Mortgages & Insurance

I am not FSA registered and therefore I am not able to give you any financial advice. However the reason that I have included this section in my guide is that it is really important that you find a good mortgage broker and insurance broker. Please make sure you use a broker and don’t only talk to your own bank. The broker can look at all mortgage products in the market whereas your bank will only look at products that they have themselves which is a lot more limited.

As with all trades there are good and bad brokers but there are also a lot of average brokers. I used a very average broker for many years until I found the broker that I now use. I wish I had found him sooner....

This broker is excellent at listening to what I want (even if he can’t always give me what I want!) and his organisation is great. He makes my life easy (i.e. he sends me very few forms and any forms he does send me to sign are all pre-filled with sections high-lit for the bits he wants me to take time to read and understand) and because I have a good relationship with him and use him all the time I don’t have to keep sending him forms and ID (only when really needed as he keeps copies on file for as long as they are valid).

My broker also evaluates opportunities for me. I will send him a summary of a potential deal and as well as telling which deals fit he will also evaluate the deal (i.e. – I understand this deal but it isn’t as good as the last one – can’t you find a better one?). He is also a landlord and understands the mind-set of a landlord. I won’t publish his name here but if you send me a message I will send you his details.