What does a mortgage broker do?

We ensure that your mortgage experience is both a positive and enjoyable one. We take you from the very start of the process, be it buying a house or remortgaging a property, through the application to completion, with as little stress as possible.

What’s the difference between going to a mortgage broker like Appletree Finance versus your local high street lender?

As a broker we consider a comprehensive range of lenders that are available to the market, including banks, building societies and also non-high street lenders. There are many lenders that the general public never see because they’re only available to brokers like Appletree.

What services does a mortgage broker offer?

If you’re buying, we liaise with estate agents and for buying and remortgaging we also liaise with solicitors – they are both an important part of the journey. We, with our admin team, take away that stress for clients by dealing with both. Some clients like to deal with them directly but we offer that as part of our service.

Can you help with getting an Agreement in Principle?

An Agreement in Principle is mortgage jargon but it’s quite a well known term. When we see First Time Buyers they are usually aware of the terminology, because they’ve seen it online or they’ve spoken to an estate agent already.

They come in to ask for an Agreement In Principle because estate agents often will not allow you to view a property without one. The importance of an Agreement in Principle is that it provides clarity and credit approval for the individual.

It gives an estate agent some confidence that the potential buyer has mortgage funds available, so they are not wasting time and potentially disappointing a seller. Both First Time Buyers and home movers need an Agreement in Principle for most estate agents.

We’ll give you that evidence in a PDF format with your name and maximum borrowing figure. You’ll then be clear about where you are in that mortgage field and what’s available to you.

Do you find that people come back to you when remortgaging or moving into the Buy to Let market?

Remortgages are very common, particularly in the current climate of high interest rates [podcast recorded in September 2023]. We have many clients who automatically come back to us.

We contact all our current clients six months before their current deal is due to expire, to make sure they get the best service very early in the process.

Buy to Let is a different market where we help landlords who are currently renting properties out. We also support new landlords – people who decide to start a business and own more than one property. We offer both services and we have a lot of landlord clients with Buy to Let portfolios.

Can you also advise on mortgage protection?

Mortgage protection is probably the most important part of the whole process, because without it, we are leaving an individual or a family exposed in the event of something happening.

Perhaps ill health prevents them from paying the mortgage – but if you don’t pay your mortgage, you can lose your house. So mortgage protection is a key part of every mortgage we do.

When should I see a mortgage broker? At what stage in that process?

Ideally, before you consider anything in respect of buying or selling. Before anybody views a property they should see a broker. That’s really to establish both affordability for mortgage payments and how much you could borrow.

Then you can go with confidence to look at properties. A lot of people have come to us over the years where they’ve viewed a home and sometimes put an offer in before they even know what they can borrow. It’s really important to meet a broker & the services they can offer before they do anything in the process of buying houses.

In terms of the process, first we’ll meet you face-to-face, with a budget in mind. Come in to see us with bank statements and pay slips and we can agree on a budget before you start looking. That’s the key to a successful mortgage application – getting a budget agreed before you start seeking a home.