Property ladder- how?

[hercules]

How the f are we meant to get on it?

win the lottery?

i have no chance round here.

No clue. Let me know if you find out.

I keep playing Lotto. It's our only chance.

get in cahoots with a wealthy man/pal/parent

What's a 1005 mortgage?

move to a cheaper area......that's what we had to do. Then go to your bank and ask for a mortgage - more likely to get more money from your bank than with any other lender as they'll look more closely at your invidual circumstances.

When we moved DH had to start commuting to his job, but later found one closer to our new home. Also may (as we did) have to look on 'dodgy' estates and properties that are really a bit too small for what you need. Had a friend who had 3 boys and she moved to a 2 bedroom house to get onto the ladder, 2yrs later she moved into a 3 bedroom house.

It's V hard though isn't it - and I'm very grateful for the fact that we managed to crawl onto it.

lol Lockets - I was wondering what you meant - yes we got a 100% mortgage first time round too - more expensive, and less choice but it certainly helped (mind you I AM glad to be off 'that' estate)

depends on what style of property you are after really. a few years ago milton keynes was a lot cheaper than the home counties. thin kthey are similar prices now tho.

pink - generally it's 3-4 times your mortgage - but it definitely depends on where you go - ours current one was much higher than that as we went direct to DH's bank (where he hsa the credit card and current account) there they were able to look at our 'track record' with their accounts and also look at his account to see exactly how much we could afford.

Each mortgage company varies how much they will borrow, and it can also change depending on whether they are taking one or two people's income into account, and whether you are on permanent or temporary work contracts. Also, some mortgage companies will do special rates for specific professions, etc.

I know BIL's recent mortgage quote offered him almost 5 times his own income!

We willl have a mortgage about 4 times our joint income.

We worked out how much we could afford to pay out monthly, wothout leaving us too short or unable to have a simialr standard of living/same treats/etc. and then worked out what mortgage that would give us.

hula, i want your new house!!

our Current mortgage is with the HSBC too - they were really good - went through our (well DH's as I don't have an income) accounts with a fine tooth comb and helped us work out what we could afford (which turned out to be more than we thought we could!)

We 'were' living in bedford, but there was no way we could afford ANYTHING there - so moved further north t Wellingborough. At the time Bedford was the 'end of the commuting' line for most people - but in the 2 1/2yrs (nearly 3) we've been here I've met lots of people who's DH's commute to London from here (and the houses are much cheaper too)

some lenders will lend 5x an individual wage, but it is normally 3-4x a joint income.

it's all very well getting the green light for the borrowings but you have to be comfortable with the massive (as a % of income) payments you'll be making. no point in owning your own home if you live off beans on toast & the repayments keep you awake at night

LOL misdee; I quite like it too I have until June to get a permanent contract now - makes mortgage easier to get (or rather open up more compnaies to us). Lukily a lot of DH's contacts involve IFAs, so we have a fair few on the case for the best deals

100% mortgages are risky though in a stagnant market. If you can't afford monthly repayments (one of you loses your job) and have to sell up, could have negative equity.

I wouldn't borrow the most that you can, I would look at the most you can afford to pay each month without your life suffering (and work it out for higher interest rates as well). Of course, I know this means you might not be able to buy at all though . Couldn't buy my own house now which is not good is it?

NameChangingMancMidlander - completely agree. That's why we always do the figures ourself first and work out how much we want to pay out a month - and then we look at how much we can borrow that involves paying that repayment.

And remember that first-time buyer low interest rates won't last for ever - you have to make sure you can afford the mortgage when the interest rate shoots up at the end of your deal (can't rely on other deals being available). I'm dreading it when our 5-year fix comes to an end in 2008

Roobie - once it does, change your mortgage company to get aother better deal. DH changes ours regularly to always get the best rates available.

they may well be risky - but IMO are worth the risk if you REALLY want to get onto the housing market. We don't have a 100% this time round, but if the market stagnates, or even if prices drop just a little and DH couldn't afford the repayments we could still end up with negative equity.