Mortgage Brokers and Flat Pack Houses: Made for One Another

by | Jul 22, 2019 | blog, Finance

Flat pack houses are all the rage in the UK right now. A flat pack house represents an opportunity to get into a brand-new home for the same amount of money you might spend just saving a deposit for a home in London or Manchester. That’s right, you can buy a flat pack house for as little as £30,000 plus the cost of the land.

Assuming buyers still need financing, it might be tough to get a mortgage on a flat pack from a bank or building society. After all, these houses are by no means conventional. So what is a buyer to do? Enlisting the services of a mortgage broker is the best course of action. When you step back and think about it, it seems like mortgage brokers and flat pack houses were actually made for one another.

More About Flat Pack Houses

Perhaps you are not familiar with what a flat pack house is. No problem. Think of flat pack furniture from a company like IKEA. The furniture is shipped to you as a series of flat panels contained a box. You assemble the panels to create the finished piece of furniture. A flat pack home is based on the same principle.

A flat pack home is constructed in a factory. Then it is disassembled and shipped to the building site. Just like flat pack furniture, is shipped as a series of panels that are assembled on-site by a trained construction crew.

One of the newest models of flat pack homes is designed as an A-frame. In this case, you get two A-frame units that fold down much the same way as a camping trailer. Once on site, a crane lifts the frames to unfold them. Then they are joined together, and the house finished.

More About Mortgage Brokers

It is clear that the flat pack house is not a conventional home. It is a prefabricated home built around a unique design that lends itself very well to affordable housing that is eco-friendly, weather proof, and more in line with the modern concept of minimalism.

Likewise, a mortgage broker doesn’t do things the same way as a conventional bank or building society. The mortgage broker model is designed to do what banks and building societies cannot: create a competitive environment that ensures home buyers have the advantage as they shop around for mortgage deals.

How does a mortgage broker differ from a bank or building society? First of all, a broker is not tied to a single lender or the products it offers. As such, independent brokers are free to look for deals wherever they can find them.

Second, a mortgage broker doesn’t get paid if he or she cannot help the client secure a mortgage. Neither does a bank nor building society, but there is a big difference here that gives the mortgage broker an advantage.

The bank is still going to make money even if it cannot offer you a mortgage. Their profits will come by way of bank fees, other loans, and their own commercial investments. As such, the bank has no incentive to cosy up to you and offer you the best possible deal.

On the other hand, a mortgage broker has no other source of income. If he wants to get paid, he has to find a way to make you happy. That is incentive enough to shop around on your behalf. It is an incentive to make sure you get a mortgage deal that suits your circumstances and resources.

Unconventional Mortgage Deals

One last thing to consider is the fact that you may need an unconventional deal to buy a flat pack house. Why? Because the home itself is unconventional. Banks and building societies may not believe your flat pack has enough value to warrant the risk. They may not be willing to lend to you because they do not believe they will get their money back should you default.

Private lenders don’t work on the same lending criteria as banks and building societies. They are less intimidated by unconventional homes like the flat pack house. As such, private lenders are more willing to take risks. This pertains to mortgage brokers inasmuch as private lenders often make unconventional loans available only through brokers. So if an experienced mortgage brokerage says he can get you an unconventional mortgage on a flat pack house, believe him.

The flat pack house movement is now well entrenched in the UK. It could very well be the answer to the affordable housing crisis we have been looking for all these years. If that turns out to be the case, we will have both home manufacturers and willing lenders to thank.

As for flat pack houses and mortgage brokers, they seem like they were made for one another. Both are unconventional in their respective industries. When they work together, they make it possible for people who otherwise could not have afforded a home to purchase a brand-new house they can be proud of.

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