1st-time buyer, £100k salary, £100k/year poker, £100k savings, how much can I borrow?

whambamboo

I am an IT contractor, earning £450/day, contracted since January (previously employed). I'm operating under an Ltd company. Company turnover should be pretty much bang on £100k/year when you factor in holidays. Contract expires currently end of September, but should be extended to end of 2007, at £500/day. Paying little more than 20% overall tax, so clearing £75k+ net (wife doesn't work).

I have £100k cash for a deposit. No existing house to sell.

I am 24, married, 1 child. We'd like the nicest house we can get, but not sure how much that is. I had a few things in mind:

1. with £100k deposit, I could do a £400k house with 75% LTV. I guess a 25% deposit would reduce the cost of the mortgage
2. How about self-certifying? With lots of cash in the bank, and a substantial other income (see below) my wife & my salary is at a minimum, <£1k month, with any other money paid as dividends as and when we need it. I've only been trading since January, so no accounts yet. Will self-certify cost me more money? And without a long trading history do I have any other choice?
3. How much could we borrow as a maximum? I was looking wistfully at a £600k house, and was wondering whether I would be able to borrow £500k.
4. Who should I approach for the mortgage?

In addition to my regular income, I've earned pretty much exactly £100k (net profit) playing poker over the last year. I have a year's worth of monthly P&Ls, and make about £10k/month on this. I can't see that any lender would look particularly favourably on gambling as a source of income, so I guess it's best not to mention it. I only mention it in that it more than covers my living expenses, mortgage, etc., so I would be happy about it in that I would be secure about paying my mortgage, and would be happy to self-certify from my own point of view, but would probably prefer not to mention it. I found one site about this http://www.mortgageintroducer.com/story.asp?storycode=10163&sectioncode=19.

So.....

What should I do? How much can I borrow? Who should I speak to about the loan? What should I tell them?

silvercar

See a mortgage broker and tell them the truth.They should be able to show your employment in the best light (ie allow for the fact that you pay less tax than an employed person). You can certainly tell the broker (who is acting for you) that you have poker "earnings" they will know whether its best to hide it or flag it.