Buying a house, whether it is as a home to live in, as an investment for the future or as a source of rental income (buy to let), is probably the most expensive purchase that most of us will make in our lives. Some people are able to fund such purchases from their own savings, but for most of us, buying a house will require us to arrange a mortgage.

Like any other loan, a mortgage involves you borrowing money that you pay back with interest over a period of time. However, there is one big difference which is that a mortgage is secured against your property which means that if for any reason you can’t repay it, the lender can sell your property to recover their money.

Many organisations offer mortgages including banks, building societies and specialist lenders. While there are also many different types of mortgage, they all broadly fall in to two categories:

Repayment mortgages: The payment you make each month goes towards reducing the amount you owe and paying the associated interest. Over time the outstanding loan gets smaller so that at the end of the period it is paid off. However, in the early years you are mainly meeting the cost of the interest, so if in that time you want to repay the mortgage or move house, you'll find that the amount you owe won't have gone down by very much.

Interest-only mortgages: The payment you make each month only covers the interest charges without repaying any of the loan so you need to find another way to repay the loan at the end of the term,. This is usually done by arranging a separate investment or savings plan which must be checked regularly to ensure that at the end of the term you'll have enough money to pay off the loan. Your monthly mortgage payments will be lower than with a repayment mortgage but remember you are not paying off the debt and you will still need to pay in to some other form of investment or saving.

There are a number of considerations that you should think about when you are looking for a mortgage such as:

• What type of mortgage will suit you best?
• How much can you comfortably afford to borrow?
• What would happen if your circumstances change (e.g. you lose your job)?

Given the importance of making the right decisions, and the consequences of making the wrong ones, it is well worth getting help when arranging a mortgage. Remember, your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage. Your Independent Financial Adviser or Mortgage Adviser should be able to help you answer these questions and to find the mortgage solution which is right for you.

To find out about the full range of services that we offer to help home buyers, please visit our What We Do section or Contact Us today. Alternatively, if you would like to know more about who we are and our fees then please see our About Us section.