Truly affordable independent mortgage advisors

Going from bank to bank was out of the question for me, time is precious... therefore the financial consultant did his job and got his money for it. We only paid a visit to the house bank, which initially had worse conditions. The saver wanted to keep up with the offer of the independent one, but that was out of the question for us out of fairness...

Hi all,

thank you very much for the extensive feedback.

Now to your comments without quoting everything:

If I consider the free consultants to be competent and actually independent, I would rather save the several k€ for a housewarming party. ;)

@Construction expert: The hint about the potential follow-up financing makes sense to me. Then I should be better off with the regional consultant due to local reputation, right?

The below 2% interest rate (specifically 1.94%) I got by “playing” with an online financing calculator, which I primarily used as a comparison test and kept in mind during the consultation. I am well aware that the actual interest rate is likely to differ from that. By the way, under 2% is available there with an interest rate lock of 10 years and a loan-to-value ratio below 70%. Perhaps in the simulation with the consultant we were at 70% (or above), then the tool used also spits out 2.04%.

As I said, it was only meant as a reference for me. For more precise financing, especially with regard to interest rate lock, possible splitting into several loans, maybe KfW etc., we would still come to that. Currently, I am adjusting some basics for myself such as buying or better building, as well as my overall limits. These apparently lie significantly above my own expectations. Let’s see.

Maybe a quick question about the limits (in this weather): We have been three for half a year. When the parental allowance expires, we probably have “only” €3,800 available net household income for one year. Depending on how my lady wants/can work afterwards, it rises to €4,200 - €5,500, with something in between probably being realistic. Roughly €160k (tendency growing) is fairly quickly available. My calculation so far was €350k for the house + 10% incidental costs (broker, notary, tax) - €150k equity = €235k loan. That corresponds to 67.14% loan-to-value and leads to under 2% for the 10-year loan. Now a consultant named a max limit of €600k on these numbers, at which point you’d really have to stretch yourself. Mathematically definitely somehow feasible but gut feeling says that is quite a lot. What do you think is realistic given the above data? Unfortunately, I lack (like most probably) experiential values. According to my calculations, we currently get by with €2k per month for absolutely everything (including all allocations of annual payments for insurances etc.) without warm rent. But it should grow over the years with the little one.

Thanks and best regards,

Mops

Maybe keep in mind that another child is coming and parental leave is due again. Then I wouldn’t want to be stuck with a 600k loan...

Your 235k seems moderate to me, maybe a bit more is conceivable.

lastdrop

For me, going from bank to bank was out of the question, time is precious

Oh yes, and comparisons as well as personal conversations are even more precious... ;-)

If "independent" financial advisors receive commissions from the referred bank, I would be cautious. You yourselves found an advisor whom we paid ourselves (about 1.5% of the referred loan amount). This one seemed a bit more motivated during the comparison :)

Paying these advisors yourself is definitely better, because free advisors are not as independent as they claim to be. They often tend to offer things where there are particularly good commissions.