Ask the Experts: Do we need government to spur mortgage market on?
Has anyone ever defined ‘bubble’ that all sides of the house buying process agree to? When the average salary can’t buy the average house, something is wrong, ‘bubble’ or not!
Ian Watson
RBS/NatWest unveils Help to Buy products; rates from 4.99%
“NatWest are opening longer hours to cope with demand” I visited a client just last night who confirmed that she would have had to wait three weeks for an appointment with her branch.
When are these banks going to learn that they just do not have the capacity to manage enquiries and this is not something you can stick online. By the time borrowers obtain their approval the house they are interested in will have been snapped up by another buyer.
To withhold the product from brokers will just slow the bank’s ability to market the scheme fully which surely is a bad thing – and less profitable for the bank. It just reminds me of the Eddie Murphy stand up show Delirious. “I have some ice cream and I’m gonna eat it” Just replace the ice cream with H2B 2.
Pointed
Why advisers should warn clients about lenders’ small print – Marketwatch
“In the case of the West Brom, they clearly told the clients that they had a right to raise the rate”. With respect, it is far from clear that they did any such thing as far as tracker rates are concerned.
The clause in their T&Cs allows them to vary the interest rate “except during any period in which interest is expressed to be at a fixed rate”. Where interest for the remainder of the term is stated to be at Bank Base Rate plus x%, any rational person would take it that the rate is fixed on that basis.
The fact that BBR is variable does not alter that position.
David
Help to Buy: what you need to know
The differences between the schemes are massive. Interest rates for new properties are much more competitive as lender providing 75% interest rates etc.
When the two schemes are compared this may well push people into buying new (based on affordability) thus playing right into the hands of the builders who for me greatly contributed to the last credit crunch by hiking their prices and fooling other home owners into thinking their properties were worth more than they were.
Les Hamilton
Mortgage brokers can place Help to Buy 2 cases from today
No we can’t. System keeps crashing.
Broker Crusader
Thank you for your comments this week
