What Does A Mortgage Broker Do?

What does a mortgage broker or mortgage advisor do?

Ultimately we are marrying our clients’ wants, needs and circumstances with the marketplace, to find the most suitable mortgage deal.

We spend time getting to know our clients, to understand what’s important to them. Mortgages historically used to be quite one-dimensional and perhaps more rigid, whereas there’s a lot of innovation in the market now.

People’s priorities are slightly broader than just getting the best rate. By taking time to get to know our clients we can go into the marketplace and find them the most suitable deal.

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

If you walk into a bank on the high street, you’re just getting their set of criteria and their rate options. The criteria could be around the property type or the scheme you’re looking to use for your transaction. Lenders probably tend to have a suite of 15 or 20 products to choose from.

The major advantage of seeing a mortgage broker or advisor is that we have greater access to mortgages. We certainly have a comprehensive range of options, not just from the high street but also from specialist lenders. You’ll get advice and a bigger spread of options if you see an advisor.

Also, across our high streets banks and building society branches are shrinking. They might not be able to facilitate the timescales if you need to move quickly.

What services does a mortgage broker offer?

The types of clients we see are pretty broad. Fundamentally, we’re here to make the process as straightforward as we can. We use our knowledge and experience to help. A First Time Buyer might need a bit more time, understanding of the market and a bit of coaching along the way.

People moving up or down the property ladder may have a better understanding or a better feel for the process. We also manage remortgages, where people need to change existing deals.

That’s talked about a lot in the press, particularly at the moment, as rates are changing quite frequently [podcast recorded in August 2024]. People’s priorities when looking to remortgage could include capital raising, making overpayments or making changes to the structure of their loan.

Buy to Let property investors obviously have a more commercial aspect, in trying to make it profitable. Finally, we provide help with protection and insurance. People might need to insure the property or themselves.

We also spend time updating estate agents and keeping in touch with solicitors, and not just for First Time Buyers. For home movers, if you’re selling through a different agent than you’re buying from, that can be a complicated process. We try to be a central source of updates with regards to the mortgage.