First time buyer

[MumnMore]

My Salary is 45,000 and I’m wanting to buy alone. I am hoping to buy a property worth around 230,000. I have never looked into buying a house. Can anyone tell me what deposit I should be looking at and whether I have any chance of buying with my salary? Any advice is welcome. Thank you

Your best bet would be to speak to a broker. Im not too sure if i can mention company/broker names on here but a quick search online should bring up plenty. Most banks have a section 'how much could i borrow' to give you a very rough idea based on your income. I think you will need around a 10% deposit but the bigger the deposit, the lower the interest rate. Roughly, i think you should be able to borrow around 4x times your salary so around £180k, this leaves you with £50k to make up for the £230k purchade price. You can reduce monthly payments by going for a longer mortgage. Ie 35 or 40 years but this will mean greater overall interest payments. Hope this is of some help.

Thanks for that. I literally had no idea where to start but I do want to be a ‘homeowner’. I will have a look for brokers and look on the bank websites as you mentioned. Thank you for your reply

Moneysavingexpert also has some basic mortgage calculators, such as ‘how much can I borrow’ and ‘how much will it cost’.

Good luck.

You should have a read through this site, op. Lots of info for first time buyers.

www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/homes/buying-a-home/first-time-buyer-money-tips

If you're under 40 open a Lisa. The government will add 25% interest each year.

I want to buy by myself after divorce. I'm 44 so I'm just saving like mad so I need a smaller mortgage.

I've always dismissed new builds but I'm now having second thoughts after reading reviews. If I can get one with a good builder which is energy efficient I'll seriously consider it. They seem to be reducing them at the moment as well as the market seems stagnant

Work on the assumption of you needing 10% deposit of the purchase price as a minimum. There are a limited number of lower deposit mortgages out there but the interest rates will be higher and there maybe tighter qualifying criteria.

Take a look on the money saving expert website in the mortgage section. You may just about be able to make it work at the your income but I'd say it will be pretty tight. You need to factor in other costs such as solicitor fees etc as well which will be another couple of thousand at least.

You will also need to factor in the costs of setting up a home, please don't fall into the trap of getting things like furniture on finance.

You will need to look very carefully at your budget. Stress test things, could you still afford it if interest rates increased by 1%, buying alone what would be your plan if you lost your job etc?

You may also need to pay for

Property survey
Mortgage arrangement fee
Solicitor fee
Moving transport
Post redirection fee
Bills on new property
Furniture (can buy second hand or as & when)
Emergency fund