About Us

We can help you build a clear picture of what you can realistically afford, how your deposit and monthly commitments affect that, and how different lenders are likely to assess your application based on your circumstances.

Someone may have a 5% deposit, a steady salary and no real complications, in which case the focus is usually on affordability, the property itself and making sure everything is ready to go when they find somewhere they want to buy.

Other cases need a closer look. We might speak to a first-time buyer whose income includes regular overtime, where the important part is understanding how much of that income a lender will use and what evidence they will want to see.

Another buyer may have part of their deposit coming from family, which can change the checks and paperwork involved without necessarily making the mortgage any harder to arrange.

A recent job change, a short employment history or an older credit issue can also raise questions before you apply.

These things do not automatically put buying a home out of reach, they simply affect which lenders are likely to be a better fit and how the application should be prepared.

Speaking to a mortgage advisor early gives you the chance to work through all of this before you start making offers, so you can begin your property search with a much clearer idea of where you stand.

We can look at the mortgage you already have alongside what you need for the new property and work out whether porting still makes sense once the whole move is taken into account.

We often speak to homeowners who have a competitive fixed rate they would understandably rather not give up.

If the mortgage is portable and the new borrowing is similar, keeping that deal may be worth considering.

It is not always as simple as transferring the mortgage from one property to another though.

Your lender will normally reassess you and the new property, and if you need to borrow more, the additional amount may have to sit on a separate product with a different rate and end date.

We have also seen moves where a customer initially wanted to port, only for changes in income, borrowing requirements or the property itself to make another lender more suitable.

Your mortgage advisor can compare the cost and practicalities of both routes before you commit, so the decision is based on what works for the move you are making now, not just the mortgage you already have.

We can compare the product transfer your existing lender is offering with remortgage deals available elsewhere and look at what each option would actually cost you.

Sometimes staying where you are is the sensible choice. If your lender has a competitive deal available, you may be able to switch products without a full mortgage application or another property valuation.

Other homeowners come to us because the mortgage they arranged a few years ago no longer quite fits.

They may want to borrow more, shorten or extend the term, or their property value may have changed enough to put them in a different loan-to-value bracket.

We have also looked at cases where another lender appeared cheaper on rate alone, only for fees to wipe out much of the saving.

The reverse can happen too, where accepting the first offer from the existing lender means missing a stronger option elsewhere.

Reviewing the mortgage before the fixed period ends gives us time to properly compare the two rather than leaving you to make the decision as your current deal is about to expire.

We regularly look at further purchases for landlords who already have other mortgaged rental properties, where the next application can involve more than simply checking the rent on the property being bought.

A lender may want to understand the wider portfolio as well. That can mean looking at the borrowing, values and rental income across properties you already own before deciding whether it is comfortable with another mortgage.

We might speak to a landlord whose existing portfolio performs strongly, though one property has a lower rental yield than the others.

Another may be deciding whether the next purchase should be made personally or through a limited company.

Those details can affect which lenders are worth considering even when the property itself looks straightforward.

The way lenders approach portfolio landlords is not identical, so having several properties does not mean every lender will reach the same answer.

We can look at the proposed purchase alongside the portfolio you already have and focus on lenders whose criteria suit the way your properties and borrowing are structured.

We can look at the mortgage payment alongside the rent on the remaining share, service charges and your existing commitments to give you a more realistic idea of what the monthly cost could look like.

The deposit can sometimes appear very manageable because it is based on the share you are buying rather than the full property value.

The part that catches some buyers out is that lenders still need to account for the other monthly housing costs when assessing affordability.

We might speak to someone considering a 25% share who has more than enough for the deposit, though the rent and service charge reduce the amount a lender is prepared to offer.

Another buyer may find that purchasing a larger share from the outset actually works better for them because the rent on the remaining portion comes down.

There can also be requirements from the housing provider sitting alongside the lender’s own criteria, so it helps to know how the pieces fit together before you settle on a particular share.

A mortgage advisor can run through the figures with you and look at which lenders are comfortable with the scheme, giving you a clearer idea of what feels affordable before the application starts.

We can look at the valuation, purchase price and discount shown on your Right to Buy offer and check how lenders are likely to treat that equity when arranging the mortgage.

One of the situations we see is someone who has lived in their council property for a long time and qualified for a sizeable discount, though they have not built up the sort of cash deposit they would normally expect to need when buying a home.

That does not necessarily prevent the purchase. Depending on the lender, the Right to Buy discount can often provide some or all of the equity needed instead of a separate cash deposit.

There can be other considerations too.

We have spoken to buyers who want to make improvements once the property is theirs, for example, and hoped to borrow more than the discounted purchase price.

That needs a closer look because lenders have different rules around additional borrowing on a Right to Buy purchase.

Bringing your offer to a mortgage advisor gives us something concrete to work from.

We can see how the figures fit together, what the lender is likely to require and whether anything needs dealing with before the mortgage application goes in.

The income you know you earn and the figure a mortgage lender chooses to use are not always the same thing, which is why the way your business is structured can matter.

A sole trader with several years of accounts may have income assessed from their profits over a set period.

A limited company director may take a modest salary and dividends while leaving money in the business, meaning a lender that only looks at what has been drawn could reach a very different figure from one prepared to consider more of the company’s performance.

We also work with contractors, freelancers, consultants and CIS workers whose earnings can look different again.

Someone may have strong annual income despite it arriving unevenly or have recently moved onto a new contract after years in the same line of work.

The aim is not to make your income fit a particular lender. It is to understand how you earn it and find lenders whose assessment is better suited to that situation.

Your mortgage advisor can go through the figures before an application is made, so you have a much better idea of the income a lender may use and what that could mean for your borrowing.

Whether or not it is possible depends on the credit issues themselves, how recent they are and what the rest of your application looks like.

A missed payment from several years ago is very different from a recent default or CCJ, and lenders do not all draw the line in the same place.

The amount involved, whether the issue has been satisfied and how you have managed credit since can all affect the outcome.

We have spoken to customers who assumed a previous decline meant there was no point trying again, only to find that another lender took a different view of the same history.

The sensible starting point is to look at your credit file and the wider application together.

Your mortgage advisor can then tell you whether there are lenders worth approaching and what, if anything, may need attention before an application is made.