What is a mortgage payment holiday? A mortgage holiday is an arranged break from paying your monthly mortgage payment. Whether that is capital and interest or purely interest only. Mortgage holidays are temporary and should only be taken in unavoidable and serious...
Oliver Whitehead
How Will Rising House Prices Affect Me?
We’re living through strange times in the housing market where open an house allows a full afternoon of ten-minute viewings, resulting in immediate offers being put in at asking price – or above. Long gone are the days when the buyer holds the power and a lower...
Feedback from satisfied Oportfolio team customers
Here’s a selection of independent testimonials written by clients who have used Oportfolio based on referrals from others or who would happily recommend us to members of their personal network. “We were recommended Oportfolio through a friend and are very happy that...
How much deposit do I need for a mortgage?
How much deposit do I need to be able to get a mortgage? It’s a question we hear asked a lot, especially from people who haven’t been through a mortgage application process in a good while and who worry that lenders have changed their policies around what percentage...
Is Buy-to-Let The Housing Solution For Your Children?
One of the key worries for many parents today is where their children will live when they fly the nest, and how they might pay for it. Although there appears to be a general consensus that the housing market is currently stagnant, years of price growth and the...
What do I do if I’ve had a mortgage declined?
Top 5 Tips If Your Mortgage is Declined It’s often said that buying a house can be one of the biggest sources of stress you can have in life, which probably explains why a recent MoneyWise report suggests a quarter of all borrowers find the mortgage application...
Award-winning mortgage advice in London
It’s always lovely when the values you promote as a business are recognised publicly, so there was open delight at Oportfolio when the company’s founder, Oliver Whitehead, was named Best Overall Adviser at the recent Primis award ceremony. It was Oliver’s third year...
Self-employed and need a mortgage? It’s a numbers game.
Is it harder to get a mortgage when you’re self-employed? It’s a question we get asked quite a lot and the most simple answer is that it’s not necessarily more difficult, but the way in which affordability is assessed by prospective lenders is inevitably a bit...
Remortgaging – stick with your lender, or twist?
So, your current mortgage deal is coming to an end and the big question is whether you should stay with your current lender or move to a new one. What to do? Forty years ago, it was probably common for people to spend their whole life with the same bank, mortgage...
Tips for a stress-free moving day
So, you’ve done it. You’ve taken the plunge, found your dream house, sorted the mortgage (hopefully through us!), found a buyer for your own property and contracts have been exchanged. All that’s left now is to sit back, put your feet up and wait for moving day. Well,...
In a Conservation Area and want to extend? Read this.
When it comes to making plans for the future, one option that many homeowners consider is looking for additional borrowing from their existing lender or, if the circumstances are right, re-mortgaging in order to raise the money needed for a home extension. According...
Brexit and your mortgage
With Theresa May having emerged from her Brussels trip with unanimous backing for her plan for Britain’s exit from the European Union (brexit) and prepares for tomorrow’s Parliamentary vote on it (assuming continued Cabinet concerns about the likelihood of a Commons...
Selling your house through interior design
Our occasional series highlighting the work of businesses Oportfolio works with continues with a look at the impact interior design can have on the sale of your current home and the transformation of your new one. Rush Interiors is run by leading designer, Rushim...
The secret weapon for successful relocation
Our occasional series highlighting the work of businesses Oportfolio works with continues with a look at City To Country relocation – a property relocation service with a difference, run by a man who knows a thing or two about the advantages and disadvantages of city...
What Should I Consider When Remortgaging?
Whether you want to insulate yourself from the possibility of a rise in the Bank of England base rate, are considering doing some home improvement or you simply want to move your borrowing to a better deal, there are all sorts of reasons why you might be considering...
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If you have any questions about UK mortgage news or anything you’ve read then please get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.