House Buying Guide |
Welcome to House Buying Guide – your guide to buying the perfect house for you. Here you will find all the information you need to make the process of buying a house as easy and stress free as possible. Use our site as your quick and easy resource place, so you can concentrate on finding your perfect house.
Unless you are a first-time buyer, there is a good chance you will be selling a house at the same time as buying a new house, so we have included a sellers guide also. There also some helpful tips on the process of actually moving house.
Property News |
Tracker mortgages - a good option now?
Thursday, December 20th, 2012If you are looking for a new mortgage at the moment, then something you should maybe consider would be a tracker mortgage. Rather than being a fixed rate for a certain number of years, a tracker simply follows the Bank of England base rate, plus a certain percentage. So for example a tracker mortgage may be offered at Base Rate + 2.49%, which would mean the actual mortgage interest rate would be 2.99%, since the base rate is currently at 0.5%.
Beware though that some tracker mortgages use the same percentage addition to the base rate for the entire mortgage term, while some offer a 'discount' for the first few years. So it might be +2.49% for the first two years, then +3.49% for the remainder of the term.
Even though the base rate has been at a record low of 0.5% since March 2009, it is forecast by many that the rate will stay there for perhaps another couple of years. So even though you need need to be aware that changes to the base rate will change the amount you pay each month, it is fairly unlikely to change for quite some time. And of course, there is the possibility that the base rate could go even lower - saving you money each month.
As with fixed rate mortgages, the deals that are available vary quite considerably depending on the size of your deposit. People with a 25% deposit or more should easily be able to find a tracker mortgage at a rate of less than 3%. Those with a 15% deposit would be looking at around 4%, and those with a 10% deposit would be about 5%. As always, when comparing mortgages, remember to take in to account the other factors, such as the mortgage fee - which can vary from free to £2000 in some cases!
House prices fall in July
Monday, August 20th, 2012Halifax have just released new figures for July, showing that average house prices dropped by 0.6% to just over £161,000. Since this followed 2 months of small increases though, the drop merely took prices back to where they were at the start of May.
They also showed that house prices are now roughly where they were in the summer of 2009. The situation may be gradually improving though, with the number of sales in the first six months of this year, being 10% higher than the same period last year.
Base rate stays at 0.5%
Thursday, May 10th, 2012The Bank of England has voted today to keep its base rate at 0.5%. It has been at this historic low for 3 years now, despite the fact that inflation has been above the target of 2% for over 2 years.
Although the base rate is so low, mortgage rates for borrowers are still much higher, with 90% mortgages at ~6%. A significant improvement in mortgage rate can be netted by putting down a 15% deposit though, with many 85% mortgages available for less then 4.5%.
90% mortgages do appear to be more available now though, with First Direct recently adding a 90% fixed rate mortgage to their offerings, at the excellent rate of 4.19%.
Find all the information you need to make buying a new house as pleasurable and stress free as possible. We will put all the information you need right at your finger tips – so you can spend your time actually looking at houses, not finding out what needs doing.
Getting the best price possible for your current house, will give you more options when buying a new house. Check the house selling section for helpful guides on selling your house, getting the best price, and making sure it all goes smoothly.
When it comes to the day of the move, you need to make sure you have as much preparation as possible. To make sure you have everything ready, and the move goes as smoothly as possible, take a look at our guides to moving house. |
Household Insurance – the differences between household and content insurance. Buying a new home – Key things to consider when buying a new home. Buying versus renting: insurance issues – Read our guide to find out more? Planning Permission – If you are thinking about buying a house and developing it, find out about planning permission here. Mortgage Calculator – Use our quick and easy mortgage repayment caculator to find out how much your monthly repayments would be with a certain borrowed amount. Gazumping – Find out what gazumping actually is, and ways of avoiding it. Gazumping can be costly and frustrating, but the chances of it happening can be lessened with a few simple methods. Conveyancing – When buying a house you will need have the conveyancing carried out for the property. A solicitor normally does this, or you can do it yourself. |
