For anyone that wants to get the best value mortgage the key things to look out for are the interest rate and fees.
 
The interest rate will determine how much interest the mortgage holder will have to pay back on the loan.

Interest is calculated as an annual percentage of the original amount borrowed.
 
For example an interest rate of 6% means that every year the mortgage holder will have to pay 6% of the remaining loan amount.

This is usually referred to a the APR or annual percentage rate 

Using this interest rate if you borrow £100,000, in the first year you will have to pay interest of 6% x 100,000 = £6,000.

This is basically the lenders charge for allowing you to have £100,000 of its money

As the mortgage is gradually paid off the amount of money that you are borrowing will fall and therefore the amount of interest will decline.
 
It is therefore critical to get the best possible interest rate. However, this is complicated by the fact the best rates are accompanied by higher fees – the sneaky extra charges that mortgage providers throw in to increase their profits.

It is further complicated by the fact that the interest rate can be variable or fixed which means that a good rate today may not seem so good in the future when the economic conditions change.