To ask how you go about buying a house

[babykite]

I've just had my second child, I'm currently in a council house and they won't move me, I've tried looking into an exchange but nobody wants my area. So I want to buy a house, I was looking into the help to buy but the house people didn't say much about how it works.
Realisticly I'm never going to be able to afford it though I am? But aside from that how does it even work? How do you get a mortgage with bad credit?

Disclaimer - I know nowt. It sounds like it'd be worth you having a chat with a mortgage broker if you can get one recommended.

First, you need a deposit. Somewhere in the region of 10% of the price of the property is good, the more the better.

Then you need to find out how much the bank would be willing to lend you based in your income. The major lenders have a quick calculator on their website to give you some ballpark figures.

If they won't lend you enough, can you raise a bigger deposit to make up the shortfall?

If the figures look positive, then book an appointment with a mortgage broker and see what deals they can give you.

Definitely best having a chat with mortgage broker see what options are best for you.

Lenders tend to look for at least 5% deposit and 4x your salary.

Start saving for a deposit first. Work on your credit rating.

This will have to be a LONG term goal

Okay I'm not working atm and I can only manage 10hr a week so might have to knock this idea on the head

The above is only an extremely fast and loose outline. There's a lot of schemes such as part buy part rent, help to buy etc etc that may be able to help you out if the figures don't quite work out, if you don't have a particularly big deposit for example.

Just had a look at private renting, they are all over 800,how can anybody ever afford this

Try this - I found it really helpful when I was looking to buy www.helptobuy.gov.uk/equity-loan/equity-loans/

Just checked the link but I'm in Scotland

Have you any savings? Are you working? Do you have a DH or DP who is working and has no problem with their credit rating. You can need around a 25% deposit when looking to buy, but I guess that is where help to buy comes in.

Do some online research about help to buy, not rely on your local authority housing office. It won't be anything to do with them.

With a bad credit score I would have thought it unlikely you could get a mortgage. Not on your own anyway.

Tbh Op a mortgage wouldn't necessarily be cheaper than £800 a month either, not in my part of the world anyway.

I do have a partner but he is currently out of work
I wasnt relying on the council, just hoping for a move to a bigger house but I'm not having any luck so want to buy my own, desperately trying to save and only have a couple hundred saved I'm getting nowhere far

Just adding, we haven't bought for a number of years, and round here (Essex) it was then common for the deposit to be 25‰.

I think there is more variation now.

do you have a partner? You said you just had your second child. does he work?

If you are a lone parent without job, nobody will give you a mortgage. If you really want to buy you first needs to make a route back into employment.

I'm sorry, there is no point taking this further at the moment. You will be unable to buy a house with a couple of hundred pounds in the bank and working ten hours a week between you.

You need to focus on getting at least one of you gainfully employed then save for a deposit as your first priority.

Bad credit will stand against you. Speak to a mortgage broker like John Charcol to see if there are any realistic options

How secure is your job? What is your rough yearly income (ballpark figure only). How soon can you sort out any debt that may be impacting on your credit score?

I would take a couple of years to get all of that sorted, whilst at the same time saving as much as possible. That might give you more of a fighting chance.

You won't be able to get a 100% mortgage with both of you unemployed, no.

And yes, increase your hours to full time work for at least one of you asap. No chance at all otherwise.

Unfortunately Opera bluntness is right. We did help to buy after years of private renting as with childcare costs we found it hard to raise a deposit. We got there in the end and did help to buy on a new build persimmon estate. Our house was £150k for a 3 bed semi in Yorkshire. We put down £7.5k ourselves, have a 75% mortgage and the help to buy equity loan made up the rest. Persimmon sorted us out with a mortgage advisor who dealt with all the help to buy stuff and got us our mortgage deal through natwest. Dh and I are both employed full time and have OK, but not great credit history and we got a mortgage with no issues. Between us though we earn about 55k a year and have been at our respective companies for 10+ years each.

It's really hard I know but getting into work and starting to really save is the best thing at this stage. Or you could look at private renting but this can be ££££ too. I wish you lots of luck.

If your partner is unemployed, why don't you work full time? They can be a SAHD until the baby can go in a nursery, during which time he can be looking for work too.

Why are you only working 10 hours a week? Is that all your boss lets you work? If so look for a similar role with another company but full time.

With neither of you working and a bad credit history there is no chance of buying, as you can't afford a mortgage. Even if you could afford a mortgage, you can't afford the deposit. Even if you could afford the mortgage and had the deposit you couldn't afford to maintain a house. If you are adequately housed, you won't get moved.
So no, you will have to make do with being one of the very lucky families who have a Council house. Affordable rent, housing benefit, secure tenancy, repairs done for you. No worries about repossession if you lose a job. Your are actually much more secure than most homeowners.

Here's a plan; work out how much nicer you can make your current home by good space planning, tidiness and decorating. Get rid of any furniture you don't really use. Store toys and clothes well. If you have a garden, make it nice.
Pay your bills on time and set up plans to clear any debts so you improve your credit history for the future.

Work out how much you and your dp need to earn to afford to buy the house you want, and think about how you might ever get those kind of jobs.

""Okay I'm not working atm and I can only manage 10hr a week so might have to knock this idea on the head""

But that won't be the case forever.

Keep your credit score reasonable and make plans for the future.

You need to be working or on long term disability benefits and have a 5% or 5k deposit, depending on where you are buying, for some areas it will be a lot more.. That will change, but that's how it is now.

It may seem a long way away, but your children will grow up and things will be more achievable.

OP, google the 'LIFT' scheme. That's a Scottish thing, you'll still need a deposit, although I think it can be 5% instead of 10%. I don't know much about it, but that's worth looking into.

How big is your house? Is a move necesary? With 10 hours work between you Id suggest staying put.

I read it as op isn't working and would only be able to manage 10 hours a week.

I think this needs to be a long term goal. One or both of you need to work full time, keep saving and getting your credit rating up (look online for tips on how to do so). In 5 years you might be well placed to buy.