mortgage advice - will I just get laughed at?

[SaraBellumHertz]

The opportunity to buy a house that DH and I have had our eyes on for ages has come up.

It is not an ideal time for us as out savings are not great and in a year we would have a bigger deposit but right now we don't, but the house will be sold soon and it is very unlikely to come on the market again so if we miss out now it has gone.

So we don't have much deposit but we do have a decent annual salary. Is there any way we can make this work? Is it even worth seeing an advisor or will they simply show me the door?

I think these days you need at least 10% of the lending. No harm in discussing with your bank just to see what their thoughts are. Once you know you can shop around a bit more but start with your bank as they should be able to give you the facts free of charge. Don't forget to factor in a fee for arranging a mortgage (maybe applicable), stamp duty & moving costs.

Always worth seeing an advisor. You have nothing to lose. Is your deposit close to 10%? I take it you're first time buyers?

We're not first time buyers and our deposit is about 7% - we have another property that is let out and we in turn rent our home.

We would prefer not to sell our property (concerned it might take some time etc) and there is little room for remortgaging it because of the loan to value percent, although there is equity so it would probably make the most sense.

I have never used a financial/mortgage adviser before - tend to ignore all things financial. Is it best to speak to the bank or someone else?

Thanks

A bank will usually only give you advice about their products which can be limiting. On the plus side, they know about your income already and have an idea of your reliability and credit-worthiness so they're not a bad place to start the process. An independent mortgage advisor can search the entire marketplace for a suitable product and isn't limited to one organisation.

I would ring around a few financial advisors (they are not all created equally) if your income is good in relationship to the mtge you'd need - then you stand a reasonable chance.

Could you possibly borrow the difference to make it a 10% deposit from family?

We are in a v similar situation. Beware- we were told by our mortgage provider that if we were to retain 2 properties (i.e. one to live in, one to let out) we would need to provide a 25% deposit, and they would have to get it specifically apporved by the underwriters.
(presumably because we're more of a liability for defaulting if we have a nother property to fall back on should we not be able to afford repayments)

Right I'll start with my bank.

The last time we got a mortgage the banks were throwing money at everyone but I realise things have changed.

chipping it could be possible to borrow from family, although I suppose we could also borrow separately from the bank. Not ideal but it would only take a few months to repay.

monmartre interesting about the 25% (and annoying!) For us the problem would be compounded by the fact that we would probably rent the second property in the short term as we are overseas. Having to find a 25% deposit would be impossible.

So frustating as a year from now it'd be easy, but at present it is verging on the impossible. And I really really want this house. Bugger!

Oh and thanks all

If you want it as a buy to let you will be very lucky to find anywhere who will lend you the money with less than 25% deposit, I don't know o anywhere who would. Is there not enough equity in your other property to raise the deposit? Or even a personal loan (just don't tell the mortgage lender that is how you have got the cash for the deposit!).

Rockchick I suppose we could choose not to rent it, so it wouldn't actually be a buy to let , but not receiving the rental income and allowing it to stand empty seems rather counter intuitive

We have enough equity in the house we currently own so that if we sold it we would have (the majority of) the deposit BUT not enough to remortgage and take the deposit out still leaving enough equity to satisfy our current lenders.

Estate agent/mortgage fees and other incidentals can be paid out of our salary.

We could get a personal loan for the cash deposit and we are overseas so there would be no trace in the UK that we had done so but it makes me very nervous. I am not sure whether that is because I am generally fairly risk adverse or whether this is just an insane thing to contemplate - maybe I'll do an AIBU!

thanks

Is your current property on a buy to let mortgage, or a residential? It depends on how much you are willing to lie stretch the truth to get the new mortgage, you can only have 1 residential mortgage so as long as you're other property is on a buy to let deal you can always say you are moving into the new property and you should then b able to get a mortgage with 10% deposit. Until my maternity leave I was working in retail banking so I know some of the ways around things!

Thanks rockchick No current mortgage is on residential (although bank are aware it is currently let).

The more I think about it, it seems foolish to stretch and stress. It is just so frustrating that if we were even 6 mths down the line this would be an easy decision and we'd buy the house in a heart beat.

I am in exactly the same situation as you Sara. I hate having to suck it up and wait! So impatient.

gonzo are you going to wait?

If we don't buy now there wont be another opportunity for this house so part of me really really wants to risk it.