We’re looking at buying a house, and we’ve so far started talking with pretty much the first mortgage advisor that got back to us, from a recommendation of an estate agent.
He’s part of Countrywide Mortgage Services which in itself is completely fine, and I don’t think there’s anything shady going on, but I feel like we’re being rushed and heavily pressed into moving as quickly as possible into booking viewings, buying into “mortgage protection” (basically life insurance packages with loads of bollocks on top) and it’s giving us a bad taste after our last two meetings with him.
At the same time, he’s shown us the portal he uses for finding mortgage rates and its clear we’d save more than the £700 price for his services, and we definitely do want someone to help handle the process for us, but are they meant to feel as pushy as car salesmen?
Nowadays, unfortunately, the whole buying and selling process seems to get massively rushed (and changes to stamp duty won’t be helping the panic).
A good mortgage broker, particularly if you’re first time buying, saves a lot of work/stress while you’re juggling other things.
They (should) know what can and cannot be done, which can save you a lot of time during the search.
If you’d like to try an alternative, JustMortgages have been good in the past (not official advice or anything)
Although the guy I used to use there now has his own independent firm!.