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Family-run, fee free mortgage broker helping first time buyers, home movers, remortgages, buy to let and self employed clients across the UK. FCA authorised.

Book a free call: as-mortgages.co.uk/book Alexander Southwell Mortgage Services Ltd is an mortgage broker business based in Southampton, Hampshire. Our team provide expert mortgage & financial advice tailored to your specific circumstances. We do not only pride ourselves on the proposition we offer but we also take great pride in the personal element of the whole process

From the initial appointment, to the point of you collecting your keys to moving into your new home. You will deal with the same broker throughout the process. First time buyers, Business owner Mortgages, Contractor Mortgages, Self employed mortgages, new build, help to buy. We are able to help all different type of clients. Contact us today to see how we can help you!

02/11/2026

The Your First Home scheme is now confirmed. Here's what we know.

At last week's Budget, the government confirmed the new scheme for first-time buyers in England:

- Deposits from 2.5% on eligible new-build homes
- Backed by a 20% government equity loan
- Only through developers signed up to the scheme
- Household income and local price caps apply

A 2.5% deposit is a big step down from saving 5% or 10%. But an equity loan is still borrowing, and it has to be paid back, so it is worth understanding exactly how it works before you reserve a plot.

Thinking about a new build? We can tell you whether you are likely to qualify and whether this is the right route for you.

DM us for a free chat - no fees, no pressure.

Call us on 03300 432428 or visit www.as-mortgages.co.uk

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

31/10/2026

Things scarier than a haunted house.

Forget ghosts in the attic. These are the things that genuinely keep homeowners up at night:

1. Your fixed rate quietly ending and rolling onto your lender's standard variable rate
2. A surprise payday loan from 2023 appearing on your credit file
3. An estate agent calling a box room "a generous second bedroom"
4. Finding out your mortgage offer expires next week and the chain has not moved
5. Applying to one bank, getting a no, and assuming that is the end of the road

The good news? Every one of these is fixable with a bit of planning and the right advice.

No tricks. Just treats. DM us for a free chat - no fees, no pressure.

Call us on 03300 432428 or visit www.as-mortgages.co.uk

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

24/10/2026

The things that actually kill a mortgage application. None of them are the takeaways. 🍕

Underwriters are not sitting there judging your Friday night Deliveroo. But there are six things that genuinely do cause problems - and most people only find out about them once an application is already in.

Swipe through. Save this. Then message us if any of them sound a bit familiar.

DM us for a free chat - no fees, no pressure.

Call us on 03300 432428 or visit www.as-mortgages.co.uk

23/10/2026

Your parents want the best for you. The mortgage market, however, has changed fairly significantly since they bought the house.

A loving fact-check:

"You need a 20% deposit" - Many lenders will consider 5%. A 95% mortgage is a real, accessible product for the right buyer. You do not need to save for a decade first.

"Mortgages are 25 years" - Plenty of people now take 30 or 35-year terms to keep monthly payments manageable. You pay more interest overall, yes - but it gets you into the home. You can always overpay later.

"Just wait for rates to come down" - Nobody has reliably timed the property market. Ever. The right question is not what rates might do. It is what is affordable and sensible for you, right now.

"Go to the bank you've banked with since you were 16" - Loyalty is lovely. It is not a mortgage strategy.

None of this is their fault. The world they bought in and the world you are buying in are genuinely different places.

Phone your parents - they will be delighted. Then phone us for the bit that has changed.

DM us for a free chat - no fees, no pressure.

Call us on 03300 432428 or visit www.as-mortgages.co.uk

21/10/2026

Your feed is lying to you. Lovingly, but still.

Boot rooms. Island kitchens with pendant lighting. A reading nook with an actual sheepskin. A utility room where things go in dirty and come out folded.

Your first home will probably have a combi boiler in an airing cupboard, a garden the size of a large bathmat, and a kitchen described by the estate agent as 'in need of modernisation.' Which, in estate agent, means the units are the colour of a 1993 school canteen.

And that is genuinely fine.

The homes on your feed are either heavily filtered, worth significantly more than your budget, or both. Buying a first home is not about matching an aesthetic. It is about getting on the ladder, in a place that works for your life, at a price that works for your finances.

A good broker helps you understand what you can genuinely afford - and sometimes it is more than you think.

The boot room can wait. The sheepskin definitely can.

Not sure where you stand on affordability? Let's have a chat - no fees, no pressure.

Call us on 03300 432428 or visit www.as-mortgages.co.uk

19/10/2026

The internet has already decided the Your First Home scheme is open. It is not.

The government announced it on 26 September and, to be fair, the broad shape is encouraging: a new equity loan scheme for first-time buyers in England, aimed at new-build homes from signed-up developers, with deposits expected to be as low as 2.5% backed by a 20% government equity loan - interest-free to begin with.

There will be a household income cap. There will be local property price caps. Those figures have not been published yet.

Full details are due at the Budget on 28 October. Until then, nobody - not us, not a developer's sales suite, not a very confident post on Threads - actually knows the numbers.

So: do not sign anything on a new-build on the strength of this scheme just yet.

What you can do is speak to us now. We will tell you whether you are likely to qualify once the detail lands, what your options look like in the meantime, and whether Help to Buy's younger sibling is actually the right route for you.

DM us for a free chat - no fees, no pressure.

Call us on 03300 432428 or visit www.as-mortgages.co.uk

14/10/2026

The survey came back. It mentioned damp. Everyone briefly panicked.

This is, if you've bought a house in the UK, an experience so common it may as well be part of the conveyancing process. The surveyor finds something. The word "damp" appears. The buyer rings the broker in a mild state of alarm. The seller says it's fine. The estate agent says everything is fine. Nobody is certain what fine means.

Here's what actually happens at this point - and what your options are:

- A down-valuation (where the surveyor values the property below your agreed purchase price) is a separate issue from a condition flag. Know which one you've got.
- If it's a condition flag only, your mortgage offer isn't automatically at risk - but depending on severity, the lender may add a retention: they hold back a portion of the mortgage funds until the issue is resolved.
- A retention might be £2,000 or it might be £15,000. That changes your completion-day sums, so flag it to your solicitor immediately.
- You can use a survey flag to renegotiate the purchase price. Politely. With a quote from a specialist. This is normal and perfectly reasonable.
- If the lender down-values the property, your LTV (loan-to-value) calculation changes - and your rate may change with it. We can help you understand the numbers before you make any decisions.

A survey flagging an issue isn't automatically a disaster. It's information. And information, handled properly, is useful.

If your survey has just landed and you're not sure what to do next, get in touch - we'll help you read it calmly. No fees, no pressure.

Call us on 03300 432428 or visit www.as-mortgages.co.uk

12/10/2026

He'd been told no three times. He almost stopped asking.

This is the story of a client who came to us after two high-street banks and a building society had each reviewed his application and politely declined. He was a sole trader - good income, three years of accounts, clean credit. On paper, nothing alarming.

The problem was his most recent year. His business had grown significantly - turnover up, profit up, everything pointing in the right direction. But because year two had been a quieter period, lenders using a two-year average were anchoring his income to a figure that no longer reflected reality.

He was being penalised for getting better at his job.

We found a lender whose criteria allowed the most recent year's figures to be used in full when there was a clear upward trend and a credible business reason for the growth. There was. It was straightforward once you knew where to look.

Offer issued. Purchase completed. He sent us a photo of the front door - warm pink, as it happens, which we took as a sign.

The right lender for your situation exists. You just need someone who knows where it is.

If you've been told no, or you're not sure whether to even try - DM us. No fees, no pressure, just a straight conversation.

Call us on 03300 432428 or visit www.as-mortgages.co.uk

10/10/2026

Nobody tells you that being a limited company director can mean your mortgage application looks nothing like your actual income.

You're profitable. The business is doing well. You pay yourself a small salary to be tax-efficient - which is completely sensible, and also, from certain lenders' perspectives, makes you look like you earn very little. Which is, to put it mildly, annoying.

Here's where it gets interesting.

Some lenders assess a director's income as salary plus dividends taken. Others will look at salary plus your share of the company's net profit - whether you drew it or not. That second approach can make an enormous difference to how much you can borrow.

Quick example: a director paying themselves £12,570 salary and £30,000 in dividends looks like a £42,570 earner to most lenders. But if your share of net profit was £90,000, the right lender assesses you on £102,570. At 4.5x, that's the difference between a £191k and a £461k mortgage offer.

Same person. Same business. Completely different answer depending on the lender.

This is exactly why going straight to your own bank - which will almost certainly use the restrictive method - costs limited company directors a significant amount of borrowing power they didn't know they had.

Sound familiar? Let's have a proper look at your numbers - no fees, no obligation.

Call us on 03300 432428 or visit www.as-mortgages.co.uk

09/10/2026

Your fix ends in six months. That means you should already be looking. Now.

Most people assume they need to wait until the final few weeks before they act. By then, you're scrambling - and scrambling is how you end up on your lender's standard variable rate, which tends to be somewhere between "not ideal" and "genuinely painful".

Here's what actually happens when you start early:

- Most lenders let you secure a new rate up to 6 months before your current deal ends
- You're not locked in immediately - if a better rate appears before you complete, a good broker can switch you across
- Starting early means no gap, no SVR, no nasty surprise on your first payment

The SVR - that's the Standard Variable Rate your lender moves you onto automatically if you do nothing - is typically 2 to 3 percentage points above the rate you've been enjoying. On a £250,000 mortgage, that's easily an extra £300 to £400 a month while you "get round to it".

Six months sounds like plenty of time. It goes faster than a chain collapses on a Friday afternoon.

Not sure when your deal ends or what your options are? DM us for a free chat - no fees, no pressure.

Call us on 03300 432428 or visit www.as-mortgages.co.uk

Address

NIX Business Centre, Suite 11, 2 Park Court, Abbey Park Industrial Estate
Southampton
SO519DH

Opening Hours

Monday	9:30am - 6pm
Tuesday	9:30am - 6pm
Wednesday	9:30am - 6pm
Thursday	9:30am - 6pm
Friday	9:30am - 6pm
Saturday	9:30am - 1pm

Website

https://as-mortgages.co.uk/, https://www.as-mortgages.co.uk/book

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