How To Compare Mortgages

Summary: A mortgage is really nothing more than a specialised type of loan that banks and building societies issue to those who qualify to enable them to buy a house. There are so many mortgages on offer that it has become essential to compare mortgages before coming to a firm decision. It would probably be possible to borrow money in some other way to finance the buying of a house, but mortgages are the easiest way to do so, and have become the accepted standard way. When you cons...

A mortgage is really nothing more than a specialised type of loan that banks and building societies issue to those who qualify to enable them to buy a house. There are so many mortgages on offer that it has become essential to compare mortgages before coming to a firm decision. It would probably be possible to borrow money in some other way to finance the buying of a house, but mortgages are the easiest way to do so, and have become the accepted standard way. When you consider buying a house you will probably also have to consider taking out a mortgage. Sometimes the different offers can be confusing and difficult to comprehend. For these reasons you need to carefully compare mortgages. It is possible to get a 100% mortgage, meaning that you will receive a loan for all the money you need and not have to come up with an agreed deposit amount. This may seem attractive at first, but it is likely that the lender will charge you much more for their services, making this kind of mortgage less attractive than it may first seem. It is even possible these days to get 120% or even higher mortgages, giving you some money to use over and above what you need for the actual purchase. But consider this: the value of your house will actually be less than the value of your mortgage. This is not a very solid basis for borrowing, as the only thing you have as security is the house itself. If it all goes wrong, where will you find the extra 20% from? The mortgage rate of interest is probably the main element to consider when you compare mortgages. This determines how much over and above the actual amount borrowed you will pay back. Your main choice will be between a repayment and an interest only mortgage. This means that you will be paying either only the interest on the money you have borrowed, or you will repay a portion of the capital plus interest on the money borrowed. Of course, with an interest only mortgage you will still have to repay the capital at some time; you don't get away with it altogether! There are many mortgage types to consider. There are first time buyer mortgages, self certification mortgages, buy to let mortgages, capped mortgages, discount mortgages, fixed rate mortgages, and more. Some of these are self-explanatory, but others may be confusing for someone who is not too familiar with the world of mortgages. The first time buyer mortgage is of course aimed at the first time buyer. This is a relatively easy mortgage to secure as it takes into consideration the problems facing first time buyers. For example, people in this situation are probably young and do not have a long career history. They probably also don't have much savings either. Rather than discriminate against someone in this position, these mortgages make it easy to apply and receive. A mortgage is probably the biggest amount of money you will ever borrow. For this reason it is vitally important that you compare mortgages carefully to be able to discover which one is best for you and you needs, as well as you repayment ability.