Anyone who’s looking to get their foot on the first rung of the housing ladder or has just managed to find their way onto it will know that being a first-time buyer can be an extremely challenging and stressful time. You’d almost have had to have been living under a...

None of us likes to dwell on the unpleasant things that life might throw at us. Whether it’s planning for death or illness, humans seem to generally prefer to postpone the bleaker considerations in life rather than looking for the correct insurance product. Yet,...

You’d think it would be the easiest thing in the world. You’ve been highly successful in your life, invested wisely and, by anyone’s standards, you’re comfortably wealthy and able to buy just about anything you desire. Anything, that is, apart from a mortgage. Bizarre...

One of the big questions around homeowner mortgages at the moment is whether it’s best to tie in for a relatively short fixed deal – or go for the longer-term security offered by 5- or even 10-year fix product. With latest industry figures from the mortgage market...

Despite the uncertainty in the housing market, the prospect of buying a second property – or perhaps a third, fourth or fifth – to rent out and becoming a landlord is still attractive to a lot of people. Recent research comparing the England and London property rental...

The Easter holidays and the enforced suspension of London Parliamentary business gave us all a welcome break from the wall-to-wall coverage of the ongoing Brexit saga – but with return of MPs to Westminster came the return of the uncertainty that has dogged the...

If you search on the web for advice on the things you should do when choosing a mortgage, you’ll get a lot of information back. Some of it’s good, some of it not so good. But as important, if not more so, is what mistakes you should avoid doing. Here’s our guide to...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...