I paid my mortgage off last year as I was lucky enough to have big equity in the property i sold. I could have sat on a big cash sum and kept a mortgage but i really don't like owing money and it stressed me having to wonder what rates would be at each end of deal time. It means i have a much smaller cash reserve so no Ferrari's for me but I feel somewhat insulated from much that the financial markets might throw up. It means i have a nice property to give to my kids or no wait Mrs May, if i start to dribble. Unless a butch looking irish lady saves me from that in exchange for her mp's votes.
We have also just received mortgage promise for remortgaging to the best 5 year fixed rate available... We considered another 2yr fixed but the deciding factor for us was that nobody really knows what will happen post brexit and we felt paying a slightly higher rate & having stability outweighed the uncertainty ahead. I can't really see rates dropping or rising by much but it is nice knowing exactly where we are and being able to keep the overpayments going on it whilst were fixed for the next 60 months
Rule of thumb: If you are offered fixed term at slightly over the lowest rate you could otherwise get, don't get a fixed term mortgage, as you will pay over the odds, as rates won't go up during that time frame.
In the current climate I would recommend getting a long fixed term if you can do so close to the lowest rate. Rates will go up, and soon. I would also recommend not paying off your mortgages completely - keep the loan ticking over with, say, a grand owed in total just to keep the loan active should you wish to access it in the future without all the hassles and costs of acquiring a new loan.
As you get older, facilities are not as easy to start, albeit most tend to have larger equity to offer. Shit I'm finally getting the hang of this life as it draws to an end....damn dawg.
All the time you have a mortgage the lender will hold your deeds as security. Once you've paid your mortgage you'll normally have to pay a fee for storage either to the lender or a solicitor or similar. They're not the sort of thing you leave laying around at home..... Another cost you can avoid by leaving you mortgage running.
MY box was a wonderful treasure trove of old maps n stuff.... smelt lovely. Since the deeds are all now electronic... is the paper stuff really that valuable? I've several bits of property I own all of which only exist in the cloud on a number... no actual documents... since 2012.
What counts is the registration of the property at the Land Registry, showing you as the owner and including records of any mortgages, easements, restrictive covenants, cautions, etc affecting the land title. You should keep a photocopy of the full Land Registry entry for your information, but it is not the piece of paper which is important. If you chance to have some ancient title deeds by all means keep them as an interesting historical curiosity (especially if they are very old) but don't place much reliance on them if there should happen to be a dispute.
Yes, if you regard this as a metaphor. The existence of the mortgage must be registered at the Lands Registry against the title to the land, until such time as the debt is paid off. It is the registration of that charge which ensures the land cannot be transferred without the consent of the Mortgagee. "Holding the Deeds as security" is the old, traditional method of achieving the same effect.
