first time buyer advice please

Druhill

Hi,

Im starting to think about buying a house/apartment. i would ideally like a 2 bedroom house but will consider a 1 bedroom if i am unable to buy a 2 bed.
I am training to be a teacher and this year i am earning about 15500. next year i will start on the teachers main pay scale which starts around 21k. i currently do not have any savings and have about 2000 to pay off which i will do asap. i am still living at home so i am taking advantage of that. i checked my credit report this week and it is around 750 which says is classed as average. i have a student loan of 23k.

I am interested in the government schemes like the first time buyers initiative or part buy part rent for keyworkers. i live in the south east and am single.

I would like to know what these schemes are like and what are the chances of a single person with a minimal deposit (unfortunately i do not have rich parents who can give me any money) getting a big enough mortgage to buy somewhere decent?
thanks for any advice.

Blacksheep1979

These schemes are a scam - 20 or so years ago a job such as teaching would have been classed as a good middle class job and you would have been able to afford a whole 'starter' 1-3 bed (depending on area) house.

These schemes keep property prices artificially inflated (and really !!!! me off). Work out the whole property price at the rate they're offering the 30-50% at and compare it to other local properties and I bet you that it's a good 20% higher. There's also then issues of renting it out (if you want to) and selling it.

gkinrade

Hi Druhill,

I looked into both the ownhome scheme and the homebuy schemes a few months ago as a keyworker (teacher) myself.

The ownhome scheme website says that it's no longer taking applications (they've run out of money!) and neither is the mychoicehomebuy scheme (where you can pick any house on the market to buy) but the new build homebuy scheme apparently is still taking applications as are similar schemes - see moat's website for the south east.

On 21k if you managed to get a mortgage of 3 times that then a bank might lend you around 63k. In order to get a 2 bed house near us (we're south east too) you'd need about 130k, and so might need about 67k from one of these schemes, meaning that you'd be borrowing around 50% from the scheme and around 50% using a mortgage. Obviously you'd be paying rent on the 50% from the scheme so you'd really have to ask yourself if you could actually afford it...

I've heard that they have long waiting lists for these schemes and they are short of funds, but it might be worth looking into further. Speak to a mortgage advisor and ask their opinion (I spoke to London and Country who were very helpful) and also speak to moat (again very helpful).

If you decide it's not for you then renting is an alright option - that's what we've done for a few years before buying

Good luck!