When it comes to getting a new home, no matter what you want to do chances are there’s a finance package to help you do it.

In this article I want to talk briefly about two of those packages – self-build mortgages and bridging loans.

You might not have heard of them but if they are just what you need, you’ll be glad you did!

As the name suggests, self-build mortgages are mortgages available if you are building your own home, from scratch. There is also development finance if you plan to build one house or more and then pay off the loan when the property is sold.

A self-build mortgage is paid in stages, as building work progresses. This is to reduce the lender’s risk and avoid you running out of money half way through the project.

These are great vehicles for building your own home, but because there is a greater element of risk involved, rates do tend to be higher. It’s worth shopping around to find the best deal and getting advice to deal with the paperwork that comes with it.

If you aren’t building from scratch but need to buy a house quickly, before you have sold your own, then bridging finance might hold the key.

Imagine you are at an auction and your dream home comes up at a price you like, but you haven’t sold your old home yet to pay for it. You can take out a bridging loan.

These loans tend to be short term – over say six, 12 or 18 months – and because they are short term, again have quite high interest rates.

As I say, these tend to be popular for auctions, where you need to maybe put down a deposit of 10%, take a bridging loan to buy the property then pay it off when you’ve sold your existing home.

Again these are becoming an increasingly popular, flexible option but need to be looked into carefully to ensure you get the right product for you.