Importance of taking specialist advice

The Mortgage Market Review, introduced last month by the Financial Conduct Authority, aims to eliminate poor lending practice and sees lenders carrying out a new kind of affordability check on mortgage applicants which is not a ‘one size fits all’ model.

Brian Holt’s Leamington manager Jane Canning said because the more stringent process is taking longer, it is even more important that the agent selling the house works with a financial specialist who can check out buyers before the vendor agrees a sale.

“It is even more critical to get the right advice when buying a property and arranging your finances to save any nasty shocks later on,” she said.

“It is an intrinsic part of our service to make sure that all prospective purchasers are financially qualified when making offers on our clients’ properties and it has never been more important than now to make sure that this process is handled efficiently and properly. The process of buying a property is taking ever longer to complete and making informed choices from the start will potentially save tears later on.

“Making the right choice when choosing an estate agent is essential to avoid falling into the trap of agreeing sales prematurely to potentially unsuitable buyers.”

Independent financial adviser working with Brian Holt, Gary Sharp, added: “Lenders now need to see that applicants can establish a sustainability of payments, and that the whole purchase is plausible. Every lender has an affordability calculator, which has been modelled to match exactly what the lender will actually lend. The term of the loan is now quite important. Lenders no longer look at a generic term. They take the actual term to access affordability and, through their affordability calculator, make generic assessments about lifestyle.”