Mortgage for first time buyer (ni specific)

niceday999

Thinking of buying my first house in Belfast. Will go and get some advise from the mortgage shop also, but can anyone advise me who has recently bought in NI for the first time ?
what type of mortgage should I go for ? bank or building society ? do I need to be a customer ? what is the max mortgage available now ?

tight_arze

Personally if I were you I wouldn't buy a house yet. Belfast is still too expensive for housing in most areas. There will also be spending cuts announced on the 20th October, which are very likely to have an effect on the housing market.

If its the house you really want and and the repayments are affordable to you (factoring in future interest rate increases) then buy it.

Do some research online first on mortgages then go and see a few financial advisors to see how they compare.

wifeforlife

We visited a financial advisor last year and got a 90% mortgage with Ulster bank. My other half bought the house solely in his name as his credit rating is clean as a whistle, our advisor told us straight there was no point applying if I was looking named, as my rating was dire.

Cate

forrest38

My advice is to hold out unless you have completely fell in love with this house. House prices are still slightly too expensive and there would be nothing worse than buying a house now and then fall into negative equity.
If the house for example was £150000 now. I would bet my own house it will be down to £135000 come Christmas.

forrest38

Also if you and your other half are buying then it works on a 3x both salary.

Ie. Both earn 20k before tax then it is 20k x 2 x 3= 120k
but they also work out your outgoings and this is a major factor so be very good with your money for 3 months then go to the bank

niceday999

I am only starting to look now for houses. so most def be after christmas by the time i find "the house of my dreams" I want a starter home...I dont want to take out a huge mortgage and not be able to live and enjoy myself. It would just be my income for the house. I earn £22,000 before tax and should have a deposit of £10,000
maybe will check with Northern Bank and Ulster Bank and then go see The Mortgage Shop
Has anyone else bought first home recently or work in arrranging Mortgages ?

mypie

I recently bought a house and I used mortgage IQ at the holywood arches. I first went to the office in April 09 and met the girl there, she talked me through all my options and it wasn't until 1 year later I was putting in an offer on house (she actually put in the offer and did all that) which then fell through and the following month she put in another offer to a different property for me and 8 weeks later I had the keys to my first house. I feel that I was offered all options and that Joanne at Mortgage IQ went above and beyond for me. I doubt I would have got that service at a bank or building society as I do think that she understood my needs. I know its just a job for MA's and that its all about comission but I am glad to have had the experience I had and I doubt if I was in the market again I would go elsewhere.

leftieM

We looked for a mortgage recently and we can borrow 3 times my husband's salary. I've just started back to work on a temporary basis so they still count me as a dependent. We have two children. We three dependents knock about 10k each off what OH could borrow if he wasn't saddled with us! We have a 40% deposit.
We went to the A&L and the Halifax. From what I gather, mortgage brokers no longer have access to special deals so they are not worth using.
We won't buy for another while. I'm starting to see the odd decent house on for under 200k but they sell fast. Hopefully they will soon be the rule rather than the exception.

blueberrypie

leftieM wrote: »

We went to the A&L and the Halifax. From what I gather, mortgage brokers no longer have access to special deals so they are not worth using.

I would always advise talking to an independent broker. Their value is not just in finding the best deal, but also in knowing the market and the lenders and their particular likes and dislikes. For example, some lenders will refuse to consider an applicant with a less-than-perfect credit history, while others will consider each application on an individual basis. Some don't like self-employed applicants, others are fine with it. Sometimes a particular lender is processing applications very slowly or very quickly, and that information might be important - if you want things sorted out quickly, you'll want to know if a lender is currently taking three or four months to complete an application.

Brokers can also advise on how much you can borrow, how much you'll need for expenses (solicitors, mortgage fees, etc), can point out particular bits in the small print (e.g. if you want to overpay hugely you don't want a mortgage that charges a large fee for doing that), and so on.

Yes, there are some deals that banks only offer direct - but most brokers, if you tell them about a deal you've seen advertised, will be able to tell you whether it's worth your while applying with that lender. Going to one or two high-street banks is only going to provide you with information about a tiny portion of the market. My mortgage is with a lender that doesn't even have any branches/offices in NI, but it is a far better deal than any NI high-street lender could have provided. I probably wouldn't even have known about it, and I certainly would have had far more difficulty getting through the whole application process, without the independent broker.

Anyone can find the cheapest mortgage - there are plenty of websites that can do that for you - but a good broker will have access to far more information than that.

36square

Why don't you try using moneyfacts.co.uk. It enables you to search the market using your own criteria so you shouldn't end up with a list of lenders who don't lend in NI.
Mortgage brokers are receiving fewer and less attractive offers from lenders than in the past. That might be because a higher proportion of bad loans came through them.

Easymoney

So is any lender giving 5 times your salary anymore in NI?

First Trust used to but this was a few years back