Spend time on your financial homework

The period between having an offer accepted on a property and actually moving in can be hectic. The process is not a difficult one; the problem is that it involves a series of minor hassles that come in a very tight timeframe.

Given that this timeframe can sometimes be as short as six weeks, it makes sense that property buyers will seek to make their life as easy as possible in order to get the deal done.

This means that they will be more open than usual to accepting offers of assistance, be they from friends, family or alternative sources. These alternative offers tend to come on the financial side of moving house. Initially, they will come mostly from estate agents.

Most estate agents have seen the benefits in forming either a link with a mortgage broker or establishing their own mortgage division. Thus we have a link between Douglas Newman Good and GMC Mortgages and between Sherry FitzGerald and Mortgage Insight.

This association will be made public from the start, having probably been detailed on the brochure for the property being sold. The appeal for the buyer in pursuing a mortgage application with a broker associated with the vendor's estate agent is clear; it means less effort at an otherwise very busy time.

The problem with this approach is that the buyer will be guilty of not shopping around fully for their loan. To get around this, they need to establish how many mortgage lenders the estate agent's chosen broker can tap for the best deal on their behalf.

If the answer is a small number compared to the volume of lenders in the market (see table), then the buyer should either approach another broker with more lender relationships or talk to individual lenders themselves. This way, they can establish for sure whether or not the estate agent's preferred broker is providing the best advice.

It should be remembered that some lenders - notably NIB and EBS - have not traditionally sold their loans through the broker route. It should also be recalled that consumers usually need to put some effort into getting a good deal in financial matters. The financial regulator found last year that four out of five consumers have had difficulties in getting truly independent information on financial products.

Presuming the buyer does go down the broker route, the next offer of help they get is likely to concern insurance. Mortgage holders are required to insure their home and themselves so that the mortgage will be repaid in the event of their death.

Mortgage brokers make big bucks out of these two products and will do their best to sell them to new clients. This means that when they present the best mortgage deal they have found for their new customer, they will also present some options for home and life assurance.

It will be tempting to accept these quotations but, as any good consumer will by now know, this will not always make for the best deal. For peace of financial mind therefore, the buyer should not simply plump for the first insurance product placed before them.

Most insurance companies can now generate instant quotations on their websites, with execution-only brokers - such as LA Brokers - also offering very quick results in this regard. This means that even the most lazy or easy-going homebuyer has no excuse for not doing their own financial research.