How much for house deposit

[Myusernameisnotmyusernameno]

I'm 40 and DH is 37. We just got married and have been renting for 18 years. We want to buy a house ASAP. I went onto bank and filled in an agreement in principle and it said they MAY lend us £350k with a 5k deposit over 25-30 years. In your experience should I be saving more of a deposit than this and possibly waiting a bit longer? For context if we stay in this area we have a really good choice of secondary schools. DD is 8. If we move slightly out it's cheaper but less good schools so we could wait until DD has her school place. Hope this makes sense. Trying to weigh up best options and make a plan.
I know finances and things come into play as well, just 5k doesn't seem enough really. Just after people's experiences really. Thanks

I don't know, I would have said 10 per cent deposit as a starting point back in the day but I am way out of touch now wrt mortgages. 5k isn't even 5 per cent is it? More like 2?

Yeah it's hardly anything. If I did it again it would be ok wouldn't it as it says it's not an application and doesn't affect your credit rating. Even DH was like 5k or 5% and I said 5k. I checked the email and it said 5k. There's no point applying until I have the money and at the moment I have £400

Mortgages with 5% deposits are available but 10% is more common. You’ll also need to be able to pay stamp duty (if applicable) and legal fees. Think some lenders need you to be able to demonstrate you can pay these. Product fees can be added onto the mortgage interest free.

Time is against you as well - 40 and 37 with 25 or 30 yr term, you would be maybe sensible to overpay as much as you can but that's a different conversation really.

Good luck!

Once you hit 40 you can’t get quite as long terms so I’d do it sooner rather than later. Agree with PP that 10% minimum but the bigger the deposit, the better LTV and the cheaper the mortgage overall. I’d aim for 20% to get the best rates. But it’s a balancing act: deposit, age and LTV all play a part. Hope this makes sense.

I'd plug those numbers into an online calculator and see how much a month a mortgage of that size would cost. You might decide that you don't feel you can pay that much (I was amazed at what the banks thought was "affordable" and didn't borrow close to my max so I felt OK with the monthly payment)

But yes, 5% is available, at a higher rate than say, 10 or 20% Ltd mortgages.

Have you looked at htb? And open a lisa if you are going to be saving for more than 12 months, the government will give you a % of the savings in it if you use it to buy a new home. You and your partner can both do it and benefit

Sorry, not new home as in new build. I should have said first home

I think you need to clarify the figures with one of the lender’s mortgage advisors. I’m not aware of any 98.5% LTV mortgages on the market, which is what a £5,000 deposit represents.

Either way, the best interest rates only really start to appear once you’re at 85% LTV, so that’s a good aim of feasible. Otherwise, 10% will give you a decent market.

Thank you all. Excellent advice everyone. Makes sense. I have a help to buy isa but hardly anything saved but now the wedding is out of the way I can start putting my monthly bonuses in it. We paid for our wedding over a year (roughly 6-7k altogether) so it's made me think about what we could save if we cut out buying crap we don't need. I'd love to buy our house but the LL is a 'career landlord' who owns about 15-20 properties