Musings of a London Property Finder

Sophie Ridge writing in The News of The World on Sunday reported that Northern Rock aims to fast-track repossessions, sending in the bailiffs to 7,500 homes by Christmas.  The bank will take a particularly hard line with customers who are not expected to be able to get themselves back into the black.

The combination of 125pts mortgages, illness, no mortgage payment or income protection insurance and the end of low fixed rates means more and more people are falling behind with payments.

The NOTW quotes that 18,900 families lost homes in the first six months of the year and that the Council of Mortgage Lenders prediction remains 45,000.  Some of those affected will be Buy To Let investors losing an investment rather than a family home.

It would seem to us better for repossession to raise it’s ugly head sooner rather than later,  however painful it may be, because people tend to run up even more debt borrowing on credit cards with very high interest rates to make mortgage payments which exacerbates their liability in the long run if they aren’t able to turn things around.  This London Property Finder advises again make sure your mortgage is protected by appropriate insurance.

Technorati Tags: Arrears, Buy-to-let, London Property Finder, Mortgage arrears, Mortgage protection insurance, Repossessions

Tags: Arrears, Buy-to-let, London Property Finder, Mortgage arrears, Mortgage protection insurance, Repossessions

Musings of a London Property Search Agent

A plethora of stories about repossessions have emerged in recent days with Shelter quoted liberally in The Times about those with a second charge mortgage amid news that the FSA has urged lenders to treat customers sympathetically and avoid moving too quickly to repossess. In an interview in The Times yesterday, Shelter insisted that the predicted 45,000 repossessions this year is a long way short of the actual figure since it doesn’t take into account those who go into arrears because of second charges which can be for second homes, buy-to-lets, cars or more loans. However according to The Times,

“The Finance and Leasing Association, which represents 75 per cent of second-charge lenders, said its members did repossess hundreds of homes last year, but on a more modest scale than that suggested by Shelter. It said its members repossessed nearly 800 properties that were not included in the CML’s (Council of Mortgage Lenders) figures. ”
 

Although repossessions forecast this year will be 2/3 that of the worst years of the early 90s, anecdotally, a significant proportion of those will be second homes or buy to lets, whereas in the 90s most repossessions involved people losing their main home.  To buy a new home now contact this London Property Search Agent
 

As for heavy-handed banks, it seems the culprits are predominantly specialist lenders, ie those dealing with buy to lets, mortgagees with adverse credit, self-certification lenders etc. By their very nature, many borrowers falling into this group would have been unable to borrow through a high street lender, which should at the very least give comfort to the masses with high street mortgages.
 

It is always sad going into a repossessed home. But they do provide opportunities particularly for first time buyers and those wanting to move to an area where they couldn’t afford a place on the open market. And if you are our client, we will have considered repossessed property as part of our search for you.
 

For nervous buyers – here are a few tips which shouldn’t be ignored.

• Take out mortgage protection and income protection insurance
• Don’t buy it from your lender
• Don’t overstretch
• Think about how your dream home could work for you if everything goes wrong

Technorati Tags: London Property Search Agent, London repossessions, Repossessions

Tags: London Property Search Agent, London repossessions, Repossessions