Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Money matters

Find financial and money-saving discussions including debt and pension chat on our Money forum. If you're looking for ways to make your money to go further, sign up to our Moneysaver emails here.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Wages and getting a mortgage

48 replies

123Helpus · 11/07/2019 14:37

Could someone who has actually bought their first home and got a mortgage please give me some advice, so whenever I look online about how much you need to earn to get a £250,000 house with a 5%deposit it says we would need a pretty big income but when I speak to people who have actually GOT mortgages this doesn’t seem to be the case cobviously I know outgoings and credit rating affect it too but could anyone give me a rough idea on what income we would need please

OP posts:

Original poster

123Helpus · 17/07/2019 09:23

Neither of us have owned before either so that is a plus, people look at me like I’m mad when I say we’d need at least 50k to buy. My friend earning around £1000 a month reckons she could get a £135000 mortgage 🤔

OP posts:

MaverickSnoopy · 17/07/2019 09:30

@123Helpus we used catalyst housing but they no longer operate in the area. Have a look on the Help to Buy South website. You can filter your requirements and it gives you an idea of how much mortgage and deposit you'd need. Do your research though. SO doesn't work for lots of people but it changed our lives.

crisscrosscranky · 17/07/2019 19:33

£280k with 90% LTV mortgage- joint income was £70k.

MotherofaCat · 17/07/2019 19:40

£116,000 got me a 3 bed semi detached house in west central scotland. I bought it alone on £29k wage about 3 years ago with a £8k deposit. I was approved for a max of £130,000 mortgage if I remember correctly

Lightsabre · 18/07/2019 13:46

What part of the SE are you looking in? The Medway for example has 300+ properties for between 230k-270k. There are quite a few more under that budget. For a first house, I'd be looking at a two bed for 200k and add value as and when you could afford it ie; a loft extension. Small children can share a bedroom.

With Brexit, prices in the SE are dropping so it might be worth hanging on until after October and then picking up a bargain.

Original poster

123Helpus · 18/07/2019 14:58

@Lightsabre we are looking in Medway! We would struggle getting anywhere decent for £230,000 but not impossible and our eldest child is too old to start sharing with our youngest now it’d cost us more in the long run as we’d have to move in a couple of years

OP posts:

Lightsabre · 18/07/2019 15:07

That was a good guess! I don't know the area well but, for example, there is a nice 3 bed on Glencoe Rd, Chatham for £220K. It's the sort of property that might sell for £205-210k and there are plenty more like that one. Gravesend is also a cheaper area with nicer pockets.

Original poster

123Helpus · 18/07/2019 15:46

@lightsabre you don’t live in Medway do you? Haha we wouldn’t live in either of those locations 🤮 plus my daughters pretty settled in her school so wouldn’t move too far tbh but thank you 🤗 we definitely can’t look right now anyway as I don’t work atm, we will be looking in the next 2 years just wondered if it would be impossible which it may well be 😒

OP posts:

Alexalee · 18/07/2019 16:02

My dd just bought a 3 bed terrace in se London for 350k. 295k mortgage 55k deposit 60k salary.
If you have a 15% deposit you can get 5 times salary multiple. If you are in certain professions you can get 6 times multiple ie doctors lawyers surveyors dentists etc

YesQueen · 18/07/2019 16:32

I can't remember how much deposit I put down but I just remortgaged, 88k and I earn around £1600pm after tax/NI etc and it's on my sole income

supercalifragilistic123 · 18/07/2019 16:42

We moved to a small town about 15 miles away from where we wanted, it was all we find afford at the time.

It turns out there's a lot of people in the same boat. There's a nice group of us that moved here recently and we've met people easily through the kids and bits. It felt like a gamble at the time but I love it here now. (West Kent area)

I was gutted we had to move areas to buy, but now it feels like it was meant to be.

We bought 3 years ago. 2 bed terrace, combined salary high 40s. We could stretch to £220, but actually found something for less.

Asdf12345 · 18/07/2019 21:01

If it helps Halifax gave us an agreement in principal for approximately 4.5x combined earnings based on a 20% deposit and no kids.

Asdf12345 · 18/07/2019 21:03

I should add we were advised higher multiples were available from other lenders but Halifax were offering us the best interest rate and we didn’t want to borrow more than 2-3 times our combined income.

YahBasic · 18/07/2019 21:20

Borrowed 3x our combined salaries with a 25% deposit. Halifax offered us 5x & had best interest rates for us.

KnobJockey · 18/07/2019 22:06

Okay, so do you have a deposit now, or are you hoping to have 5%-10% then? First things first, open a help 2 buy isa or a Lisa- there's slightly different criteria so check on mse to see what is the best for you. Put everything you can into this, for an extra 25% from the government.

Next, are you married or just partners? If you are married, then while you are not working/low earning, sign up to the married persons tax allowance. It means that while you earn under a certain amount, you can transfer part of your tax free allowance to your husband, so he pays less tax on his wages.

Original poster

123Helpus · 18/07/2019 22:18

Thanks @knobjockey yes we are married and have already done the tax thing. We are being gifted 5% and we did have a help to buy isa set up but we couldn’t afford to keep it going unfortunately. All saving would have to be done when I return to work next year. So potentially if we wait a while longer we could save for a 10 or 15% deposit but whilst wasting thousands on rent so would rather buy straight away with 5% if it were possible

OP posts:

Telos · 21/07/2019 19:47

I believe the highest multiplier you can get is 5.5x, and usually it’s 4.5x.

I think that before the financial crash, people used to get huge mortgages on tiny deposits, but that’s definitely not the case anymore. Banks are a lot stricter with lending money. Could this explain why people you’ve spoken to have got better mortgages? Perhaps they bought pre-2008?

Original poster

123Helpus · 21/07/2019 20:18

@telos This is what I thought 😒 and yep I know! Back in the day my parents bought with 110% mortgage!!! They GAVE them money haha! And nope, just this weekend alone someone told me they’ve been offered a £160,000 mortgage on a £20k wage because they’d spread it over 35 years making it more affordable .... 🤔🤔🤔 baffled

OP posts:

StormcloakNord · 21/07/2019 22:49

We bought £320k house with £90k left with £230k mortgage - I'm currently on £8k a year part time and DH is on £37k.

Just moved from our first bought house, and were in Scotland. Both in 20s. Dunno if any of that helps!

StormcloakNord · 21/07/2019 22:49

£90k deposit **

Alexalee · 22/07/2019 07:02

Even spread over 35 years for affordability I am pretty sure your friend cant be telling the truth. No bank in this country lends at 8x multiples. If they were earning over 75k and had certain professional jobs the most is 6x income

nrpmum · 22/07/2019 07:06

You need to speak to a whole of market mortgage advisor. Every lender has differing affordability criteria.

sola82 · 22/07/2019 21:01

Halifax offered us 5x our joint salary with a 10% deposit. They did to ask about childcare costs but didn't seem to affect the offer.
When you start working maybe look for an independent mortgage advisor to help you see what you can get.

Flip

1 2