Articles in the Mortgages Category
Stamp Duty Change Reactions
September 2nd, 2008
The big story of the day is the 1-year change to stamp duty announced by the Government.
In a bid to stimulate some interest in the housing market, the lowest threshold for paying stamp duty has been raised from £125,000 to £175,000 until September next year.
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Stamp Duty Confusion Affects 83% Of Movers
August 26th, 2008
A couple of weeks ago Alistair Darling appeared to suggest there may be plans afoot to change the way stamp duty was charged, causing widespread uncertainty in the housing market as people waited for confirmation.
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Stamp Duty Confusion
August 7th, 2008
Looks like the Chancellor, Alistair Darling is in a bit of a mess over possible changes to stamp duty.
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Are You Feeling The Crunch?
July 14th, 2008
FreeMoneyFinance recently asked are you feeling any economic pain, so I thought I’d look at the same subject from a UK perspective, and poll Money Watch readers on whether you are feeling the effects of the credit crunch yet? When I say crunch here, I’m …
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Searching For A Good Mortgage Is Now Harder Than Ever
July 9th, 2008
If you’d asked me a few months ago what the best way to get a new mortgage was, I’d have told you to find yourself an independent mortgage broker, and let them do the hard work for you.
With the credit crunch hitting the mortgage market hard, lenders had been withdrawing …
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Why First Time Buyers Should Haggle Harder Than Ever
May 30th, 2008
Yesterday I talked about haggling for discounts and mentioned my biggest discount; getting £4,000 off the price of our house.
As John pointed out in the comments, this probably wasn’t the greatest deal ever done, as the average house apparently sells for 93% of the asking price, whereas …
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The Sub-Prime Mess Comically Explained
May 7th, 2008
If you’re wondering how we ended up with the credit crunch, following the problems with sub-prime mortgage lending in the US, then this funny set of slides might help you understand. Beware, there is some adult language, but it’s worth going through the full 40-odd images for a …
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Poll: How Much Of Your Income Is Spent On Your Mortgage / Rent?
May 4th, 2008
We’re all aware of the increasing prices of food, fuel etc., as well as the difficulty in finding low mortgage rates (despite the Bank of England base rate falling recently, we can blame the credit crunch for the tougher borrowing conditions).
One of the worries is that as these costs …
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HSBC Rate Matcher Mortgage Deal
April 9th, 2008
HSBC’s offer to match the mortgage rate that their rivals borrowers are on when their deals finish might seem like an exciting offer on the surface, certainly bucking the current trend of increasing mortgage rates and reduced mortgage choice. But their “Rate Matcher” deal doesn’t come without caveats.
The first, …
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Remortgaging? Watch Out For Arrangement Fees
November 29th, 2007
I mentioned in my previous post, about the effects on your mortgage with a change in interest rates, that you should get a mortgage broker to search the market and to find you a better deal if your current deal is about to expire.
Unfortunately, getting a new mortgage doesn’t …
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