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First time buyers in Camberley, Frimley, Farnborough and other local areas got some great news from the government today.
Stamp duty and land tax has been abolished for properties up to £250k.
This I believe, will kick start a revival in the buying and selling of homes. Certainly I know that my estate agent friends have welcomed the best piece of news for the housing industry in almost 3 years. continue
This week I was invited to give a talk to a group of young men and women who no doubt will become first time buyers in the not too distant future.
I was invited to Flour Daniel, one of the largest local companies.
The talk was centred around “Getting Your First Mortgage”.
I gave a powerpoint presentation, along with Matt Penfold a former Estate agent who now works with me in the Frimley office.
Matt showed using a graph continue
Hello First Time Buyers in Camberley, Frimley, Farnborough, or wherever you are in the UK.
I Came across this advice in a video from the BBC.
Thought it might be worth an airing here.
There is no doubt in my mind that the housing market is feeling a little stimulated at the moment.
The local newspaper contacted me recently for comments, this is what I told them and they published the article last week.
Local mortgage expert Michael Usher has noticed a huge increase in the number of first time buyers visiting his offices in Frimley High Street.
“We have seen record numbers of first time buyers seeking our advice over the last month. They are doing the groundwork now in readiness for when the market changes.
We speak to a great number of estate agents on a daily basis and they are reinforcing what we are seeing, that the market is moving and that many more first time buyers are visiting properties and then trying to get their mortgage in place, in case they find the ideal property.
The market is changing and for the better, but the banks and building societies need to kick start the process and get more mortgage products on the market, especially for first time buyers.
Although there are some lenders’s headline rates being advertised at 3% or 4%, these are only available for buyers with larger deposits. Typically first time buyers have deposits of around 10% and for that kind of deposit you can get a mortgage with an interest rate of 6% and with a 15% deposit you can get a mortgage with a rate of 5.5%.
A lot of lenders will advertise these 3% low rates just to “hook you in”, to coin a term used in a TV advertisement, but these low rates do come with other financial costs, such as lenders fee or a high redemption fee.
When first time buyers come to us, we offer straight-forward advice, we tell them to continue viewing the market, to get a proper feel, to see what is available out there in their price range and to learn to negotiate, because the more they are out there the more they will learn. Then come back to us and we can give them proper advice and offer a choice of mortgages dependent on the deposit available”
Michael Usher is an independent mortgage adviser based in Frimley Surrey.