In the long run, you will likely find your mortgage journey to be a fruitful and rewarding endeavour. Whilst during this process there will inevitably be some positives and negatives, ultimately the final result will see you end up with one of the following; You’ll possibly be living in your dream home, with the potential to start a family.
Alternatively, you could find yourself with stepping stone property, getting your foot on the property ladder. Finally, you might end up with an investment property to provide you with an income boost as a new or continuing landlord.
Regardless of which of those mortgage paths you went down, you’ll eventually reach the end of your mortgage term and need to start looking at a new plan of action for the future. In some cases, people choose to simply sell their home, scouting the market for either a bigger or smaller next home.
If you are a landlord in Liverpool, you could possibly be in the market for selling your portfolio to the tenant(s) or another buyer, with your eye on financial adventures outside of the housing market. Despite these however, we often hear that the most popular option towards the end of a mortgage term is a Remortgage.
What is a remortgage?
A Remortgage is the process of using the money gathered from taking out a new mortgage to pay off an existing mortgage. There are lots of different options that could be at your disposal when taking out a Remortgage, each of these ranging from small ones to slightly bigger ones.
By collaborating with Liverpoolmoneyman’s resident “Moneyman” Malcolm Davidson (host of our YouTube channel MoneymanTV) and utilising his over 20 years of experience in the mortgage industry, we put together a helpful guide for those looking at what to do next, when their mortgage term is about to finish.
Remortgage for Better Interest Rates
At the start of your process, you’ll likely be taking out a mortgage deal that will normally last somewhere within the realm of 2-5 years, featuring lower fixed rates or with rates that are possibly discounted. Depending on the circumstances, your lender may even look at putting you on something like a tracker mortgage, wherein your mortgage would follow the Bank of England’s base rate.
Once your mortgage term is at its end, it is likely that you will be placed on the lenders Standard Variable Rate (you may see this just called an SVR). The purpose of which an SVR serves, is that the mortgages interest rates can either increase or decrease, a process entirely dependent on what the lender wishes to charge you.
Standard Variable Rates do not follow the Bank of England’s base rate like tracker mortgages would. Because of this, they’re seen as a little more risky, due to the fact that the lender is not legally obligated to charge the amount that might typically be recommended for a mortgage.
Generally speaking, SVR’s are more expensive mortgage routes to take, leaving many with a preference of Remortgaging for better rates. By Remortgaging for better rates, this would hopefully save the homeowner a little bit of money on their monthly mortgage repayments.
Remortgage for Home Improvements
The majority of your term may be firmly behind you, but you still may feel like something isn’t quite right, like a change needs to be made for it to truly be called home. It could be that you need to create the space for an extra room or would like a larger living space for your kids or belongings.
We’ve also heard of cases, when speaking to Remortgage customers, of people doing this for a new kitchen, a new office, or even a loft conversion (a popular these days). Rather than just moving into a newer, bigger house, many instead look at their options of releasing the equity in their home with a Remortgage.
This type of venture is used to cover the costs of any potential improvements, alterations or modifications made to the property in question.
Whilst obtaining planning permission from a local authority sounds like quite a large and scary task, especially when tied to both funding and managing your own project, many homeowners would argue it’s a lot less stressful and more rewarding than house hunting, selling your home and moving out.
As time goes on, this may prove even more to be a smart investment choice, as creating more space and having good quality craftsmanship can possibly increase the value of your home down the line, which comes in handy if you ever decide to sell up or rent your home out to a potential buyer.
Remortgage for Changes to Your Term
In some cases, some homeowners may prefer simply to Remortgage in Liverpool with a goal of finding themselves a better mortgage term. This could be by reducing the length of the term in question or even by switching to a product that is a lot more flexible.
Doing this will mean you will shorten the length of time that you will be paying back your mortgage over, so you won’t be tied down for a large amount of years. Something of note to remember though, is that this route will also mean that your monthly repayments will be higher than you’ve might’ve expected. The general rule of thumb is that the longer your term, the lower your monthly mortgage repayments will be over the duration.
Many choose for their mortgage term to be a little more flexible when they look to take out a remortgage. This is because of the benefits provided by this mortgage option, which tend to sway homeowners more towards that route. Through taking out a more flexible mortgage, you may gain the ability to overpay your mortgage.
Overpaying gives you the ability to pay your mortgage off quicker, as well as being able to carry the same mortgage and rates over to another property of your choosing, for in the event you want to find a new property at any point down the line.
Though a flexible mortgage might sound like a more than ideal option, they will usually come in the form of a tracker mortgage. As mentioned previously, these types of mortgages will follow the Bank of England base rate, meaning that your monthly mortgage repayments could fluctuate based on interest. This can make them a little unreliable when it comes to managing finances.
Remortgage to Release Equity
Every homeowner will have an amount of equity in their property. The amount that is there entirely depends on certain factors. You can work out the amount by calculating the difference between the remaining mortgage balance and the current amount your property is valued at.
As touched upon earlier in this article, the equity in your home can be used for home improvements, though that’s not all you’re limited to when it comes to what you can use your equity for.
Some use their released equity to cover long-term care costs, to provide an additional boost to their income, to have themselves a nice holiday, to pay off an interest-only mortgage or to give themselves extra money to spend freely on whatever they wish.
Sometimes we find that Buy to Let landlords will use a remortgage to release equity as a means of covering their deposit for additional purchases towards their property portfolio.
Equity Release in Liverpool is something that homeowners who are over the age of 55, with a home that is worth at least £70,000, may be able to use. Take a look at your options by getting in touch with an expert later life mortgage advisor who can help you better understand equity release.
Remortgage to Consolidate Debt
Another option that is widely popular and works in tandem with Equity Release, is the process of releasing funds to pay off any unsecured debts that you may have built up over time.
Though it can seem straightforward, Debt Consolidation not only bases the amount on how much you’re owed and the value of the property, but it also factors in the current position of your credit rating.
What this means is that whilst you may be able to use some money to cover these costs, you’re limited from the offset in terms of the amount that they’ll even let you borrow.
On top of this, to pay off your previous mortgage and your debts, you will need to borrow more than the mortgage amount that you have left on your balance. Because of this, you are almost guaranteed that your monthly repayments will be higher than they were before.
Though not an ideal situation to find yourself in, you at least have the comfort of knowing that should you find yourself in need of a back-up plan, you do have some mortgage options to choose from.
If you happen to have a damaged credit rating, you may still be able to obtain a mortgage, though it is not an easy process and does require Specialist Remortgage Advice in Liverpool before you can even go forward with it.
Even with a professional by your side, you must remember that there are still no guarantees that you will walk away at the end of this with a mortgage.
We recommend that you always seek mortgage advice prior to consolidating and securing any debts against your home.
Experienced Mortgage Advisors in Liverpool – Get in Touch
If you are nearing the end of your term and are looking at your home owning and remortgage options may be, please do Get in Touch with a trusted mortgage broker in Liverpool today and we’ll see what we can do to help you out.
Your dedicated mortgage advisor in Liverpool will discuss your circumstances and plans for the future, in order to determine the course of action to take on the next leg of your mortgage journey. It is our goal as a mortgage broker to ensure your mortgage process is quicker and easier than when you took out your mortgage the first time around.
Date Last Edited: October 28, 2024
