We're first time buyers - help!

[NickMyLipple]

Hi :)

My partner and I are finally in a position to start thinking about buying a house.

We have around £30k savings.

We think (having used various calculators) that we'd be allowed to borrow around £300k but we could afford re-payments on a higher mortgage because I work lots of overtime and agency

[NickMyLipple]

Wow, well that failed!

Anyway, I work lots of extra hours and can earn an extra £3k a month but this isn't consistent (the work is there but I don't always want to work!)

We are considering the Help to Buy scheme - this would allow us to buy a bigger house and we can save extra to pay it back before we are charged interest. Any experiences?

Also, this would mean we would need to buy a new build, any pros and cons we should be considering?

Practically, what do we do now? Speak to a mortgage advisor or a financial advisor? Directly to a bank? What's the best course of action?

TIA

[PixieGio]

I highly recommend London & country mortgages. We're ftb too and although we went for a period house that needed huge amounts of work doing we have almost got to completion (and my DH also being a none eu citizen which Complicates things more). L&C Have been great every step of the way. I can private message you our brokers details if you like - I'd trust her with my life

[NickMyLipple]

That would be so helpful, thank you. I'll give her a call tomorrow!!

We have the option to buy an older property but we are in the South East and we don't get much for our money... We could probably only afford a small 3 bedroom house if we bought an existing property but we can buy a decent 3 or 4 bed new build.

[Pagetta]

We are in similar situation and similar finances - we were told we could borrow around 315 , and had a 10% deposit for a house around this price, but with fees that would have wiped out our savings, and we're due our 2nd in June so need some extra for mat leave or i'll only be having 3 weeks off!

Basically we found some lovely new builds - they're a little further out than was our first choice, but in a lovely market town in the south west, good schools, and we are gtting a big four bed. We only have to borrow 300k cos of help to buy, and it frees up a LOT of our savings as only putting down 5%. This helps with furnishing etc, plus means its not beans on toast for 5 years lol.

The houses from the first phases have already shot up by 10% and everyone i know who bought new bulds in the last 2 yrs says there are some re-selling already on their estates at 10-20% higher!

We figure as a big 4 bed its much longer term, so we'll get a 30 yr mortgage and if we have to remortgage full amount in 5 yrs to pay government back so be it, as we will be there a while!

Pros - smaller deposit, better rates as 75% LTV and lower mortgage
Bigger house due to the above
Nice and new - all guaranteed for 10 years
Cost effective with heating etc because of modern builds
lots of deals to be had on extras etc (as we're finding out) so don't be put off by them, work through them.
New build HTB estates tends to attract FTB and young families (like us!) so hopefully will be family feel estate

Cons - less character in new builds and no decorating for a year!
bigger estates will always hhave 40-50% affordable housing - not always a con - i realise that sounds snobby - but worth considering.
you don't know what your neighbours are going to be like!
buying off-plan is scary (but you can choose your house.)
There is the argument that new builds are a bit over priced because of HTB so you won't make your 20% back very quickly - but that's not what i've heard from those on New build estates
You will have snags in a new build - but then you will have hidden issues in an established hous

Do check out the show home properly and try to have a proper look around the estate. One development i went on i went in the show house - a small 3 bed town house - and you could hear next doors tv - and they wanted 375 - ouch!

Also remember that although the show homes look sooo seductive the house will come with literally nothing - flooring / carpets / turf all exta.

Does that help at all? We're so excited to be putting deposit down on Friday but also slightly terrified !

[FishWithABicycle]

I wouldn't buy a new build. You just don't get the same quality with wood frame houses. A solid well built house built 60+ years ago will give you much less trouble in the long run. New builds are also usually built with hardly any storage and no potential for expansion.

[Jibberjabberjooo]

Shop around for a mortgage, don't just go to your bank. Go to an Independent mortgage advisor and get them to find the best deal for you. Don't max out out budget. Would you be able to afford your mortgage if you weren't working all these extra hours if you had children for example?

[NickMyLipple]

Thanks for your advice, Pagetta. I really appreciate the time you took to respond!

Many of the developments around us have home builders who include the flooring and the appliances and the turf, and there is definitely room for negotiation on stamp duty! Also, the developments we are looking at have as little as 5% social housing. I'm not sure what the government targets for each area are, but it's something I will ask when we view some more at the weekend.

Thanks also Fish and Jibber - not sure that they'd take my overtime into account in a full mortgage application, so we wouldn't be reliant on that, it would just be an added bonus and help us to clear our debts quicker.

[Pagetta]

All the plans will show any affordable housing too.
Yes stamp duty always negotiable - push for as much as you can get! I work in construction, and each development will have an 'incentives' budget they can draw on!

[NickMyLipple]

Just tricky as the houses are being sold so quickly. They release one phase and within days the decent garden 3 beds have vanished and within weeks, everything else has gone!