Owning your own home

Has anyone used a mortgage advisor while at least one of the mortgage applicants has been freelance, and would recommend that advisor?

We've got pretty far down the line with porting our current mortgage with HSBC to cover the new place we're trying to buy. But despite giving us an agreement in principle a few months ago HSBC have suddenly and unexpectedly shat themselves because my wife is a self-employed freelancer and they can't seem to cope with that. So we're looking to go down the route of using a mortgage advisor to investigate other options.

We used Brin from Harrington & Horne and couldn’t recommend him more. My other half is freelance but we weren’t relying on that so haven’t had the exact same conditions but he got us through everything even when our conveyancing solicitor was woeful

Cool, thanks for that, will check him out. HSBC have been woeful on pretty much everything so far, hopefully we can get shot of them.

Cheers, the whole notion of NIR’s puggles me, so what world do we have to live in where I’m getting regular cheques from the bank...?!

Cheers, the whole notion of NIR’s puggles me, so what world do we have to live in where I’m getting regular cheques from the bank...?!

This actually happened once. In the crazy sub-prime pre-Northern Rock times people could get mortgages that tracked the BoE base rate, knocked a couple of percent off and no floor because the rates were circa 12% when they took them out. With 5 or 10 year fixes. Then the crash happened and because mortgages are front-loaded with interest repayments people like my mate Paul, who totally overpaid for a new-build in Walthamstow, was getting money from the bank every month for quite some time.

Switzerland has negative interest rates for certain types of foreign investor where you have to pay the bank interest to hold savings with them. The world of finance is confusing. Imagine having a problem where your country has too much cash...

The bigger finance gets (global level especially) the more of a headfuck it becomes. Understanding it is totally beyond me.

Grrr, people saying 'lay' when they mean 'lie' really grinds my gears. It shouldn't, but it does. Makes people sound like chickens, claiming to be laying somewhere. I blame Snow Patrol.

I blame Snow Patrol.

There’s something we can all agree on.

Our buyers pulled their offer as their broker told them they wouldn't get a mortgage due to the knotweed. Despite there being a management plan and 10 year guarantee in place. Our broker went above and beyond and took the plan to his contacts at as many lenders as he could and within an hour had 9 saying they would be willing to lend. We're assuming the buyers' broker is just a cunt.

Really gutted. But it's still early days. Wasn't a big fan of the two hours we had to get the flat ready for viewings that we thought were (but then glad weren't) cancelled.

Fucksticks.

Would you recommend your broker? From this he/she sounds good. I'm looking for recommendations at the mo.

I would, but with a warning that they are based in NI. I'm using them as my sister works there (not as a broker). I'm selling/buying in London and it doesn't phase them. They are still UK and whole of market.

Navigate Mortgages.

I've heard form my housing association that they have had 2 flat sales go through in the last month (first since Dec 19) as lenders are beginning to back down on sub 18m buildings. But in both circumstances a body of evidence had to be provided in lieu of the EWS1 form which was time consuming and costly for the HA so they're not keen on setting a precedent.

Thanks, will check 'em out

They usually charge a fee but are working on the lender commission only for me. Not sure that would be extended to anyone else I refer. But let me know if you want me to introduce.

Thanks, we contacted someone this morning who seems pretty well on it, but if he doesn't end up sorting it for us we'll be looking for another broker ASAP, so will let you know if we need an intro to Navigate.

Grrr, people saying 'lay' when they mean 'lie' really grinds my gears. It shouldn't, but it does. Makes people sound like chickens, claiming to be laying somewhere. I blame Snow Patrol.

Erm, this is grammatically correct, and the verb used is 'to lie'. The sentence is a second conditional, which calls for the use of the indicative past ('lay') in the subordinate ('if') clause and the conditional in the main clause.

I agree with you that the conflation of 'lie' and 'lay', especially in American English, is regrettable, but this is not an example of it.

I had the same a couple of times. Main interest seemed to be asking about the neighbours, what white goods we'd be leaving and why we were moving.

asking about the neighbours

I had this. I haven’t lived at the place for ten years. “Oh yeah they are lovely”.

That is mindblowing! Not only the lights, but my personal favourite - the picture of the infinity kitchen.

Stow Brothers copywriter loves the word 'Capacious' as much as this home owner loves spotlights

Sick ceiling zits, bro

this is a good intro piece to the issue

https://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/laying-down-the-lie-of-the-land

the conflation has been around for 700 years, apparently.

that is completely bizarre