Mortgages, talk to me

Furthermore, someone else mentioned that if you put the savings from going variable into a seperate account and only dip into the account should the rate go above the fixed rate, at what would be the end of the fixed term, you will almost certainly have a surplus in the account.

I've highlighted the key word there, remember there are no guarentees and a variable rate is always a gamble. However I do agree with you that they are a good idea, provided you have flexibility and breathing room in your finances. If money is going to be tight a fixed is the best option as it is guanrenteed and you can plan your finances around it with certainty.
 
i'd get the cheapest deal, not fixed, considering you can only fix for 1,2,3 years whats the point...

if I were offered 5, 10, 20 years fixed maybe.

if you fix and it goes up to 10% tomorrow you jsut get repo'd in 2 years not 1...
 
If you do not have a 10% deposit don't even bother.

you should be able to borrow around 4 times income.

the Fixed thing is up to you, I am on base rate plus 3.25% which I am not too happy with but not much I can do about it for 18 months.
 
You can get fixeds of more than 1 2 3 years, not all do them but they are available, although may have dried up due to people only looking at low variable deals atm, te banks will be balancing 15 years worth of guesswork so they WILL look expensive in todays mortage rate climate.

I had a 15 year fixed a few years back....
 
you should be able to borrow around 4 times income.

How flexible is this?

I'll shortly be looking to get my first house with my gf. We have a joint income of just under 35k. We will have a deposit of around 45-50k and
are looking at houses in the 160-200k range (so 25% deposit with a maximum of ~4.3x salary).

I've only really looked at moneysupermarket so far and that gives plenty of mortgage options to choose from (best being ~3.5% on 3 year fixed). Although I thought that 4x salary lending was near the top end of what is offered for a single applicant, when it's joint I thought it drop to lower than this.

Do you think we will be ok to get a decent mortgage or is moneysupermarket being a bit optimistic?
 
you usually find you get different rates depending on the % of the house price you are borrowing

as to how much x your income they are willing to lend, this depends entirely upon the lender and entirely upon your credit record.

At the moment with interest rates low, id be seeking to fix my interest rate for as long as possible for as low as possible,without stupidly high arrangement fees

This is the one to watch out for. Plenty will let you fix for long periods of time at 2 % or whatever, but at a £2500 arrangement fee.
 
How flexible is this?

I'll shortly be looking to get my first house with my gf. We have a joint income of just under 35k. We will have a deposit of around 45-50k and
are looking at houses in the 160-200k range (so 25% deposit with a maximum of ~4.3x salary).

If you have a 25% deposit and a good mortgage adviser (I know a good one if you need) who has a few contacts you should be able to swing 4.5% if you have good jobs.

I think we have around 4.5% of my wifes income.
 
If you have a 25% deposit and a good mortgage adviser (I know a good one if you need) who has a few contacts you should be able to swing 4.5% if you have good jobs.

I think we have around 4.5% of my wifes income.
What would you class as good jobs? They're obviously pretty poorly paid, I'm a software tester just out of uni. Gf is just out of uni as well and is in an admin role for the council. So both bottom of the ladder type jobs but with room to move up.

Does credit rating come into much as well? We don't have bad credit but I doubt we really have good credit, I've only recently got a credit card (paying off in full obv) but nothing else that would promote a good rating.

Sorry for the slight hijack OP, hopefully some of this info might be useful to you!
 
Mortgage applications is the stuff of witchcraft mate !

There is no definitive list of good and bad jobs, there is no specific figure that everybody will lend you.

It all varies so much. The only way to know is to know is to do your research as to which mortgage you want, with whom. Then apply

worry about how good your credit is or not , or how good your job is or not IF you get declined. Your mortgage advisor at whatever bank / building society you use should warn you off putting in an application your not going to make.
 
As MrLOL said its different for everyone.

The bank asked to see a copy of my bank statement even though I am not name on the mortgage application. MY wife was fresh out of uni and it was her first job as a FY2 Dr. I think a big part of why we got the money is that we had a very very good mortgage adviser.

We have just asked her to see if she can get us another 75k to put towards the building work. Now if she manages that I will be amazed.
 
I have recently just started looking into this, we wont be in a position to buy for a couple of years but the research can't hurt.

What I am struggling with is budgeting, if I can afford (for example) £800 a month in mortgage repayments then surely I'd have to find a deal that offers repayments much lower than this to take into account possible changes in the market? If the £800 a month is based on borrowing £120k for 30 years at 7% then if interest rates rise (like they did in early 90's) to around 13% then that alters the repayments to over £1300 a month, which is £500 extra, a big chunk of money.

I find it difficult to say I can afford £X a month if that £X could change so dramatically over the course of the mortgage. :confused:
 
jeez, life is such a gamble, I'm on the mortgage hunt too, best thing I done is make a spreadsheet for me and my g/f to see what our joint incoming and outgoing bills are then see what we can afford to pay on a mortgage per month.

turns out we can pay a 120,000 mortgage and not be too badly out of pocket. We have both saved 12k between us to put down as a deposit. 120K aint gona get me a palace but it certainly is not as bad as what I have been told it used to be like paying for a mortgage in days gone by.

Taking the plunge into a mortgage a big thing but I think you just need to grow a set of balls and get on with it but research is the key. The internet for us geeks has opened up so much information to research on so we can learn the tricks and avoid dodgey bank hidden charges and such, + for Moneysupermarket.. that bloke is a hero.
 
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