Let's get a mortgage together!

You know it's not like buying a pizza or a car or even a puppy.

Taking out  mortgage is no small deal. It needs some careful thought and some planning and a fair bit of luck.

After all, how many couples think

"Let's get a mortgage together" 

compared with the number who say

"Let's move in together".

There's the problem. After all, you might decide to look at some houses or flats or whatever and so after spending a bit of time looking through Rightmove or someone similar, you head off to the local estate agents to see what's available for your money. As you walk timidly into the office, someone in smart clothes is upon you asking all sorts of questions and before you know where you are you are sitting down the other side of a desk whilst the smart person in front of you is feeding information - your information- into a computer system. You haven't even  seen the details of a house yet and you certainly don't know how you are going to buy it. In truth, the person in front of you probably doesn't know either but they are going to ask:

• Do you have a house to sell?

• Do you have a mortgage arranged?

OK so you're a first time buyer (an FTB) - that's usually someone who has never had a mortgage before: a kind of mortgage virgin if you like. That makes the first answer easy. The second answer is a little less obvious.

"Well, no not yet." one of you answers truthfully.

"Ah ha." says the person on the other side of the desk in a tone that is not dissimilar to that of a doctor who suspects the  worst from the list of symptoms you have hurriedly described to him or her.

At this point the estate agent is trying to decide whether you are likely to be  one of the many time wasters that they get in through their doors who have nothing better to do on a Saturday morning or whether you are the real deal. 

They'll take some more details about you and, if they have an in-house mortgage broker, they'll try to get you to arrange an appointment with him or her. If you're really lucky, he or she may be available right now!

Of course, you are drawn in by the flow. You still haven't had any information about a property yet but it seems impolite to say that you only came in for some property details because actually, you aren't really sure if this is all a part of the deal and that you need to see this person anyway.

This tale could go on, but let's stop it there and take a look at what should be  happening to you and for you: after all it is you who have to pay for all this and when you take a mortgage out you are usually paying for a very long time.