Essentially Mortgages – Quarter One 2018

When it comes to getting a mortgage, if you opt to do it yourself you can expect to spend a lot of time trawling websites comparing best buys and traipsing round various different lenders. All this takes time and it can be hard to know if you’ve made the right choice.

Data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (now part of UK Finance) shows that remortgaging was at record levels during 2017, with over 41,000 borrowers finding a new mortgage deal in October alone. They believe that the trend is set to continue into 2018.

With a nationwide shortage of family homes coming on to the market, many families are staying put and addressing their need for extra living space by renovating, extending or making other home improvements. Many of these alterations will add value to the property and help boost a home’s selling power in the future, however not all will. There’s less chance of adding value or recouping your costs if, for example, you opt to add a £25,000 kitchen to a semi that’s valued at £170,000.