Shopping around is a labour good for savers

Anybody who has ever bought a house or apartment and has passed through all the financial hurdles that the transaction involved will be aware of hassle attached to "shopping around".

There is a point, about three weeks before the deal is about to go through, where so many irksome loose ends need to be tied up that the notion of sitting by the phone for half a day to get prices from various providers of home insurance and mortgage protection will seem about as attractive as pulling out your teeth.

It is at times like this that we become vulnerable to going along with whatever product or deal is suggested to us by our lender or broker (who will simply be doing their job). Before we know it, papers are signed, boxes are ticked and all notions of shopping around for a better deal will be forgotten. This will be a mistake.

The time to begin shopping around comes well before this stage, with consumers advised to start checking on prices as soon as they think of buying.

First stop here will be the mortgage. As well as searching for the best interest rate (comparing APR is best here) available to their circumstances, would-be borrowers should also look at the other costs that lenders might be applying to their loan.

The bank or building society may, for example, want you to pay for the property survey they need completed to satisfy their lending committee that this house is not about to fall down and take their loan down with it. They may also ask for the borrower to pay for an indemnity bond to make sure that if the property needs to be repossessed at some sad date in the future, this will not cause a loss to them.

These little costs, while generally small in the context of buying property, should always be challenged regardless of how essential the lender says they are. If it is a choice between losing the business or absorbing a few hundred euro in costs, getting the new custom may win out.

In the same vein, it will be crucial for property buyers to shop around for the best legal fees, with the differentials in this market sometimes extending to thousands of euro. Some solicitors will charge as much as 1 per cent of the property purchase price for their conveyancing charges. They will argue that the fee is justified by the level of service they provide.

Perhaps this is true, but buyers should also be aware that some lawyers are prepared to charge a flat fee of less than €1,000, regardless of purchase price. Service levels may be lower, but this may be something worth accepting, particularly in the case of larger properties. For information on the best prices, post a query on the consumer finance site, www.askaboutmoney.com, where guidance will always be on offer.

The last two key areas where shopping around will make more sense than you might imagine will be mortgage protection and home insurance policies. Most brokers and lenders will supply borrowers with some quotations for these products, but there will never be an obligation attached to them. Instead, borrowers are free to call around or do some web shopping of their own (for example, on www.labrokers.ie or with a quick call to the AA) to see just how good a deal may be out there.

Again, it may seem troublesome at the time, but the fruits of your labour could come in very useful over the coming year when it comes to decorating, buying furniture or treating yourself.