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

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House prices rose 1.2% in May on April, offering evidence of activity in the UK housing market, according to figures from the Nationwide building society.

The annual rate of house price falls eased from 15% in April to 11.3%, with a typical home now costing £154,016.

Over the past three months, house prices fell by 0.5% compared with the previous three-month period, the lowest quarterly drop since January last year.

But lets not get too carried away here.

These kind of headlines may sell newspapers and the information for the Nationwide is in the public domain. But I hope that people generally wont jump the bandwagon.

This could well be a false dawn and sellers might just be tempted to put up their prices too early, led by estate agents who promise to sell at a higher price than the market allows.

Although I am optimistic about the future of property in the local area and feel that prices will go up over time, the way this headline is being presented in the media, is that the green shoots of recovery have started.

I hope they have and certainly we are the busiest we have been for months, but we are still not out of the BIG R, officially anyway.

But there is no doubt that there is more confidence in the market. I know of one family who were gazumped last week when another buyer upped the price on a property being sold for £295k by £8k and we haven’t had that for a while.

But there is a definite shortage of property for sale as people have decided to stay in their existing home and get the builders in to extend. Plus of course it is so expensive to sell your property…..but don’t get me started on that.

Estate agent friends of mine report there 3 or 4 people going after 1 property and in this kind of scenario, the buyer has every right to put their price up because it is in demand.

So I say good luck to anyone who is in that situation, but I hope we don’t all get carried away and forget that a house is an investment for the future and one of the best investment you can make.

Plus one set of figures doesn’t give you the whole picture.

If I can be of help please contact me or one of my staff.

Michael

email: michael@mumsltd.co.uk

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What does it take to be the best mortgage adviser in Camberley?

• You’ve got to be on the ball…We are

• You’ve got to know where the best deals are…We know

• You’ve got to have a team that works well together…We have

• You’ve got to have a team with real world experience…We have

• You’ve got to give straight talking advice…We try our best

• You’ve got to get the deal that matches the clients wishes..We try exceptionally hard

And also, you got to try that little bit harder to look after you customer.

Here’s an email from one of our girls to me:

Michael I thought you might like this little story……….

An example of how great our service is – Called client to get an email address from her and was advised that she doesn’t have one because she had accidentally spilt liquid on her laptop so it now doesn’t work!!!  Also her dishwasher has broken down……upon checking her details, noticed that she arranged her Buildings & Contents insurance through us.

I asked her if she knew that she could claim against her contents insurance – She was elated as she had not even thought that she could do this – I was able to confirm to her that she had the correct cover, gave her the claim number and her policy number.  Armed with all the relevant information she can call her insurer without having to dig through all her paperwork.

Another happy MUMS client.

What can I say..All of us here at Michael Usher Mortgage Services, do try to go the extra mile. So how can we help you. Call me 01276 670777

Michael

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0.5% Bank Rate is good, but…..

Home owners in Surrey and Hampshire have seen their mortgage payments slashed in the last 5 months, well those that have a tracker mortgage or those we have helped recently to secure low mortgage rates.

Now the Bank of England have decided to print more money as well, (what a good idea, I wish I could do that) what we need now….is more lending please and all we can hope is that the banks do start to make funds available for desperate house buyers.

But of course we will all have to pay for it in the end. You can’t just print more money like its going out of fashion and not worry that this kind of action will not come back and bite you on the bum, because it surely well.

But, like the government, let’s not worry about that now, lets get the economy going again and worry about those other things in the future.

The local housing market.

I have been talking to quite a number of estate agents in Camberley, Frimley and Farnborough and they have all been saying that they are busier now than in the last 12 months and in some areas and with certain types of properties, prices are stablising.

But the banks and buiding societies are making things tougher all round. They are still insisting 0n 15, 20, or even 25% deposits, in fact its said that the government are contemplating on making it a law that there should be a deposit of at least 15%. Not sure about that.

10% deposit would seem fair and indeed workable. My first mortgage in the 80′s required 10% and yes it was hard to find that money, but I worked harder, did a job on the side and finally saved enough money to get my first house.

Prices of houses are higher now, but we all earn a lot more now.

Houses are also more affordable than they were this time last year and I know I keep saying it, but you can still get an even better bargain if you negotiate!!!!

So now its a case of saying hooray to 0.5% interest rates if you have a certain mortgage, but boo!!!  if you are a saver. Swings and roundabouts comes to mind. After all some savers had it good for so long.

As Forrest Gump said “Life’s like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”

If I can help you in any way with you mortgage, please email me through the website or just pick up the phone, I wont bite.

Michael 01276 670777

website

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Recently we held a disco in aid of the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice in Farnham.

Chloe from the hospice came to collect the cheque.

I don’t know how she’s going to pay it over the counter.

Picture courtesy of Aldershot News

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The Bank of England has reduced interest rates to a record low of 1% from 1.5%.

Back in October last year, the Bank of England rate was 5%.

Great news for house buyers, especially with tracker mortgages, but of course bad news for savers.

Of course this is the 5th interest rate cut in five months and I believe this will help to stimulate the housing market.

Already I have seen some loosening in the market and some banks are willing to listen and offer mortgages.

The media/press continue to churn out the bad news, which is not helping, but we as independent mortgage brokers are making headway and getting mortgages for our clients, today, this week, YES THIS WEEK.

I’m not saying its easy, but we are constantly in contact, on a daily basis with banks and building societies checking on the latest deals around.

It may suprise you to know that certain banks and building societies put out offers for just a couple of days, before withdrawing them after selling the multiple that they wanted… Thats where we come in and win as independents, because we hunt out the latest deals.

I do feel sorry for the savers, but with interest rates lower, those on tracker mortgages especially,  have benefitted by having reduced mortgages, meaning these mortgage holders will have more money to spend in the local and national economy, which is good for us all.

So with all the savings you have made on your mortgage, go spend some in the local restaurants and shops and do your bit, but don’t spend it all, save some, put it into Gold, prices still going up and you can invest in a gold bar for less that £80….

If you would like to change your mortgage to a tracker or fixed rate, give me a call 01276 670777

Michael

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