Expats returning home and needing a mortgage should use a broker

If you’re an expat thinking of returning to the home country and purchasing property via a mortgage, a recent survey claims many are missing out by going directly to a lender.

Repatriating is a big decision for any expat who’s lived overseas for a long period of time, and it’s easy to lose touch with new laws relating to home ownership and other aspects of house purchase. A recent survey approached over 1,000 UK expatriate borrowers, concluding that over 30 per cent of those who used a lender without taking advice could have done better using an independent advisor.

It’s true the independent financial advice sector has a tarnished reputation nowadays due to the high number of scams, scandals and outright frauds involving expat victims who’ve lost their nest-eggs as a result, but laws have been tightened and the general public is now far more aware of the dangers of not checking out potential advisers and their companies. The results of the survey will be used to tackle public misconceptions about independent mortgage advisors in the hope the sector will be seen as friend rather then foe as regards helping prospective purchasers save money.

One fact to remember if you’re planning to purchase a property is that independent advisors are able to access deals not available to the general public, including those aimed at the self-employed and those for borrowers who’re in their retirement years and have no beneficiaries. Other results from the survey included those of respondents who’d used a specialist advisor, with almost all respondents saying they were satisfied with the outcome and would use a specialist again if necessary.