The Different Types of Mortgages Available in Liverpool
At the start of your mortgage process, you will soon realise that there are many different options available. If you are first time buyer in Liverpool, you are probably thinking “How could there be so many different types of mortgage?”
In this article we will provide a list of the most popular types of mortgages available on the market and hopefully answer any questions you have about them.
What is a fixed-rate mortgage?
A fixed-rate mortgage means that your mortgage payments are not going to change for the length of your term. You are able to choose the length of this yourself, with common choices being 2, 3 or 5 years or longer. Regardless of what happens to inflation, interest rates or the economy, you have the security of knowing that your mortgage, likely your biggest outgoing payment each month, will remain the same.
What is a tracker mortgage?
A tracker mortgage means that your interest rate will track the base rate set by the Bank of England. What this means is, the lender that you are with does not actually choose the rate that will be applied, and you will be paying a percentage above the Bank of England base rate. In an example, if the base rate is 1% and you are tracking at 1% above base rate, you will be paying a rate of 2%.
What is a repayment mortgage?
When you take out a repayment mortgage this means that each month you are paying back a combination of both interest and capital. Providing that you keep your payments going for the full length of the mortgage term, you are almost guaranteed to have fully paid off the mortgage by the end of your term, resulting in the property becoming solely yours.
This is probably the most risk-free way to pay your capital back to the lender. Early on into your mortgage term, it is mainly the interest that you are paying and your balance will go down at a rather slow rate, especially if you have taken out a 25, 30 or 35-year term. The benefits of this arise in the last ten years or so of your mortgage, where your payments are covering more capital than interest and the balance will go down at a much quicker pace.
What is an interest-only mortgage?
Whilst many Buy to Let Mortgages in Liverpool are set up on an interest-only basis, it is much harder task to get a residential property on that same basis.
The likelihood for lenders to offer an interest-only product now is a lot less than it was. That being said, there are certain circumstances where this can be a viable option, including things like downsizing later on in life, or having other investments what you will use to pay the capital back. Lenders have stricter rules when it comes to offering these products now and the loan to values are a lot lower than they used to be.
What is an offset mortgage?
With an offset mortgage, the lender will set you up a savings account to work alongside your mortgage account. How this works is that, for example, if you have a mortgage balance of £100,000 and £20,000 is deposited into your savings account, you would only be paying interest on the difference, which in this case would be £80,000. This can be a much more efficient way of managing your money, especially if you pay a higher rate of tax.
Mortgage Broker in Liverpool
Date Last Edited: August 7, 2023
