Mortgages for Professionals

Here at Just Mortgage Brokers we have years of experience in securing mortgages for would-be homeowners in all sorts of professions. Civil servants are often in the enviable position of having high-paying and relatively secure long-term employment, and consequently tend to be looked on favourably by lenders assessing mortgage applications with a view to evaluating lending risk. That’s not just good news in terms of qualifying for a mortgage – it also potentially means a broader choice of lenders and mortgages for civil servants, allowing you to shop around for the best deal on the market.

Applying for a mortgage for a Civil servant

When you apply for a mortgage, the lender will take account of a number of factors when deciding whether to approve the application, and how much you can borrow. One of the first things they will consider is your employment status, whether your employment is permanent in nature, and how long you have worked for your current employer. If you have moved between different branches of the civil service, including due to a relocation, it may be necessary to provide more information on your work history to demonstrate continuity of employment.

The lender will take account of your credit history using data from an external credit reference agency, and in combination with an assessment of your income, will work out how much you can borrow. Most lenders today don’t base this on a simple multiplier (such as, say, five times your salary) but rather base it on a broader affordability assessment, taking into account your income and any outgoings such as existing credit commitments.

Mortgage advice for civil servants

Just Mortgage Brokers has a team of highly experienced mortgage advisors who have spent years dealing with mortgages for civil servants and other professions. We offer expert, impartial mortgage advice and have access to mortgage deals from across the UK lending market, including many smaller, more specialist lenders. Give us a call today to discuss how we can help you find the mortgage that’s right for you.

Whatever your profession, finding the best available mortgage for you can be a challenge. With so many lenders and so many deals, how do you sort the wheat from the chaff? Whether you’re a first-time buyer, moving home, or looking to remortgage for a better deal, let’s take a look at some of the factors accountants need to take into consideration.

What advantages do accountants have when applying for a mortgage?

Many  accountants are high earners, which obviously confers advantages when it comes to calculating affordability and, therefore, the maximum amount you will be able to borrow. Being in a strong financial position also has the potential to allow access to a better range of mortgage products, particularly if you are in a position to put down a larger deposit.

What challenges do accountants face?

While accountants are often high earners, many are also self-employed, and some lenders are ill-equipped to deal with mortgage applicants who have an irregular income that’s not easily provable by payslips. Accountants’ earnings can be unpredictable, especially in the early days of establishing a practice. The downside of this is that accountants can be excluded by such lenders from the best available deals.

Another issue is that accountants’ businesses are often positioned in such a way as to limit tax liabilities. The result is that to some lenders you might appear to be less well-off than you are, which means you might not be able to borrow the amount you want.

Mortgages for accountants

Accountants have the same mortgage options open to them as any other potential borrower. The most common type is a repayment mortgage, where monthly payments are calculated to ensure both the capital and the interest payable on it have been repaid by the end of the agreed mortgage term. Interest-only mortgages are also available, provided a suitable repayment vehicle is in place to repay the balance at the end of the term. Mortgage product options include fixed rate and tracker mortgages, which track the Bank of England base rate. A specialist mortgage broker will be able to offer advice as to which type of mortgage is best for you.

How do I prove my income?

If you are employed by an accountancy firm, or as an accountant within a different type of business, then all you will need are copies of your payslips. If you are self-employed, then things get a little more complicated. Some lenders will ask to see up to three years’ worth of accounts, and most will want to see at least two; these must be prepared by a chartered accountant. Lenders may also ask for copies of your SA302 year-end tax calculations from HMRC, either in addition to or instead of full accounts.

Be prepared for the fact that some lenders might not accept the highest annual figure as your true income for the purposes of affordability assessment – even if it is the most recent and income has been shown to grow over the period. They might instead work on an average earnings figure across however many years’ worth of accounts they have asked to see. If your practice has taken off in the past year and you were banking on the mortgage loan being based on the recent, higher figure, you might be in for a disappointment, as you won’t be able to borrow as much as you had hoped.

How much can I borrow? And how much will it cost?

All mortgage applications are subject to an affordability assessment, which can limit how much you can borrow if you are already heavily financially committed. The amount you can borrow is based on a number of factors, including income, other financial commitments and also your credit rating. If you have a patchy credit score and a relatively small deposit, a mortgage is likely to cost you more than if you have a good credit score and a larger deposit.

Here at Just Mortgage Brokers we have a team of specialists with many years of experience helping accountants to find the best mortgage available for them. Get in touch to speak to an impartial, professional broker and find out how we can help you.

At Just Mortgage Brokers, we have years of experience in helping would-be homeowners buy their first home. For university and college graduates, leaving full-time education represents a new chapter in their lives, the start of a new career and, for many, the opportunity to own their first property.

While there can be factors that hinder recently graduated applicants when shopping for a mortgage, there are lenders out there who offer mortgages specifically tailored to graduates. At Just Mortgage Brokers, we have access to deals from across the UK mortgage market, including broker-only mortgages not available from lenders directly.

What you need to know about graduate mortgages

Many graduates believe that it will be difficult for them to get a mortgage – and it’s certainly true that new graduates can face potential barriers in proving to a lender that they are mortgage-worthy. As well as accruing high levels of student debt while undertaking their studies, some may have an imperfect credit history or just a lack of experience and evidence to demonstrate their creditworthiness.

Then there’s that matter of the deposit. As of March 2018, the average UK house price was £227,871. Some mortgage lenders will lend a maximum of 95% of a property’s value, and in many cases the maximum is 90%. That means homebuyers currently have to put down an average minimum deposit of  £11,393.

The good news is that some lenders understand the unique financial position that many graduates find themselves in, and offer mortgages tailored to people who have recently graduated.

In common with any other mortgage applicant, a lender’s main concern is assessing whether you have the capacity to afford the mortgage repayments on an ongoing basis. In practical terms, this means providing evidence that you have secured employment, and the lender undertaking an affordability assessment that looks at your income and outgoings to judge whether you can afford the mortgage.

Many graduates have the advantage of moving quickly into well-paid jobs, and this can potentially be to your advantage. It’s also the case that graduates with professional or vocational degrees – for example, a law degree or a graduate from medical school – may be seen as relatively low risk in comparison to some other types of mortgage applicant, and lenders may take this into account when considering your application.

Mortgage schemes for Graduates

Help to Buy is an umbrella term for a range of government schemes intended to make it easier for people to get on the property ladder, and while they are not specifically designed for graduates, elements of the schemes are aimed at those with just a 5% deposit available. The schemes currently available under Help to Buy are as follows:

• The Help to Buy ISA (Individual Savings Account) is designed to help would-be homeowners save for a deposit. For every pound you save, the government adds a 25% bonus – up to a maximum bonus of £3,000 – to be used as a deposit on a first home.
• Shared ownership allows you to buy a share of a home (between 25% and 75%) rather than purchasing the property outright. You pay your mortgage on the share that you own, and rent on the remaining share. Shared ownership is available on both existing and newly built properties.
• The Equity Loan scheme is available to those with a 5% deposit available. Under the scheme, the 5% deposit is used alongside a government loan of up to 20% of the property value, allowing the homebuyer to take out a 75% mortgage. The equity loan is interest-free for the first five years, after which annual fees apply.

Mortgage Advice for Graduates

Whether you are graduating soon, have just graduated or have already embarked on your new career, we can help you find the graduate mortgage that suits your own unique circumstances – even if you have had credit problems. Contact us today to discuss how we can help.

Solicitors are respected professionals and generally held in high esteem. As such, they might be expected to secure favourable mortgage deals more easily than most. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, that’s not necessarily the case. Depending on the nature of your income, it might be tricky to prove to lenders just how much you are earning, which impacts on your ability to borrow the amount you need. Also, many high-street lenders aren’t really geared up to deal with complex earning structures, and so specialist help is often required.

Challenges and advantages of getting a mortgage as a solicitor

A key element of any mortgage offer is the outcome of the lender’s affordability assessment. This is an assessment of the mortgage applicant’s ability to repay the loan, based on how much they have coming in, versus how much is going out. A solicitor’s income is often variable, and may include overtime, freelance work and/or bonus payments, and high-street lenders might not be prepared to take all of these income sources into account. That can mean that even though a solicitor is a high earner, only a portion of their income counts in the assessment. That impacts on how much they can borrow, meaning that in some cases they might not be able to buy their preferred property. The other side of the coin is that solicitors are qualified professional people with the potential for very high earnings, and that is attractive to a lender.

Mortgages for solicitors

Solicitors have access to the gamut of available mortgages, from repayment and interest-only through fixed rates, variable rates, flexible repayments and even self-build. The type they opt for will depend on their own personal circumstances. For example, if they want to budget carefully, then a fixed-rate mortgage might be best. If they think there might be an interest rate fall in the offing, then they might want to take a variable rate deal – while accepting the rate could also rise. If income itself is inconsistent, then a flexible mortgage – perhaps one that allows payment holidays – might be most suitable. Advice from a specialist broker will help people identify the best mortgage for them.

How do I prove my income?

If you are employed and paid a regular salary, perhaps because you are recently qualified, then copies of your payslips will suffice. Where it gets complicated is if you are self-employed or a partner in a bigger firm. In the case of a self-employed solicitor, lenders will generally want to see a minimum of two years’ accounts, prepared by a chartered accountant.

Anyone who is a partner in a global firm, and who perhaps doesn’t receive all their income in sterling, will face further complications. When they are assessing affordability, most lenders don’t generally take foreign currency income into account.

A highly experienced but newly self-employed solicitor may, ironically, face more issues getting a mortgage than a newly qualified solicitor they employ. It is here where specialist mortgage brokers, with access to lenders with an understanding of the particular circumstances solicitors face, can really make a difference.

How much can I borrow? And how much will it cost?

As we’ve already mentioned, how much a person can borrow is based on the lender’s affordability assessment. Some lenders – particularly smaller, more specialist lending companies – may be more flexible than others in terms of which income sources they will take into account when assessing affordability.

The other element that comes into play when assessing how much someone can borrow is their credit rating. This also affects how much a mortgage will cost. Someone deemed to be higher risk, based on their credit score, will not only be able to borrow less, they will typically have to pay a higher rate of interest. Similarly, someone with an exemplary credit score will be able to borrow more and the loan will cost less.

Mortgage Advice for Solicitors

Here at Just Mortgage Brokers we have an experienced team of independent specialist brokers with access to deals not available on the high street. These well-established lender relationships – backed up by an understanding both of the particular circumstances faced by solicitors, and access to the whole of the UK mortgage market – mean they are well placed to help you get the best available deal. Contact us today for free initial information and advice.

Architects might be newly qualified or long experienced, and either contractors, self-employed or employees. Add to that a complex and varied mortgage marketplace and knowing where to look to get  the best deal for you can be challenging. Different lenders have different criteria and many deals aren’t available on the high street. However, no matter what stage you are at in your career, and no matter whether you’re looking for a first-time mortgage, a remortgage or planning a home move, Just Mortgage Brokers can help. We have access to lenders from across the UK mortgage market – including some who specialise in providing mortgages to professionals, such as architects.

What challenges do architects face when looking for a mortgage?

As professionals who are often self-employed, architects can sometimes find it difficult to find the mortgage that’s right for them. That’s because even though they may enjoy a healthy income, the manner in which they earn it doesn’t easily fit with the “tick-box” approach of many high-street lenders. Rather than regular payments from an employer, they may have irregular contracts and commissions. On the plus side, degree-qualified professionals such as architects are often low-risk borrowers with the potential to be high earners, and that’s attractive to a lender.

FAQs

Potentially, all prospective borrowers can choose from the full range of available mortgages, no matter what their profession. There is no such thing as an “architect’s mortgage”. Repayment mortgages are the most popular today but interest-only mortgages, while less common, may be available where a suitable repayment vehicle is in place to repay the balance at the end of the term. In terms of mortgage products, fixed rate, tracker mortgages and other types of deal are all available to architects.

One type of mortgage that might potentially be attractive to architects is a self-build mortgage. These differ from a regular residential mortgage in that the mortgage funds, rather than being released as a single lump sum, are made available at defined stages in the build process, from the purchase of the land, through various stages of construction to completion.

Whatever type of mortgage you might be interested in, a specialist mortgage broker will be able to offer advice as to which is best for you.

How do I prove my income?

If you work for a company, then copies of your payslips will be accepted as proof of income. If you are a contractor, then you will usually need a copy of your current contract, your P60 (End of Year Certificate) for the last tax year or two, and three months’ worth of personal bank statements.

If you are self-employed, you will generally be expected to produce the last two years’ worth of accounts (perhaps more, depending on the lender) prepared by a chartered accountant. The lender may well work with an average earnings figure over the period the accounts cover, rather than accepting the latest year’s income.

It is also sometimes possible to get a mortgage with just a year’s worth of accounts; a mortgage broker with access to more specialist lenders is best placed to offer advice on that.

How much can I borrow? And how much will it cost?

When deciding how much they are prepared to offer, a lender will look at both your income and your expenditure to carry out an affordability assessment. Your credit rating will also have an impact on their decision. Being a degree-qualified professional is likely to work in your favour, as you may be deemed a lower-risk borrower.

Mortgage advice for architects

Just Mortgage Brokers has a team of qualified, professional brokers with many years of experience helping architects find the best mortgage for them. Contact us for impartial advice about the best type of mortgage to suit your unique circumstances. We can deal with the process from beginning to end, providing a seamless and effortless experience from initial enquiry to receiving the keys to your new home.