THE QUESTION

I’m looking at buying at auction with a mortgage this month with an 8-week completion through my limited company.  I have a 30-35% deposit, but need to know which mortgage lenders have the quickest back office at the moment?

THE ANSWER

This is a 'how long is a piece of string'?  No mortgage lender has a consistent time frame for processing, processing times...

Mortgage underwriting is an exercise in risk mitigation.  The cheapest rates are only available where lenders have mitigated the most risk.  This includes your personal circumstances, the type of property you want to mortgage and every little detail of your financial track record.  These lenders will decline to lend if there’s even a tiny issue that happened years ago.

The...

If you’re refinancing a property you’ll be visited by the lender’s surveyor to value your property.  As refinancing normally is the result of having done a refurb, you’ll need to be well prepared for this.  Don’t assume that the surveyor will wander around your property and be impressed by what you’ve done!

It helps to know the surveyor's mindset...

Buying a property requires you to make informed decisions - that means you need data to work with.  And here lies the challenge for most investors.  They get excited about refurbs, increasing the value and finding tenants, but doing the research prior to purchase can be hard graft.

In a perfect world you should know:

• The market value - what other similar properties in that road or...