First time buying confusion

[Headzila]

I'm officially feeling a bit stressed. After years of moaning and complaining my DGF and myself have decided it's time to get the heck out of Dodge and buy our own place. I've just spent the past 2 hours surfing various websites trying to get an idea of what sort of mortgage we can expect to be able to get. I dunno if I set my sights too high but it's not as much as I'd hoped it was going to be. Now don't get me wrong, it's not as if we can't get anything at all but I had been hoping for a little more.

Got a nasty feeling I'm just being a bit silly about it but it's kinda knocked me a bit. I'm sure it'll be all right in the end. Just needed to vent a little.

 

[Claire L]

Some mortgage companies are now offering 5 times joint annual income for a mortgage rather than the usual 2 1/2 or 3 times, just be aware of how much that could cost if interest rates rise consistently over the next few years.

What quotes have you found so far?

Claire

 

[mark&sue]

Have you considered shared ownership? (Part rent/part buy)

Good luck in your search for a new home.


Susan

 

[Headzila]

They're varying quite wildly, anything from £70K through to £130K. These have been on the bank/building societies own websites and on the various mortgage comparison sites. I think I might have to visit a couple of branches next week to see if they can give me a more solid answer

 

[Claire L]

We are currently with the Co-Operative Bank and they have been very easy to deal with. I take it neither of you would qualify for the 'Key worker' schemes?

Claire

 

[Headzila]

I take it neither of you would qualify for the 'Key worker' schemes?

As I have no idea what that is I'm going to say no.

 

[Claire L]

As I have no idea what that is I'm going to say no.

Key worker includes Nurses, Teachers, Police Officers and other certain groups of workers who provide a service to the community.

Key workers.

Claire

 

[Headzila]

You learn something new every day

Nope, that's definitely not us.

 

[natalielongstaff]

no advice im afraid,just wanted to wish you good luck

 

[CustardTart]

It might be worth chatting to a mortgage broker as they have access to hundreds of deals at any one time. Estate agents quite often have ones they recommend and it's usually free of charge. Good luck!

 

[Claire L]

For totally independent advice go to a Financial Advisor as often Mortgage Advisor's at Estate Agents are tied into particular products or will get more comission by promoting certain companies.

Claire

 

[carolfoy]

Go to an independant financial advisor or get one to come around one evening at home, decide what type of mortgage is best for you (usually repayment) decide how long you want it for and get a quote showing how much you'll pay per month and if its a fixed rate or not (probably a good idea for your first one!) also find out what the early repayment penalty is to know basically how long you'll be stuck with that company. Then when you've got the figures ie, we'll borrow £xx amount, pay back £xx amount per month and pay £xx if we change it early, go to all the major brokers and lenders and give them the figures you've got and ask them to beat it!
I did that with my last one and surprisingly my own bank, Barclays, gave me such a competitive rate I went with them, even though I'd always swore blind I wouldn't mortgage through my own bank

 

[Headzila]

Thank you all for the advice. It's nice to have some ideas of where we need to be going next.

I had a search through all my savings last night at about 4 a.m ( ) and I've found out that I've got a bit more in the bank than I had previousl thought, maybe even enough for a decent sized deposit so that cheered my up no end. Things are looking up

 

[Chilly]

If you are paying rent at the moment you can do what I did and get an affordability mortgage. I think only the Halifax do this but it meant I was able to get a lot more money. By showing that i'd paid x amount of rent for a year with no problems (you had to show bank statements) they agreed to lend me money where my mortgage payments matched what rent i'd paid and I was able to get even more money by paying it back over 35 instead of 25 years. Plus it was fixed for 2 years.

I got this through an independent mortgage advisor who was a great help.

Don't forget to buget for surveys, stamp duty and solicitor's fee's etc.

Good luck!

 

[cstokell]

We found this site quite useful when remortaging. If you use the compare & buy mortgage tool it will give a list of the best deals around. Also found the guides very useful as they highlighted a few things that we had not really thought about.

http://money.uk.msn.com/mortgages/default.aspx

Good luck and hope you find your ideal house at a price you can afford.