Big Thanks to Sharon W - www.themortgageservicegroup.com

I wanted to take the time to post my experiences arranging a mortgage through Sharon at  www.themortgageservicegroup.com

At the beginning, we decided we had enough knowledge and experience to be able to sort ourselves a mortage without paying a fee for a broker. We first started planning our motgage around 1 year before completion and felt we were more than prepared to get the mortgage sorted without a broker. We personally visited a number of banks and got some (what we thought) good contacts. We felt we were very prepared and knew what to ask and when.

We managed to get a number of very good deals offered to us direct from the banks in Spain for our mortgage (namely CAM and Bancaja). Everything seemed great until around 1 month before completion when they totally changed the deals they were offering. In fact, they decided they didnt even want to offer us the amount we needed at all. The cynical side of me feels they did this as they didnt think we had enough time to sort anything else out.

Through the above process, we were in contact with Sharon, following a recommendation, and she was happy to give us advice and other quotes - even though it appeared we were not going to be using her services.

So, the month before completion, having been given the terrible final offers, we contacted Sharon again and asked her if she could help us out at very short notice. She managed to get everything sorted out in time with a new bank. The deal wasnt quite as good as we originally were being offered by CAM / Bancaja - but those deals were non existent anyway!

She spent four weeks working on it for us, and were emailing/calling each other MANY (and I mean many) times a day. It seemed like we had our own personal, full time broker. Nothing was too much trouble for her.

Me and my family cannot say enough good things about her to be honest. All problems that came up, she handled very quickly. We had a last minute hiccup with bank draft charges from the bank. A couple of calls later, between Sharon, ourselves and the bank and that was sorted - saving another 500 Euro for us. If we had been dealing direct, I dont think we would have resolved that problem so easily.

So, for anyone thinking as we did that you dont need a broker, think again. When it comes down to it, having someone who deals with this sort of thing on a daily basis is invaluable. The small fee Sharon charges is more than worth it. I dont usually do this testimonial type thing, but thats because I dont think I have ever had this level of service before.

Give Sharon a shout she'll sort you out. Hope my story makes sense!

Thank you soooo much for your kind words and it was an absolute pleasure working with/for you!  Wish you all the very best and many happy holidays!!

Best Wishes,

Hi,

I will be looking for a mortgage in the future, could  you give me the contact details for Sharon. Is the company  based in Spain or the UK?

Thank you
Mandy

Sorry but I cannot say the same!

lipservice,

Are you referring to the post made by superdon in April?  Obviously I am concerned to see an 'unhappy' post,  and looking at the previous posts you have made I see you sign them as Dr J Monroe, having bought a villa on Tenerife.  I can honestly say we have never had previous dealings so I am very confused by your post!  Could you please kindly clarify? Thank you in advance,

Dont get drawn in Sharon - Lipservice is just trying to flog his multicurrency mortgages - see other posts! I have a couple of clients with these yen mortgages who have had a nightmare with them, also approached by someone wanting me to promote them earlier this year, I didnt like what I saw when I looked more into them

Ok if you know what you are doing, not so ok if you just want to buy a property, pay the mortgage and live.

Have a good weekend Sharon

Thanks a lot Rixxy; really appreciate your post, you have put my mind at rest.  Two words spring to mind about that post: childish and unprofessional!

You too have a great weekend,

Yeah, he's a spammer so don't worry about it.

Justin

Hi Sharon,

It seems spanish banks have belatedly decided to look at disposable income as a verifier for mortgage repayments and offers more than loan to value %.  Do you know the multiplier or how much NET income you are supposed to have left in order to afford each 10000 euros of mortgage?

 Hi. It depends. 

They mostly use what they call a DTIR calculation. (Debt to Income Ratio) it is set between 30% and 40% depending on which bank you are talking about.

If you have a monthly take home income of £3000, your total mortgage commitments, including the new one, should be between 30% and 40% of that. 

Using 40% as an example, they will allow you tao have £1200 in mortgage payments. If your exixting mortgage in the UK is say £700, you can then have a mortgae over here for the balance, i.e, up to £500.

It is sometimes a tad more complex than that, and often used by banks as a reason to decline a mortgage. A few weeks ago we had 4 different banks look at the same clients and all came up with a different figure. 

Hope that makes sense. If not., PM me.

 Hi Justin,   Thank you also for your reply!

Hi Jewel,

There has always been income multipliers, in some way, shape or form and different lenders have different formulas for calculating this.    Current guideline is between 30%-50 % of net disposable income less ALL fixed debt; mortgages (including proposed Spanish mortgage) personal and car loans plus between 3%-5% of outstanding credit card balances. There are a couple of lenders that consider your gross income;  an example of multiplier is 4.25 x joint or 5 x single. As well as this - very important - consideration, lenders are now looking at bank statements much more closely and if there are any minus balances (regardless of any overdraft facility)  or low balances they could refuse an application on this basis alone(!) even if the applicants meet the DTI ratio!   In essence applicants are being assessed not only on their affordability but also on their financial conduct as well and all lenders will require a full credit report to support the application.  

You are right about the overdrafts, Sharon.

We once had a client who was constantly £3k overdrawn but well within their £5k limit. In the UK this would be seen as being financially responsible.

Not here.

It got booted. They work their overdrafts differently in Spain.