By admin Mortgages • Updates 0 Comments

First Time Buyers & Stamp Duty Land Tax

More Innovation for First Time Buyers


Stamp Duty Paid Mortgages 

Would you like someone to pay your stamp duty, perhaps you’ve saved up just enough for that nice shiny new house, but now have to set aside even more than you’d bargained for, to pay the tax man. 
Currently the rate for Stamp Duty is 1% on Properties valued at £125,001 through to £250,000, it doesn’t end there if the purchase price is higher the percentage increases, but for now lets assume that your buying between £125,001 and £250,000 as a first time buyer. 
So need a hand with your Stamp Duty, well Halifax’s new products may just be for you!
On Tuesday the 30th April Halifax will launch an innovative product range, of Stamp Duty paid mortgages for First time Buyers. Halifax will pay 100% of the Stamp Duty Land Tax due on selected products for first time buyers that fall into the 1% bracket (Purchase price between £125,001 and £250,000). 
There is a choice of products available, across the core range, Affordable housing, Help to Buy/ First Buy, NewBuy and MI New Home products. 
In essence the Stamp Duty Land Tax will be paid via a cash back arrangement, where the cash back is equal to the stamp duty, this will be paid to the conveyancer on completion.

Halifax have a wide range of products to suit most client types, and generally their rates are well placed within the market, criteria is consistent with their main competitors, so this offers a real opportunity to first time buyers, particularly when you consider that this is available on their Affordable housing, Home Buy/ First Buy, New Buy and MI New Homes scheme and their core range.

Full details of the new products are not available until tomorrow, but in the mean time this looks like a very positive step forward for First time borrowers, maybe now is the time to start looking at buying your first house!

Philip Dales Dip PFS Certs CII (MP & ER)
Director

For more information or advice on First Time Buyer Mortgages, Standard Purchases & Remortgages and other types of mortgages contact Philip Dales at DALES Independent Financial Advisers: Advice@pndales.co.uk, or go to our web site www.pndales.co.uk. Nottingham office: 0115 832 0265 or Newark Office: 01636 87 00 69.

The information above is for information purposes only, it does not constitute advice, for advice suitable to your personal circumstances please contact us directly and we will be happy to help.

For mortgages, P N DALES Ltd do charge fees, a typical fee for mortgage advice and processing is £350. 


DALES Independent Financial Advisers, Nottingham (West Bridgford) & Newark. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority: 496107.
By admin Comment • Mortgages • Updates 0 Comments

Market Leading Buy to Let Rates

101: Things we DO like to talk about. 

Buy to Lets. 

The Buy to let market can be a little intimidating, not many people know all that much about it, but in the currently depressed housing market a buy to let can be picked up quite cheaply.

With first time buyers finding it difficult to get on the mortgage ladder and buy their first home there is an ever increasing need for rented housing.

Locally in Newark and Nottingham there is very strong demand for rental properties in and around employment centres, with strong rents from incoming migrant workers unable to get on the mortgage ladder, with little or no deposit.

Buy to Let mortgages come in two basic flavours:

The first is the more difficult to get hold of, where the lender basis the loan not on the property but on the person borrowing. These are not the mainstream of buy to lets, but are often the best deals.

The much more common is the standard buy to let mortgage, where the mortgage is based on the properties ability to wash its own face, or rather that the rental is sufficient to pay the mortgage plus a small amount. Usually the calculation used by the lenders is 125%, in other words the rental assed by the valuer must be at least 125% of the mortgage payment based on a an interest only loan.

After this basic criteria there really is not much more to it, there are nuances for each lender, for example, some lenders will not accept any applications from first time landlords, whereas others have special deals for such. The Maximum number of properties available under one particular lender can vary widely with some lenders only allowing 3 properties to some allowing any number up to a total value of £3,000,000 or more.

There are a few other things to consider, usually buy to lets are not regulated buy the Financial Services Authority unless special conditions apply, such as the property will be let to a relative, and therefore some lenders will not consider this type of buy to let. However, in most circumstances this should not affect the manor of the advice you receive.

Currently the Market leading 2 year buy to let mortgage is 3.39% fixed until 31.08.2014 with a maximum Loan to Value of 60%. Which has been launched today, by one of the mainstream buy to let lenders.

Usually the maximum loan to value is 75%, meaning that the lenders usually expect you to be able to deposit at least 25%. However, there are executions to most rules and this is no different, some lenders do offer some schemes with an 80% Loan to value maximum.

Beware of the fees: Buy to lets tend to be slightly more expensive than standard mortgages, recently the interest rates for buy to lets have been running at what appear to be quite low interest rates but beware the fees on buy to lets can be high with some lenders charging percentage based fees.

Most lenders do not expect you to instruct an agent to run the property, just an Assured Short-hold Tenancy agreement with the tenant, which can be downloaded from the net or picked up from your local WHSmiths. This is a very standard landlord and tenant agreement protecting both of you.

There is also the possibility of Let to Buy, this is where you let out your existing property to enable you to purchase a new home as your main residence. Most buy to let lenders have special criteria and deals available for this type of buy to let. The big benefit of this type of arrangement is the ability to brake the chain and not have to sell off your property, given the current market this is a very viable option for most people to consider.

If you would like more information on Buy to Lets, Let to Buy’s, the 2 year deal mentioned above or other financial or mortgage advice, please contact us on 01636 870 069 for your free consultation.

Philip Dales Cert PFS Certs CII (MP & ER)
www.pndales.co.uk

DALES Independent Financial Advisors, are a whole of market mortgage broker and independent financial advisors. Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Services Authority.  The Financial Services authority do not usually regulate Buy to Let mortgages.

By admin Comment • Life Insurance • Uncategorised • Updates 0 Comments

THE END OF CHEAPER LIFE COVER FOR WOMEN – You and The EU Gender Directive!

THE EU GENDER DIRECTIVE  

What
every woman ought to know…..
All
men and women are created equal, but some have been more equal than others.
The gender directive is meant to address
this and it does!
However, do we all want what is fair and
what we may have campaigned for, what have we done?
In our pursuit of equality have we got more
than we bargained for?
Statistically women live longer than men, therefore life and protection premiums cost us less than men!
We want to be equal so after the 21st Dec 2012 we will be.
Obviously in the interests of fairness and the politically correct times that we live in, us ladies will have to pay
the same as our men, gone will be the reduction that women have previously
enjoyed their life insurance and protection premiums will be the same.
Life premiums for women could rise as much
as 15%, what does this matter, because 59% of WOMEN don’t even have any life
insurance!
This is a bit silly of us, ladies, he deserves life insurance and income
protection why don’t we? Society dictates that she can and should earn as
much as him, be the domestic goddess, nurture the children and strive to be as
successful as any man, in fact 40% of women are the main earner*, her life and
salary really is as important as his. 
ITS
TIME TO ACT LADIES, BEFORE THE 21ST DECEMBER 2012 WHEN THE
GENDER DIRECTIVE COMES INTO FORCE, THE CLOCK IS TICKING ON ONE OF THE FRINGE
BENEFITS OF BEING FEMALE.
Nikki
Dales
(Non
Advising Director)
  
Sources: National Statistics Online, March 2012, HM Treasury, DEC 2011,  Opinium research for Bright Grey,
Jan 2011
For more information or advice on Life Cover, Life Insurance – Life assurance and income protection contact DALES Independent Financial Advisers: at Advice@pndales.co.uk, or go to our web site www.pndales.co.uk. Telephone: Nottingham office: 0115 832 0265 or Newark Office: 01636 87 00 69

DALES Independent Financial Advisers, Nottingham & Newark. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority: 496107.

By admin Mortgages • Uncategorised • Updates 0 Comments

MORTGAGE BEST BUYS, 2 year deals


Mortgage Best Buys – 11th May 2011

Current 2 year best buys, based on a 65% Loan To Value.

FIXED RATES

TMW (The Mortgage Works) – 2.75% fixed until 31/07/13 – total fees of £1,036 (in valuation)

Woolwich – 3.08% with a 20 month Fixed rate – total fees of £948.93

L&G – Leeds Building Soc with a 4.69% fixed until 31/05/2013 – total fees of £559 (inc valuation)

Newcastle Building Soc with a 4.64% fixed until 30/06/2013, but the fees increase to £1,350 (inc valuation)

Trackers

Coventry -2.29% – bank base +1.79% for 25 months – total fees of £1,012

Nationwide – 2.75% – Bank Base +2.25% for 5 years fees are very low at £124

These are just best buys, they are only shown as an example of the type of rates available, you should always seek advice when buying a mortgage. As Independent Financial Advisers, we are able to select and advise from the Whole of the Market.

The loans above are based on a 65% loan to value on a house costing £250,000.

You may not fit the criteria of the above lenders.

For Further information, or advice

Contact:
email: advice@pndales.co.uk
phone: 01636 642 844 or 0115 832 0265.

PNDALES LTD are authorised and regulated by the Financial services authority. You home may be at risk if you fail to keep up payments on any loan secured against it. PNDALES Ltd a typical fee for mortgage advice is £350, the precise amount will depend upon your circumstances

By admin Mortgages • Uncategorised • Updates 0 Comments

Mortgage Update – New capped rate

Market leading Capped Rate Mortgage Launched

In these uncertain times, most people don’t seem to know which type of the mortgage deal is the best to select.
With Bank of England interest rate so low most people assume that interest rates will, sooner or later increase. However, the issue with a fixed rate product is that if the rate does not increase or only increases a little and then remains static. If you had chosen a fixed rate there is a possibility that you may be paying above what you need to. This has its advantages, the security of knowing what your payment will be may be worth the extra in payments.
With a Bank of England tracker mortgage your mortgage increases or decreases with the ups and downs of the Bank of England interest rate. Therefore, if as outlined above people feel that interest rates will increase, then the payment on this style of mortgage will increase. However, if you don’t feel that interest rates are going to increase straight-away or increase only a little and then stall, then this method would appeal. The only problem with this is that what if your wrong and interest rates just go up and up.
So both basic types of Fixed or Tracker rate products have their limitations:
The Third Way!
A Capped Rate:
This is a mixture of both products, it is a tracker mortgage, but it can not go above a specified rate – the cap. So you benefit while interest rates are low, and if they increase a little you are still generally speaking better off than a fixed rate (at the moment) but if the Bank Rate increases above the Cap you are in-effect on a fixed rate, during that period, because if the Bank rate falls you would also fall again. In my view this is the best of both worlds.
Limitations: Caps sometimes have collars, this is when the interest rate charged can not go below a specified interest rate, recently it has become more common for Cap mortgages to have collars, you should always check the Key Facts document for full details on any Collars.
New Deal Launched.
3.99% tracker (Bank of England + 2.49%) until 30.06.12 Capped at 3.99% until 30.06.12
Maximum Loan to Value – 65%
Incentives – One Free Valuation
Remortgage Transfer Service included
Early repayment charges – only during the benefit period (4% to 30/06/12)
This is only one Capped product, it does not suggest that it is the best product for your needs, DALES can review your circumstances and make a recommendation suited to your needs. For Mortgages DALES offer an advice and recommendation service, and recommend products from the Whole of the Market.
For more details of this or other mortgage products or to arrange a free consultation please contact tel: 01636 642 844 or email advice@pndales.co.uk
Your Home is at risk if you fail to keep up payments on any mortgage or loan secured against it. P N Dales Ltd is Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Services Authority 496107.