Can I buy a house at 59years old. ?

[eighteenmonthstogo]

I lost my home in my divorce. Twenty years ago. We had barely 20k equity to split between us before fees. I think I ended up with about 7k. I went into rented where I have remained ever since. New DH and I had 7 kids between us so no chance of being able to save anything for a deposit. Rent costs have been eye watering . (1.5k for 12 years before we could get something smaller)

Anyway . I have been bequeathed £120k. I really want to buy our own home . But would need a mortgage of about £150k. an interest only mortgage would cost me approx £350 per month . I know interest only means the capital is never paid off - but at least I would be paying 700 pm less than my current rent and not servicing someone else's mortgage.

I will have a good pension (£17k) which I can claim at 60 (will partially retire and work enough not to take a dip in salary.) plus another lump sum of £50k. Full state pension at 67.
Current salary £42k and plan to work until 65. (V secure employment in public sector)

Any financial /mortgage advisers out there ? I have scoured the Internet for advice but it all talks about mortgages for 'over 55s' who already have houses (so equity release really) not new buyers.

@blobby10

Remortgaging in what's left of the 17 years or do you mean fixing a new rate at the end of 5 years?

@eighteenmonthstogo there are mortgages for 'older' people. A mortgage broker will be able to help you.

why would you go 'interest only' and why wouldn't you pay as much off as you can?

make sure you're informed about the best way to buy the house together.

dort your wills out etc.

TooMuchToDoTooLittleInclination

Thank you for your advice. It is appreciated.I don't really know why I have fixed on interest only. It's daft when a repayment will still be less than rent.

I am going to start looking for an all of market adviser in the morning and stop faffing around..

Last and possibly strangest question. What is their to stop someone (me) getting a btl mortgage and renting it to myself. I pay myself the rent which will be the same as the cost of the mortgage.. or are they much more expensive making it a daft idea (and probably against the ts&cs .)

@TooMuchToDoTooLittleInclination I mean finding a new rate after this one ends! Interest rates will have increased quite a bit at that point so I don’t think I would get 1.89% above base of 0.25% again !!

No, I've fixed for 5 years @2.48. I could have fixed for less, a couple of months before, but I was dithering because I may have to see/rent it out, to go back overseas where my mum lives & I was trying to weight up the ERC against potential saving/expense of fixing for 5/10 years & there was no right answer so I stuck my head in the sand. Then BoE out the rate up yet AGAIN so I wanted to fix before it got any worse. I stuck with the 5 years, time will tell if that was a good idea or not?!

but at least it's just a fix you're talking about & not remortgaging!! I feel sorry for anyone forced to remortgage.