of advisers’ advice and shop around to find an adviser that they get on with, because there’s a lot of trust involved, so it’s important to see who you can work best with.