first time buyer advice please

samlee0211

hi, first post and after abit of advice please.

me and my partner are in the process of looking at houses, i will have a deposit of 30k in a months time, i currently earn 27k a year plus 10k bonus. my partner is only on 4k a year as she works part time due to looking after our 2 year old. we are looking at properties around 170k, meaning we'd need a mortgage of 140k, is that out of our reach or possible due to the deposit i've got. we have no loans or outstanding credit, just renting

many thanks

flossy_splodge

Just a personal opinion but lots of people have got into trouble by working out what they CAN get in terms of a mortgage rather than what they would be well advised to get.
Your figures are well over 4x your income which in my opinion is a LOT!
Fine at the moment when interest rates are so low but think very seriously about if you could cope if interest rates doubled or worse.
The old standards of 2 1/2 to 3x annual salary worked well for a reason.
Best of luck.:)

opinions4u

I suspect you'll be able to get a £140k mortgage, but some lenders may be a little concerned about the part of your income that is bonus.

Regardless, bonus schemes can be "fiddled" by employers to suddenly leave employees worse off when they don't expect it. Make sure you run your finances in a way that means you can meet all your commitments even if your bonus has collapsed to nil.

When working out your commitments, assume the mortgage costs twice as much as the quoted payment. That way you can budget for the worst.

Finally, keep saving. If you've got a 25% deposit, plus money for all your other fees, you will open the door to a wide number of better mortgage deals.

Best of luck.