So you’ve decided to purchase a house - how exciting! But when is the right time in the buying process to get a mortgage advisor involved? 

It can be overwhelming when it comes to buying a house, so let’s delve into when to see a mortgage advisor and why you should get them involved at an early stage.

When you’ve decided to buy a house, you need to firstly know what you can afford so you immediately have a ballpark figure to centre your house hunt around. We don’t want you looking at houses, only to discover they’re wildly outside of your budget. Your time is precious.

In order to know what you can afford, you will need to know if a bank (the lender) will be willing to lend you the funds to make a house on the market your house. 

This is a crucial first step in the house buying process and this is when you should see a mortgage advisor. If you go too far down the purchase rabbithole without speaking to us, you may part with money for solicitors, valuations, surveys etc, which you won’t get back if you can’t find a lender to agree to a mortgage.

We will be able to advise you on the most appropriate next steps to ensure you avoid paying for services or contracts at the wrong stage of the process.

How can a mortgage advisor help me before I’ve found a house?

To ensure you don’t waste a minute of your time or a penny from your wallet, we recommend speaking to a mortgage advisor right at the beginning of the process. The most important information that needs to be addressed first is how much you can borrow and how much the mortgage will cost, and we’re here to help you get this information as quickly as possible.

As TW Mortgages is a completely fee-free mortgage advisor, come to us and we will let you know everything you’ll need for the entire process, completely free of charge. 

There are some key questions that a mortgage advisor will ask. As we’re a free mortgage advisor, we will be able to determine the amount you can borrow without incurring any cost to yourself. We will go through a fact finding process and perform affordability calculations with various lenders, which will give you a good idea of your borrowing potential and what budget you’re working with in your house search.

We take into account the details around your desired property price, mortgage amount and your deposit in order to find the best available lenders for your circumstance. Our focus is to get you the best possible deal and help you on your way to putting in an offer on the right house.

Once you know your affordability and we’ve got your quoted mortgage product, then the next step is getting an ‘Agreement In Principle’ (AIP). This is a document from a mortgage lender confirming that you will be able to borrow a certain amount. 

Many ask ‘will a mortgage advisor do a credit check?’ and the answer is yes. For any mortgage application it will be necessary to perform a credit check but this would only be done with your express permission. Getting your AIP involves a credit score check on the applicant (yourself) and it will verify your borrowing potential. This proves to the seller that you can afford to buy their property and make an offer.  

Many estate agents will not accept an offer on a house unless you present your AIP as it gives your offer credibility. Some agents will accept offers without an AIP, but it’s likely they will favour offers that have proof of an agreed mortgage lender.