First-time buyers 'need to seek advice'

Date:Friday 30th January 2009
Author: Max Freedman

The importance of getting professional mortgage advice for first-time buyers has been stressed by an expert.

According to Catherine Hearnden of MyMortgageDirect, it is "absolutely vital" that people purchasing their first property seek assistance in doing so.

Ms Hearnden urged first-time buyers to see independent mortgage brokers in order to get advice on the whole of the mortgage market and to have it explained properly.

She said that using newspapers or the internet was limited as charts and tables could not display all the necessary data.

"I fail to see how a first-time buyer can go and sort themselves out a mortgage if they have never bought before, they are not aware of the terminology and they have never been through the process before," Ms Hearnden commented.

Recently, Halifax carried out a study of first-time buyers' understanding of various mortgage terms.

It discovered that one-third were unable to say what a KFI (Key Facts Illustration) was.