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.

According to some industry experts, property prices now more affordable than at any time since in 2003. So Now is a good time to buy.

Now as I mentioned, this proposal is for first time buyers only and so I am guessing that it will be down to the solicitor/coveyancer to do the appropriate checks as I believe this will create a minefield for them as they will have to do all the checks to see if the house-buyers have bought a property before.

So if you are a genuine first time buyer you should have no problems.

Buying a property has become a little easier in the last few months, as there are many more products (mortgages) available, especially if you have a deposit of 10% or more.

I am certainly seeing an increase in not only enquiries about mortgages, but also sales. Meaning that there are more and more people returning to the market and buying properties.

Yes it was a good piece of news today from the Chancellor and it grabbed the headlines, but then there is an election in a couple of months.

If you need any help or advice, please get in touch 01276 670777

Michael

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 how the value of property had performed over the last 50 years. He showed that despite having some decreases in value, property could be seen as a long term investment with property prices nationally having doubled in value every 8-10 years. He also gave examples of property prices in Yateley over the last 10 years.

I gave a presentation with the latest information on mortgage rates, types of mortgages available and amongst other thing, where to get your deposit from…

After lunch we had a lively question and answer session and these young people really had some great questions lined up for us.

Matt Nicola and Yours Truly

I must say that I have given many talks in my time, but this one with these young people who really were interested the subject, was a very pleasant experience.

If I can give a talk to your group on any subject relating to the mortgage business, please contact me via the office number or blog.

Michael

I Came across this advice in a video from the BBC.

Thought it might be worth an airing here.

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.