First time buyer: cash or mortgage?

[Ohsaycanusee]

I’m a FTB looking to buy in London; single and in mid 20s, so looking for 1/2 bed flats.

I’m in a good job, earning c40k with potential to rise significantly in late 2019, so in a year’s time to around 60k. I would also be eligible for special mortgage deals for qualified professionals at this point.

I’ve also had some inheritance money given to me. I’d be keen to understand whether it’s better to buy now, by myself, using a standard mortgage deal and more of the inheritance money, or whether to buy post qualifying when I can borrow more and use less inheritance?

I’m dating and eventually would like to buy with a partner, if possible holding onto my existing property...

Is it better to really stretch myself and wipe out savings/go for something good now, or to wait til my salary increases? Or buy the cheapest I can afford now? Please help! Currently destroying myself paying crazy rent

What's your credit situation like? I.e. do you have a squeaky clean record with no missed payments and pay off credit card every month etc?

If so some of the ftb deals are around the 1% Mark at the moment. I would take advantage of that. Put enough equity in that you are in the lower bracket of the mortgage deals (so 75% or less) then shop around for a ftb mortgage.

You should (although never a given) make more money having a house and the house pricing rises than it sitting in an account earning you 1% interest

Yorkshire building society have a 1% mortgage at the moment for ftb fixed to 2020. I don't think even once you have qualified you will get a better rate

My credit isn’t perfect :( How do I check? Have missed a couple of payments through stupidity although trying to rectify that now. Otherwise all fine though, I have a very small loan that I pay off in full every month, never missed a direct debit and mobile contract always paid in full too

Thank you by the way!

My other q would be, if I end up buying with someone and retain my current property, could I remortgage to get equity for new deposit?

Have a look at Equifax, Experian and Clearscore to get a full picture of your credit status.

Money saving expert has credit club which you can check for free. I think it uses experian.
How long ago were the missed payments? Have they fully been paid and nothing missing now? You may sneak through if they were two years plus. The loan (is it a loan or finance deal?) reduces your affordability so if your in a position to pay it all off i would.

The remortgage would be based on the equity at the time. If that is a 5/10 year plan then throw as much at your mortgage for the first 5 years to get the equity lower then you won't end up trying to remortgage for 90%+... I mean this is just my opinion I'm not a financial adviser I've just spent a lot of time recently talking about mortgages and ftb.