Here in the UK mortgage approvals fell to a 19 month low.

As always the news headlines that you see and hear in the media are for the UK nationwide.

Here in Camberley and surrounding areas, we are in a unique position. Here at Michael Usher Mortgage Services, we are rather busy with obtaining mortgages for our clients.

Although it is more difficult that than it was 2-3 years ago to get a mortgage, there is a shortage of property in the south of England.

It all comes down to the mortgage deposit that you have.

People still want to buy, but have to either save more for their deposit, or find money from an external source to help them achieve getting their deposit together.

Often young people will go to their parents for help, or a friend or relation.

They work out a deal whereby, the deposit is lent to the buyer on the understanding that when the house is sold, the parent, friend or relation will be repaid with interest or a cut in the profit.

I have known many parents do this and it makes sense.

In the good old days, “well off” parents always (if possible) lent their kids money for their deposit.

If you are thinking about how you can get a mortgage and you need some advice on raising enough money for a mortgage, give me  a call.

For mortgage advice in Camberley, Farnborough Aldershot and Basingstoke…

Call me 01276 670777

If you need a conveyancing solicitor in Camberley, look no further that Matthew Brogan.

Matt used to be a an estate agent, so he really knows how things work.

He’s the sort of guy that just gets on with it and doesn’t sit on paperwork.

If you want more information about Matthew, click here

Conveyancing is not regulated by the Financial Services Authority

We keep hearing and reading in the news about house price and values falling, that may be the national picture, but in Camberley, Farnborough and other local areas this is not actually the case.

As I have mentioned on this blog many times before, I talk on a daily basis with estate agents at Romans, Bridges, Vickerys and many other independent estate agents and prices have held.

This mostly due to a lack of properties on the market.

But anyway here is the piece that was featured in the Daily Telegraph today…

British house prices fell at their sharpest pace in eighteen months in October as a lack of mortgage finance and an uncertain economic outlook put off buyers.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ house price index showed a balance of 49pc of surveyors saying prices were falling, compared with 36pc during the previous month and the highest level since April 2009.

The number of people looking to buy a home fell for the fifth month in a row during October as activity in the housing market continued to slow.

There was also a drop in the number of sellers coming to the market for the first time since January, when the extreme winter weather caused people to put their plans on hold.

“With both supply and demand falling, transaction activity is set to remain at relatively flat levels for the foreseeable future,” said RICS spokesman Jeremy Leaf.

RICS said those who did want to press ahead with a transaction continued to struggle to raise the mortgage they need.

You can read more here

Just appointed a new will writer for our Camberley office. 

If you need a will, or need to discuss making a will, then I have just the person who can help.

More coming soon

As they “Watch this space”

I believe staff at our Frimley mortgage office are well trained, efficient and knowledgeable. But these days that’s not enough.

This is an ever changing business, with new regulations coming out all the time.

So now we have introduced a regular session each Thursday to enable staff to be completely up to date with the latest changes and regulations.

This is a good thing for staff and clients. I want to make sure that all my staff are able to give first class advice, after all that is what our reputation is built on.

This is particularly relevant to any insurance or mortgage protection that is sold. You only have to watch the television adverts to see how lucrative it is for lawyers pursuing the lenders and some mortgage advisers following the mis-selling debacle.

So I want my staff to be fully up to-date and be able to answer all question on mortgage protection and to give good and proper advice.

If you have any questions relating to any aspect of mortgage protection or insurance, please call me for any advice.

Every body wants the lowest rates on their mortgage.

Here at Michael Usher Mortgage services Frimley, we try and achieve that.

With bank rates at all time low at 0.5%, you might wonder why you are still paying 5-6%. Quite rightly, but no matter how loud we shout, we as consumers, just do not get heard.

One of the top questions I am asked is what’s the best rate you can get for me. The problem is….Its not simply pulling out a rate card and saying “there you go”.

The best rate that I have achieved for one of my clients recently,  is 2.29%, could anyone get that rate, no not really, because of the criteria set by the lender.

But I do believe that most people could reduce their mortgage payments significantly, if they started to look around.

I think I have my finger on the pulse, I am informed immediatley of the offers from all the big lenders, so I can jump on those offers as they come out.

So if you have a mortgage, that you think you are paying too much for, give me a call and I’ll see what we can do.

In the intrests of openess, the 2.29% mortgage was a 2 year tracker with a deposit of over 25%

Michael

Well there isn’t actually a house price index for Camberley, Aldershot, Farnborough or any of the the other local towns.

However the Halifax has released its latest figures showing the national trends.

As I have written before, the south of England, still has a shortage of properties to sell, even though it currently is a buyers market at the moment.

Here are the key facts from their report…

• Prices in the three months to October were 1.2% lower than in the preceding three months. House price data on a quarterly basis provides a clearer indication of the overall market trends, smoothing out the volatility caused by the reduced number of monthly transactions in all house prices indices’ monthly figures. All the major house price indices are indicating an underlying slowdown in house prices notwithstanding a divergence in monthly reporting.
• Prices in October were 2.3% lower than at the end of 2009 on a seasonally adjusted basis (-1.2% unadjusted).
• The underlying pace of house price growth has turned moderately negative in recent months. The rate of decline, however, is significantly lower than the quarterly rate of decline of -5% to -6% during the second half of 2008.
• House prices remain higher than a year ago. Prices in October were 1.2% higher on an annual basis as measured by the average for the latest three months against the same period a year earlier. This continues the recent downward trend from a high of 6.9% in May.
• House prices in October were 6.6% higher than in April 2009. Despite the recent downturn, prices remain above the trough reached in spring 2009. The average price is now £164,919; £10,256 higher than in April 2009.

I think we all know that life insurance is important, but we just ignore the fact that really we need it.

In fact 43% of house owners do not have any life insurance to cover their mortage debt.

Now, I always try and encourage people to take out a life insurance policy.

Sure I earn money when I sell life insurance, but then doesn’t the carpenter, who comes round to fix your kitchen up and you then you ask him to fix a couple of doors as well.

Doesn’t the plumber, who fixes the sink but then notices that the toilet doesn’t flush.

Every business is the same, we all have additional things that we ought to sell. After all, the door will only get worse and so will the toilet that doesn’t flush.

But life insurance is different and important.

We don’t like to think about dying or being in a serious accident, but these things happen on a daily basis.

People can die at any age, or have a serious accident at any time and if your mortgage is not covered by an insurance policy, then the people left behind, your spouse or other loved ones will have to manage as best they can, because you will not be there..

So, Yes.. I always recommend taking a life insurance policy.

Here is a piece fro www.homemove.co.uk, which talks about some research done recently:

Forty-three per cent of UK mortgage holders do not have any life insurance in place to cover their mortgage debt.

According to research from Sainsbury’s Finance, Britain has seen a 47% increase in unprotected mortgages since January 2006, meaning that there could now be over 7.1 million people in the UK (with a collective outstanding mortgage balance of £318 billion) with no life insurance in place.

Sainsbury’s believes the recession is partly to blame for the decline in cover, as people get caught up worrying more about the here-and-now, rather than “the unthinkable”.

The research also indicates that, on average, an unprotected mortgage holder is responsible for an outstanding balance of over £44,000 and the retailer warns that families can ultimately lose their homes when a loved one dies and mortgage repayments become unaffordable.

In addition, the study suggests that 32% of 35 to 44-year-olds don’t have life insurance to protect their mortgage repayments, together with 34% of 45 to 54-year-olds.

Both are age ranges where homeowners are likely to have dependants and be at full stretch financially.
Hey Hey ..Be careful out there and have a good day….

Mortgage news for home buyers  in Surrey and Hampshire

According to the latest figures released by the Bank of England on Friday, October 29th showed that residential mortgage approvals remained low in September 2010. The data suggests that UK housing market is still fragile and might not be ready for another quantitative easing (QE) planned to be implemented by the national bank.

As such, the statistics published by the Bank of England demonstrated that the number of approved mortgage fell from 47,498 in August to 47,474 in September. Although the decrease is not dramatic and is clearly more positive than experts’ expaectations, it is nonetheless a decrease.

In the opinion of Hetal Mehta of Daiwa Capital, the low level of mortgage approvals is due not only to restricted lending policies, but also to subdued demand of UK borrowers.

Financial experts expect the situation on UK mortgage market to worsen in 2011 as government’s cuts will come into force.
(Source: E1 BTL Finance)

The value of houses in Camberley have stabilised recently, this I think is down to demand locally.

I talk to many to many estate agents in Camberley, Farnborough, Yateley and other local areas and the mood is positive.

This may change with the intervention of the recent finacial policies set out by the the government, to reduce our country’s debts.

But according to the Nationwide Building society, the value of houses has decreased nationally.

Here is a snippet from their recent report.

“October saw a continuation of the modest downward trend in house prices that began at the start of the summer. The average price of a typical UK property edged down by a seasonally adjusted 0.7% month-on-month in October. The three month on three month rate of change a smoother indicator of the recent price trend fell to -1.5% in October from -1.0 % in September.

This is the largest decline over three months since April 2009, but is still well below the 5-6% rates of decline on the three month measure seen during the second half of 2008.

The annual rate of change which compares the current level of house prices against their level twelve months ago declined from +3.1% in September to +1.4% in October.

If the recent trend in house prices were to continue through November and December, the annual rate of house price inflation would drop to between 0% and -1% by the end of 2010. This would compare to a rate of +5.9% at the end of 2009.”

Obviously we will have to wait and see over the next few months before we get a truer picture locally.