After deciding you want to buy a property, one of the first things to do is to establish a budget to allow you to look at properties you can afford.
This is the first place where one our Whole of Market Mortgage Adviser can help you, as everyone’s situation is different, whether it be income/ employment type, commitments or credit score. Lenders assess all these areas very differently, and our adviser is able to assess the best lender for you from the whole of the market and so recommend a mortgage which suits your personal circumstances.
If you only approach your bank or building society, or a mortgage adviser with ties to your Estate Agent you’ll only have their opinion of how much you can borrow and the costs, and it may be that another lender could offer a mortgage with a lower monthly repayment.
All lenders will impose a limit on the amount that they will lend.
We would look to assess your borrowing capacity and then obtain a ‘decision in principle’ for you; this is an agreement in principle, where the lender confirms how much they are willing to lend you.
As the name implies this stage is “in principle” as at this agreement the lender has had no evidence of your income etc. and nor has underwriting taken place.
You’ll need to find a property to buy before a full application can be submitted.