Buying or remortgaging in 2020? Now’s the time to get your financial house in order before the market bounces back, says John Horton
Here at Horton and Garton, we can’t wait to get back to doing what we do best – selling, renting and managing homes in Hammersmith, Chiswick and Shepherds Bush.
While the coronavirus outbreak is causing a bottleneck in the market, we’re busy advising vendors on how to get their homes 100% ready to sell. At the same time, we’re advising buyers how to be on the front foot and have their finances in order.
If you’re looking to buy a home this year and you require a mortgage, now is the time to speak with your broker and secure your agreements.
According to Mark Miller at Hammersmith advisors Capricorn Financial there are attractive mortgage deals coming back onto the market. This bodes well for activity and price levels when the market starts moving again.
Mark (pictured) says it’s still possible to purchase a home with a 10% deposit. And even better news for homebuyers, is that certain lenders will reward a 15% deposit with even better rates. And with interest rates at rock bottom, he says “it’s still a very good time to borrow money”.
Time to borrow?
Recently, our sales team – who are still working flat out, if remotely – attended a very useful Capricorn Financial webinar on the current types of mortgage products available to buyers, as well also for clients who need to re-mortgage from existing products.
Interestingly, the coronavirus outbreak is keeping lenders even busier than normal – with more than 1.2million applications for a ‘mortgage holiday’. This equates to about 10% of all mortgage holders in the UK.
However, only a quarter of these applications were approved. Instead, lenders have been saying homeowners don’t qualify for reasons such as that they haven’t been negatively financially impacted by the pandemic, that they were already in mortgage arrears, or that their tenants were still paying rent.
These ‘holiday’ payments are actually only deferrals – so even if approved, it means higher re-payments in the future.
Changes required
Here at Horton and Garton, we will need to adjust our working practises to keep you and our staff safe during this terrible pandemic.
Londoners will bounce back and so will the housing market. But while the threat of coronavirus remains real and present, we will be working within Government and industry guidelines when you view a property or put your home on the market.
No one knows the market in W6, W4 and W12 better than Horton and Garton. And we will continue to be out in front of our competitors when it comes to keeping you safe in the future.
