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02/11/2026

What actually happens when we meet 6 months before your mortgage deal ends?

It's not just about finding you a new interest rate.

We'll review your current mortgage, discuss what's changed in your circumstances and look at your plans for the future.

Are you looking to borrow more money? Could we improve the terms of your mortgage? Would you benefit from changing the mortgage term or how you repay it?

From there, we'll explore your options. That might mean arranging a new mortgage with a different lender, or waiting until your current lender makes its own deals available.

We'll look at the monthly payments, costs and what's involved in each option, so you understand the process and can make an informed decision.

And if we secure a new deal early, I'll continue monitoring rates in case something better becomes available before it starts.

It's about clarity and control. Understanding your options, knowing what happens next and having time to make the right decision for you.

📅 If your mortgage deal ends within the next 6 months, now is a good time to get in touch.

27/10/2026

Just because a lender is willing to lend you a certain amount, doesn't mean you have to borrow it.

And just because you've got a healthy deposit, doesn't mean you need to stretch your budget to buy the most expensive house you can.

I see this with first-time buyers and home movers alike. It's easy to get caught up in how much you *can* borrow without first thinking about how much you actually *want* to spend each month.

Your mortgage needs to fit around your life, not the other way around.

So before you start scrolling through Rightmove, think about what monthly payment you'd be comfortable with.

From there, we can work backwards and establish a realistic house-hunting budget.

**Just because you can afford it on paper, doesn't mean you want to pay for it.**

22/10/2026

would you fill your car up if you knew petrol was going to be cheaper next week?

of course not. but the problem is, you don't know!

i saw someone compare filling your car up with petrol to choosing between a 2 or 5 year fixed mortgage rate, and i thought it was a pretty good comparison.

£1.79 a litre this morning. £86.77 to fill my car up 😳
i could have put half a tank in and gone back next week, hoping prices had dropped. maybe i'd have saved some money, but what if they'd gone up?

it's a similar decision with mortgages. fix for 2 years and you're going back to the petrol station sooner, hoping rates are lower when you get there. fix for 5 and you've got certainty for longer, but could miss out if rates fall. honourable mention to the 3 year fix too, somewhere in the middle!

right now, there's very little difference in the rates available over 2 and 5 years, although that's not always the case.

there are a couple of important differences with this comparison though.

firstly, with a mortgage you can often secure a rate up to 6 months in advance. imagine reserving today's petrol price for 6 months, knowing that if prices drop, you might be able to switch to the cheaper one. that's why i encourage people to review their mortgage 6 months before their deal ends.

secondly, what about your own plans? if i knew i was selling my car next week, i wouldn't have filled the tank this morning, regardless of where i thought petrol prices were heading.

same with a mortgage. if you're planning to move in the next couple of years, a 5 year fix might not be the best choice, especially when early repayment charges come into it.

and of course, there's the amount of money involved. getting your timing wrong at the petrol station is frustrating, but getting your mortgage decision wrong could be considerably more expensive.
nobody knows where mortgage rates will be in 2 or 5 years. we can have opinions, but that's all they are.

choosing a mortgage shouldn't just be about guessing where rates are heading. your circumstances, your plans and how much certainty you want all matter.

and if your mortgage deal ends in the next 6 months, don't wait until you're running on empty before looking at your options!

15/10/2026

You're in a position where you can afford to overpay your mortgage? Amazing, well done! 👏

But before you do, I'd encourage you to think about whether it's the best use of that spare money.

Have you got savings? An emergency fund? Because once you've overpaid your mortgage, that money is tied up in your property and getting it back out isn't always straightforward.

Have you got life insurance or income protection? What happens to your mortgage payments if you can't work, or what happens to your family if you're no longer here?

Personally, I'd rather be remembered as the dad who made sure his family were looked after if he died, than the dad who paid an extra £1,200 off his mortgage that year.

Have you got credit cards or loans charging more interest than your mortgage? Would clearing those first make more sense?

And what about pensions and investments? Could that money be working harder for you elsewhere?

I've seen people overpay their mortgage for years, only to borrow more later for things like a new kitchen. Sometimes having that money available in savings would have been more useful.

None of this means overpaying is wrong. It saves interest, reduces your balance and builds equity.

But I'd encourage you to look at your finances as a whole before deciding what to do with that spare £100 a month.

Being mortgage-free sooner is a great goal, but so is being financially secure along the way.

08/10/2026

me checking mortgage rates every morning 😂

the immediate outlook is looking a little bleak, but i'm keeping a close eye on the market every single day and when rates finally start coming down, i'll be sure to let you know!

in the meantime, if your mortgage deal is ending within the next 6 months, there are things we can do now to protect you from any further increases.

we can look at securing a new deal early so you've got something in place, and if rates improve before your new deal starts, we can look at switching to something better.

there's no point sitting around hoping rates will come down when you could be doing something about it now.

control the controllables 🏡

07/10/2026

mortgage rates going up is frustrating.

but waiting and hoping isn’t really a plan.

there are usually more options than just accepting the new payment or picking the shortest fix and hoping rates come down.

the important bit is giving yourself enough time to actually look at them.

so don’t save this post for later.

check when your current deal ends today. work back 6 months. that’s when the conversation should start.

and if you want, you can book that conversation in now, even if it’s not until next year.

link in bio 🏡

06/10/2026

mortgage rates going up isn’t good news.

but that doesn’t automatically mean it’s a bad time to buy.

headlines like this will make some first-time buyers hesitate. fewer buyers competing can mean more choice, less pressure and potentially more room to negotiate on price.

if the same home can now be bought for £££££ less than it might have sold for a few months ago, that matters too.

the interest rate is only one part of the deal.

sometimes, when everyone else is asking "should I wait?”, it’s worth asking *“what opportunity does that create?”

if you’re a first-time buyer and want to understand what the numbers look like for you, drop me a message.

01/10/2026

the date i want you to know isn’t your monthly payment date.

it’s the date your current mortgage deal actually ends.

once you know that, stick a reminder in your calendar for 6 months before.

that’s when we can start looking at what your next move is, rather than leaving it until your mortgage is about to roll onto the lender’s standard variable rate.

don’t know your end date? send me a message and i’ll help you work it out.

28/09/2026

national headlines are a nightmare when housing policy is devolved 😅

i’ve already had a couple of people locally ask me about this, so i imagine plenty more have seen “2.5% deposit” and started wondering whether it could help them.

unfortunately not this one. but there are still options in wales that a lot of first-time buyers either don’t know about or assume disappeared years ago.

and as i say in the video, i’m not entirely convinced 2.5% is something we should be jealous of anyway 👀

27/09/2026

i deal with separation more than you’d probably expect as a mortgage broker.

sometimes i’ve helped people buy their home together, then years later i’m helping them work out what happens to it when they separate.

and i’ve been on the other side of it myself.

i had a massive advantage though. i knew my numbers, i knew the process, and i knew exactly which lender would let me extend the mortgage term even though i couldn’t evidence paying into a pension.

that meant the mortgage side of things was actually pretty straightforward for me, at a time when pretty much everything else was changing.

most people aren’t going to know which lender will do what in that situation.

but i do.

and i suppose that’s the point of this post

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