Mortgage Advice Point

I like to be called a mortgage and protection advisor, with the emphasis on ‘advisor’. With every client we want to get to know your personal circumstances and objectives. It’s all about understanding what you want to do, whether you’re a First Time Buyer, you want to build a property portfolio or you’re aspirationally looking for property.

We’re here to give you all the information you need and be a helping hand to get you through the process of buying a property.

As mortgage advisors, we help coordinate everything to match your situation and objectives. The difference with a high street bank is accessibility. You’ll have our personal mobile number, a personalised email address and a team working around you.

With a bank you would need to take time off work to speak to them, because they’ve only got appointments between 9 and 5. Meanwhile we do appointments during the evening, over lunchtime, on Saturdays and some Sundays if you’re that busy.

The other big difference is that a high street bank can only offer their own products. You don’t want to spend a three hour meeting finding out that you can’t obtain a mortgage with them.

We will do that research. We will confirm the criteria across hundreds of lenders with thousands of different products, and whittle it down to the one we believe is right for you.

Everyone has a different situation, needs and goals. So if someone’s getting a lower rate than you, or we recommend a certain product, it’s because there’s a specific factor involved. It might be your income. You might have been in your job for a limited amount of time or have just moved to this country. Maybe you just got married. There’s so many different variables to allow for, so our mortgage advice is 100% bespoke to you.

If you are looking to find a property we can help with that. Or, you might have questions about your income or bad credit and whether you can even get a mortgage. We’re the experts – we can tell you how much you can borrow and what deposit to save up for.

We genuinely like to make our clients’ lives easier. We will talk to the estate agents for you. We talk to the solicitors and keep your transaction on track. Has the solicitor received your contracts? Have they received the mortgage offer? Has the valuation from the bank been instructed? Then, we inform the estate agent when the offer is received.

For an estate agent that’s really important because they’ve got a duty to their vendor or seller to confirm your transaction is progressing well.

We’ll witness signatures for you on mortgage deeds free of charge – it’s all part of the service. We’re here to help no matter what your situation and how simple or complex the property journey becomes.

An Agreement in Principle is where we apply to the bank and confirm that you passed the first stage of the mortgage process. It means the lender is happy with your income, the affordability and credit score and they are happy to lend in principle.

It’s not a binding mortgage offer, but estate agents often look for a decision in principle, as it is also known, because that proves that you’re able to get a mortgage, which validates you as a buyer.

A remortgage is moving your mortgage from your current lender to another one if there’s a better deal out there. Once we’ve supported you to get a mortgage, we’ll proactively contact you 180 days before that mortgage is up for renewal.

We can search across our comprehensive panel, with many High Street and specialist lenders and decide whether it’s better to stick with your deal or switch. We’ll ask if your circumstances have changed or whether you want to move soon, or borrow additional money.

I often say to clients that we’re here for you over the 25 or 30 years of your mortgage lifetime – and then we often help people’s children onto the property ladder too.

Yes. Property investing can become a bug, once you’ve got the right professional team around you. Your financing team is an integral part of that. We’ve helped clients move from First Time Buyers to become landlords.

We help you with the Buy to Let investment, and we help you evaluate that investment as well. We’re not there just to do the mortgage for you. We check that investment against your aspirations. What do you want to achieve from it? Are you going to pass it through to your family and their future?

There’s different structures of owning Buy to Lets too, which involve some tax planning with your accountants. We’re not tax advisors so we can’t give advice on the actual structures but we work with other professionals to get the most suitable deals for Buy to Let investments.

Mortgage protection is a big thing – it means life insurance, critical illness cover and income protection. You don’t legally have to have mortgage protection, but it’s worth asking yourself what you would do if you’re not able to work or you’re sick. People with mortgages sadly pass away, too.

What would you do with that mortgage debt in those situations? How would you live your life? The protection policies that we recommend answer those questions. So if you pass away there’s life insurance. If you become critically ill with a heart attack, stroke or cancer there’s a lump sum payment for you to use in whatever way you want to.

A lot of employers only give you two or three months’ sick pay and after that… you still have to pay your bills. Income protection covers that. We just want to make sure there are plans in place should the unexpected happen.

Come and see us as early as possible. With one of my first clients it took us four years for him to buy a home. We applied for four different mortgages at four different stages and he had three babies in that time. With one of the transactions he got a mortgage offer, but didn’t progress with the property because it had too much damp. But that’s how long we’re prepared to work.

Another classic example is where both clients are self-employed as limited company directors. At first they weren’t able to obtain the mortgage they needed because the income wasn’t enough. But we helped them work towards a target figure. Not only did they attain the property but their company accounts became more healthy because they had a goal in mind. It’s wonderful when people you’ve worked with for so long finally get the keys to their new home.

So do come in at the earliest point. But we can also take you if you’ve gone into an estate agent, seen a property and put in an offer. We can help you at any stage.

I live in Harrow but the company is based in North Finchley/Finchley Central which is in Northwest London and it’s a great place to buy property. It’s a vibrant area.

It’s got some great restaurants, cafes and a lot of community events. There’s been a lot of development in the area and the schools are fantastic as well.

Our office is on the ground floor just opposite the Waitrose in North Finchley so it’s easy to pop in and we’ve even got six parking spots!

Yes, 100%. We have a good remote process. We do a lot of Teams calls and use technology for communication and the efficiency it gives everyone.

We provide reports as well, so if you’re a First Time Buyer looking at a property, but you’re not too sure about the surrounding area, we can help. Just give us the postcode and we’ll send you a report on the actual property and recent sales in the area – all part of the service.

Mortgage Advice Point was set up in 2014, and I’ve been in the financial services industry since 2004. My career started as a bank cashier and I was quickly promoted to branch manager. I managed six large branches in Northwest London.

I really loved giving advice and the customer service aspect. I moved on to becoming an estate agency mortgage broker and learned my craft there. From there, Mortgage Advice Point was born in 2014. It started out as just me, and since then we’ve grown a lot through referrals and word of mouth.

To offer a fantastic service you need a good support network, and we’ve got some senior administrators on the team, lots of whom started seven or eight years ago. We’ve also got some great advisors.

We’re all there to give you an efficient service. When advisors are on calls or meetings or learning about new products the administrators are there to answer your questions and provide a seamless experience.

I like to think of us as a Formula 1 pit crew. Each client drives in and we’ll give you all the technical support you need, efficiently and in line with what you need. At the same time,
the engineering department behind the scenes is looking at the stats to make sure everything is as competitive as possible.

No, it doesn’t cost anything, it’s free. We never charge until we’ve got a mortgage offer. We just expect people will come back to us because we’re giving good advice. We haven’t had a problem with that model. So pick up the phone and let us take it from there.

A fee for our service is charged. This is typically £495 but the exact amount will be dependent upon your circumstances and we will discuss this with you.

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

You may have to pay an early repayment charge to your existing lender if you remortgage. Think carefully before securing other debts against your home.

The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate some Buy to Let Mortgages.