Interest Rate

mel, i have spent quite a lot of time researching french mortgages. i am in the process of purchasing a resale leaseback ski chalet.

the best rate/suitable for me are a fixed rate of 4.1% for 5 years, and a cap and collar at 4.89%. you should be able to get better than what you have - i can suggest a couple of websites if you are interested.

gary

seamus, hi, in answer to your questions, there is no knock on effect that i can see. whilst the rate after the fixed period expires is not guaranteed, there is no redemption penalty at that stage if you don't like the rate offered by the bank.

with the cap and collar the margin is surprisingly low. as i am going though a broker i don't know who the bank is yet.

ideally, i would have liked to have got a rate at french resident levels, as the rates this way are rather sickeningly lower it doesn't seem to work though if you apply from the uk, which is a mystery to me as i would have thought that the risks etc to the bank were quite similar.

mel, try:

http://www.charleshamer.co.uk/index.html

so far i have found them very helpful.

We used the same broker as Gary. We too found them very helpful and they found us a cap and collar mortgage with Societe Generale who, so far, have been an excellent bank.

Ann & Paul

seamus, i am not sure on the exact details, but i think it is a function of the 3 month euribor if fixed, and 6 month euribor +1% if variable. however, as you can redeem the mortgage at that point without penalty i gain the impression that there is scope for negotiation.

ann & paul, good to know that you have had good experience with the broker and bank.

Our cap and collar mortgage ranges between 0.6% and 5.6%. We started off at 3.6%, 4.6% in Year 2 and now, due to the recent interest rate rises sadly it's 5.6%. But at least we know it won't go any higher and if interest rates do come down then we should benefit from that. At the time I seem to remember we were also offered a variable rate at 3.1% or a fixed rate for the full term (in our case 15 years) at 4.6%. If we were to pay the mortgage off early there is a 3% penalty on the amount we are paying off.

Ann & Paul

b alex

People often don't take into account the deposit,which can be 20%-30% of purchase price.

Don't rely on the insee increase to reduce the deficit,mine went up 41 euros per qtr after 3 years.

If you could get an interest only mortgage(which you could'nt when i took out mine),or pherhaps a 25 year mortgage,you could probably be self financing.

I din't understand the last question.

John

Further to your comment about all French cap and collar mortgages being reviewed after 5 years, I decided to investigate further and the reply I have received is as follows:

"Thank you for your email,

The other party is incorrect, The Societe Generale cap and collar is applied through out the term of the mortgage."

I would also like to reiterate that the service we have had from Societe Generale has been excellent.

Ann

Seamus

I am happy with what I have been told -throughout the term means throughout the term as far as I am concerned. Obviously it is up to the person taking out the mortgage to make sure they understand everything and, in view of what you have said, this is something they can now clarify before signing any paperwork.

Ann