Buying a house is one of the most important purchases you will make, buying a house for the first time will be an even more daunting prospect.

Over the following few pages, we have a range of first time home buying tips and advice on finding the right mortgage.

Getting Mortgage Advice
Terms such as "loan to value ratio", "income multiples" and "discounted mortgages" may all sound very confusing when someone explains things for the first time and it is important to get as much advice as possible. Our mortgage advisors can explain any of these terms to you, and offer a free, no obligation mortgage quotation service.

Will I get accepted?
Buying a house will involve substantial amounts of money, however, the key point to remember is that you are buying an asset and although it can fall in value, should increase over time, as opposed to other possessions such as a car, which will almost certainly decrease in value.

Always remember that it is in the lenders' best interest to provide you with a mortgage, as long as they do not feel you are stretching yourself. A mortgage is generally a lower risk to them, compared to a personal loan, or a credit card, as they always have the house to "secure" the loan if you are unable to make your payments.

Re-mortgaging has become very popular in recent years. Competition from Lenders has increased, leading to a wide range of competitive UK re-mortgage products.

You will notice that a number of the re-mortgage products offer a free legal service and even a free valuation on your property. This means you can now transfer mortgage with no cost.

We offer all of our customers a FREE 'Mortgage Management Service'. It all begins when your details are entered on our sophisticated database. We will contact you when appropriate to review your mortgage, any insurances you have and take account of any changes to your personal circumstances allowing you to re-negotiate other competitive products possibly saving you £££ at the same time.

By constantly taking advantage of this service you will possibly reduce the overall interest you pay out during the term of your mortgage and put more money back into your own pocket every month."

It has been estimated that almost 1 in 4 people are overpaying on their mortgage.

If you already have a mortgage you could consider releasing part or all of the equity in your property, this is the difference in value between your mortgage and the property's current market value.

The biggest advantage of remortgage is the lower rate interest mortgages.

It is always important to remember that each individual’s and circumstances are different, so your decision should be based on these factors as well as the benefits of each financial product.

Think carefully before securing other debts against you home. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

The act of remortgaging a property based on a higher value compared to the original purchase price. The capital raised is the amount left over after repayment of the original loan is deducted from the new loan. Some lenders will also take into account home improvement projects as part of the remortgage, if they are likely to significantly raise the value of the property.

Think carefully before securing other debts against you home. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

Buy-to-let mortgages have been on offer in the UK since the late nineties; they are specifically designed for investors to borrow money to purchase property in the private rented sector in order to let it out to tenants.

Replacing a number of existing loans with a single loan from a new lender which may reduce your monthly payments by spreading out a larger loan over a longer period of time, and reducing the interest rate being paid.

Think carefully before securing other debts against you home. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

Where the loan is granted for commercial purposes, and is usually secured against commercial property, though residential property may be used. With a commercial mortgage there is a higher rate of interest, as it is a higher degree of risk for the lender.

This product is not regulated by the FSA.

If you're looking to buy a property overseas we can help. Through our close links with overseas mortgage underwriters we're able to help you access mortgages for property overseas, including all the popular destinations. Our specialist connections mean that you'll be able to take advantage of some exclusive mortgage products and extremely competitive lending terms.

This product is not regulated by the FSA.