Manchester Housing News - Part 2

A second option, understood to have been favoured by Mr Burnham, would put the consultation back until early next year.

That raised questions among leaders over the impact on the local elections next May, however, while some councils - including Oldham and Stockport - could need longer than others to revisit their own particularly controversial proposals.

As a result a third, even longer delay, putting back consultation until next June, is also on the table.

That would mean no final draft would be published until at least December 2018 - and nothing formally adopted until Spring 2020.

Sources close to Mr Burnham said no decision had been reached on the timetable following Friday’s meeting, but stressed extra time was needed to get it right.

Last year’s consultation on the first draft drew 25,000 responses, huge numbers of which opposed building on the green belt. There was also considerable criticism of the plan’s methodology.

Mr Burnham’s office also believes the first version paid too little attention to building high-density housing in town centres, although attracting developers to those areas - where there is currently little investor interest - is not expected to be straightforward.

He believes the plan does not dovetail clearly enough with the region’s long-term visions for transport and affordable housing.

Delaying the plan in order to meet the mayor’s promises will raise questions over why last year’s consultation, which cost at least £80,000, was not put off until after he was elected.
[with thanks to https://www.facebook.com/manchestermortgages/]


Meanwhile - in signs of emerging tensions following the mayoral election - it is understood around half the region’s council bosses do not want to see the plan delayed, particularly those confident in their existing proposals. More than one senior insider suggested Mr Burnham had underestimated the level of work needed to fully re-think and re-write the plan, as pledged in his manifesto. One warned the absence of such a masterplan would harm investor confidence, particularly in the wake of Brexit, since developers and businesses would not know where they stood. The idea of delaying until 2020 was ‘ridiculous’, they added. A second said it was causing ‘frustration’ since ‘the timetable already existed’, adding: “Andy was fully briefed on this plan as an MP but he didn’t understand until now what he would have to deliver.” Individual councils are now carrying out an initial review of their own parts of the draft masterplan, which originally included development on green belt in every part of the region. That includes looking at land not currently included in green belt that could be re-designated in order to make up for losses elsewhere. (source: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/greater-manchesters-controversial-housing-masterplan-13288112)

Manchester Housing News - Part 1

A rift has emerged among town hall chiefs and new mayor Andy Burnham over how quickly to plough ahead with the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF)

Greater Manchester’s controversial 20-year development masterplan could be delayed by well over a year so council bosses can go back to the drawing board.

A rift has emerged among town hall chiefs and new mayor Andy Burnham over how quickly to plough ahead with the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF).

Officials are eyeing up a major rewrite fallowing of Mr Burnham’s manifesto pledges and public concern over green belt.

One option now under discussion is to aim for it to come into force in Spring 2020, considerably later than the December 2018 date originally intended.

But some council bosses are opposed to the delay, believing it will harm investor confidence in the region.

The GMSF - the region’s long term development blueprint - caused a storm when it was unveiled in draft form last year due to the dozens of greenfield and green belt sites earmarked for new housing and businesses.

Council chiefs now believe it was not clear enough in its vision, while also accepting some green sites will need to be removed due to public opposition.

(source: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/greater-manchesters-controversial-housing-masterplan-13288112) A private meeting of combined authority leaders last week saw three new potential timetables put forward for the plan so it can be rewritten. One option would involve consulting on a new draft this autumn, a couple of months later than originally planned, before submitting to government a year later in the hope of adopting it in September 2019.

New Housing Development - Ramsbottom

Attention all people looking for a home in a really good area - there's a new housing development being built in Stubbins, Ramsbottom.

The developer is Eccleston Homes and details of the development are up at http://www.ecclestonhomes.co.uk/developments/chatterton-place/.

The development, off of Bolton Road North, Ramsbottom has the BL0 0NB postcode which puts it right in the middle of one of the most affluent and up and coming areas of Lancashire. Situated on the Lancashire / Greater Manchester boarder it has excellent motorway links, local shops and good schools.

As yet I have no details of how much the housing is going to cost but if you bookmark the above site and check back often you should soon learn more details.

If you are interested in buying one of these houses or a similar one in the Ramsbottom / Stubbins area you should also consider the areas of Holcombe, Helmshore and Edenfield. These are 3 villages with quaint charm that have a lot going for them.

If you need a mortgage, then get in touch, there are many excellent mortgage brokers in Manchester who will be able to help you.

Wigan and Bury Mortgage Brokers, Manchester and Lancashire

Here's a question that recently came into us. The person is looking for mortgage brokers who can secure them a deal in either the Wigan or Bury areas of Greater Manchester / Lancashire.

I'm looking to get a mortgage and wonder if you can help me? I'm wanting to move into the Manchester area - perhaps around Bury or Wigan. I'm a first time buyer and am looking for a mortgage of about £120,000. I have a deposit of £45,000 and wonder if this will be enough?

I've tried some high street lenders such as HSBC and RBS but there's a ridiculous waiting list of several months. I've seen the house I'd like to buy and I need a decision on whether I can get a mortgage or not - I can't wait for HSBC or RBS - they take too long. Hopefully you can help me find a mortgage? I was recommended to you by a friend who also lives in Manchester.

I'd probably prefer to live in the Wigan area rather than Bury and have found some 3 bedroom houses in the Haigh, Aspull and Tyldesley areas. The prices are above £150 so it's a bit of a stretch but I reckon I should be able to find myself a mortgage broker who can sort me out with a good deal.

I've been reading your blog and noticed that in one post you mentioned Manchester Mortgages. I found a general Manchester portal of mortgage brokers too at http://www.manchester.com/money/mortgage_brokers_advisors.php so I will try the phone numbers on there and look at the web site.

In the meantime if you can get back to me with what criteria you need to find me a mortgage in the Wigan or Bury areas that would be great!

Levenshulme and West Didsbury Mortgages

Levenshulme and West Didsbury and up and coming areas of Manchester where the demand for property is high and mortgage approvals are at an all time high. Manchester mortgage brokers like Manchester Mortgages are getting mortgage approvals for many types of customer weekly. Levenshulme is set 4 miles south of the metropolis centre on Stockport street, a main route to the south of Manchester.

Residing in Levenshulme Levenshulme is a vibrant vicinity with a good blend of housing and numerous groups.

There is an amazing variety of neighborhood stores, eating places, antiques stores and offerings alongside busy Stockport street, and a huge Asda grocery store in close by Longsight.

Public shipping is superb, with regular buses along Stockport street to the colourful city centre, with its employment, leisure and amusement centers. There are ordinary trains to Manchester and Stockport from Levenshulme station.

Cringle Fields and Crowcroft park at either cease of the place provide inexperienced space and lesiure centers. houses to rent in Levenshulme

There are round 1,100 houses rented out via not-for-profit landlords like housing institutions and housing trusts. Getting a mortgage is easier if you use a broker.

West Didsbury
West Didsbury is ready 4 miles south of the town centre, on the east facet of Princess street, a prime path into the metropolis from the M56 and the toll road network. living in West Didsbury

It's just over a mile to the wide type of shops, banks, post places of work, bars and restaurants in Chorlton or Didsbury.Mortgage arrangers Manchester Mortgages have an office here.

There are extra neighborhood offerings in Northenden a pleasing mile walk away across one of the neighborhood golfing courses.

There are very common buses alongside Barlow Moor road to Didsbury and Chorlton, the town centre and the university, and masses of buses along Princess street to the city centre and to Wythenshawe and the airport. houses to lease in West Didsbury

There are round 180 homes rented out via no longer-for-earnings landlords like housing institutions and housing trusts.

Struggling to get a mortgage?

If you are finding it difficult to get a mortgage, you can either struggle a lot or a little. Most of us would prefer the least amount of effort and tips available on http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/boost-mortgage-chances provide some good advice on active steps you can take if you are finding it difficult to get a mortgage.

But, and there is a big but, there are other avenues open to you that sites like Money Saving Expert would prefer not to tell you about. These sites are mortgage brokers and advisors who are independent or 'whole of market' as the latest ludicrous phrase from the FCA comes into use.

Using this blog post as a case study, it can be easily demonstrated that independent mortgage brokers are far better placed to find suitable and competitive mortgages for all types of home buyer. Wythenshawe - part of Greater Manchester that includes the airport is an area of huge economic growth and has a very active housing market. If you were to approach a bank or building society to lend you the money to buy a property you would be letting yourself in for paying higher rates and getting a much worse deal than you would if you were to use one of the independent brokers.

Best Mortgage Deals (Manchester)

So what are the best mortgage deals currently available in the UK? Many people use the advice on Money Saving Expert and their advice can be found at https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/best-buys/, but this is a countrywide assessment. Area specific deals exist, often supplied by micro lenders who have an in depth knowledge about certain geographical locations, one such area is Wythenshawe, but Greater Manchester is a property hotspot and local experts and brokers Manchester Mortgages (go to http://manchestermortgages.co.uk/ are able to provide excellent mortgage advice that will beat any offer from a large lender such as the Halifax or Virgin Money.

So whilst Money Saving Expert will provide decent UK wide advice, my recommendation is to also use a local mortgage provider / broker if you know the specific area you wish to live in. Using Manchester as an example (as it's where I live) I know that there are parts of Manchester where a lot of houses are being sold - such areas are Wythenshawe, Bury and the Wigan area. Now, the big UK web sites will give you a best rate of 2.39% fixed for the first 5 years of a 25 year term, but a Manchester mortgage broker was able to find me 2.19% fixed for 3 years with only a 12.5% deposit required. If I had a mortgage deal already, this deposit fell to 10%.

It's worth doing the extra maths and using a local or whole of market mortgage broker, especially in Manchester as the savings can be huge.

Does a poor credit rating prevent a mortgage ?

A common question mortgage advisers get asked is about credit scores and if a bad credit rating can prevent getting a mortgage to buy a house. Here's a typical question:

"I'm interested in seeing if I can obtain a mortgage but am worried my credit rating may be a problem.

Please could I make arrangements to speak to someone in this regard."

So in this enquiry the person obviously has some problem with some form of debt. Perhaps they are young and have to repay their student debt, or perhaps during the boom years of the noughties they overstretched themselves financially and to bridge the gap took out loans on 0% credit cards which they are now struggling to repay.

The subject of debt is of course huge, with many UK workers now on the minimum wage and zero hours contracts, what hope is there for buying a house for people in this position? The reaction has been that many people are now forced to rent houses because they can't afford the deposit to buy a house. The hour prices on the property market are also inflated as many people have chosen to invest in bricks and mortar rather than trust their money on the stock market. This has created a house price bubble as too many people, a second house is their investment and was bought when house prices were high. This keeps house prices (unrealistically) high as no one wants to loose money on their investment.

So, buying a house in todays Britain is tricky. It's tricky is you're in full time employment and have a good credit history. It's even more difficult if your circumstances aren't ideal and you think your credit rating may be a problem. Fortunately there is good news: mortgage advisers like Manchester Mortgages (http://manchestermortgages.co.uk/) are experts at finding mortgages for people with poor credit ratings. Most high street lenders will not consider many people with poor credit histories for a mortgage: this is a mistake. It's a mistake because people are increasingly running short of money and are having to work harder to make ends meet. This produces the follow-on effect that fewer people will be eligible for high street mortgages, this presents a huge opportunity for the likes of Manchester Mortgages and similar companies.

The difference an independent mortgage lender can make is huge, and in my opinion the days of the high street mortgage business model are over: these services are old and out-dated. An independent mortgage adviser will look at hundreds of mortgages from a huge number of different lenders and will also speak to them personally, describing people's credit situations (see the page specific to bad credit mortgages at http://manchestermortgages.co.uk/poor-credit-mortgages/) in detail and filling in a mortgage application with the correct information to ensure that a mortgage offer is given rather than rejected.

So in summary then, having a poor credit rating will certainly cause difficulty in getting a mortgage, and the best way of getting around the problem is to use an independent broker as described above.



Wythenshawe - A Great Place To Buy A House

I've recently been working closely with Alan Dee, a mortgage broker from Wythenshawe, whose company, 'Manchester Mortgages' arrange a lot of mortgage deals for house buyers not only in Wythenshawe but also the more expensive surrounding areas of Cheadle and Gatley (see http://manchestermortgages.co.uk/wythenshawe-mortgage-broker-advisor/ for more).

In a recent Manchester Evening News article (http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/wythenshawe-the-new-didsbury-house-9419435), Wythenshawe was termed the new Didsbury - a rather posh and Bohemian area of Manchester.

I met with Alan for a coffee in Wythenshawe's busy town centre and discussed the apparent housing boom that was going on all around us.

"It's only a few years ago that nobody wanted anything to do with Wythenshawe" said Alan, "there were lot's of empty homes and the area had a very bad reputation". Recently though this has changed and I asked Alan why he thought this was. "It has a lot to do with the development of Manchester Airport, which is only a couple of miles away. This has bought a huge amount of new business to the area, and that good because house prices in Wythenshawe are still affordable, whilst many other  areas such as Cheadle and Gatley aren't. Also, there's been a lot of redevelopment of the Wythenshawe as a whole - many of the older properties that were is disrepair have been pulled down and whole areas have been redeveloped. This had attracted many new people into the area - it's a great place for first time buyers and buy to let housing."

I went on to ask Alan how difficult it was to get a mortgage in Wythenshawe? "It depends who you go to" he offered. "The high street lenders like the banks will still make you jump through hoops and then it'll take several months to even get the mortgage application process up and running. With an independent or 'whole of market' mortgage broker like Manchester Mortgages, we can give people the best deals available from all the lenders and usually get a mortgage offer out to people within a week".

Was it difficult using a mortgage advisor like Manchester Mortgages I asked Alan? "No, it's not hard at all, we do all the paperwork and fill in the application forms. Also as we have so much experience in providing mortgages we can advise people on the best type of deals and even tailor deals specifically to suit them. A big area for us is getting mortgages for people with bad credit ratings. Many banks and high street lenders won't touch people with a large amount of debt, we do, and we often find them mortgages too" said Alan.

After our coffee I took a walk around Wythenshawe a noticed that it really is an up and coming area - full of potential and promise for the future.



Mortgage Terminology

I came across this very helpful guide about the terms used in mortgage brokering.

WHATS A FIXED PRICE ?
When properties are advertised at a fixed price this means that the seller ( vendor ) is looking for that price and not looking to negotiate / accept a lower figure – therefore if the asking price is £ 200,000 that is what the seller wants – it does not stop you however offering less.

WHAT DOES OIRO MEAN ?
OIRO means ‘ Offers in the Region Of ‘  therefore if a property is advertised at OIRO £ 200,000 the seller is looking for a figure around this amount but would indicate that they would accept a lower figure – for example £ 190,000 or £ 195,000 so always worth starting off with a lower offer.

WHAT DOES OIEO MEAN ?
OIEO means ‘ Offers in Excess Of ‘ therefore if a property is advertised as OIEO £200,000 the seller is looking for offers above this figure – for example £ 210,000/ £215,000 etc – again through there is no reason why not to offer a amount below the £ 200,000.

WHAT DOES GUIDE PRICE MEAN ?
A Guide Price is usually associated with a property that is going to be sold at Auction – therefore the Auctioneer has advertised a price that they feel is the minimum the property should sell for – usually in reality properties at auction usually sell for much more than their Guide Price and is a way of attracting purchasers to the auction.  

WHAT DOES CORPORATE SALE MEAN ?
When a property is advertised as a Corporate Sale it usually means that the property has been repossessed by a Bank or Building Society as the mortgage client has defaulted on the mortgage payments and the lender has appointed a company to sell the property to repay the mortgage / loan outstanding on it.

Corporate property sales are usually done via an Estate Agency, the main disadvantage is that you have to go through the Estate Agent to negotiate the price with the company and this can be a very slow process and even once your offer has been accepted the property will remain on the market until you exchange contracts – therefore you could have paid for a valuation, solicitors search fees and lenders admin fees and about to exchange when the corporate company accepts a higher offer from  somebody else.   

MAKING OFFERS
Always consider making a lower offer whatever the price or condition put on it – start low – you can always increase the offer at a later date.