Additional Services
Here at Evergreen Mortgages, we can help put you in touch with other companies to give you reliable recommendations for other areas including Buildings & Contents, Trust & Wills, Valuations and Solicitors. Information on these detailed below, but please do get in touch if you have any questions.
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Buildings & Contents
Buildings insurance is a necessary requirement when buying a property and it would also be advisable to have contents cover too. Buildings insurance will then cover against standard perils such as fire and flood for example and there are other additional features available such as accidental damage, personal possessions cover outside of the home and home emergency cover.
If you don’t yet have buildings insurance or want to review your current policy, we can put you in touch with an excellent company to help with this…
Trust & Wills
Whilst also reviewing your insurances it might be sensible to put your life insurance into a trust. We can explain the benefits when reviewing your insurance needs.
In addition, ensuring you have a valid Will would be entirely sensible to ensure your wises can be carried out. Working in conjunction with a company called Kwil, we can offer to make a Will for £90 for a single Will or £120 for a joint Will (Mirror Will typically used for a couple). Please call us for further details and you can apply here to get started:
Solicitors
We can provide you with a no obligation quotation for a solicitor, and we will make sure they are able to work with the lender you are taking your new mortgage with.
In most cases, you will need the help of a solicitor whether you are buying a new home or remortgaging. Your mortgage lender registers a charge against your property on the land registry and the deeds of your home. When you buy a new home or change lender, you need a solicitor to do this part of the process for you.
Your choice of solicitor can impact the length of time it takes for your remortgage to complete. We can help you with a recommended solicitor.
Valuations
Surveys are normally completed by private companies on the property you wish to buy. In Scotland the survey or home buyers report is completed by the seller and forms part of the sales particulars for the property, but in England and Wales you will be expected to instruct your own survey.
The mortgage lender does complete a mortgage valuation for themselves, as they need to check the property is good security for the loan, but the lenders valuation is to ensure the home is built from common building materials and in reasonable condition. It provides the lender with a market valuation, a reinstatement cost for insurance purposes and it describes the construction and general condition of the property on the date of inspection. Some lenders complete the valuation free of charge, but you might not always be able to get a copy of the valuation that the lenders instruct.
A private survey gives you 3 options, Basic, Homebuyers survey or Full structural or building survey. As the name suggests, like the lender valuation above, the basic survey gives little information. Many people buying a second hand property will opt instead for a more detailed home buyer report which additionally provides a detailed report often in a traffic light style report to make it easy to read. Here is an example of what it may include:
- Aims to identify any problems that need urgent attention or are serious or that may be dangerous.
- Aims to identify things that need to be investigated further to prevent serious damage.
- Aims to advise on the amount of ongoing maintenance that may be required in the future and gives advice on the steps needed to investigate and/or repair/resolve any defects identified.
A full buildings survey is generally the most expensive type of survey so is often only instructed when buying a listed building or a property that you expect to require extensive work.
We can help you to get costings on any of these types of survey once you have the property address, so get in touch and we will help put you secure a quote with one of our recommended companies.
First-Time Buyers Guide
Our guide helps crack the code on the five most frequent challenges for first-time buyers.
We know everyone has their own unique situation and so advising isn’t just about obtaining the mortgage needed right now but also helping people to put in place a plan so they can achieve their long-term goals.
FAQs
Your initial conversation would normally take between 15 and 30 minutes depending on how many questions you have about the process and we will run through a quick understanding of the five points above to give us an idea of how we can help you and discuss through the next steps with you of what you might need to send based on the information you give to us.
Generally the documents that are needed are: proof of ID, proof of address, three months payslips and three months bank statements. For a full list and understanding click here for a more detailed breakdown. The documents you need to provide ultimately will depend on your personal circumstances.
After any documents requested have been sent we should be able to provide you with a fully costed recommendation for a mortgage and we will discuss this with you to make sure you understand and are clear on the costs and are happy with these. Provided you are happy to proceed, we will then approach lenders for your initial agreement in principle. This consists of a credit check.
Once you have a clear idea on your budget, have been agreed in principle by a lender for the mortgage amount you need, and you have the savings available for the deposit. You’re now in a strong position to put in an offer on the house that you want to buy. This is normally done via the estate agent. However, in Scotland the system is different, where you put your offer in via your solicitor.
