A good mortgage broker saves your shoe leather and can save you money. They should take time to find out about your individual circumstances. But beware, they can make fat commissions by selling you endowments, life insurance and pensions. Some of them charge you an up-front fee. Others make commissions from insurers for the endowments, life insurance and general insurances they arrange for you along with the mortgage.
Some lenders also pay arrangement fees to mortgage brokers to encourage business.
It goes up and down in line with economic conditions. The advantage of taking out a standard variable mortgage is that you are not tied in to the mortgage for any time and will not be charged redemption penalties if you sell up or remortgage. Many first time buyers don't want the uncertainty of the standard variable mortgage rate and choose an offer fixing their mortgage to a certain rate for a number of years. Other variations on this theme include the discounted mortgage option where mortgage lenders offer a discount off the standard variable rate. Some lenders also offer capped rate mortgages where your interest is guaranteed not to rise above a certain pre-set level.