100% mortgages
If you don’t have enough cash available to make the necessary 5-20% down payment on a house, you may require a 100% mortgage. A 100% mortgage basically covers the entire cost of the house purchase, without the need for a cash down payment.
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Buy-to-let mortgages
With the substantial increase in property values in the UK, buy-to-let mortgages and properties have become increasingly popular as investment vehicles. Buy-to-let mortgage means taking out a mortgage on a property that is not your primary residence, but will be used to let out to tenants.
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Buying your home: the facts
Nowadays more and more people are able to afford to buy a home of their own. This is not because they are making more money, it is simply because the choice and range of loans and mortgages available have increased exponentially. This is partly due to the fact that it is no longer banks and building societies that hold the monopoly on mortgages.
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Endowment mortgages
The general mortgage market is divided into two main types of mortgages: repayment mortgages and interest only mortgages. With a repayment mortgage, your monthly mortgage payments cover both the interest and principal of your loan. Thus, at the end of your mortgage term, normally 25 years, you will have repaid the entirety of your mortgage and you will be the outright owner of the property.
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First time buyer’s mortgage
The biggest single purchase and financial commitment you will ever make, will be buying your first home. As a first time buyer of a home, it is important to fully understand the pitfalls and learn to navigate the jargon of mortgages. Most importantly, to get the property of your dreams and mortgage that best suits your needs.
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Flexible mortgages
Flexible mortgages are fairly new to the UK mortgage market, having been introduced by lenders in the early 1990s. These mortgages are designed for homebuyers who want the option or flexibility to vary their mortgage repayments to match their cash flow patterns. With flexible mortgages, the lender will let you pay less – underpay – or pay more – overpay – your mortgage to a certain degree. In some cases you can also make lump sum payments or even borrow back overpayments.
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How conveyancing relates to a mortgage
Conveyancing is an important step in making sure that your property purchase will not hit any snags and in most cases is a requirement by mortgage lenders. Conveyancing is basically the legal work undertaken on behalf of a property buyer or seller to primarily ensure that the property in question has a proper legal title and that there are no problems with the property, such as liens. Proper and thorough conveyancing will help avoid any potential problems during and after the purchase of your property.
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Offset mortgages
Offset mortgages are a newcomer to the competitive mortgage loan market. In fact, in the UK, it is estimated that offset mortgages will make up 25% of the total mortgage market by 2005.
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Re-mortgages
Re-mortgaging a home used to be associated with financial problems or even bankruptcy, but this is no longer the case. To re-mortgage a home simply means switching an existing mortgage, usually to a new mortgage lender, to capture a better deal or lower interest rates. In fact, this practice has become very popular in the UK.
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Repayment mortgages
The first decision you will have to make when shopping for mortgages is whether you will use an interest only mortgage or repayment mortgage. These two types of mortgages basically make up the overall mortgage market and mortgages are further sub-divided between these two categories.
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Selecting a mortgage
The mortgage market can be a difficult one to navigate, with over 8,000 different types of mortgages on offer by 150 mainstream mortgage lenders in the UK.
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Selling your home
Home values in the UK have risen substantially over the last several years and it may be a good time to sell your property. You may be in for a surprise in terms of what capital gains you can make on your home. In some areas, homes have doubled or even tripled in value. Perhaps now is the time to look at a larger home or buy that home in the country you’ve always wanted.
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The mortgage code
The mortgage code is a set of minimum standards of good practice set by the Council of Mortgage Lenders in the UK that mortgage lenders subscribe to on a voluntary basis. The goal of the mortgage code is to protect potential borrowers by setting out standards on how to conduct their business.
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Tracker mortgages
A relatively new type of mortgage is the tracker mortgage or base rate tracker mortgage, which supplements the already existing variable rate and fixed rate mortgages. The track mortgage falls somewhere in between the two other mortgages.
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What is a CAT mortgage?
The mortgage market, like any other loan market, can be confusing for borrowers, especially those first time homebuyers. In any given year, there are numerous complaints about lenders not disclosing the terms of the loan to the fullest or borrowers simply being overcharged or sold something they do not need. Taking this into consideration, the UK government introduced in January 2000, the CAT mortgage standards, which stands for Charges, Access, Terms, to protect borrowers.
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