The growing success of Mortgage Advice Bureau, in Willerby, has seen it move to larger premises and expand on its 17-strong team. Customers won’t have to travel far to the new location, though, with the bigger offices next door to its previous home in Kingston Road, in a former estate agent’s. 

Business Principal Alex Knaggs, who has been offering mortgage and protection advice to customers for more than 20 years, said: “We’re already one of the largest mortgage brokers in the Hull area with 21 mortgage advisers, but this new mortgage shop has given us a greater high street presence and will enable us to add to our team.  We were delighted to find premises that gave us a blank canvas that meant we could tailor the office refurbishment to our own requirements. For our customers, our mortgage shop is a place they can drop in to and find a personal welcome and dedicated advice and support on finding a mortgage lender.”

Alex and the team were keen to stay in Willerby, having developed strong links with the local business community, estate agents and local residents during the past 14 years.

“We work with estate agents across Yorkshire and the North East. The fact that Hull is one of the UK’s top ten most affordable cities for first time buyers has meant that the housing market has remained buoyant locally, which has kept us busy and enabled us to grow the business.” Alex said. 

The company, which offers mortgage and protection advice in Hull, the wider East Riding of Yorkshire area and beyond, made the move at the beginning of September. This decision has already seen the business benefit from the new larger offices, reception space and client meeting rooms.

Among the wide raft of services provided by the Willerby branch - part of Mortgage Advice Bureau, a national network handling £12bn of mortgages annually – is its expertise in remortgaging. Homeowners might find there are times when they think about whether or not remortgaging would be right for them.

Those who took out a fixed rate mortgage will be paying the same amount every month, with the interest rate remaining the same. Once this initial term has ended they will go on to a standard variable rate (SVR) where they could end up paying a higher interest rate than previously. This is usually the time when home-owners might look to remortgage, in order to switch to a better mortgage deal. Perhaps they are on an interest only mortgage and want to move to a repayment mortgage. Generally speaking, their lender should be able to change this without the need to remortgage but if they cannot offer a deal they want, a full remortgage is a possibility.

A home-owner might want to move to a mortgage that has a better interest rate but sometimes the lender requires you to pay an early repayment charge before you can switch. It is important to weigh up the price of the early repayment charge against the costs you will be saving with the lower interest rate. If you now have a better paying job than you did when you took out your mortgage, meaning more disposable income, you may be able to make overpayments, but perhaps your current lender doesn’t allow you to. With this in mind, you might want to look at changing to a new mortgage with a lender who will allow you to do this.

Moving home can cause a lot of upheaval and can be very expensive by the time you have paid for all the fees and moving costs. Choosing to stay put and make home improvements can be a cost-effective way of getting the house you want, with remortgaging also a way to cover the cost of those improvements.

For the most part, though, homeowners tend to remortgage to take advantage of an improved rate as they near the end of a fixed term mortgage deal. So while remortgaging can be useful to help free up money, reduce your monthly bills or help you borrow more money, it may not be the best solution for everyone.

Whatever the reason you are considering remortgaging it is important to get the best advice.

 

Address: Mortgage Advice Bureau, 6 Kingston Road, Willerby, HU10 6BN.

Opening times: Monday to Friday 9am-5pm and Saturday, 9am-1pm.

Call: 01482 470444

Facebook: MortgageAdviceHull