Mortgage News

It seems to be the right time to invest in Dubai

2009-06-09T08:19:00.000-07:00

Dubai’s house prices dropped 35% over a year earlier, and 42% over a quarter earlier.
Have a look at this page, it gives a good overview of what the international market is at the moment and wether it's the right time or not to apply for a mortgage.
http://www.globalpropertyguide.com/press-relations/House-price-falls-during-year-to-end-Q1-2009-the-worst-ever

Mortgage Information For The Healthcare Industry

2009-06-04T04:13:00.000-07:00

Click on the title to have a look at this post regarding the way The Mortgage Explorer advisers have built strong relations with the Healthcare industry wether it is for home or practice purchasing. By giving independent mortgage advice to doctors, dentists, chiropractors and many other healthcare professionals.
Please feel free to contact us for any free advices needed regarding your mortgage or your insurance.

2009-05-08T04:04:00.000-07:00

This is an introductionary video

International Mortgages

2009-05-07T23:45:00.000-07:00

It can be easy to get an international mortgage as an expat in order to buy or refinance properties abroad. One of the big advantage is that you can choose the currency you want to borrow in: Euro, Sterling etc...
Let a registered mortgage adviser give you a good advice regarding your investment.

Tax Efficient Mortgages For Self Employed Professionals

2009-05-07T12:01:00.000-07:00

Ok, so you are a self employed healthcare professional paying tax at the highest rate? How can you turn a mortgage into a highly tax efficient tool?

Look for an independent mortgage adviser who can understand your tax status - not just getting you a mortgage and earning his/her commission.

For example at The Mortgage Explorer they have devised a tax efficient product that would project some '000s savings over the lifetime of a mortgage. Since 2005 many dentists have benefitted from this.

Beckett unveils £400m FTB scheme

2008-12-16T01:02:00.000-08:00

Financial benefits to be had by British owners of overseas properties
As George W Bush bids farewell to the G20 Group and Gordon Brown disguises himself as Santa Claus with his tax cuts, there is a voice in the wilderness - that of George Osbourne the Shadow Chancellor warning about the slide of the Pound.

Pity he only found that out. The Pound in 2007 could bring in 220 Japanese Yen when converted. Today it will convert at 145 Japanese Yen. The Pound has dropped by a third against the Yen – more or less against the other major currencies such as the Euro or US Dollar. This may not be happy reading for people planning to go abroad on holiday but it is music to the ears of British exporters.

It can also sound like a symphony to the ears of all those lucky British who bought abroad in the past 10 years. Now through the slide in the value of Sterling they will see their foreign assets grow in value. But that’s not all because there is more silver to be had for those who took out a foreign currency mortgage to purchase their home abroad. You may well ask how. Simple: convert your foreign mortgage to a Sterling one secured against your foreign home. The advantage for a UK based owner whose income is in Sterling will have eliminated the risk of currency fluctuation, benefit from lower interest lower in Sterling term and as mentioned above see their foreign based asset grow. For those owners whose income is in a major currency then the Sterling mortgage payment will also prove beneficial. However it is important to stress that in this latter case risk of currency fluctuation exists and can be sudden.

How it all started?

2008-12-02T01:40:00.001-08:00

How it all started?
When I was recently visiting London, England I noted that Britain’s Channel 4 Television had a programme called How It All Started. This related the beginning of the World with Big Bang kicking off and thereafter life followed etc, etc
This gave me the idea of relating how The International Explorer came to being. Unlike the day when Big Bang occurred, this was a calm late Autumn evening in the New Forest area on the south coast of England. We had been running a mortgage business there for about eight and a half years. The company known as The Mortgage Explorer had been dealing, and still deals, with all aspects of UK’s residential, commercial and investment mortgage enquiries. We were just about to close when the following email arrived:

Looking to buy a 500,000 CAD property in Vancouver, Canada. Already own a property in Sydney Australia, no mortgage, valued at 400,000 AUD. Combined income of £80,000 p.a. Would like to rent out the property for a few years before moving into it. (UNQUOTE).

The clients were married – he was from Australia. She was from Canada. They lived and worked in London on a working permit. What they did not say in the email was that they had no deposit.

We had never done a mortgage for a foreign based property but were not about to say no. My colleagues and I decided instead that we would apply the same principle as we had done at The Mortgage Explorer and extend it to cover the World. But hey! This was different: no deposit, applicants from two different hemispheres, they might have shared a roof in England but the properties they were buying, were diagonally opposite in the Pacific Ocean. There is no better thing in life than a challenge. We took it on:

We found an International lender that would agree to re mortgage the flat in Sydney and upon doing so release capital. This was used as the deposit on the flat in Vancouver, Canada. The clients were given the choice to have the two mortgages in Pound Sterling as they earned in that currency, in Australian Dollars as the first flat was rented out in Sydney with the rent in Aussie Dollars and the mortgage in Canada in Canadian Dollars as the flat were to be let out in that currency. They chose the last two choices so as to alleviate the risk of currency fluctuation which can be sudden sometimes.

Finally to comply totally with The Mortgage Explorer’s philosophy on tax efficiency we researched the tax rules in Australia and Canada. We found that as both flats were being let out with taxable rental incomes there was room to claim tax relief on the interest paid on the loans incurred.

The whole business took 5 weeks to complete bearing in mind that Christmas and the end of the year festivities came along too. Upon receiving a thank you card from the clients with a cheque for our broker’s fee and reflecting on how we had experienced our Big Bang we decided to launch The International Explorer. Today 30 months after its launch The International Explorer covers 18 countries where the World’s citizens can buy or re finance properties in any of the major currencies. Faithful to our roots we also and forever seek tax efficiency whenever and wherever feasible for these clients.

Borrow and Protect

2008-12-02T01:35:00.000-08:00

At a time when credit is short and banks are running scared from lending you would be forgiven to dismiss this blog’s title. But the following case study will I hope, demonstrate the need for using banks’ money whenever it is accessible and affordable.

Shrink your mortgage rate and save yourself ’000s

2008-11-25T03:52:00.001-08:00

With rates at a 50 year low in UK you may question how savings can benefit from low interest rates. You can if you have an offset, current account or a flexi mortgage with drawdown facilities. These mortgages allow you to put any savings into the mortgage or in an adjoining offset bank account.

As Sterling goes down on the horizon look for its silver lining

2008-11-18T08:04:00.000-08:00

Financial benefits to be had by British owners of overseas properties
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Networking at the service of our clientele

2008-11-18T08:00:00.001-08:00

Gateway for our clients to other sectors of the financial services through new affiliation with independent financial advisory firms.
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An All Weather Mortgage

2008-11-18T07:56:00.000-08:00

Louis latest experience of the changing times and his ongoing committment to his clients.
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